Much as I love the out-of-doors, today I was thankful for walls and central heat. Walking outside was brutal, with a stiff wind and a thermometer hovering around zero. Pax and I talked it over and decided we would always walk downwind, but when we tried it we found the theory to have certain limitations.

Somehow, most of the birds, and apparently all of the squirrels, are surviving. But I can tell you honestly I would not want to be one of them. (I want to be reincarnated as a merganser.) The squirrels are fat, but apparently have no interest in estivation, and a baker's dozen under the bird feeder today.

And then there's this: spruce on the cob. I don't think squirrels like spruce as much as oak and hickory, but at these temps...

And on Manitoulin, the pine squirrels seem to love balsam fir, which, if I am not mistaken, is the source of gum Arabic. Go figure.