Wow, that was a cold few days last week, hope your water pipes and septic mounds survived. I was lucky - the only thing I lost was the ability to open my gas cap from inside the car because my cable snapped.

It is often more difficult to enjoy the outdoors when wind chills are so wicked; one place I can count on being fairly comfortable during these times is in the middle of a spruce bog on a pair of snowshoes. I love bogs in all seasons, except when the mosquitoes are in charge. Northern Minnesota is blessed with many bogs. I drive by huge bogs in the Cromwell-Wright area on Highway 210 on my...