Cabin fever comes in two forms: the hyper-energy from staying indoors too long; and the flu,  from venturing out in to winter crowds.

We noticed the latter when we went to a concert in Montreal around Christmas. It sounded like a TB ward. Everyone was coughing, sneezing, blowing their noses and unwrapping noisy candy. I shudder to think about it. One thing a moderately isolated life provides is less germs and more health. I’m not exactly a germaphobe – yes, I taught my kids to wash their hands before putting them near their mouths; and yes, I loved the scene from Curb Your Enthusiasm, when Larry David washes his hands to the Happy Birthday song (as recommended by the CDC); and no, I never eat from buffets. OK so perhaps I am a bit of a germaphobe.  I like people, I really do, just not as much during the winter. Despite the flu vaccine, the flu is hitting hard and I just don’t feel like getting it.

So I mostly stay in the cabin or venture outside. I avoid movie theaters, or other venues where a bunch of sick people pack themselves in. I do however, work in a hospital one day a week, so I make up for it the rest of my time.  Yesterday, we went for a lovely cross country ski tour in the woods around the house to prevent the other sort of cabin fever.

Conditions were perfect. The temperature was in the 20’s and the fresh snow was lovely. Of course I fell on my first little downhill but was mostly fine after that. We saw the work of beavers and coyotes.

It looks like they tried to dam this lovely river without success, or perhaps they had in the past.

We often hear coyotes behind the house, especially at night. We found the remains of  one of their dinners in the woods. A well picked deer skeleton and lower jaw.

We capped off the day with a soak in the hot tub when the temperature was about 10 degrees, the air was crisp and the stars were abundant.  You don’t catch cold from being outdoors, you catch germs from being inside.