Preparing for a storm is different in the north country. We don’t run out to buy milk or gas. We make sure the snowblower is accessible, the generator starts and the wood is stacked.
I split a stack of poplar the other day and it was a delight. No knotty, gnarled roots. It was very gratifying. It went so well, I decided to video the process. I imagined it would be amusing, in later years, to look back and watch myself, capably, reducing logs to firewood.
Not so much. I was capable, I did split the wood beautifully but I also grunted, breathed audibly and sniffled a lot (the temperature was in the teens). The video remains in my private library.
When I was done splitting wood, I walked down to the river to straighten out my back. The river was frozen in spots but running elsewhere.
There were signs of summer where the snow had melted. A beachball (?) in the culvert
a purple, plastic flower in the grass
and a rings of gold along the road.
Island and North Country Life 