Thanks to the polar vortex,
this winter has had some real teeth here in the Midwest.
I have listened to many complaints about below zero temperatures
and our thick blanket of snow. 
I’m looking on this winter the way I might have gazed at the buffalo if I could travel back in time and view them from the first railway to cross the U.S.
I feel like I’m looking at something valuable and beautiful that I may not see the likes of again.
Winters like this are a vanishing treasure.
But today I’m trying not to think about the global warming havoc occurring everywhere we look.
Today I am appreciating this winter gift from the good old days
and simply reveling in its stark beauty –
especially the flowers of winter.
Plants can’t migrate.
They can’t warm themselves with a fire. 
They have to stand there
and take what the weather throws at them.
The way prairie flowers do this fills me with awe.
I’ve taken my camera while snow shoeing the last two days. 
Yesterday was brilliantly sunny. 
Today the sky is filled with falling snow. 
Both are great days to admire the flowers of winter.
What are your favorite flowers of winter?
Categories: TALES FROM OUR 44 ACRES
Digging in the Driftless 
Hi, Denise,
Though I don’t comment much, I enjoy following your adventures with your new home. I truly envy you and Doug.
Just a quick comment on this winter. Up here in Stevens Point, we had a little over two feet of snow in our backyard. I got kind of tired digging out the 40-yard long path to the chicken house. Though the cold temperatures didn’t seem to affect the girls, other than that they are getting cabin fever – they are going to be so, SO glad to see the snow go.
But I’m not sure that winters like this one will become rare. Predictions are for more extreme weather patterns and a much smaller gradient between temperatures in the arctic and in temperate lattitudes. Which suggests that we may see rather more extremely cold and snowy winters. Perhaps!
Thanks for your comment, Dennis.
You have a valid point. There really is no way of knowing what weather we have unleashed. The only thing for sure is that it will take us outside our familiar comfort zones.
As to that 40-yard-long path to shovel to the chickens, when we lived in the Netherlands, I saw that the traditional farm put both house and barn together in one building. They called it head and shoulders with a little house on the front of the bigger barn. We lived in a house that was very small, but had actually once been a house and barn. The barn part had been turned into a room to eat on one side and sort of a children’s playroom on the other side. The kitchen,and living room with 2 attic bedrooms above were in the original house side. That made for a very short trip to take care of the animals, and their warmth helped heat the living space. Slightly different hygiene standards then, though.
Good to hear that you are surviving this winter,
Denise