The two feet of snow turned out to be two inches of snow plus a big wind; and since today would have been shoveling day, this is okay with me. We have plenty of snow without more snow.

It's still 10 below zero, and the big wind makes Harmony feel like the tundra. I am glad that there are no animals in my barn. I would have been out there in the middle of the night, hauling hot water and banking them up in hay. Every groan of the wind would have filled me with anxiety and foreboding, and my eyeballs would have started to freeze. (Ever had that sensation? It's very, very strange, as if your eyes are turning into cherry cordials.) As it is, I still can't help but worry about the deer and the moose--too large to burrow down into the snow, giant windbreaks in the bitter gale, no food to eat.

Tomorrow morning Paul and I embark on our college-tour odyssey, while Tom stays home and builds kitchen cabinets and keeps the stoves and the house pets fired up. I'm sure you will hear from me, but only sporadically and at odd times of the day.