REAL Maine winters aren't for wimps

After a rather so-so start to this winter, things have suddenly ramped up and it's definitely a good, old-fashioned Maine winter around here.

It's not just the heavy snow, which we've been getting in big doses for the past week, but also the cold. Last night it was around 8 degrees when I went to bed. That's not extremely cold, I realize, but this cold is hanging on and hanging on and hanging on. I don't remember when the temperature last went above freezing during the day.

Yesterday the local meteorologist said, "February begins tomorrow, and with it the snow and the cold will continue."

I've been looking out my kitchen window for the past week and thinking I really need to refill the bird feeders. A few minutes ago I finally did it. It wasn't easy, because the cold has produced light, fluffy snow with each storm, and that means the snow hasn't packed down much.

With each step I took into the snow, I sank down at least a foot, often more. At one point I'd sunk down so deeply that I had a hard time lifting my foot out of the snow to attempt the next step.

But I got the job done, and now my pants are drying by the wood stove. My efforts were worth it because I saw a downy woodpecker at the fresh suet cake not more than three minutes after I came back inside.

I do wish I'd remembered to remove my birds' little red Christmas stocking from their feeder, though.

Oh, by the way, another heavy snowstorm is headed this way for tomorrow. The forecasters are saying 12" in this area of the state.