Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

The Creator sure has a sense of humor! Mr. Fuzzy's last post was on the subject of an abnormally early spring, with all things green erupting from the warming earth. Last Sunday morning, the mercury was stuck on 11F at sunrise, after a night of gale winds roaring through the forest. The chill factor was sub-zero. Sunday's high reading was 26F, still windy.

The arctic front began its onslaught early on Saturday. From 8:00 a.m. onward, the temperature dropped lower with each passing hour of the day - and with the high wind extracting any remaining warmth from the earth. As Mrs. Fuzzy discovered while departing for a few town errands about five o'clock that evening, egress from the farm was prevented by a 60 foot white pine tree laying across the driveway. Mr. Fuzzy fired up a chain saw and worked until the light faded but was unable to open the passageway.

On Monday morning, with chainsaw in hand, Mr. Fuzzy finished opening the track by finally removing the top half of the tree. However, the butt end of the tree, about thirty feet in length, remains above the road on the  steep hillside. This is a dangerous working situation as the trunk will be want to slide downward; it is very difficult to know which branches anchor it in place. Mr. Fuzzy will be very circumspect in whatever work will be done.

Since exiting Stratheden on Sunday was yet prevented by the blockage, the Fuzzies, with the consent of their neighbor, left the farm by way of his field. He had recently caused a first class fence to be erected, replacing an ancient fence long beyond any real service for its intended purpose. The new fence contained the addition of a strategically placed gate - which allowed the Fuzzies to join the normal Sunday breakfast crew at the Blue Ridge Cafe, without resorting to walking to town in subzero chill factor conditions. Huzzah for the gate!