Day: December 8, 2025

I think I would be a lot less opposed to the cold if I had a wood stove and a decently insulated house. Indeed, I don’t find the cold too be bad when I am in the wilderness, and have the Big Buddy heater, a good campfire going, or are properly dressed for the conditions.

If anything, the cold is refreshing and good for clearing one’s mind, especially on a sunny and cold day with no wind. The thing I don’t like about winter is when it’s windy, or for that matter icy or snowy and I have somewhere to go out in it, especially if I am the one who is motoring.

A lot of people retire to the south. I am not sure if that is what I would do, though I do get the benefits of not having to deal with the snow and ice, breaking ice in watering throughs and feeding in snow. Or having to chop so much wood to stay warm. But if I had the dry warmth of a woodstove that I could by near, I am good. But there is no such warm in my drafty apartment in suburbs, in part because I refuse to heat much above 50 degrees except in the coldest weather. The electric blanket helps a lot.

Still winters are cold and dark. There is no way to get around that. But maybe when I’m retired in a decade or two I won’t have to worry about getting to town. I just make sure I have supplies I need, the animals get fed, and woodstove full. And then if I need to get anywhere, I can have a snowmobile and ride into town for supplies that I’m missing. And just enjoy the beauty of snowy day, as I did on that day a few weeks back when I wilderness camping outside of Newcomb.