The first blast of winter is always a shock to the system. It's takes some physical and mental adjustment. Up here, the boom dropped about a month ago up here. One day I was running the big lawn tractor, blowing leaves into piles. The next day, I was running the snowblower so that we could get up the driveway.

The second blast of winter is also a shocker. It's when an arctic high slumps down and the temperature tanks. This morning it's -32C with a windchill of -45C.