Hot solutions to Cold issues

My 200' driveway is an ice arena. The freezing rain that came through last night landed on snow drifts piled up by incessant winds, laid a crystal frosting on the heaps of snow resulting from every-other-day clearing of driveway and paths, and heavily glazed the already-frozen fields of snow that have been moving with suserus sounds akin to the Antarctic plains of ever-moving ice crystals. In short - IT IS DANGED COLD AND SLICK OUT THERE. I wouldn't be surprised to see penguins marching across the fields...
As this storm moved in from the west, the setting sun took a last peek across the fields, with a promise to return - sometime.

The fields were already gleaming with patches of surface ice, snow that has slightly melted and refrozen, day after frigid day...

This view from my upstairs "office" window, on the south side of the cabin, overlooks some of the bird feeders, the sandbox buried in a shroud of concealing snow, and the lonely monkey bar/swing set. A handful of hardy Mourning Doves are beneath the feeders - I don't know how they are doing it, but I swear they are multiplying even during snowstorms...must be word of mouth - or beak - it surely isn't from incubating eggs - that's a mighty cold job this time of year, for birds who only throw together 4 or 5 sticks and call it a "nest".

The sturdy straw bale chicken house, now empty for the winter (the layers were all moved to the farmhouse chicken barn, and are enjoying a cozy winter there), reveals some of the drift patterns. The snow is knee deep and more, on the path to the door. Almost impossible to get out there right now, unless someone wants to take the snow thrower for a spin...

Here is my morning view out the east window of my bedroom, overlooking the remains of the original 10 x 16 homestead log cabin. The story we have so far is that this farm was homesteaded by a Ukrainian family...tough people, for sure.

Last spring I posted some photos of the flowers and seeds forming on the Box Elders outside the bedroom window. Here are the seeds pods, having survived some fall storms, and battered by winter snow and ice. Although you can't tell from the leaves, these seed pods reveal that the Box Elders are members of the maple family... and why they are considered a "garbage" tree, here, they are very prolific!

So how do we survive in this frosty, frigid fairyland of ice and snow? The tweety birds have a map from feeder to feeder, I'm sure. I know several neighbors put out seeds and suet cakes, as I do. There sure isn't much seed available in the buried fields and shrub rows, and the little bugs and spiders that feed many of the small birds are now frozen solid under bark and soil.

Survival rule number 1: have a source of food. My pantry has a couple cases of chili...

Survival rule number 2: make sure you get plenty of fuel stowed. The porch is loaded with cut wood and bags of pellets. The birds get their fuel in the form of suet - I have a stash of suet cakes stored in the metal garbage can where the birdseed resides. My personal fuel supply is stored all around my waist - those Eskimos know how to do this, they set a fine example!

The Red-bellied Woodpecker is finally revealing why he is not called the Redheaded Woodpecker (a totally different bird) as he feeds up on suet and seeds, which provides the fuel for his high metabolism. That's what I need - a bird's metabolism...

I bet the penguins are jealous, they only come in black-and-white.

Survival rule number 3: STAY WARM. Here Jetta models this to perfection. The massage/treatment table has a heated pad under those blankets...

Survival rule number 4: HOT CHOCOLATE!!

I have concocted an easy recipe for Superb Minty Cocoa:

Brew a cup of steaming mint tea, make it strong.

Stir in a tablespoon of Walden Farm's Chocolate Syrup (it has no calories, carbs, sugar, fat - virtually non-existent in substance, but plenty of chocolate flavor!).

That's it. Kick the cat out of the rocking chair, grab the latest favorite book, settle in next to the cozy woodstove, and sip away.

There you have it: Wisconsin Winter Survival.