Good Morning! It’s a cloudy gloomy day here in Port Loring Ontario, Canada. At the moment, we are having some freezing rain mixed with snow, along with some windy conditions in certain areas. We didn’t have any snow accumulations overnight. Which is a good thing in part, but the freezing rain takes away the good end of things for travelling at least. Highway 522 has a lot of icy sections throughout, with some snow covered areas thrown in for good measure. The temperature isn’t as cold today, hovering around the freezing mark. 0 C | 32 F. The one thing that we have to be aware of is, or should be aware of … is that tonight things are going to cool off a lot. And tomorrow will be colder. And tomorrow night will be the coldest night of the year, or the coldest one so far. Temperatures could get down to -34 C/-30 F, possibly even colder. Don’t let today fool you with it being warmer, as Mother Nature can be cruel when she wants to be. So I would suggest that you set your sights on preparing for this cold that is entering into the picture while things are mild. Along with this cold that is heading our way, we could see some high winds which will make it touch and go for our hydro. The thing is, since our Powers That Be has sold most of Ontario Hydro to outsiders, the trees haven’t been looked after like they used to be. Preventative maintenance has been lacking in a lot of areas. Which in turn causes a lot of problems when the weather gets bad, especially in areas like ours. Par for the course, though. On another note, I let my wood furnace go out last night, so that I could clean the ashes out of it and get it ready for what’s to come, and then I will re-light it later on this afternoon when the temperature starts to drop. I might also start my shop stove, as that is where I keep my generator, and it starts a lot easier when warm. Just in case we might need it. It has come in real handy so far this year. With that bit of information under your hat, and you should be wearing a hat in this part of the country … I am off for a bowl of cereal with my lovely wife. After that, I shall get to work. Take care. GW

You can reach George Walters at; [email protected]