What do calendars and real weather events have in common…NOTHING! Of course, “winter” arrived officially Dec. 21. We all know it really hit in November and continued through December. Before leaving for a while, we had spring like rains for two days on New Year’s. Go figure!

Snow conditions vary. Places where I used snowshoes to hunt snowshoe hares along the Lake Superior North Shore a year ago you can walk through the woods today and the snow is barely ankle deep. Go figure!

Wild turkeys and whitetails are gathered up, and faring okay in areas where snow had been two feet deep and deeper in drifts. Not the same for pheasants. They’re surviving where there’s thick woody roosting cover close to food. Grasses are flat in most areas. Cattails are full of snow. Other farmland spots blown free of snow are magnets for hungry birds and other critters. Go figure!

Most geese and ducks are long gone, but now and then you’ll see flocks in open water below dams and power plants, having a ball like it was spring. Why do most leave, but some stubbornly ride winter out? Go figure!

Plenty of snow, on paper, for skiing and snowmobiling. But some counties have closed trails because rain chewed the base and made other stretches wickedly icy. Go figure!

Lake ice is shaping up, after weeks of concerns that heavy snow cover would inhibit ice thickening. Well, give it some rain and near-40 degree days like we had during the holidays and the snow is gone, refrozen into thicker ice. Some areas of eastern Wisconsin have seen trucks on safe ice for weeks, because they got very little or no snow. Go figure!  

Guess this all once again proves what they say about Wisconsin’s seasons…give it a minute or two, and it will change. I’m leaving now, to go figure it out with a glass of wine, some cheese crackers and venison and goose jerky next to the fireplace. My wood supply is holding out…for now.

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