This is typical Ottawa Valley month-of-January wacky weather. We have experienced the usual extremes of excruciatingly frigid temperatures brightened by clear skies and a wan winter sun, and the opposite; our usual January thaw. We've had rain and freezing rain in below-zero temperatures and snow during above-zero temperatures.

And, of course, melting snow, glazed under the sun into water, then transformed into sheets of sheer ice as soon as the temperature drops to bone-chilling overnight levels, remaining so with slight variations throughout the day.

When I ventured out on Saturday in icy temperatures, albeit a sunny sky with a fierce wind whipping the frigid air about, I discovered just how treacherous it was, underfoot. Homeowners who had gone to the trouble of scraping every last bit of snow off their driveways had succeeded in creating personal skating rinks.

Our next-door neighbour, a woman in her early fifties and rather overweight, managed to lose her footing and break her left wrist, necessitating surgery. I had gone out on Saturday to canvass the street for charitable donations for the Ontario March of Dimes. And froze for my efforts.

By Monday afternoon it was sufficiently temperature-benign to suit up our little dogs in both winter jackets and raincoats over them because of an all-day rain, to venture out for a lengthy ramble in the woods. Because we wear cleats over our snugly warm winter boots we're assured of excellent traction; our little dogs' paws with their nails secure the same for them.

This morning we're set for another long traipse in the woods, scattering peanuts for the little creatures as we go. It's even milder today than it was yesterday but while yesterday it rained incessantly, today it's snowing. Go figure, as the famous saying would have it.