By the thermometer it's colder than it was yesterday by only -3C degrees. But there's a ice-sharp cutting edge to the wind, so it seems much colder today, though compared to the cold we've been experiencing for the past two weeks, it's still downright balmy. No question the creek has frozen over. It should, it isn't all that deep and the Rideau Canal and the mighty Ottawa River, with their infinitely greater depths of water have now securely frozen to a good depth.

Unlike yesterday when it seemed so warm that by the time we'd completed our lengthy circuit through the forest, we were warm enough to discard our mittens, when we had not come across anyone else save for the few yards it takes people to enter and quickly exit with their dogs at points where the trails intersect with area streets, today was a different story; it was colder and certainly windier, but there were others around and about doing brisk circuits through the forest trails.

We came across Max who never under any circumstances surrenders his daily ravine ramble, but did recently because he and his wife had come down with a nasty case of food poisoning. He connects it to the e.coli outbreak in romaine lettuce which has struck eastern Canada and which Health Canada has been issuing warnings to avoid since mid-December. Even the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S. has recognized the problem which appears to be showing up there, too.

I don't miss lettuce in our salads, truth to tell, since there's so many other types of vegetables that are preferable; better tasting and packed full of minerals and vitamins, although it's true that other types of lettuce have been given a clean bill of  health, as it were.

The snowpack in the ravine is a considerable depth now and it's a bit of a struggle, since it isn't yet packed down tight on the trails, going uphill. Not that Jackie and Jillie notice; they're in full gear whenever we're out there, scampering along the trails, going off-trail into deeper snow to investigate intriguing odours and coming back caked with snow. It takes awhile these days to rid them of the icy, snowy patches on their legs and feet once we return home, but they're patient and we manage.

There's a rise in temperature predicted for later this afternoon with a freezing rain warning. As so often happens in January we're also warned to anticipate days of surprising warmth, about 6C, bringing with it instead of snow, rain, which will certainly serve to reduce the snowpack until that front moves on and the cold and snow return.