The snow thrower was somewhat balky when Irving used it  a few days back after the last snowfall. It seems the part he replaced that had snapped that controls the machine's directional movement during clean-up from the storm before that one, hadn't been sufficiently tightened. So that's what he set about doing, as it sat in the larger of the two garden sheds, after breakfast. There's yet another snowstorm on the way, and he doesn't want to face the difficulty he encountered cleaning up the last one.

He's still trying to figure out why one of the standard light fixtures at the front of the house isn't responding. It's likely that the freezing rain event penetrated the interior wiring  causing a short. Other alternatives that Irving explored haven't seemed to make a difference. He was set to try drying the line but couldn't find the old warming device he had in his workshop. He thought he'd try an old hair dryer, but when he turned it on, the thing began smoking.

Maintaining a household isn't boring; the expectation that nothing will ever experience operational fatigue or just fail to operate for any number of reasons simply belies reality. Irving has always been able to figure these things out and he's always had success in solving the problem. Patience is a virtue.

He also took apart two heat registers, one in our bathroom the other in our clothes closet in the wan hope that my missing earring  could have slipped into either of them. Where it ended up remains a mystery. I've since replaced that pair that I've worn steadily for decades with another pair I've had equally long, but haven't worn before. They're almost a dead-ringer for the missing one; tiny gold hoops with inset diamonds.

Today is heavily overcast, compared to yesterday's full sun, but the temperature is almost the same; -2C yesterday, 0C today. Snow was supposed to start this afternoon, but it was 5:00 pm by the time we returned home from our afternoon ravine hike and the snow still hadn't started. I've got a dried bean-and-pea soup with vegetables simmering on the stove for  tonight's dinner. Guaranteed to solve the inner chill of a winter evening.

There's ample snow accumulated now in the forest. The trees are still lavishly painted with snow, and the landscape retains its beautiful scintillating appearance of overall white on dark tree trunks, that classic black-and-white combination reflecting this time of year. Jackie and Jillie seem to literally bounce about on the trails, happy to be out and making the most of their daily trek through the forest.

Today, it was one uninterrupted by the presence of others; no other hikers, no other canine friends. We had the trails all to ourselves. Everything was still, the atmosphere windless, sound absorbed by the plush snow covering, equaling pure serenity. And then, dusk entered to fulfill its pact with oncoming, resolute night.