Wow what a Winter! I know that the weather has been severe in many parts of the country this winter. However, I make bold to give some idea about the current winter in the Pacific Northwest.

What was supposed to be an El Nino year in my area has produced lots of moisture, heavy winds with trees falling on wires and snow. We are supposed to get a mild winter with El Nino but we had an abundance of snow by Christmas and it is still on the ground.

There were power outages for about 250,000 houses after a wind storm that reached 71 mph and with sustained winds in the area of 50 mph. My home was out of power for 18 hours, we were lucky it was not longer.

The cold we experienced over late December and the first half of January may abate now and through February according to the our local meterologists.

Such conditions are good for me, so I can stay inside and write or read my sources for the next book or books. I have about 3 books started at this time.

Back to the local weather. The cold and deep snow encouraged the Elk to forage widely for forage not covered by snow. The animals require more food in such cold temperatures and it is more difficult to dig down through the deep snow to find any green grasses.

That means that the Elk headed for the hay bales and haystacks. Which makes them very unpopular with the ranchers who put up the high quality hay. Elk don't like grass hay and head straight for the dairy quality alfalfa hay.

All in all, this is a very interesting year and winter. Stay warm and read a book.