Winter can take some getting used to, especially if you come to it from places that have all-night diners and year-round lawn care.
A white Christmas is a joy and a beautiful blessing, and it's certainly romantic to toast the New Year before a roaring fireplace while the wind outside is howling and kicking up eight-foot drifts.
But by mid-January the holiday lights have come down and the snow shovel feels heavier. Livestock troughs freeze, engines won't turn over, snow buries fencelines and animals are restless. Kids come down with the flu, there are unexpected power failures and a drive to town for groceries and supplies, once so simple, can be white-knuckled life-threatening experience.
Hibernation is a common urge this time of year, but banks and human biology won't allow it. And while television and a soft sofa can be a pleasant respite, it doesn't take long to exhaust the entertainment value of even 200 channels.
Some folks can't take it. They pack their bags and go on extended vacations. Or they get morose and despondent. At its worst, this cabin fever possesses folks, the way it did Jack in "The Shining," and makes them do crazy things like subscribe to dozens of magazines in order to win a sweepstakes or organize their financial records.
There are other folks who thrive on winter and their lifestyle bears some study, for it offers clues to rural winter survival for the human species.
These are people who rise early in the morning, well before the solemn winter dawn, and slip into a pair of insulated overalls to go tend to their animals and machinery. Beating the cold is a kind of sport and winning may mean moving truck batteries indoors to keep them from freezing or shoveling snow off rooftops to keep them from collapsing.
For them, the cold winter air is a refreshment. It makes them feel alive and vital. It encourages them to split wood and plow roads and call on neighbors. They'll fire up snowmobiles or strap on skis and take to the backcountry for the afternoon. Or they'll throw some inner tubes in the back of the pickup and take the kids sledding.
When they do go back inside their cozy homes, these people have plenty to keep them occupied. Lots of them have hobbies, like collecting stamps or trains or old books. Others like to cook or play cards or build model ships. Many are voracious readers of books and newspapers, consuming piles of literature that gathered during warmer months.
These folks can be recognized, too, by their many children -- all September and October and November born -- who carry within them a genetic memory of what to do when it's 20 below and blowing.