Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Minus 40 Degrees…A Poem.
‘Tis minus 40 degrees…
Water flowing by the rock,
Mist is rising ’round the flock
Of little ducks. Swimming there,
With winter’s cold in the air.
Swim and dive in water cold,
Under now, their breath they hold.
Popping up, they do not freeze,
Not even in wind or breeze.
Here along the river shore,
The cold I feel, even more.
Yet here they swim, morn to night,
In such cold, ’tis quite a sight.
While I sit, the sun does shine,
Warming this cold face of mine.
In this cold, ’tis nice to see,
Water still, and ducks, ice free.
‘Tis minus 40 degrees…
©2026 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
It is amazing that the water would not freeze at -40. There must be some warm source of water. Of course in the Far North where I live, the rivers freeze over and become a thorough fare to drive on for a shortcut or fun like skiing.
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The current is very strong in that section of the river, even though it’s not noticeable on the surface all the time. There are even places on the lake, between islands, that don’t freeze due to the strong currents. The ice along the northern part of the lake close to town never gets thick, due to the current, even though the area is wide, only maybe 4 or 5 inches. It’s a large river that drains out of this lake which is why the strong current.🥶
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It doesn’t freeze because it is not consistently cold. We have huge rivers that freeze up at the start of winter, and have huge breakups in the Spring. You live in a warmer climate, maybe not the tropics, but warmer. Probably don’t deal with permafrost either, where the ground is permanently frozen about a couple feet under the ground.
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True, though all other lakes and rivers freeze. Even this lake freezes in most places about 6 feet and more in places. But, that river pulls a lot of water out of the lake, producing very strong currents even 20 miles out on the lake between islands which keeps some areas ice free no matter how cold it gets. However, once about half a mile past where I sit at the river it gets very wide and it freezes solidly so that vehicles can drive on it. Once it gets that wide there isn’t enough current to keep it ice free. The lake is large, about 70 miles long and wide, but it’s quite shallow which helps with the current on the lake. But the current on the river can’t be seen in most places, it looks calm on the surface, but underneath the current is strong. The town has put up big signs warning people not to swim in those areas because of that deceptive look. But people still ignore the signs and nearly every year people drown because they can’t see the danger and won’t heed the warning. Once about 20 feet from shore the current pulls them under and they don’t come back up. Even excellent swimmers have drowned not heeding the warning. So sad.
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Your lake is huge! So sad about the ones who refuse to heed the warnings.
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The icy grip begins to break,
As life stirs in the thawing lake;
The winter’s bite will soon be past,
And warmth shall find us all at last.
#Spring 🦆🦆🦆
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Very nice Hilary! I wish we were closer to spring! Eventually it will come. Have a great week! 😊☕☕🥶❄️
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Oh, I am so ready for spring. The temps are going to drop really low this week. In the -20’s. Yuck…. ☹️
Yes, I could really use some coffee and you can usually find me with a hot beverage, buried under a pile of blankets. I’m drinking hot lemon water with honey. It’s surprisingly pretty good – been drinking it at night to help with my ongoing cough. I’m still recovering from a head cold earlier this month. 🍯🍋
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I always used to drink hot lemon water when I had a cold, especially when I had a bad cough. Can’t have lemon anymore though. We’re getting a snowstorm beginning overnight, supposed to get 15cm of snow and strong wind. Kind of typical for February though. Hope your cold heals up soon, have a great evening!🥶❄️❄️☕☕
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I’m gonna be trapped indoors tomorrow because it’s gonna get as low as -28°C! We got dumped on this morning and there’s so much snow outside now. I asked my daughter if I could borrow her oversized hoodie tomorrow but she doesn’t want to share hers with me, but it’s warm and I really need it for tomorrow. I’m somebody who is always cold! 🥶❄️☃️
P.S. I just ran out of lemon yesterday but I’m not going to the store in this weather. They’re calling for another snowstorm overnight.
Stay warm and safe!
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You’re getting it much worse than us, we didn’t even get the snowstorm they had predicted for us, which is odd. We got maybe 1cm of snow, a long way from the 15cm we were expecting.
I’m always cold too, I keep the heat turned up but it doesn’t seem to help much. The livingroom window and door to the balcony are rather drafty. My feet are the worst for getting cold. Temps are gradually getting colder, but should get somewhat milder next week. Enjoy your evening!🥶☕☕❄️
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I might have to buy one of those wearable blankets. My daughter has a Sherpa kids one that fits me like a large hoodie. Personally, I love it but should probably get the adult sized one because it’s too short to keep my legs warm. This blanket thing looks ridiculous but it really is warm.
Idk how much snow we got here but it’s a lot. All week it’s been miserably cold. As of right now it’s -22°C. I totally get the draftiness feeling; we have drafts in our townhouse too which makes it hard to get warm. Time to put the kettle on and make another tea. 🫖☃️❄️
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That’s what you want, something to keep you warm all over. We got another 1cm of snow overnight, just enough on top of the ice to make things 10x more slippery. I had to go out this morning and it was terribly slippery everywhere. Sigh. It’s -14 here right now with light snow, not bad. Supposed to get colder again though. You convinced me, time for a cup of tea! 🥶❄️☕☕
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The wearable blanket I wanted was $60 on Amazon for the design I wanted, whereas all the other designs were $42 for the same thing. I have no idea why. 🙄
Anyways, I ended up buying the kids hoodie blanket because it’s got the pattern I like for $42 and I’ve been wearing my daughter’s kids hoodie blanket all week. I wanted the same pattern with the strawberries 🍓😂 I stole it for the past 3 days and I’m surprised she has let me wear it this long. Usually she fights me for it whenever I try to wear it. It’s like an oversized hoodie rather than a blanket because the kids version much shorter but the sleeve length is PERFECT and not too long. However, I’m relatively short so the length doesn’t bother me one bit. The most important thing is that it’s nice and warm. 🥰
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