Stable winter conditions are expected to continue through the coming week, with daytime highs generally in the twenties and nighttime temperatures falling below zero. By next Wednesday, a warm front moving up from the south is expected to bring milder daytime temperatures along with the final measurable snowfall of the month. Approximately two inches of snow are anticipated on Wednesday, which would bring February’s total snowfall in town to 9.2 inches.

In local affairs, the Lake View Dairy reports that sixty tons of ice have now been secured in their icehouse, completing the season’s harvest. The town library reports that of its 996 books, thirty-five are presently unaccounted for, and the librarian asks that residents check under beds and in other likely resting places. Ray Thompson has staged supplies for the Minnesota Game and Fish Department’s annual trek into the Superior National Forest and State Game Refuge.

The state snowplow crew from Two Harbors cleared Highway 1 to the Pigeon River earlier this week and returned to Grand Marais for the night. Hjalmer Ström of the crew stopped by the weather tower to introduce himself, and we discussed ways forecasts might better serve road crews during winter operations. I joked that a fellow could see a good deal farther in winter with a proper set of moose antlers from Scandinavia, a remark Mr. Ström took in good spirits. Prior to the road being cleared, several parties attempting the drive to Duluth became stranded in snowdrifts at Good Harbor Hill. One such party was given overnight shelter at the community building.

At the school, after assistant librarian Miss Fjell mentioned my fondness for the poetry of Robert Burns, the English IV class invited me to join them for a reading. I never expected to find myself reciting Scottish verse to a room of students and could not help but wonder how I appeared from their desks. In that vein, I chose Burns’ To a Louse, On Seeing One on a Lady’s Bonnet at Church, which includes the lines with which I end this week’s column:

O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!