With -17° outside, I dig into the freezer for a remembrance of last summer: strawberries picked at the berry farm and blueberries from a Duluth hillside. I add some oat bran, yogurt, milk, vegetable protein and and blend it up. Some days I sip breakfast through a straw other days I eat it with a spoon; it depends upon measurements. Add coffee and I’m ready for another day of winter.

Today I’ve scheduled lunch with my brother at a local diner. I’ll order a Coney Island style hot dog or gyro with fries just to balance out all this morning healthy stuff with some grease. I hear it’s fat that enables a bear to survive winter!