Chatting with friends up and down the East Coast today I realize that it is numbingly cold. Sandi in New Jersey is at 16 but it will dip to -1 degree tonight. In Savannah, Ga. it was a balmy 19 degrees. My morning started at -23 degrees ( – 40 wind-chill). and will be -8 tonight. We’ll see some snow on Sunday. Tonight, I am going to my camp to water down a skating rink on the lake.
In Maine the lakes freeze solid – about 16 inches of ice right now. :Last weekend, I took my snowblower to the ice and carved out a skating rink 125′ x 70′. Tonight I will drill through the ice, connect a garden hose to a submersible pump, and toss it in the water. I throw the switch and then pump about 4,000 gallons of water per hour to build a layer of smooth ice over the lake ice. So, that is what we do to have fun in Maine on a Friday night during the winter.
Tomorrow, I’ll try my hand at ice fishing… stay tuned to my giant Fish stories next week.
Peter Geiger is the Editor of the Farmers' Almanac. 
If you notice a hole in the upper left-hand corner of your Farmers' Almanac, don't return it to the store! That hole isn't a defect; it's a part of history. Starting with the first edition of the Farmers' Almanac in 1818, readers used to nail holes into the corners to hang it up in their homes, barns, and outhouses (to provide both reading material and toilet paper). In 1910, the Almanac's publishers began pre-drilling holes in the corners to make it even easier for readers to keep all of that invaluable information (and paper) handy.
