It is indeed a cold start to the winter, cold and windy and sometimes white. The meteorologists told us this would happen, and so far, they have called it.

Rather than forecasting the rest of this long season, it is easier, and kinder to ourselves, to look back at past Vineyard winters and read how terrible it was back then. In February of 2014, Tom Dunlop wrote a report for the Gazette, mentioning that winter’s rough statistics, (two blizzards) but the main subject of his article was the winter of 1934, one of the worst on record.

That was the year that Henry Beetle Hough, the Gazette’s editor, walked across Edgartown harbor and back, from the lighthouse to the entrance to Cape Pogue Pond. Temperatures that winter hovered around zero and below at times. A record 16-below was reported on February 9, 1934.

In a comment about a more recent winter, I read a mention of a certain Toyota being pulled by ropes across the frozen Tisbury Great Pond, presumably by a couple of whippersnappers.

Many of us remember the blizzard of 1978, two days of squalls and snow and striking landscapes everywhere. No school, for some a few days off work, and for others double and triple shifts to get their work done and get us dug out.

As to snowfall amounts, the most in recent years was 64.4 inches in 2005 (not all at once) while some years showed an annual total of zero.

Snow and cold, says Paul Killinger of the Global Lyme Alliance, are the best defenses against tick bites. At around 40 degrees, he says, ticks will seek shelter in leaf littler. But a few rays of sunshine on the snow will bring the little scoundrels out again. So be wary when out tromping in the fields. Maybe if it stays cold through the next months of winter, the ticks will die of boredom from hiding under the leaves.

You may be surprised to learn that Ann Burt will celebrate her 90th birthday on Friday, Jan. 9. Ann is the doyenne of the Tiasquam valley and among the most youthful 90 year olds on the Island. ‘Spry’ doesn’t begin to define her vitality. Happy birthday Ann.

And if you resolved to get back up on your horse this new year, note that Misty Meadows’ winter sessions have begun for riders of all ages and levels. For information contact Liz Adams at [email protected].

Happy birthday on Friday, Jan. 9, to Davis Solon; birthday wishes go on Saturday, Jan. 10, to Sam Arruda, Amy Crawford and David Burt; Annabelle Brothers will celebrate her big day on Sunday, Jan. 11; Christa Fischer is the birthday girl on Monday, Jan. 12; and Brian Athearn is the star of the day on Tuesday, Jan. 13.