Creak, creak, creak, creak... That nasty sound again. This is always heard at the hour of the bull. It's three o'clock in the morning today. I couldn't sleep anymore, I got up, took the gun. It's always been on the next pillow since I've been alone. No one wanted to live on a farm in this wilderness. Last Tuesday there was the same creaking, but I didn't get up, and in the morning I found Daisy, my favorite chicken, dead. I thought it was foxes or wolves, but 2 days later at night I heard the same creaking and in the morning I found a goose dead, and 2 days later a goat...

? Minus 5 or minus 25 — what difference does that make? Snow is snow. It creaks — and that's that. Right? Wrong, actually. 🌡️ The sound of snow is a thermometer. At −5°C, snow softly "rustles" underfoot. At −15°C, it gives out a crisp "crunching" sound. At −25°C, it squeaks so loudly you can hear it a block away. What's happening? ❄ A snowflake is a tiny star with rays, or needles, as they are called. When you step on it, those needles break. In a mild frost, snowflakes partly melt due to friction, leaving a thin layer of water between them...