Year of the Snake Day 25: The Siege of the Ice On Bayou

 

Year of the Snake Day 25: The Siege of the Ice On Bayou

By Captain Hedges

Star Date: 01252026.1145 (January 25, 2026) Location: The Inner Perimeter (Kitchen Stove), Shreveport Cabin Status: ARCTIC CONDITIONS / HOLDING THE LINE

This isn't just a cold snap anymore. This is a siege.

If you look at the official Shreveport weather report, it’s just numbers. But if you look out the window of the cabin, it’s a different planet. We have actual snow on the ground—not just a dusting, but enough to cover the cypress roots.

But the real story is the water. The bayou is frozen over. I threw a rock at it this morning, and it skittered across the surface like a hockey puck. That slow, murky water that usually feels so alive is now a silent, solid sheet of gray ice.

The cold has pushed past the outer defenses of the cabin. The bedrooms are uninhabitable. The main living room is too drafty to hold heat effectively. We have retreated to the only place that matters right now: The Kitchen.

As you can see from the visual log, Uncle Bill and I have established a defensive perimeter around the cast-iron stove.

We are wrapped in everything we own—wool blankets, quilts, layers of flannel. We are sitting so close to the firebox that our knees are practically touching the iron.

There isn't much conversation. When it's this cold, talking feels like a waste of precious body heat. Bill just grunts occasionally when he throws another oak log in. We just sit, drink coffee that cools down too fast, and listen to the wind whip around the eaves.

We aren't writing grand adventures today. We aren't designing new monsters. Today’s mission is primal and singular: Do Not Freeze.

Keep your fires hot, everyone. We're riding this one out one hour at a time.

– Captain Hedges