Winter weather and the Loess Hills are doing all they can to try slowing down progress on the TSI project. Access to the site is impossible without travel by snowmobile and navigation in the woods must come by way of snowshoes. The woods have two feet of snow, the trees have been coated with ice, and blizzard like conditions blow in from time to time. As the temperature rises slightly above freezing, the ice slowly melts, turning the woods into an ice cold rainstorm. Hours later, the ice breaks free sending ice daggers hurtling towards the ground in an unpredictable pattern. Branches break off from time to time, and the addition of a hardhat is welcome. Days after, things seem to calm down slightly, but winds exceeding 50 M.P.H. descend on the hills creating hazardous conditions in the woods and near whiteout visibility nearly everywhere else. Throughout this onslaught HRF has been in the woods marking timber for thinning, and if conditions allow cutting will begin in a matter of weeks.