Snow Squalls

This morning Attila rotated his computer to show me the snow that had accumulated on the deck over the last six days. He shovelled the snow off the deck a week ago.

Although Attila has been hard at work shovelling snow, both at work and at home, he looks well fed and well rested. Attila can cook, he takes good care of himself most of the time. He looks haggard when he pushes himself too hard, and too hard is very, very hard indeed. That is why I become very concerned when he looks haggard. Right now, in spite of the extreme cold earlier in the week, and now the incredible amount of snow, he looks well rested. All is well on the home front.

I talked to a woman at the place where I work on-call, turning down a three hour shift next month, the only work they are offering over the months of January and February. You really can’t consider this a job, although the company and politicians claim they are putting Canadians to work, they fail to mention that a lot of those so-called “jobs” are 1 1/2 hours a month of paid employment. It is joke, not a job. Anyway, be that as it may, she was telling me that the snow was so extreme yesterday around the country house, that for the first time in her life, she is over 50 and has lived in that area around the country house all her life, she could not get out the driveway to get to work, too much snow.

Attila really is doing very well in looking well, all things considered.

Here at the little house in the city the weather is challenging, but not nearly to the same degree as at the country house. They are two very different worlds!

Yesterday morning I awoke to a landscape buried under three to five inches of snow. The temperature was about -9C, there wasn’t much of a wind. After I had a good hearty bowl of oatmeal, I put on my boots and parka and headed out the door with my snow shovel. The lad who lives across the street, in his senior years at high school, had shovelled out a path for Tank to exit, and me to walk around Tank. Very sweet!

Since his efforts though, the snow plough had come along and ploughed a three to four foot high pile of snow right across the end of my driveway. It was packed snow, not the light stuff that was already shovelled off the drive by the neighbour. So I began the day’s snow removal. It took me over two hours of steady, slow effort to clear the end of the drive, clear the rest of the driveway, clear the front step, clear a walkway to the front step, clear off Tank and remove the snow on the driveway generated by clearing off Tank. It was a big job.

Many of the people here have snow blowers. One of our neighbours has a snow blower and he has cleared our driveway in our absence during previous winters. He cleared the driveway of the house next door, the new young couple with children. He is really a great neighbour. I was almost finished by the time hew was out with the snowblower, but I am sure that had I not been, he would have done our drive as well.

I briefly spoke with my neighbour across the street, as she stopped her car to speak to me. She is sick with the flu, so I didn’t go close! Our next door neighbour came over to chat, asking after Attila. He and his wife are lovely people.

The postman is helping me meet all my neighbours! Early in the week he delivered the mail for the house two doors down. I had not met them, and didn’t know their name. I couldn’t find their house, the house numbers on our street are random. I finally found their telephone number on the internet, called them, explained that I had their mail. The fellow came over right away to pick it up. Then this morning the mailbox was full, with mail that belonged on another street, the house number was the same, the postman delivered it to the wrong street. So I put on my winter gear and headed down the road to find them. The gentleman was out shovelling snow at the address on the envelopes, so I approached him. It was indeed the right address, so I handed him his mail, had a pleasant little chat, and headed back to the little house.

Shovelling snow was my daily exercise yesterday. I reckoned that two hours of shovelling was as good as a thirty minute brisk walk.

This morning the sun was shining bright, with a cold breeze blowing, and a -21C wind chill. No new snow fell over the course of the night, I am happy to report. I decided to try going out for my walk. The roads were clear, but the sidewalks were horrid! It looked like the town had a small plough for sidewalks, but had missed the sidewalk altogether in places and ploughed the grass at the side of the road instead of the sidewalk. Footing was pretty tricky on the ploughed grass. I walked a short way, then decided to head back the way I came. Instead I walked down a side street, right down the middle of the road, which was the only way clear of ice and snow. Since traffic moved slowly on the side street, I could hear vehicles coming and move carefully to the side of the road for them to pass. It was a shorter walk than I had been enjoying, but better a shorter walk than no walk at all.

At lunch time Attila called me via FaceTime, we had a cheerful little chat. Apparently there are few people on the roads right now, as there are high winds, and blinding snow. He will be spending the rest of his day with firewood and shovels.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

-12°C
Date: 9:00 AM EST Saturday 10 January 2015
Condition: Drifting Snow
Pressure: 102.6 kPa
Tendency: rising
Visibility: 24 km
Temperature: -11.9°C
Dewpoint: -19.0°C
Humidity: 56%
Wind: WSW 24 gust 41 km/h
Wind Chill: -21

Quote

“Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music – the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.”
Henry Miller
1891 – 1980