Tuesday, January 28, 2014

A BIT ON THE WILD SIDE

The last few weeks have been cold, really cold.....crazy cold! There were a few days when the thermometer on the Weather Network screen reported -38C. That is about  the same temperature in Fahrenheit degrees. When we finally got our camera to take a shot of what it was saying the temperature had warmed up to a balmy -34C, oooowee. 
Whenever it gets that cold and thermometer dips down below that -30C mark everything starts getting affected. Standing on the back porch we could hear the trees in the forest making cracking sounds, the parking brake in our little car doesn't work, the seats in the truck freeze and they don't have that same amount of "give" when you sit down. The poor wildlife too. 
In fact, it was so cold that it got even more wild here as John Deer and Jane Doe decided that they would check in and spend a night in Jolly Rover. They walked straight up to the front door, expecting a cozy night sitting by the fireplace, sipping a hot toddy, but alas it was already booked by somebody else.
Hopefully we'll see a break in the weather this week; settling for -15C doesn't sound that bad these days. Fortunately we're staying warm in Chinook cottage and we have been leaving the heat lamp on for the chickens so they are managing OK as well. 
Family Day weekend is coming up in just a few weeks. There will still be lots of winter left then!

 

Friday, January 10, 2014

ENOUGH ALREADY, I SAID ENOUGH

What a winter we are having in North Muskoka. The lake froze over before December, the snow started in November, the ski hills had their earliest starts ever and mid winter conditions are here in the first week of January.
Just before Christmas we were getting snowfalls of 5 - 10cm on a daily basis. The snow was piling up on the picnic table just outside of our bedroom. On December 23 we took picture of the soon-to-be disappearing table. The holidays did not disappoint this year and we had one of the whitest Christmas' in years.
Last week we took a short two day visit to New York City to visit relatives. By the way, we flew Porter Air and was it ever a nice way to fly; inexpensive, lots of flight choices and way less hassle compared to Pearson. We returned last Tuesday just as the cold, snowy weather was wreaking havoc on the airports and roads. By the time we got back to Foxwood on Wednesday afternoon there must have been 40+ cm of new snow on the ground. The following two days were spent digging out driveways and cottages and shoveling off the roof of the Main Lodge. 
The picnic table that we took a picture of two weeks earlier really tells the story. It is now almost completely gone! Buried under a meter or more of snow, we likely won't see this stately piece of furniture 'til spring. So enough snow and how about some sunshine.
In the meantime, we'll be enjoying the fluffy stuff, after all that is what winter is all about!