Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Did Old Man Winter ever decide to visit us in a hurry. One day it was fairly nice out and the next day we went into the 'deep freeze'. Monday morning I was up and ready to go at 5:20 a.m. When I checked my weather gauge it was showing -38C with the wind chill so I dressed appropriately as I headed out to deliver the papers.
I have a 4 block walk that normally puts me facing right into the prevailing North West winds and this day was no exception. The wind was howling down from the arctic right into my face. Even though I had on a nice fur hat and had it wrapped around to cover most of my face, I still got quite cool. I certainly was happy to finally take a corner and get the wind in my back.
Tuesday morning wasn't much better but at least we didn't have as much wind.
This morning my paper delivery guy was a little bit late, but not overly. The weather gauge showed about the same for temperature as Monday (ie -38C), but I do believe the wind was a bit stronger. This time the wind was coming more from the East so I didn't have as long to walk into the wind. It still was chilly, but not overly.
The biggest problem is that we got a fair good dump of snow overnight and of course I was out before anyone had cleaned up their walks. It makes it so awkward walking in the deeper snow when it's dark and you can't really see the lay of the land. Of course very few people actually leave an outside light on at night. Even a measly 25 watt bulb would at least give me a clue what is in my way when I walk up to the mailbox. Oh well, in about 6 months I'll have daylight at my delivery times so no sense worrying about it now.
With plowing thru the snow this morning I took about an extra 10-15 minutes to do my route. The extra exertion plowing through the snow made it so I was almost at the point of sweating by the time I made it home even though the temperature was down in the -38 C area. I just loosened off my hat a bit and that cooled me down in a rush.
Hopefully by tomorrow everyone was out and got a bit of shovelling done. Mind you it has been blowing all day today, so even if they did shovel it is likely to have blown in again by morning. At least at the time I'm out (05:30 a.m. to 06:30 a.m.) there is very little traffic so I can walk down the middle of the road.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Friday, November 23, 2007
Visitors
With the weather we have been having for the last week or so being actually crappy in that it is so dull and grey all the time, it was so nice to receive a phone call this morning from Fred. Fred and mom decided they would be coming out to see us today as they needed to buy some bottled water at our local hardware store. Of course when mom comes to town she always wants to visit the local grocery store to see what is on sale this week.
Shortly after dinner I saw the blue bomb streaming by heading downtown. About 15-20 minutes later mom and Fred arrived. It was coffee time.
As we were sitting chatting away this van pulled up and parked in the front of the house. The van looked familiar yet I couldn't place who's it was. There was a woman reaching in the side door doing something. A few minutes later I saw what she was doing. She was putting a coat on a young child. The woman and child started walking up to our door and then I knew who it was.
Shar-Lee and her daughter were coming to visit. The family was on their way to Saskatoon from Weyburn and it was a washroom break for the young daughter. Shar-Lee's daughter headed for the washroom and Shar-Lee, Sandra, mom, Fred and I had a quick 3 minute visit after a quick introduction. Then they were off to the big city with all the lights and greater variety of stores to do some Christmas shopping in and watch the Grey Cup on a big screen TV. Even though it was such a short visit, it sure was nice to have Shar-Lee drop by.
Around 4:00 p.m. mom was getting antsy and I knew she was ready to hit the highway once again and head for home. Mom has this terrible fear of running into a deer along the highway so she always wants to depart in daylight hours. Actually I don't blame her with the amount of deer carcasses you see along the stretch of they highway into the city. It seems as if every time we go to the city and return you see 10-12 dead deer along this stretch. From what I saw last spring when the deer were yarding up, I know there are a lot of deer in this area. Of course at present time the deer are a bit stupid due to it being the rutting time for them. You never know when one is going to dart in front of your vehicle or into the side of your vehicle. Both normally cause a heck of a lot of damage to your vehicle.
By 4:15 p.m. mom and Fred had departed. It sure was nice to have the visitors drop by even it was only for a short time. It's always a welcome change in our 'so stressed out' lives :)
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Saturday, November 10, 2007
I haven't been real active in the blogging of late. It just seems like there is so much to do and not enought time to get it done. The least of my time has been tied up getting ready for the local Remembrance Day ceremonies. I'm not sure how I got rooked into doing what I get to do, but it looks like I got elected when I wasn't looking. Note to self: "No more pee breaks during Legion meetings"!
Of course the latest death of a very junior RCMP member in Nunavut also doesn't put me in a great mood especially as we near November 11th. I just don't know if I agree with sending such junior members to the North, but today is not the day to debate that one.
Today is a reminder to all about November 11th and what it entails. There are many, many books and internet sites out there letting us know about this important day and what it entails. However, I did come across a few links that put it all together (for me at least).
Here are a few links that remind me what November 11th and Remembrance Day is all about:
Remembrance Day Letter - 2007
Canadian Forces Tribute Video
Watch or listen to the "Terry Kelly" Remembers song & video
Watch the "Peacekeeper's Letter Home" video
A List of Fallen Canadians since 2002
Canadian Forces Casualties in Afghanistan