Let it Snow ...

... or the Re-Tiring Blues

Today was the day – the day to have our snow tires put on. We never bothered with them back in southwestern Ontario, but they seem like a good idea in colder and snowier Eastern Ontario. The timing seemed right too because when I left to drive to the tire place this morning, there were a few wisps of snow on Harriet the Chariot (whom I happened to leave outside last night). By this time last year, we had already accumulated snow, and it stayed until about the end of March, but this is only the second little dusting that we've had this year. What with El Niño and all, the experts at Environment Canada are predicting a warmer than average winter. That will make it two in a row ... and many in recent times.

It ended up costing me $70 to have the winter tires put on. That may seem like a lot seeing as they were already on rims, but in this nothing is ever straightforward life, the job turned out to be more than we bargained for. You see, what they call a wheel stud and what I call a tire bolt broke when they were changing the tires. They didn't have a stud/bolt handy, so they ordered one, and I had to take the car back in later and resign myself to forking out another forty-four Canadian pesos.

In other news, we had a few more minutes of sun today, but they say that we can expect a lot more sunlight over the next few days. Should they be right, we will surely appreciate the change. So, without snow and with mild temperatures for most of the past month, it's not beginning to look a lot like Christmas – outside. But it is inside. Ornaments are appearing in this corner and that, and it's really beginning to look festive. Come this weekend, we'll have our traditional tree decorating party at Sha's before heading to Main Street to see the Santa Claus parade. We really enjoyed it last year; it was very neat small town event.