Tromping Through the Woods

While I am not too sure that one is technically tromping if one is snowshoeing, I like the word, so I am going with it (in the title).

Traditionally, with Sue and me, winter has been a favourite time to go to the cottage. Snowshoeing through the woods has always been an enjoyable activity. You get exercise, beauty, and no bugs.

This year, I found the lifting motion hard on my legs, so it was less enjoyable. Perhaps I did too much too soon, as I thought on the third and last day that it was going better with the old bod.

Whatever the case, I hereby, forthwith, and thusly presentest thou with a few photos. With the melting, they are not as glorious as in some years, but they are still good enough IMO.

First, a few shots of the woods and trails. Then, some people shots.

Perhaps my fave shot with the leading line and nice light

A pano looking downriver with the Reindeer Tree to anchor the scene

There was still some snow on boughs

And also snow on bare branches

Snow and lichens (?) on a fallen log

Onto some people shots. With my legs in some pain, I was always bringing up the rear, but that afforded some opportunities for occasional not-too-bad bum shots. :)

Getting your ducks (or people) in a row, nicely spread out and somewhat offset

I waited to catch the group heading around the corner

Then, I waited to frame Heather between the trunks

Brian, Heather and Elu in formation

Sometimes, I had the trio ... er, quartet (sorry Elu) ... stop and face the camera. Life is more than bums after all. :)

I told them to do something ... and they did ... something

I thought that having them stop and pose under the snow-laden, fallen tree was a good idea. None of us considered the safety factor. Bad Elu showed me what she thought of my picture-taking by turning her back — as if I needed another bum shot.

And so, we come to the end of snowshoeing in 2016. We did it for three days before conditions became too slushy in the mild weather. Even on the last day, it was so warm that I hung my coat on a tree partway through the tromp.

At this stage of life, one wonders if I will be around or if I am around if I will be physically able to tromp next year. Gotta make hay while the sun shines — or rather make snowshoe tracks while the snow lasts.

The Last Days of Winter?

We managed to get to the country for the tail end of winter. I am not so deluded as to think that winter is totally done, but it seems to be the case that the worst is over.

We arrived on Saturday, and mildness was already in the air both then and on Sunday, but by Monday, it was really warming up. By Tuesday, we gave up trying to snowshoe anymore and simply went for a walk along the road because the snow was getting too darn mushy.

Still, we did catch some winter in those first days, and I was able to snag a few photos. Today, I will show some from around the property. Later this week, I will take you for a snowshoe walk in the woods.

There was plenty of inside time. Brian was able to work on his photos while Sue did some crocheting. I read and Heather worked on her journal.

Brian has glasses to help correct his colour blindness, They work better out-of-doors, but he was trying them inside.

Sue glances up from her crocheting.

Icicles could be found in abundance.

 hanging from the shed

between the wood crib and the garage

on the south side of the garage

hanging from the snow

Views in opposite directions from close to the same spot.

Looking back toward the cottage (farmhouse)

Looking toward the barn and river

It was a short but good little break from the routine.

Joyful Sledding on a Snow Day

Although I didn't think I would get to post again before we took off for a few days, here I am.

On the most recent snow day, we had a chance to take the kids out sledding. Actually, they saucered, but you know what I mean.

They had a ball sliding for almost an hour and a half on a cold day. Thankfully, our little hollow was somewhat protected from the winds, so it was quite tolerable. Nevertheless, after standing at the bottom of the hill for an hour, Sue and I retreated to the car for the remainder. We were still able to see the kids from there, so it was all fine and dandy.

When I say we stood at the bottom of the hill, I did take two turns at sliding. Putting the big, unbendable, old me on the saucer was an exercise in futility and hilarity, which you can share in if you decided to watch the video that I am embedding.

Meanwhile, I got a number of kid photos that I quite like.

First the video (almost 2 minutes), and then the photos.

On The Eh Train

I think we've hit the dog days of winter if there is such a thing. Just when we really want winter to be finished, we've been experiencing the winteriest part of this winter. Today marks our sixth snowday (as in school buses cancelled) in 3 weeks. We have not experienced this many cancellations in the kids' 5 years of school.

We had company on the weekend as Sue's sister and BIL visited. Aside from getting together the main reason was to attend a lecture on Friday night. Confidently, I avowed that we didn't need the GPS because I knew exactly where I was going. Which was true, except I didn't.

The map in my head was just slightly off. I thought our turnoff was just after a certain main street. So, we passed that street and kept driving and driving — for 10 minutes anyway. It turned out that we should have turned just before that particular street, but I wasn't even looking at that point.

On Sunday, we went to a quaint English-style pub, the Old Mill at Ashton, that I mentioned a few posts back. We had enjoyed decent finger foods while there, and since Brian is a beer connoisseur and they do brew craft beers on site, we thought it would make for a nice outing.

Wrong.

We all had terrible meals. Really bad. As is yucky yuck yuck. And Brian didn't exactly rave about the beer either.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, one of my hearing aids has crapped out. To repair it will cost ~$450. But they are almost 6 years old. If I repair one, the other could require repairs tomorrow. OTOH, new devices will set me back $3000, give or take. What to do? Sigh.

Meanwhile, I am saying "Eh?" a lot — even more than usual.

Since we plan to head away to the cottage on the weekend or early next week, I will be saying "Eh?" and driving people and myself crazy for at least another few weeks.

I am not sure that I will post anything before we go and pretty unlikely while we're away, so you may not have AC to kick around for awhile now.

Eh?

Heather is Taking Off

I have a wonderful and talented sister-in-law. Her name is Heather, and she is a writer.

Heather (left) with Sue

I have lost track of all of the short story contests that she has won,

Last year, her first [to be published] novel, Clay Girl, was accepted for publication.

It will hit the stands sometime this coming fall. Be prepared because I will likely shill for her then.

Meanwhile, as a bit of a teaser, here is a snippet from one of her stories, followed by  a link to the whole thing. As is often the case with Heather, a real-life situation serves as the impetus for the story.

Warning, university education may cause premature graying- recent study finds 

At Christmas, Charlie came home from university a vegetarian. Being a mother, I took it personally. He reassured, “Strictly ethical reasons, Mom. Nothing to do with your cooking.” 

I wasn’t convinced. On more than one occasion I’d been accused of criminal assault on a rump roast. Now, looking at the condition of the Christmas turkey, I knew he was right. Ultimately this creature had not been treated well. It was missing a head, one wing and was indeed, dead. “You look thin, have you lost weight?” 

“Yeah, 8 pounds.” 

“Damn ethics,” I muttered. “You need protein. And what kind of a university course talks about meat, anyway?” 

His father glanced up from his paper. “I believe they call them bird courses, dear.” 

On Reading week, Charlie came home from university with 12 loads of laundry, said he was becoming a Buddhist and mentioned that he’d applied to do tsunami relief in Sri Lanka. 

“First of all,” I asked, “what have you been doing for clean underwear? Secondly, do you have to shave your head and wear orange? Because I really don’t think you could pull that look off. And thirdly, you simply cannot go to there.” 

“Why?”

“Well—because you’re grounded, that’s why.” 

He patted the top of my head in that way six-foot-two children do. “Oh, Mom, you’re so funny.”

Sensing my angst, his father paused from his reading. “Don’t worry, dear. They’re only taking donations, not volunteers.” 

Here's a link to the whole story: http://www.heathertucker.ca/warning-university-education-may-cause-premature-graying-recent-study-finds/

And here's a link to Heather on Facebook. She is just getting started on social media, so you can get in on the ground floor: https://www.facebook.com/heathertuckerauthor/timeline

Finally, she has just begun to blog, and I am pretty sure it will be good: http://www.heathertucker.ca

Heather and Sue

The Big Storm

Last week, we had the biggest one day snowstorm of our 11 winters in The Valley with 50cm/20" falling in one day, most of it from about 8AM to 5PM. We've had much snowier winters for sure — colder too — but this was the biggest single fall.

I thought you might like to see some pictures.

We made sure to lie low during the storm, only going out to shovel the walk and by the garage door. This was our 5th shovelling of the day. The snow plow had recently come by to clear the driveway, but you can see that it was already beginning to fill in again. However, the storm was just about over, so it didn't build up too much more. You can see the sheer line of snow where the plow had cleared.

This is what our street looked like next morning. Most snow that you see had fallen on that one day. It's amazing how clear the more major roads were after such a fall. However, school buses were still cancelled because some side streets and many rural roads had not yet been cleared.

A few photos looking back toward our house, the first with Sue observing whatever I was doing from the front porch, coffee in hand.

We did get out for a bit of a walk, and I took some neighbourhood shots.

Snowblowers become handy after the storm. Some people are generous and clear their less fortunate neighbours as well. However, this considerate fellow was just doing his side of the shared drive. It's hard to figure some people.

Look at the snow on the deck.

Can you see the door? Actually, it is just a garage door, so access isn't important.

We made our way to the path by the river and were surprise to see that someone had cleared it for a little way at least. It wasn't the town but some neighbour who perhaps had a dog to walk.

Then, it was time to head back to our den and returning to the serious business of hibernating.

As I write this, we've had a mild day or two. It's raining lightly and snow is melting. But there will be more snow before winter is done with us. How much more, I cannot begin to guess and probably nothing to match this. Hopefully, we can avoid ice storms.

More River Mist in Appleton

The day after the previous post (of the mist by the bridge), we were forced to take the car for a little drive. The battery had failed in the cold, so after recharging, we took a little drive up to Appleton. Like the previous day, there was some mist coming off the water, but not as much.

Still, with the sun shining, I thought it looked nice enough to stop and snap a few. These first two were on our approach into Appleton, looking downriver,

We crossed the bridge and turned upriver before meandering away from the river. I liked the view of the house across the river, between the trees with the footprints (mine) leading toward the river. ↓

Now looking upriver where there was a fair bit of mist. ↓

Looking back toward the car from about where I took the previous photo. ↓

It was a very cold day, but it didn't have the same wind chill as the previous day and with the sun it was quite pleasant to drive about. With the battery recharged (until the next day — I guess it is time to replace it) we headed back to town to complete a few chores before heading home for a Valentine supper and a movie on Netflix — Gravity.