Its March and in spite of over 35 winters in northern Ontario I still want it to be spring. I know that you can’t rush it, that winter lasts until at least the end of March BUT enough already. As I write this early on March 2nd it is -27C! Last Thursday we got a real shot of snow, 15cm+ and Friday morning as I went to work it was blowing, cold and nasty. Of course it snowed Thursday night when I had to work Friday and Saturday. That meant that I had to drive through the snow four times before I could start to clean up the mess yesterday morning. Driving through fresh snow before you move it makes the job that much more unpleasant. This what it looked like before I started. 
That is our mailbox at the end of the driveway. This is the entrance to the driveway
It took me almost 3 hours yesterday and I haven’t opened the path to the red shed where I store recycling until spring and to the sauna where I may get warm again. There are a couple of spots where the snow blower won’t throw the snow over the bank any more. I am going to have to move some of that snow before it starts to melt. 
When I got finished I put out a pail of corn for the deer who were out of the trees and munching away before I got the house. I sat on the porch and watched them. The snow is deep and they are hungry. We are entering what is surely the toughest month of the year for them. I’m sure that there will be a couple of more storms before winter is over and we will deal with that but it should be spring!
Here is the definition of inertia as a noun – “a feeling of unwillingness to do anything”. That is what I am feeling these days, inertia, in fact I seem to be approaching completely inert. We went off to Cuba almost 2 weeks ago, had an amazing time and when I got home I did not write one little entry here about all of the things we saw, heard, tasted and experienced. I have agreed to put on a training course for 4 days in mid-March, I did that in December, it is now 3 weeks until the start of the course and I just got off my ass yesterday and started to put together the material. In the process I discovered that a lot of what I used to be able to do in PowerPoint I have forgotten. Just lovely!
I am not sure if this inertia is winter related, age related or what but it is really bothering me, but not apparently enough to do something about it. See – inertia.The last two days I have wakened early, been down stairs, made the coffee and had my breakfast finished by 6.30 or so. I did what needed to be done in the morning and then spent the afternoon and a good portion of the evening laying on the couch dozing and watching TV, sort of. Man there is a lot of crap on TV.
Perhaps this is the first step to recovery. I am admitting my inertia. I’ll let you know of it works, if I can get up the energy 
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On Friday our good friend Wendy turned 50. Charlie decided to have a surprise birthday party for her and we were invited. One small problem. The party was scheduled for January 31st and Charlie and Wendy (The T’s) live in Wawa 3 1/2 hours north of us. The trip means traveling along the east coast of Lake Superior which routinely experiences heavy snow squalls, white outs and extended road closures. It can be a really crappy drive which I never undertake lightly. As the planning progressed I was tasked with sourcing and delivering the fruit for a chocolate fountain and as of Thursday picking up a Wii game system, Charlies gift to Wendy. I also volunteered to make a batch of baked beans and a loaf of whole grain bread. Friday the beans were cooked and bread was baked.Also on Friday I discovered that my good friend Inga had to go to Wawa for another event and we arranged to travel together. All week it was clear with no precipitation. Saturday morning I woke up to snow – of course. A check of the road conditions online foretold less than ideal road conditions but I was committed and decided that if the highway was open we would go. I loaded the car with lots of heavy clothes and boots in case we got stopped somewhere. After stops in the Sault to buy the fruit and the Wii I collected Inga and off we went. The weather actually improved as we headed north. Highway 17 was almost bare, the snow quit and the traffic was light. About halfway to Wawa you reach the hamlet of Montreal River Harbour and climb one of the nastiest hills east of the Rockie Mountains.At the top of the hill the weather and road conditions changed abruptly. We experienced a series of squalls blowing in off the lake which caused sharply reduced visibility and the road surface became snow packed a lot more slippery. We slowed own and made it into Wawa about a half hour later than anticipated but safe and sound. I dropped Inga with her friend and then headed to the party site to deliver the goods and help with set up. Preparations were in full swing. By 2pm 30+ people were sitting chatting when Wendy walked in and was completely surprised. She had no hint what was going on. It was a fun afternoon with visiting and a few drinks and lots of snacks. 
People came and went. Wendy was having a great time. A number of gifts and cards were opened and a funny hat was produced. 
After a while it was suppertime and out came lasagna, salad, beans, home made bread and buns and afterward a huge birthday cake. Everybody ate as much as they wanted and there was lots left over. After supper we broke out the Wii and played a few games of bowling. It really is a lot of fun.About 9.30pm I decided to head up the hill to my hotel room and made arrangements to be back at the chalet in the morning to help load all of the leftover food and booze into Charlies van for the trip back to their place.
I was down in the morning to enjoy a cup of coffee and some chat with Charlie and Wendy before heading to their place. We arrived just after 9 and Charlie immediately started organizing breakfast. Jon and I were dispatched to buy some bacon and Jon’s friend Eric was sent downstairs to start a fire in the wood stove. Just before 10 the bacon was frying and the pile of pancakes was growing when Charlie started mentioning that he could smell something like plastic burning. A few more sniffs and all of a sudden Charlie was yelling at Eric to look outside at the chimney. Yup it was on fire! Eric had overachieved on the fire. Well, then things got exciting. Charlie was roaring at everyone to get out of the house and Wendy called 911. Rebecca stumbled out the door in a tee shirt, boxer shorts and her boots, still mostly asleep. Jon was ordered out of the shower and into the street. In a few minutes the fire trucks arrived with 8 volunteer firefighters in all their gear including breathing apparatus and after some discussion insisted on going up on the roof to inspect the chimney. The street was blocked off, the neighbours were out and the red lights on the fire truck were going round and round. 
By this time the forecasted snow squalls were starting to amke an appearance, the prospect of pancakes and bacon had, pardon the pun, gone up in smoke and it was time to head south. I collected Inga from down the street and Jon from the house and off we went. The weather and road conditions were very similar to what they had been on the way north and but again the traffic was light and we took our time. We arrived back in the Sault just after 2pm and after dropping my passengers I headed back to the island to see Val and tell her of all the adventures. Many thanks to the T’s for a great party and a fun-filled visit.
We live in a rural part of the island and it is fairly common to have wildlife in the yard. Our visitors range from a variety of small birds who come routinely to our feeders to white tailed deer who love the taste of Val’s flowers and my vegetables. We’ve seen raccoons, foxes, a weasel and one warm summer night about 4 years ago a bobcat who had a taste for cat meat. Poor Mulder 
. Bad bobcat!
White tails survive northern Ontario winters because they have learned to expend the least amount of energy possible to acquire the most calories possible. That means that if they find a source of food, especially high energy food, they don’t go far. They regularly come right to the edge of our deck to vacuum up shells from the sunflower seeds that the birds love. Deer also have big brown eyes and when they can relax they look right in the windows at us. When Val sees them and I hear “oh they look so hungry” I know that I will shortly be going out to put some whole corn down in the driveway for them. Every winter I promise myself that I won’t do it but every winter it happens.This winter is proving to be no exception and late last week I heard those fateful words and Friday afternoon I dumped a pail of mixed corn and oats in the driveway. They were immediately discovered by a pair of blue jays who apparently love the taste of whole corn. Saturday – no deer, Sunday – no deer. Monday – same thing. Just those jays getting fatter by the minute! Yesterday about 9.30 am I looke dout the window intot he yard and this is what I saw:
15 wild turkeys came walking down the driveway and right in to that pile of corn. This not the first time we have seen them but it is the first time we have had them here in winter. They stayed for 15 or 20 minutes and then headed back down the driveway. But, before they got the road them seemed to settle down as if they were just going to rest there for a while. They are very wary animals and would rather walk or run than fly.Late in the afternoon they came back and were in the cedars in front of the house. They didn’t stay long this time but we are hoping that they come back again.
Motivation, where does it come from & how do you hang on to it? This a question that I have been meaning to think about and write about, if I can get motivated. January is a dark month and a cold month and those two things combined seem to have driven any motivation I may possess into the farthest reaches of wherever motivation goes for a holiday. Probably Bali or a tiny village near the headwaters of the mighty Limpopo River in central Africa. Anyway it seems to have gotten off my island.
I have not uttered these words out loud but I made two promises to myself sometime between Christmas and new years. I told myself that I would reinvigorate this blog. I’m not sure why this has become important to me but it has. It is a matter of great pride for me to write something (hopefully of some import) regularly. As I have said here on more than one occasion I am in awe of Clara’s skill with words and with her ability to find time in an incredibly hectic life to write regularly, articulately and very humourously in her blog. And if my son would start to write in English instead of techno-garble I’m sure that I would enjoy his blog also . These two are my motivation.
The other promise I made to myself relates to my health. I live with diabetes and hypertension. Both of these are invisible and both are controllable, by me. All I have to do is lose weight, exercise regularly, eat a far better diet and cut way back on the amount of alcohol I consume. Last year my motivation stayed home and I actually managed to lose weight during the winter, enough weight that people started to notice. My doctor sure did! My BP dropped right back into the very normal range and my bg readings were the best they had been in sometime.I was using a recumbent exercise bike and walking. In the spring I kept it up. I was outside gardening and walking.I managed to keep the weight off over the summer and things were looking pretty good. Good enough that I thought that I could start to eat a bit more than I had been and things that I know are not good for me. Just before Christmas I had an appointment with my doctor and although my BP was still good my weight had started to creep back up.That was enough to make me stop exercising completely. So I told myself that come January 1 I would get off my ass and get back to it. Well here we are on Jan. 23 and I am till telling myself the same story. I delude myself into thinking that hauling in firewood once a week and walking behind the snow blower are suitable alternatives but I know it ain’t so. I walk past my bike half a dozen times a day and every time I think I should park my butt and spend 15 minutes but its not happening and it is really pissing me off. I have to start! So if anyone who reads this sees my motivationwill you please tell it to come home.
Last Friday I walked out of the house at about 05:20 hr. At that time of day, at this time of year, at this latitude it is still very very dark. Where we live there is no ambient light to interfere with our view of the sky and all its natural beauty. Sometimes it is just inky black and you know that there is heavy overcast and clouds. Sometimes the fog is so thick that even though you can’t see it you can actually feel it. Sometimes it is so clear that you can see every star there is, or at least you think you can. I know, depending on the time of year, where to look to find the big dipper or Orion’s belt. You can, if you stand still for a few minutes, usually find a satellite streaking across the sky. But Friday it was really special. Before I walked out I knew that it was bright. And when I walked out there was something special. There was an almost full moon still high in the southwest, well above the treeline and in front it was a layer of high broken cloud. It was perfect. There was a halo around the moon, caused the light reflecting off the clouds. It was relatively mild, -10C or so I just stood there in awe. What a sight. And, there was no sound: no cars, no trains, no boats (we can, on a quiet night, hear the freighters blowing their horns as they make a turn at the foot of the island). It was eerie and I almost expected to see a witch on a broom flying across the face of the moon. I didn’t want to get into the car and head in to work.
Some of the best parts of living where we do are so free and so natural and so available that all you have to do is stand still for a minute and take them in.
We returned home after a month away recently. The fellow who kept our yard open while we were gone did a good job but using a truck with a blade he was limited as to where he could put all the snow we have received this winter and it is a lot. This is easily the snowiest winter since 1997. It took me & my snowblower 4 solid days to get things cleaned up. By the end my right forearm was quite sore. Muscle strain I thought, coupled with some “you’re not as young as you used to be” and a little “you’ve been sitting on your ass a lot lately”. Problem explained, carry on and quit whining. So I gave it a bit of a rest, tried mousing with my left hand and it seemed to be getting better. Until Thursday.
Thursday afternoon I had an appointment with my doctor, a regular thing and since it was a locum I didn’t know I did not say anything about the sore arm. We got home while it was still light so I decided to spend a few minutes chipping ice that had accumulated on the back porch. It was cold and the ice was generally not in any mood to be chipped so my efforts were not yielding great results. I decided to quit, sweep off the little bit of ice that had come free and leave the rest for another day. As i swept the broom back and forth (not too vigorously) something in my right forearm went snap, no noise but I was instantly in pretty severe pain. I spent quite a miserable evening. I had a light supper, some ibuprofen, some acetaminophen and tried to find a position to hold my arm in that let me feel comfortable. We debated going to the hospital to get it checked but after some discussion decided to wait until morning and see how it felt. After a night that passed more comfortably then I had expected It was still very sore Friday morning so I called the clinic and yes there was an opening- come right away. So off we went, Val driving with barely 1 cup of coffee in her system. Well it was a medical emergency. Arrived and was taken in almost immediately. Same doctor comes in and I started to explain the problem. He begins to manipulate my arm and press here and there asking the expected question,Does this hurt? Does this hurt?” Then he started running his thumb along the length of my forearm asking, “Does it hurt here? “Is this where it hurts?” He then mumbled something about a subdural whatchamacallit of the anterior thingamajig. Then the really surprising question, “How do feel about an acupuncture treatment?” “Fine” says I and the next thing you know I had 6 or 7 little needles sticking out of my left leg from the knee to the ankle. Each time he would press with his thumb asking, ” Can you feel this?” Then in would go this really fine needle. It didn’t hurt going in, in fact I barely felt it but then he would give it a little twist until I felt something akin to a very slight electrical shock which invariably made me jump. Every time he inserted a needle he would return to questioning me about how the arm felt and where is the pain now and I would try to give him specifics. By the end of 15 minutes or so I had needles in my left leg , one just above my right ankle, one in my skull and another right beside the nail on my right index finger, that one hurt going in. While this was going on he was talking to himself about the spleen and the large intestine and other organs. He explained that acupuncture is all about balancing the forces within the body and some of the history and lexicon of acupuncture.
All in all it was an interesting experience and my arm did feel better when he was finished. After withdrawing all of the needles he prescribed a course of anti-inflammatory medication and told me to rest the arm for a few days. It is now Sunday morning and the arm is still sore but it is getting better.
ps I did tell him I was going to blog this.
If I was a talented as The Cheesefairy as you look at the photo Bruce Cockburn would be singing “The Coldest Day of The Year”. But I’m not so you will have to hum the chorus to yourself. Damn it it is cold this morning as you can see. This was taken at 8.15am on February 13th, 2007. Somewhere under that drake’s tail it is about -26C. But, read the title and think warm thoughts. 
The moochers were out under the bird feeders just a few minutes ago.
Just a few minutes ago it started to snow quite heavily. I was looking out the kitchen window when all of a sudden three deer appeared in the snow coming out of the trees and walking purposefully toward the house. They came up along the side of the house and one stopped to nibble on the peony plant. They headed to the front of the house where the bird feeders are located to check for sunflower seed shells which the birds drop as they are feeding and which the deer clean up. this time of year they’ll eat almost anything. when I looked out the dining room window the three deer I had seen and two others were vying for a the shells. They are obviously in good shape. Their bodies are well rounded and the snow was accumulating on their backs which means that they still have a good layer of fat acting as insulation. A snowplow went by on the highway and the noise was enough to spook them and convince them that it was time to move back into heavier cover. This was the last view before they drifted into the trees.
The wildlife are having a relatively easy winter and most critters will move into spring in good shape. There should be a good crop of healthy fawns come May. In the meantime we enjoy watching them and there is little worry about starvation.