Life On Lot 12

When I moved to Nakina in the mid 70’s I didn’t know a lot about keeping warm in the winter but I learned very quickly. One of the first things I learned was that the Cree knew a lot about keeping warm and I should emulate them. So one of the first things I bought early in the first winter was a pair of moose hide mitts. I wish I still had them. They were made of smoke tanned moose hide and lined with thick duffel cloth or blanket cloth that was purchased at The Bay. They had long gauntlets that went well up over your wrists. The gauntlets were embroidered with bead work and trimmed with otter fur. I think that I bought them in Webique for less than $20.00. They were warm and for the first few months smelled like the very best smokey bacon you ever had. I wish that I still had them or at the very least had a picture of them. They were well-made, incredibly warm and served me very well for a long time. And they got used. From December until March I rarely went to work without them. After I got to Moosonee 4 years later I bought another pair, probably in Winisk and these ones were also smoke tanned but the big difference was that the back of the gaumntlet was one big square of beaver fur. This was a far superior for wiping your nose and for warming your face up, as long as you remembered to warm before you wiped . Near the end of my stay in Moosonee I ordered a new pair of mitts and vowed that these would be my “good mitts”. They would only be worn on special occasions, they would not get stained with grease changing a snowmobile belt or soaked with gas refuelling snowmobiles or aircraft. And for many years after we left Moosonee they were kept in a pristine state. the old ones got used lots in Temamgami where I was still a field officer and to a lesser extent in Hearst where I mainly flew a desk. But time and use overtook them and they were eventually discarded because most of the fur was worn off and the alms were worn thin to the point of having holes in them. Goodbye old friends. My good mitts have rested peacefully in storage since we moved to the island and have rarely if ever seen the light of day. Tuesday they reminded me why and I have them. We got about5 or 6 cm. of snow on Monday and Tuesday morning I decided I had better move it off the driveway before it got really cold (it is -26C as i write this Thursday morning).My snowblower has metal handles and normally here the temps are such that my sturedy work gloves with thinsulite lining are more than adequate to keepmy hands warm. But I was not outside for more than 10 minutes and my hands were very cold. I manged to be tough for another 10 minutes or so and by then the palm of my right hand was numb. I went inside to warm them up and as I was standing with my hands extended over the woodstove I realized that my old friends were within arms reach and would serve me very well. I slipped those lovely big mitts onto my hands and back out I went. I spent over an hour finishing the job and during that time my hands remained toasty warm.I had honestly forgotten how warm they are and how comfortable you can be outisde on a cold day if you just dress properly. And – here they are.

We are 5 days into the new year. It is the coldest, darkest time of the year and we are into another very snowy winter. It will be hard on deer and wild turkey populations. It is also hard on the snow blower. I have used almost 20 L of gasoline already this winter and there are 3 months left! The good part is that I get lots of exercise walking behind it.

This morning I have been moving snow between my portable garage and the wood shed so that I can move the accumulated snow off the wood shed roof.

Later that evening – I ended up spending about 2 hr at it today and there is still more to move but that will wait for Wednesday.

Here are two photos of our yard taken 10 days apart. The first shows what it looked like on April 12th and the second what it looks like today, April 22nd.

What a difference in just 10 days.

Tuesday morning I was lounging around in sweatpants and a teeshirt. About 10am it was time to get dressed to go out on a number of errands. Upstairs I went, took off my glasses and pulled on a shirt and pair of pants. I collected the parcels for the mail, cellphone, wallet etc etc and out to the car I went. it was a beautiful warm and very sunny day. About 5 minutes into the trip I reached for my magnetic clip-on sunglasses and put them up to my glasses. When I let go the fell onto my nose and then into my lap. I felt my face and confirmed it, my glasses were still on my dresser!