Winter, I divorce thee

[memaquay]

As I sit here, perversely hoping for a snow day so I don't have to go to work, I am rolling in the misery of a long, brutish winter. April is a blink away, and there is still over 3 feet of ice on the lakes. My snowblower has gone into forced retirement, this winter has finished it off. We are expecting another foot of snow today. The wind and cold was so severe this year that I hardly got outside.

O Global Warming, where art tho?

I have a new carbon paddle, and a couple of early season trips lined up, and I am thinking every day about paddling. My prediction for ice out is May 17. We will have one week of paddling before the hordes of blood sucking bugs descend.

Sometimes I think Jacques Cartier got it right when he called Canada "The Land God gave to Cain", a barren, buggy land fit for the exile of a biblical murderer.

 

[Sweetfancymoses]

Man, you've got it bad. Time for the sweat lodge.

 

[Woodpuppy]

Wow. And here I am dreading the weather that invariably takes the temps to triple digits. I HATE summer. Florida has a license plate for “Endless summer”. A dude with a surfboard in the foreground with a sunset beyond. What a horrific idea, endless summer.

P.s. we have bugs too, and our barrens are called “cities”

 

[memaquay]

On a positive note, all buses cancelled today, so I will be able to cut up wood for the dozen kids in the Outers club who are going to make paddles.

 

[Bothwell Voyageur]

Last thing I heard was winter is catholic so you’re in it for life!
Global warming is in northern Alberta. Grand Prairie has 10 Celsius today and temperatures over 5 forecast for the rest of the week. New snow again here south of Winnipeg. Very slow run off and still 3ft of ice on the lakes. I think May 17 may be optimistic.

 

[Woodpuppy]

On a positive note, all buses cancelled today, so I will be able to cut up wood for the dozen kids in the Outers club who are going to make paddles.

That sounds great!!

 

[Penns Woods]

Thanks for posting, I needed a good laugh to get my day started.

 

[Gamma1214]

Well, at least it sounds like you got your snow day.

PS: I thought you'd retired... (?)

 

[devils son in law]

I smell what you're stepping in Memaquay! We're getting a nasty ice storm here today, canoes will stay high and dry for another day.

 

[Odyssey]

Winter is part of us, and we a part of it. And altho' over time and thru the generations with our subtle shifting cultures we're still connected with winter. Does it define us? Rule us? Make us what we are in this part of the world? Well, not me so much being an urban southerner but you catch my drift. And my winters are not nearly so harsh as those of my neighbours 200 hundred miles away. But I did have to salt the sidewalk this morning, and I'm still not going to succumb to the spring tease temperatures and remove the snow tires just yet. Only a couple weeks ago I and 2 friends cycled to a nearby farming town with it's own craft brewer, where we sat on a patio sipping suds and admiring the lovely view. "Nice pond. Nice barn. Nice weather." But only yesterday I shovelled the driveway. Again. I suppose the moral of the story is to take what mercies come and be thankful. Or maybe accept, adjust and adapt? Or still maybe if ya can't beat 'em join 'em? I don't really know anymore. I am retired now so salting the sidewalk forms a big part of my day. That and b*tching about it. Well, breakfast time.


Hang in there Mem.

 

[snapper]

Mem, I feel your pain. We woke up Monday morning to 4" of new snow and lots of schools cancelled due to icy road conditions. The plus was I was able to spend the day with my wife since she didn't have to go into work. The minus? The call came in at 5 AM to let her know school wouldn't be held that day. Here we are two days later and snow still covers the ground while temps linger from a low of 12 F to a "high" of 25 F. At this rate it will be a long while before my canoes come out of hibernation to see the water again.

Now...where's that danged ground hog Phil?!?

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[clemency]

Both my local ski hills have closed for the season and the bears are out and about. And despite snow a couple of days ago, the wife's flower beds are stirring. So spring is indeed coming.

OTOH, snows come off Friday, almost guaranteeing an April dump.

 

[VernAK]

I'm seeing newer homes coming onto the market and the divorce rate is increasing as our neighbors move to warmer areas. Our worst winter on record started September 18th and the snow is still 6' deep in my yard. Our moose and bison herds have suffered terribly, and the loss will be substantial. I don't want to even think about the loss in the Dall Sheep herd.

Our rivers [Yukon and Tanana] should open early because the insulating snow has kept the ice thinner than usual. There will be flooding!

I don't expect to be on the water until June.

 

[Alan Gage]

Maybe a good spring for a US tour. Pretty easy winter here this year. Ice went out early. Now we're just fighting wind, which has been brutal. Right now I think I'd trade it for snow.

Alan

 

[daydreamer]

My advice is, not be too hasty. Winter might look like a hag right now but that's just the intemperate mood you're in, come November she'll be a sultry vixen whispering sweet snowy nothings in your frostbitten ear. It ain't her, it's you. She's the same beautiful season she's always been. We are the ones who are fickle and change. Divorce her not. She is a gypsy. Bid her adieu and look forward to her return. Just be ready. Ha

 

[memaquay]

Lol, right now Winter is looking like that time you have a dream of kissing a beautiful girl and wake up with your foul breath dog licking your lips. The only thing that will make it tolerable is another snow day tomorrow, and a break from those post puberty hormonal squawking zit popping delites known as teenagers.

My contract ends April 29. Perhaps the ditch beside the main road will have enough water to paddle in by then.

 

[Alan Gage]

Whoo buddy you better get down here! Just one more day of 20-40mph winds and 32 degree temps and then they're calling for 50's and low wind from Friday through Sunday. I don't know if me or the dog is looking forward to it more.

Alan

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Having lived in Florida three times (Tallahassee, Jacksonville Beach, Ponte Vedra), Texas (Austin), southern California (Malibu) and northern California (San Jose), I regret not staying in Florida 48 years ago or northern California 40 years ago. I hate cold and winter, not only as a canoeist but as a rational out-of-Africa homo sapiens. I'd move now if financial and other personal complications would allow.