Stupid Winter Wonderland

It snowed on Wednesday.

Not just a little snow, either - there was quite a large amount. Complicating the situation was that:
a) it came down pretty solidly all afternoon, and
b) it was just above freezing, which made the snow heavy.

When I left work, it was raining (from the 9th floor), but when I got to the ground, it was snow.

I had physio (hand issue) after work, and I was a few minutes late. When I was done, I got myself out of the snowbank I'd parked in and went home.

When I got home, my driveway hadn't been plowed, but I thought, "Hey, I can make it in anyway."

I was wrong. I got stuck.

So stuck that rocking back and forth didn't work.

I started work on getting the car out. While I was doing that, Wanda came home and started to help.  No luck.

One of the neighbours came over and helped.  Still no luck.

Eventually, we threw some salt under the front tires and took a break. 

About an hour later, we went out and tried again.  A different neighbour came over to help, and then another.  We shoveled and put carpets under the tires and shoveled.

It took about another hour to get the car out.

Once it was out, Wanda drove it over to the neighbour's (whose driveway was already clear) and parked it there.  I left it there until morning.

And then the snowplow came by and I had to shovel the end of the neighbour's driveway. Sigh.

That house used to have a bottom as well as a top

From the front step

Winterlude

So I made it downtown to Winterlude.

I'm surprised, too.

Monday was a beautiful, sunny day - and cold.  Very cold.

(Well, OK, it wasn't anywhere near as cold as it was a few weeks ago, but it was cold enough to make me whiny.)

It was a quick trip - I walked through Confederation Park. (Yes, that's the name of the park between the Rideau Centre & City Hall.  It took me an embarrassing amount of time to figure that out. Yes, I should have known the name, especially considering I was there 2 days ago.)

The ice sculptures were in really good shape - we got the typically end-of-January thaw early enough that they survived. The more intricate ones were actually under some awnings, which probably helped.

It has been a long time since I was at Winterlude, and even longer since I went anywhere other than Dow's Lake.

Many years ago, my department at work entered the snow sculpture competition. This was back in the days when:

• there was a snow sculpture competition, and 
• all you needed to enter it was $40.

We participated for ... probably 4 years? The first year, we did "Snow Men in Black", then there was one I don't remember very well, then we did "Will Work for Peanuts" (when Charles Schultz retired), and the last year, it was something about the Olympics (and some giant snow monster, as I recall). My role was mostly part of the snow moving team, but it was fun to participate.

And then they stopped that competition and I stopped going to Winterlude.

Anyway, after I walked around Confederation Park, I went over to City Hall to see the Rink of Dreams.  It was ... far less impressive than I'd expected.  (Don't we have similar outdoor rinks all around the city?)

Next was the highlight of the day - a Beavertail (Killaloe Sunrise, of course).  After that, I walked back to the car and drove home.

I was home for at least 10 minutes before my legs warmed up.

Last week was extremely cold here in Ottawa - the kind of cold where it's hard to scrape the car windows because there's so little moisture in the frost. I actually plugged in the car for 3 or 4 nights in a row - and there are years where I don't plug in the car at all.

It started warming up on Friday, and the weekend was much nicer. I even went cross-country skiing this morning.

(I tried to talk myself out of it on the grounds that we haven't had any fresh snow in a while, but ... this is Ottawa. It's either too cold or so warm it's melting or there has been no snow since we last got freezing rain. You have to take your opportunities where you find them.)

While I was on my way to the park, I ran into one of my neighbours walking their two dogs.

Now, I know these dogs. I see them all the time, and when I go over to their house, the dogs are thrilled to see me.  In fact, Oliver immediately goes to get his tennis ball so I can throw it for him.

But for some reason, when I see them outside of their house, Oliver barks like crazy at me. He's even been known to run from his house to my house when I'm outside just so he can bark at me.

It's ... well, it's pretty funny, actually.

So when the dogs saw me, naturally they had to come over to bark at me. As always, I offered to pet them, but they were far too excited for that, so I continued on my way while they got distracted by a piece of garbage.

I got my skis on and started on my way.  The snow was pretty dry, and it actually made for quite an easy ski.  I skied to the end of the park and back and then walked home.

Next week I might even venture out on an actual ski trail.

I Don't Know My Own Strength

In January, I went to tie my cross-trainers for boxing and one of the holes the laces were threaded through ripped.

These weren't old or cheap shoes - they're 6-month-old Nikes that I only wear once a week - so I was not impressed. I considered taking them back or complaining to the company, but I'm in a really good mood after boxing and never got there.

On Saturday, I went to tie my new Sorel boots (bought in January) on the way to boxing and the loop the lace was threaded through ripped.

Now, I don't recall becoming a superhero, so I don't think this is expected behaviour.

On the way home from work today, I stopped at The Shoe Company (which is where I bought the boots six weeks ago) to see what they could do for me.

They replaced the boots with ones that were supposed to be the same ones, but which are actually a little different. The stitching is different, the fur at the top of the boots are different, ... and the loops the laces thread through are now nylon, not leather.

The old ones are prettier, but I can tie the new ones, so I'll take it.

If it keeps snowing, I'll need them.

What I did today

• Put boots on
• Took boots off
• Put boots on
• Took boots off
• Put boots on
• Took boots off
• Put boots on
• Took boots off

How long until spring?

Does anyone remember the unseasonably warm December we had? The one where everyone was wondering whether we'd have a white Christmas?

I miss that.

I mean, I'm glad we have snow now, but we've hit the part of the winter where it's cold. I'm taking the Sparks to camp next weekend, and our camp planning contained a lot of "... and if it's too cold, we'll just do that inside". We'll still spend time outside, but it'll be active time - no sitting around the campfire.

The snow has also made it clear that I should have done more trimming of the bushes and trees around the house. The snow makes the branches bow down and block the sidewalk. On Friday, I took the clippers outside and lopped some of them off.

That's right, I'm gardening in winter.

I hardly recognize myself.

My "s" key doesn't work consistently. Let's talk about now.

It snowed last night. I know a lot of place have already had snow this year, but this was our first snowfall of the winter.

(Naturally, the zipper on my new winter coat broke last night, but that is a different story.)

The forecast had been for rain, freezing rain, or snow, which seemed to cover the bases. When I woke up way too early for physio, I looked out the window and was tentatively glad to see snow.

Of course, that didn't mean there wasn't freezing rain under the snow, so at 6:30 I went outside, shoveled the walk, and cleaned off the car. Luckily, the freezing rain hadn't happened. My appointment wasn't at 7, so I came back inside and got ready (brushed my teeth, turned on my work laptop so it would be ready for my 8:00 conference call, etc.).

At 6:45, I went out and cleaned off the car.

Physio went well, and at 7:45 I was done. I went outside, cleaned off the car, and drove home.

It's going to be a long winter.