Winter in Canada

Another blast of winter around these parts over the weekend.... hours more of shovelling.  The piles are getting so high it's almost impossible for me to toss a shovel full up that high..and, when I do..it comes rolling back down to the bottom again.

When I visited my sister on her little farm, she taught me how to pile manure.. for making compost.  I decided I had to do it that way or it wasn't going to work.   Once it gets too high and pointy, it just doesn't work.  The horse poop balls come rolling right back onto your boots.

So, I had to push the shovel back and forth over the top of the pile of snow just like we used the pitch forks to do with the pile of poo ...flatten it out a bit and then..I could pile on more.  Then...more shovelling it back and forth...my arm was killing me by then.... so I could throw on more.  In the end...the piles are still 5 feet high..but, at least now they are also almost 4 feet across so I can still get a bit more on top.  If I could get out onto the middle of the lawn I could rake or shovel a bit more off the top towards the middle of the lawn and get them down a bit more...but, it is 4 feet deep on the lawn... I'm only 5 feet tall...forget it.  The sun is shining today... maybe some will melt... hahah yeh, right...it is only -12C..so maybe not yet....

I got a bit crazy and turned on the Christmas lights...which I have been unable to get off that bush,  seeing as that snow is pretty deep ...I was leaving them til it melted a bit more... now it snowed a lot more!

Click on the picture to see it larger so you can see details and see how deep things are.  I even had to make boot holes about a foot up my pile in order to step up to toss more snow on.  I had to shovel out the rather large patio because I have some morons coming on Tuesday to take away our granite slab to try to fix the ridiculous cutting mess they made of it last week.  Of course, this was after they assured us they do this all the time.  Liars.  I have no idea what is next if they can't fix their screw up.  As usual, for us...just one more bloody disaster after another with every.single.renovation we have ever done.  We were done with renovations remember? ? ... ..but, then..the oven conked out and we decided to replace it with a range because it was never supposed to be that close to a stove top .. a minimum of 12 inches apparently is even code and necessary so as not to cause damage to appliances underneath the stovetop.   No inspectors... no salesmen (of course) ...no installers...nobody ... ..nobody told us that 5 years ago when we did the last big reno.  We only noticed a teensy tiny line of print on some obscure size charts of the oven when we were measuring for the new range.  So had to have granite re-cut to accommodate it.  Don't believe anybody for a second when they say they do this all the time.   And, if you are one of the lucky ones who has actually had it done and got a great job?... good for you.  

  

"Are you the 'bluebird of happiness' "?

Uhm...."let me think"............................




............"No".............



But, I could be the little bird of "mehhh....it's not so bad"....

At least the sun is shining ...

the skies are blue.....

There is definitely plenty of snow now...but, it is all so pretty when it is new and fluffy and clean  ... all sparkly in the sunshine.......

-16C .....

... and another 8 inches of snow.  Sigh.....my blog has turned into a weather report.
It's hard to get motivated to do much else it seems when I'm having to spend hours shovelling and more hours trying to get readjusted to doing my exercise routine. I even opted out of doing my weights and most of my exercise routine today.  I figured I did enough weight lifting just scooping and shoving and tossing the white stuff.  The main piles are now over 4 feet deep at the corners of the property.

There is a skating rink under the snow where the alleyway meets the sidewalk....I sure hope the mailman or a dog walker or any other unsuspecting passerby doesn't have a nasty accident.... it's tough to know where to walk for safety's sake.   We had some lovely warm days...and then... pow!... pummeled by Mother Nature.  Temperatures plummeted and the snow flakes swirled.  Again.  This is a pretty big snow year compared to the past few.  Last year I hardly had to shovel at all.  And... snow shovels?  (they are really wide scoops .. but, we call them shovels.. I had Judi worried for a bit there..she thought I was only using a little shovel..hahhaha nope...) Somebody is getting rich on what I call planned obsolescence  ..worn one out already and it's only February.   We're not nearly out of the woods yet as far as snow is concerned around here.  Ridiculous.  Don't dare buy the kind that has a metal strip on the sharp edge either... if ya hit a bump in the sidewalk you could do yourself an injury midsection.... or wreck a wrist... forget that.  Too much uneven pavement or pavers to shovel.

The youngish male neighbour across the street has anger management issues.... there was a lot of swearing coming from his quarter.... even with his ancient mother out there.  What a wimp and lazy ass that guy is.  The 83 year old fella 3 houses over was out there shovelling.  Whistling.  Suck it up baby boy....

Another day or two of this... and the weatherman is talking about plus numbers once again.  Yo yo weather.  We are sort of used to it...but, still...each time it begins to melt and you can sort of see bare pavement in spots... it seems hopeful.  But, again...waaaay to early for any springtime stuff.

Good thing I did some shopping on the weekend....
tomorrow... baking...hahahha...that's the other thing about this blog.  It has become my second food blog.  Somewhere I must find an hour and do something cfrafty...hahahha...look at that will ya?  I even forget how to spell it!!

Just for that....I'm gonna show and tell my latest wonderful focaccia bread.
with spices, olives.... sun dried tomatoes... and ... hmmm... forget already what else...oh, yeh...a bit of cheese.  More on Mr. BV's side of the loaf than on mine....

Incommunicado...

... for the past few days......
A much more interesting word than "offline" don'tcha think?  I would like to blame it alllll on Mother Nature...but, in reality, it's our own fault because we didn't turn things off soon enough.

Thursday began so beautifully, but by noon the wind was picking up considerably.... and by late afternoon it was gusting 60 to 80 kph... the trees were really flapping around and the robins were hunkered down in the patio.

The clouds rolled in and by 5:30 it began to snow.... luckily the soup I was making for supper was pretty much done and just simmering....because soon there would be no heat.  Three minutes after it began snowing it looked like this.   We turned on lights... they began to flicker and dim....

 I should have been down here already turning the computer off.  But, was I clever?  No...I didn't bother.  I sliced some bread and made toast to go with our soup.  Then... blam...off went everything.  15 minutes later... it came back on... then... poof....off again...for a few hours.  Soup and toast by candlelight....how romantic... no truly, it was.

Somebody was struggling to read something by candlelight.  How did people manage it in the "olden" days?

I do love me some candlelight though....

It was a bit tricky to find the toilet with just this little tiny flame....

Friday dawned clear, blue and sunny.  Oh, yeh... there was snow too.   It's still there in the shaded areas.  The south and west parts of the yard are bare once again.

BUT.... the computer wouldn't connect after having blown itself out of the water. .. instead of being turned off properly.
So Friday was strange with no connection to the outside world..... hahahha.... oh, well, all the more time for a good hard workout!

And...it was only this morning that we got it sorted out.  Mr. BV is stubborn and always wants to know what and why....so he puzzled at it 'til he got it..... yaaaay.  He was muttering about little old grannies knowing more than he does ... huh?  I don't think so!  They call the Geek Squad the minute things go awry.  Which, I would do too if I didn't have "somebody" doing it all for me.....

You want me to do what?

Why do I haff to do it?

...just because you don't knit and I'm the only bear in the place with a sweater... ?? what kind of reason is that? C'mon...they've all got fur.....

Alright, alright!! If I look so cute in my store bought sweater...I'll do it. Look.... I'm doing it.... makin' snow angels..... good grief ...what will she think up next?...

There.... done.... good enuff? ..... it better be... look how deep it's gettin' ... and..I'm covered in it.

awww... now, lookit this.... I can't even shake it off... and oh..help.... ..it's all over me bum as well!

That does it..... I'm not leaving here til I dry out and my nuggets are nice and toasty !