Hi folks,
Breaking from the regular schedule, I thought I might fill you in on our first real taste of winter.
Yesterday was Groundhog day. Yes it is real and not something made up for a movie, in fact there isn't just Puxatawny Phil but a whole swag of Groundhogs people keep a watch on. Anyway needless to say the little critters stay in their nice warm burrows and didn't venture out to look at any shadows. Not sure what that might signify.
The reason for them not moving is we had what the media where terming on Monday night a "Mega Storm" A large storm cell moved up from Texas dumping lots of snow across most of the Eastern seaboard. We were predicted to get 45cm but in the end only ended up with about 30. However this was enough to close Toronto down and give Chelle and the kids their first snowday.
How civilised is this? The radio stations start broadcasting at 6 AM which school districts are closed and we even got a phone call with an electronic message from the kids school telling us it was a snow day. So it was turn off the radio roll over and back to sleep for a nice leisurely morning. After getting up about nine and having a cooked breakfast, Chelle decided to go and shovel the back deck as she wanted to do some exercise. She's been complaining about not being able to do any exercise or running. After she finished it was then my turn to do the driveway. Looking outside 30cm didn't look like much, but after clearing it I was knackered. There were people up and down the street doing the same, the smarter ones had snow blowers, though I'm not sure how much use you would get out of one. Burlington has seen this much snow in three years. We now have a pile of snow in then front garden that stands 5' tall. While this was happening it was still snowing heavily.
The parents of one of Natasha's new friends then invited us out to a nearby Provincial park to go tobogganing which we eagerly accepted. Apparently anything is fare game for this, right from the traditional wooden toboggan to plastic mats etc, the people we went with even brought an Eski, I had visions of the same types of races that happen up the top of the mountain at Bathurst each year. Yeah Hah. As it turned out it was full of warm drinks and hot water bottles, a wise move.
The kids had a ball, lots of tumbles in the snow and much hilarity, even Chelle and I had a couple of runs, snow down your back and in your jocks is bloody cold let me tell you. After a couple of hours of this we then packed up and retreated to the nearest Tim Hortons (a huge coffee chain over here) for hot chocolates, coffee and donuts. Then it was back home for dinner and once again plowing the driveway, not just of the extra snow that had fallen but also because the snowplows when they go down the streets pile it all back up in the driveways, grrrr.
So that was our Tuesday, nice and cool. How are you folk in NSW enjoying your weather? Lol.
Cheers,
Ken
