…you know what we’ll be doing.
Winter chores. Which usually involves a lot of Snow.
Here’s a synopsis of our outdoor life from November through April or May each year:
Early early in the morning--time to go to work. Boots are preferred for dry feet at work.
Then there is the challenge of scraping the car. Seems like I even wrote a blog about it back last winter. Let’s see if it can be found. Yes, here it is if you would vicariously like to experience the thrill.
A very kind husband sometimes offers to scrape & brush the car!
This morning proved a very lucky morning. My dear husband offered to open the door and walk outside to take pre-dawn photography shots. Wasn’t he kind? (HE didn’t have to go to work this morning…) He even scraped and brushed the car after the photo shoot. Of course, I do believe I scraped HIS car yesterday morning, so perhaps now we’re even.
As of the last daylight check, it seems like it gets light around here somewhere around 8:15 a.m. Dark around 5:45 p.m. Our daylight hours are a little skewed compared to most folks on Eastern time because we’re so close to the Central Time Zone. (Morning observation: forget the specifics. It’s hard to determine when it gets light. Let’s revise to say anywhere between 7:45-8:15 a.m. in the morning. Or you can click here to get the official time.)
Yours truly shoveling the wood pile
In the afternoon we opted to fill the wood room. You need to get the wood inside for a couple days before you burn it in the woodstove for prime burning. Even though we have our wood pile nicely tarped, it still needs to dry out completely. First, you have to shovel the snow off the tarps. (This is usually not my job.) Then one of us stands inside in the wood room while the other hauls logs to the door. The inside-worker stacks the logs in nice even rows in the woodroom. Because the inside worker has a cushier job (unless they are putting the logs up high) one must trade off. I let Barry stack the higher logs and then jump inside to stack the lower logs while he carries the wood in. Got that convoluted lesson in wood hauling and stacking?
Nothing like building a new garage addition in the snow!
This winter looks extra-challenging for chores because a certain Garage Addition Builder has not yet finished his project. In fact, it looks like February might be the finishing date. You never know. The metal roof is in at the lumber yard. He’ll drive his ’49 Studebaker in to pick up supplies on Friday. Before he begins to work on his daily building project, he must shovel the snow off the rafters. It makes building a garage addition in the summertime look like a piece of cake!
Another very important winter chore involves plowing the driveway with our tractor. I suggested today that he uncover the tractor and re-plow the driveway for a photo shoot. He declined. So you will have to imagine what the tractor and plowing job looks like. Or, if you’re really bored and missing this blog during the winter, re-read all the entries. Somewhere in the archives there is a picture or two of the tractor. I promise you.
My jobs are shoveling the deck and sometimes the front porch. And…oh yes…we mustn’t forget…emptying the ash buckets. After you burn enough wood in the woodstove, it fills up with ash which must then be dumped out in the woods. And now you can visualize this exciting chore:
Emptying the ash buckets
Yep, that’s our winter chores. I’ve probably forgotten at least ten of them. So you can see, even if I decide to shut the door and stay inside all winter, it’s not going to happen! Those outdoor chores will simply have to be done…
By the way, if I eventually start another blog, I am looking forward to being able to post indoor photographs. For example…looking around furtively…no one is noticing this isn’t an outdoor photograph, are they?…don’t you think this statue of Abraham Lincoln with the cactus growing out of his head looks cool? (Barry just raised his eyes and did not seem to agree…) I did not even position that cactus. Life is amazing, isn’t it?
Mr. Lincoln with a Christmas cactus growing out of his head.
11 comments
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December 16, 2009 at 11:27 pm
Jessica
Ours is similar. We don’t have a wood stove but we have a fireplace we like using. We don’t have a “boat house” in progress though. Barry looks like he is in for a fun winter. Haha
December 17, 2009 at 8:44 am
centria
Oh that’s a funny terrm~~”boat house”! Can’t wait to tell Barry what he’s actually building. LOL! I’ll bet you enjoy your winter days by the fireplace. It can be so cozy.
December 17, 2009 at 8:02 am
Cindy Lou
Some days I like winter chores and others….
My fingers were so cold yesterday putting the last of the lights on a tree that I thought they were going to break off….brrr!
Indoor adventures are fun, too!
December 17, 2009 at 8:45 am
centria
Bet your little fingers felt like icicles! Oh that is such a pain. How cold was it over your way this morning? It was two degrees here. Brrr…. I think I am going to town soon. Maybe some photos of the bay? Maybe even the sun rising? Hmmm, may be too late. Hope you have a lovely day today.
December 17, 2009 at 11:16 am
p.j. grath
“There was a little girl/who had a little curl/right in the middle of her forehead./And when she was good/she was very, very good/and when she was bad she was horrid.” That was my immediate thought when I looked at Mr. Lincoln graced by cactus bloom.
We have it easy here–don’t have to go out to the car until after daylight has arrived. Very different two years ago when I was teaching an eight o’clock philosophy class in Traverse City and had to leave the house BEFORE THE SNOWPLOWS HAD CLEARED THE BACK ROADS. Yes, northern winters are full of challenges, and you’ve captured them well.
December 17, 2009 at 7:42 pm
centria
I remember that little rhyme! I wonder if the same sentiments apply to Mr. Lincoln…
I am also extremely glad that you get to luxuriate in your house until after daylight these days. That must have been such a challenge to forge through those unplowed roads. Hope you made it to your classes in time!
December 17, 2009 at 7:28 pm
flandrumhill
I’m not looking forward to scraping off the car tomorrow morning. I have to be at work for 7:30 am. My son usually has to be at work by 5 am so I try not to complain. Even when it doesn’t snow, the salty mist leaves a crust on the windshield that’s incredibly difficult to scrape off.
Shoveling the driveway has always been the worst winter chore. When I was a teenager in Northern Ontario, we’d never do ours without doing our neighbors’ as well. Even so, the snow seemed a lot lighter back then.
Good luck with all your winter chores. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger… or so they say.
December 17, 2009 at 7:43 pm
centria
A salty mist! From the ocean, I suppose. Who would have thought that? I am now wondering if your cars rust quickly there in Nova Scotia due to the proximity to the salt water.
Also, very sorry to hear that you had to shovel your neighbor’s driveway, as well as your own. That is a lot of work! But you were certainly being good neighbors. I’ll bet they truly appreciated you.
December 18, 2009 at 11:55 am
Gerry
Amy, my son talked me into using RainGuard last winter. It really worked, and made it much easier to remove the gunk from road salt. You have to put some energy into applying it and polishing it the first time but it was worth it. (OK, it was especially worth it because he did the applying and I reaped the benefits. Such is life. Heh heh.)
December 18, 2009 at 11:50 am
Gerry
That first photo pretty much sums it up. Go to work in the dark and come home in the dark for a couple of months. But then the sun eases back . . . I cheer up considerably starting about the last part of January.
We’re getting some sun this morning – looks almost as pretty as those sunny pictures in this post! I almost don’t mind winter chores when there’s a little sunshine.
December 18, 2009 at 8:04 pm
centria
Gerry, I know what you mean about cheering up as the sun turns back toward us. (Or is it the earth turning back toward the sun?) Well, whoever turns back… I wonder how many of us are somewhat touched with Seasonal Affective Disorder? Glad to hear you had a little sunshine down your way. We had some today too!