Winter plans to stay

My guess is winter is here to stay. The storm that blew in on Sunday left about 8 cms (3 inches) on the ground, and another storm dumped another 7 cms. (2.75 inches) on Monday afternoon. I shovelled both Monday and Tuesday; the photo from wordless Wednesday is the aftermath of my efforts. AND then it got cold! By Thursday morning, I awoke to a temperature of -21C (-6F).  That's more like late January or February temperatures. It didn't warm up much by noon when this screen shot was taken. 

According to the weather forecast we're stuck in this weather for at least two weeks. You know I'll be whining and complaining about it too.

I've bundled up every morning to feed the birds, and the squirrels. One morning I had three squirrels at the feeder and another six Hungarian partridges. The squirrels aren't as afraid of me as I wish they were, and the partridges made me laugh. When I came out of the house, they scooted around the sunroom out of sight. When I'd filled the feeder and back in the sunroom, I looked out to the partridges had raced back to the feeder. Since I know they are around I spread some of the seed on the ground. They do fly, but the feeder isn't set up for that size of a bird.

As a result of the weather I spent most of my time indoors. I didn't go to stitch and chat on Wednesday, but I did get some crocheting done. I'd finished the scarf I was working on earlier in the week, so decided to play with some of the yarn I'd used for the Rudolph. I've finished two of these "cups of hot chocolate", one I plan to keep and the others will be a gift for my brother and his wife. I just need to add the hanger for the tree. I've got another pattern to use a bit more yarn that I'll work on this weekend.

Even though it was cold, I needed groceries so headed on Thursday morning. In addition to regular items, I was picking up supplies for Christmas baking, and the ever needed cat food and bird seed. While it was more than my usual spend, it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. There were some decent sales out there and the fridge, freezer, and pantry are again stocked up. Saku (the cat) and the birds should be happy too.

In other news, my younger brother has Covid. His son K tested positive last week, so I'm pretty certain he passed it on to R. While his wife and daughter have had it previously, R has avoided it until now. We've been texting back and worth this week and he's definitely not feeling well. He told me Thursday that the day prior was a 2 and that day was a 2.5 but at least he wasn't in hospital or at work. They live on an acreage, with horses, a dog (or dogs depending on whether K's dogs are there) and two cats. R has continued to haul hay to feed the horses and take the dogs for walks. Normally he runs, but on Thursday he only managed a 1/4 mile with them. That's how I know for certain he was feeling poorly. He has seen a bit of improvement each day, but it's a slow recovery.

When I haven't been crocheting, I've been working more on Ancestry and I've been in touch with a couple of distant cousins. One of these cousins lives in Quebec, where my paternal grandparents were born and raised. She is the great-great granddaughter of my great-grandfather's brother. It's a community I've always wanted to visit, perhaps one day she and I will meet.

On Friday, I started to watch the Remembrance Day ceremonies being held in Ottawa but made it only 10 minutes in before the host of the show annoyed me. She kept asking what people were thinking about. I'm pretty sure I could have answered for all of them - they were thinking about those who sacrificed their lives or health to fight in the two World wars or other conflicts so that we can enjoy the rights and freedoms they fought so hard to protect. Instead I did some laundry and thought about my uncles, Wilfred and Robinson who went overseas in the WWII. Uncle Wilfred was gassed, broke his legs while Uncle Bob contracted tuberculosis. I knew the story of the two of them ending up in back in Saskatchewan at the same hospital. 

What I didn't know until I found a newspaper article is they were both on the same ship and then hospital train that brought them home from overseas. Wilf had written a couple of letters to Bob, addressing the letter to his last post in Holland, and when they were returned to the hospital, the brothers learned the other was there as well. Uncle Wilf was quoted as saying about his injuries, "All I know is that I was hit by something while on patrol New Year's Eve. I've been told that it was a jeep that got me." He never spoke of the war, so I had no idea how his injuries ocurred.

Today I awoke to another cold day, -20C (-4F). The birds were waiting in the neighbour's tree for me when I went out to feed them, and made short work of the seeds. I don't think the squirrels got any this day. Though the sun is shining, it's another day to stay indoors and stay warm. I've got DVR'ed television to watch, I'm playing on Ancestry, and when I get bored with that I'll start another crochet project or work on Eli's sweater.

Have a great week ahead everyone!