January 5, 2015: At 10:00AM, it was -30ºC. For my friends south of the border, that’s -22ºF. For everyone else — it was COLD. Very, very cold.
But, I’ve chosen to live up here in the middle of nowhere. Well, “chosen” isn’t entirely accurate. I was born and raised here, and I guess I’ve become acclimatized to the harsh and extraordinarily long winter season. This year it started bright and early. On the first of November.
As I said on my About Wendy page though, the three months of summer are pure paradise. In Northern Ontario, we can reach up to +30ºC (+35º in an extreme heat wave at the tail end of June, early July), but for the most part, June, July and August average a very comfortable 20ºC. Which suits me just fine. T-shirts are great, but I really do enjoy sporting a stylish jacket and knee-high boots whenever I can.
We have no poisonous snakes or insects. There are no hoodlums running around looting or shooting people. There’s no flooding or tornadoes (though we HAVE had the occasional small-scale tornado in the past, and extremely high winds are a worry out here in the sticks where I’m completely surrounded by trees — but nothing Kansas-worthy, that’s for sure). No tidal waves, no mud slides. No earthquakes (the rare tremor, but San Fran this ain’t!). The only real worry is forest fires, but thankfully they are few and far between. Again, I’m in the East, not on the West Coast.
But winter? Ugh. Winter is a real drag. In late November is when you really start to feel it. The days get unbearably short. Daylight Saving Time is no help either. The moron who thought THAT was a good idea should have been knee-capped, then drawn and quartered. Saskatchewan is the only province with any sense. They have chosen to opt out of this life-sucking backwards-business formality.
And we get a lot of snow. Sure, not Arctic proportions. But we measure snow in feet, not inches. By the end of February, I won’t be able to see out my studio window thanks to all the snow that’s slid off the roof. On January 4th? I shovelled my patio at 10:00 AM. At 4:00 PM, I was back outside doing it all over again. It’s not unheard of to wake up in the morning, put my coat on, grab the wood box and head out the door… only to find I have to push the door open through 6-8 inches of snow. Then shovel my way to the woodpile so I can get the fire going before I freeze to death. Wood heat is nice and very economical, but it’s a real pain to wake up in a cold house and then have to work to warm it up again.
But in the midst of all this harsh Northern exposure are a few treasures. Furry, feathered treasures that I wouldn’t give up for the world.
Thanks to a jerk-off industrial operation that illegally opened what is the equivalent of a mine across the road from me many years ago, there’s much less wildlife than there used to be. But I have a few mainstays. My darling chickadees who greet me every morning, my sweet squirrel Cutie Pie, and a beautiful cross-fox named Paintbrush. Paintbrush hasn’t been around much this year yet, but he was a near-daily fixture last winter.
Probably my favourite photo in the entire world. Also my desktop image!
He would come up to the house and wait so patiently for his breakfast.
And I’d often catch him snoozing away in the far too seldom-seen sunshine.
So yeah, I can complain about the winters up here, but it’s just a fact of life that there’s always a trade off. If you want a warm, green Christmas, hey, you can move to Florida — and face tidal waves and alligators. And if you want winter wildlife and the peace and serenity that comes with a Northern Ontario summer? Well, then you’re going to have to bite the bullet and put up with snow and cold. 9 months of the year, apparently.
Photos are © Copyright Wendy Brydge 2015. All Rights Reserved.
Okay, let me see if I’ve got this straight. If I’m willing to put up with butt-numbing cold for nine months out of the year, endless snow-shoveling, and industrial noise pollution right across the street, I can feed a few birds out of my hand and occasionally spot a fox? Oh, man. Sign me UP! ;D
Kidding, of course, my friend. It’s obvious that there are numerous benefits, tangible and otherwise, to living in your beautiful, remote location. And now the rest of us can enjoy another one: reading an enjoyable blog post from you about it. Well done, GF. Say hi to Paintbrush for me! :)
Will do, Boss! :) You know, the older I get, the less I like the cold and snow. I think someday Arizona will be calling my name!
I feel much better about out +28f high today. Those are great pictures and adorable winter companions Wendy. I don’t think I’d want a colder winter, but I don’t complain much about the cold. I like four seasons. It sounds like yours fit the old joke my brother says about Iowa: “we have four seasons, June, July, August and winter.” You can make us all jealous when you post about it still being twilight at 10:00 pm in June :)
Stay warm.
Ha! Yes, that saying certainly applies up here too! In fact, it’s incredibly accurate! I could definitely go for some warmer weather, especially right now. But when I was still in high school, one winter was colder than I’d ever experienced before. It hit about -45ºC, which is close to -50ºF I think. With the wind chill, they said it was closer to -60. It was so bitterly cold that school was cancelled for an entire week. It was a really hard winter on the animals that year. And I didn’t much care for it either! (Minus the no school, of course. I was fine with that!) But I always remember that year whenever I’m tempted to complain now.
And you’re darn tootin’ I’ll be bragging about daylight at 10PM in June! I can’t wait for the days to get longer again. Dark at 4:00 sucks! :P
I lived in Seattle for a few years and the rain and the short days in winter were hard to take but the long clear comfortable days in summer were so nice! I think -40 is where C and F meet. It’s not a temp I need to experience, I’ll take your word for it being cold.
No, thank you – I just like to visit the snow covered regions occasionally. I love my summers – sandals, suntan lotion, paddleboarding on the lake, high humidity, 100 degrees and all (and the people who like to loot and shoot others live far enough away from me not to be too concerned – still, I’d trade them for alligators any day). We have loads of birds too – some beautiful crows live in the area where I work (I wish one would follow me home). I don’t have a Paintbrush in my backyard, but I have a neighborhood cat who makes me smile & laugh, and that’s kind of the same thing, right? Actually, we have quite a bit of nature not too far away – there are even some deer living a couple of blocks from my house, so I don’t feel too cheated. We definitely have four seasons in the Midwest, and winter just does not bring out my sunny side, but if you like it, then it sounds like you’ve been planted in the right locale!
“Like” it might be stretching it, to be honest! I tolerate it. True, I don’t think I’d be truly happy in a place where it NEVER snowed. But I’ve pretty much outgrown the “If it’s not a white Christmas I’ll scream” phase. The older I get, the less interested I am in winter. But I could never hack it in a truly HOT place. My body is most certainly wired for colder weather. I actually was in Missouri in 2003 and Mandy, I thought I was going to die. No joke. It was SO hot! I really couldn’t stand it. It’s a beautiful state alright, but not an easy transition for a true Northerner like me. Though my good friend Megan (who grew up here with me) moved to Missouri a few years ago and she absolutely loves the weather! Obviously the problem lies with me! ;P
Oh, that’s too funny! I don’t even consider Missouri a hot state – we just truly have every season. Yes, we get some hot & humid summers. They aren’t for everyone, but I love it.
You know what they say: Canada has only two seasons — winter and July. (This would be amusing if it weren’t so close to the truth!)
Ugh–couldn’t hack that cold up there, though u’re right about the social problems which must be faced and handled down here more southerly. World has created tooooo many people–evidently–and now something’s going to happen to help solve that problem, for a while (US Dollar about to collapse). U must live in equivalent of “Taiga” of Russia–lots of wood, usable for fuel, lucky u. Yes, ur position/situation up north is enviable, the cold relatively minor problem in present scheme of things. Don’t forget to pray for ur fellow humans who struggle now down south here.
My prayers are always with all of you, everywhere, yes! Unfortunately there are a lot of bad people everywhere. I’m lucky to live in an area with very little crime or human-related violence. But there are also not a lot of people here either. A visit to a densely populated city always leaving me desperate to get back out into the wild. I’d much rather deal with the four-legged people than the two-legged kind!
In the tropics, especially at noon, the ground under our feet becomes hot like burning coal. But the few months of rain (May or June to September) is really an oasis for most of us.
Oh my goodness, I can well imagine how hot it must get. I don’t think I could take it myself! But yes, when the rains come, I’ll bet it’s absolutely wonderful there!
I’ve grown up in the Adirondacks where it gets as cold as you relate (and in North Dakota, I was outside in -100 wind chill, back in the late 1980s), Wendy, but have also been in the Caribbean where the sand under my feet was indeed as hot as burning coals, as Veracious Poet relates! Weather has never been an issue for me; it is what it is. I love it all, good and bad, hot and cold! But, thanks for this post! Love your little friends! :-]
Thanks, Frank, I love them too! :)