Je pelte.
Tu peltes.
Il pelte.
Nous peltons.....
Lesson learned: shovel your stairs and deck regularly. Particularly in a Northern climate.
Reason: If you do not, when you finally get around to doing so, it will not be entirely pleasant.
Description of consequences: It took an hour to hammer/dig/chip away at/shovel the icy/snow mess that was the entrance to my home. I entertained ideas of making a type of ice slide with it, and sliding down to the ground like a penguin every day, but better judgement prevailed.
The only way said experience was tolerable was to crank my iPod up to a deafening level and shovel to Three Days Grace. Angry music is shovelling music, my friends.
Did I mention I didn't bother to buy/send myself a shovel while down south and am dependent on borrowing from others? That could be another Lesson subject right there.
I'm in a bit of a post-Holidays back to reality funk.
DDO Civic Center is on TV. Intense nostalgia for Becket. And home.
It's just been one of those weeks. Flew by, but not that a boring, empty weekend stretches ahead of me.... a bit down, feeling lonely and wishing I was back home skiing.
I decided to play tourist and take a drive around during the holidays. Pictures of my 'hood back home in the Townships:
Snowmaking at Bromont
Sunset on the Brome Road
In town in Bromont
Town as seen from ski trails
Brome Road
Abandoned one room school house on Tibbits Hill
Iron Hill
Sunset next to Ski Bromont
Iron Hill
Not feeling homesick, or nostalgic.
It's simply that the box I mailed myself, arrived today, and it kind of triggered an "oh yeah, pics!" response.
I've been back a week now. It went fast, and yet, it seems surreal that a week ago, I woke up back home. Time plays tricks.
Some images from the Granby Zoo, the week between Xmas and New Years!
I love going to the zoo in the winter. Less tourists, more snow... a little odd to see zebras playing in snow, though!
Of course, we all know I love llamas and alpacas...
tigers like snow, too!
Meerkats! Quite possibly the coolest rodent ever!
Ironic, since we had to get out the map and ask directions.But the sign says: impossible to miss!
Giraffe!
Step 1: Finally decide that it's time to start the 3-4 loads of laundry just begging for attention. Teaching in the nude is frowned upon up North, you see.
Step 2: Realize that washer will not turn on. Pull washer away from wall (approximate time required: 8 minutes. Approximate weight of 1970s washing machine: 8 tonnes, give or take 1 elephant).
Step 3: Fiddle with wires, and hookups, and widgets and gadgets. Try to feel like you have some semblance of an idea what all of said widgets do.
Step 4: Contortionist/trapeze act to get out from behind washing machine. Put washing machine in its rightful place. Clean floor from brown goo that has appeared during above steps.
Step 5: Fiddle with buttons. Oh, it works! Success. Or so one would think.
Step 6: Laundry complete. Remove, insert into dryer.
Step 7: Press GO button on dryer. There will be no public nudity or smelliness tomorrow!
Step 8: Halt victory celebrations and festivities. Dryer doesn't want to work.
Step 9: Yank dryer off of wall. Oooh, delightfully lighter than washer.
Step 10: Realize thingees cannot be accessed without moving 8 pound washing machine. Repeat Step 2.
Step 10: Realize during the washing machine battle, metal shiny thingamabob came unhooked. Re-hook it.
Step 11: Realize that the shifting of the washing machine and dryer has subsequently trapped me behind them.
Step 12: Take 5 minutes attempting to squeeze through and jimmy machinery.
Step 13: Attempt to crawl over. Failure.
Step 14: Jump. Success!
Things learned in 24 hours: washing machines from the rock ages are heavy.
Also learned: citronnella candles are apparently only for outdoor use. I am not a mosquito.
Ok, I'm in love with several apps (weather! ski trails! Timmy's GPS!) but the one that I find the most amusing is my Cree Language app. That;s right. My iPod is loaded with translator, syllabics converter, and syllabics chart. How cool is that?
Boxes, boxes, boxes!
I've been unpacking since Thursday evening; some end is finally in sight. That is, until the boxes I shipped arrive in the next few weeks.
The walls are too bland and white for my taste. I suppose this is something I will just have to deal with.
Went wandering to try out my new snowshoes today, since it was my favorite type of day: sunny, -10, wintery.
I actually get 2 TV channels. One of which is CBC, so I'm popping popcorn (microwave miraculously came back to life...), and getting ready to watch hockey.
