Posts Tagged ‘snow’
Ice dance
In southern New Brunswick, we are recovering from a snow and ice storm. My husband has been in the tractor, removing snow and ice, for two days. Between runs with lunch and diesel, I am reading Ann Cleeves, one of my favourite UK detective authors. The phone rings and I am wrenched from a very different kind of storm in the Shetlands to a neighbour who wants the services of an ice-gobbling tractor.
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As the sun goes down, I re-live the beauty of the day. Chickadees, a downy woodpecker and a red squirrel spent the afternoon competing for the sunflower seeds in our feeder. Every tree is laden with ice and the wind stirs up powdery snow-devils across open places. The evening begins with memories of glassy trees and the faint tinkling of their twigs and branches.
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Every twig wears
A diamond bracelet.
A wrist turned,
Just so,
To join in the dance.
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All my best,
Jane
first ephemeral snow
snowflakes
absorbed by wet pavement
as though
they never existed at all
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all my best,
Jane
a new bird feeder #2
I have given up manufacturing. In the last month I built two bird feeders: one from a two liter Coke bottle and one from coconut shells. The squirrels bounced on the bottle feeder and broke it, bad squirrels. And the snow filled up the coconut shells, bad snow. So we went to Co-op and bought a new feeder. Metal, very fancy, a simulated lantern. No anti-squirrel technology (our squirrels puzzle out every one).
The birds are delighted. A day after our big snow storm, they are here by the dozens: goldfinches, chickadees, nuthatches, lots of blur-birds (my photography is not stellar).
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chickadee at the new feeder (sunflower seeds)
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chickadee and goldfinch at the new feeder
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Copyright Jane Tims 2018
snow duties
Our first big snow arrived Saturday night. Twenty centimeters of fluff. Time to begin snow removal duties.
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This year my husband has about 30 clients for snow removal and he has been getting ready for a couple of weeks — staking driveways, buying diesel, replacing lights in the tractor array, removing stressed bolts and moving things around the yard to make moving the snow as simple as possible.
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My duties are simple and few. I set the alarm for 3 AM, print off the client list from the computer and run the checklist — water, raisins, earplugs, client list, flashlight, cell phone, “go bag”. The “go-bag” has about sixty pounds of chain, a roll of tow strapping, assorted connection devices and anything you would ever want to pull yourself from a ditch.
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I also supply diesel when needed and lunch. No set times for anything. Just a hearty meal, packed to eat on the road, when my husband gets hungry.
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lunch packed into a cooler (or in this case, a heater) … lots of protein and calories …
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Otherwise, I answer the phone, work away at various editing projects and worry. Things can go wrong out there in snow-land and they often do. A stray two-by-four goes through the blower. The tractor slips off the side of a driveway into a deep ditch. The plow for the main roads is late. There are three cars in the driveway and no one at home to move them!
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My husband is the only one I know who talks about snow and winter longingly in the middle of summer. Everyone should love their work as much as he does!
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Enjoy your snow-day where-ever you are.
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
spring comes to the Saint John River
We have waited eagerly for spring here in New Brunswick. With late snow storms and temperatures still in the minus degrees Centigrade, my day lilies are just peeking through the grass at the edge of the snow.
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There is still ice on the river with windrows showing the last snows …
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but the ice is gradually receding, revealing vast strips of blue water …
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Every year, my husband and I watch for our own harbinger of spring …. the return of the Canada geese to the river. We went for a drive last week to find many examples of geese feeding in the bare fields and along the river edges.
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We saw geese in several fields along the way, but our best view was on a side road to one of the river’s many concrete wharves …
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prediction of spring
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necks of geese
are the steep upward
curve of charts showing:
—— longer , brighter days
——- larger areas of meltwater
——— warmer expressions of sun
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Copyright 2017 Jane Tims
an intelligent world of blue
Yesterday, we went on a drive along the Saint John River from Oromocto to Jemseg. We hoped to see some birds or other wild life. But we didn’t even see a crow!!!!
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However we did see the world painted in a sweet-toned shade of blue … the ice on the river, the long shadows on the meadows and the sky. I was reminded of Douglas Adams and his tribute to hooloovoo ‘blue’.
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A Hooloovoo is a super-intelligent shade of the color blue.
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
Snow days!
We have had lots of snow in central New Brunswick. So, just a few photos to show you my day on Friday and all the piles of snow!
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Our driveway, partly plowed …
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The impressive piles of snow in the box store parking lot …
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My husband and his tractor, clearing snow …
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Copyright 2017 Jane Tims
ready for the next snow date
When I talk about my retirement, the conversation always seems to go to how busy we are.
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My days are filled with activity. I spend most mornings writing and reading. In the afternoon, I spend a smaller-than-necessary time on keeping house, making supper or going into town on errands. Evenings are divided between time with my husband and writing, attending meetings or working at some of my volunteer work.
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snowbanks in our turn-about last year
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The weather can change all of this. My husband has a 40 horsepower tractor equipped with a front end loader and a snow-blower. On snow days, he plows or blows snow from his customer’s driveways. On these days, I am the ‘support worker’. I answer the phones, keep track of where my husband is blowing snow, deliver diesel when he runs low on fuel and take him his dinner.
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my husband’s tractor, a L4060 Kubota
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Our day starts at about four in the morning. First, the ruler, to measure the fallen snow. Then, the first customer … us! … two passes to make sure I can get the truck out when the time comes. By the time the first refuelling call comes, the truck is cleared of snow, the bird feeders are filled and I have already finished my daily writing objectives.
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the snowman is our snow ruler … after some storms you can’t see the measurement
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When people complain about bad driving in winter, I can say that I have driven in the worst of the worst. Since most of our 25 or so customers are in the local subdivisions, we are often out removing snow before the side roads are plowed. I am lucky to have a four-wheel drive since this winter, snow over ice has been the norm.
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the first tractor we had, a great work-horse, but less comfortable for long days of work
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You might think that writing takes a back-seat to my duties when it snows. But not so. I do a lot of my writing in my head as I go about my work. In the evenings, when I drive out with my husband to collect from his customers, I am gathering writing ideas. For example, a few nights ago, as I waited in the truck, a drone lifted from a neighbourhood yard and tracked overhead … a scene for the novel I am working on was born!
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the scene where we sometimes eat our lunch
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Our lives are busy, but I love variety. I love being part of my husband’s day as he goes about his work. When I take his lunch to him, we talk and watch the falling snow and listen to the radio. And wonder where 37 years of winters have gone!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
apple orchard after the ice storm
On Saturday, we went for a drive to see the results of last week’s freezing rain storm. Every tree sparkled with its layer of frozen water. When we stopped by the roadside to take some photos, the sound of cracking ice made a continuous stippling noise in the forest.
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I was amazed at the odd miniaturized appearance of the ice-covered apple trees in an orchard not far from our cabin. The trees are normal sized but there is a lack of scale and weirdness of light in the photos that miniaturizes the entire scene. The third photo, including the ploughed side road, looks more normal.
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I think this will be our last winter storm of the season. We still have snow on the ground but next week’s warming should take it all away!
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Copyright 2016 Jane Tims
It’s snowing!
… on our tree! Lots of snowflakes added. Next come the snowmen!
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Through the years we have collected so many ornaments. One year I decorated seven trees! Now we only have one tree and most years I decorate with snowflakes, snowmen and snow-covered houses. A few birds and other items sneak in as well!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2015
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