Winter Sucks

Winter sucks on a good year. This year, winter really, really sucks.

The cold came early, most of November and December ran in the -40°C range.  Weeks and weeks of freezing bloody cold with rarely a day in the tolerable -30°C range.  January was worse to start, then got a little better, then worse again.  More of the same for February, until this week.  We're at a balmy -9°C now.

You'd think with all the cold, we'd at least get a break from the snow.  But no, no luck there either.  More snow this year than we've had since we moved up north.  Many of the old timers say there hasn't been this much snow in 20 years.

The cold and snow and wild life took it's toll on the livestock.  When two of the calves disappeared, coupled with numerous prints, I assumed wolves.  The next two calves froze to death, no doubt about it.  We found their bodies.  We'll see if we find the bodies from the first two when things melt in the spring.  That's all my bottle babies and Mugsy, Mindy's calf.  The only survivor (touch wood) is Majesty, Dorie's calf.

We found Mildred lying in the middle of the barn.  No signs of trauma.  Just dead.  Again, I assume it was the cold. 

Mama took sick and died.  Max froze to death.  Mary Jane broke one horn, then the other about a month later.  She died a few days after that.  I think one of the bigger critters may be responsible for injuring her.  Sheila is the lone surviving goat.

We moved the three surviving meat hens and 1 rooster to the basement in December.  All of my other hens and the chicks I hatched last year died.  One goose and 2 roosters remain outside.

Wonder suffered severe frost bite and we put her down.

Winter depresses me on a good year.  This year, it's been over the top.

#4 got freezer burn- a form of frost bite that's like a third degree burn.  The picture is three days after it happened, with the swelling down to about half the size it was.  He had to go to the hospital everyday for treatments with flamazine for almost two weeks.  We got lucky and he didn't get infected.  He's looking pretty good now, ears back to normal size, but he'll remain highly susceptible to frost bite for the rest of this winter, and still increased likely hood for the rest of his life after that.


Loggers have been working the bush behind us, and decided to pile the snow from the end of the logging trail down our trail, blocking it off.

Snow banks on the sides of the road have been pushed back again and again and still look huge.  Flooding is expected in the spring.

The one good thing this year was that #2 and #3 made the biathlon team with cadets.

They've been practicing skiing and shooting regularly.  I've been volunteering more with cadets and may become an officer.  I got to go to the regional competition with them in Sault Ste Marie.  It was too cold to ski.  Seriously.  They had to do an indoor range competition, and a physical fitness competition instead.  My boys didn't do well this year (first timers), but our girls won gold for the relay team, and one of the other boys one gold individually.  The provincials went better weather wise, and one of our girls is going to nationals in March in Nova Scotia!

#2 is totally hooked on skiing, and continues practicing for next year.  He's cut his time in half.  #4 is getting a head start learning how to ski now.  I decided to give it a try too, and despite the fact that it's an outside winter sport, I kind of like it.  I'm really, really bad at it, but still, I kind of like it.

We're almost out of firewood and will probably need to start cutting in March to get us through the rest of the winter. 

Spring will probably be late.  I haven't started any seedlings- not even tomatoes.  No ambition.  Greenhouse 1 is going to need new plastic.  The back side is pretty much shredded.

Thanks to everyone who has popped in and said hello.  I haven't been in the mood to write much.  Winter sucks.