Bitter, unrelenting, dangerous, life-threatening. Without the unseasonably warm spell earlier this month, January 2014 would be one for the record books. It probably already is for snowfall – as of Sunday I had recorded 51cm, more than double the 1971-2000 average of 23 cm.
We walked the dogs this morning, down to the end of the street, over to the next one, and back home. It was damned cold, wind chill of -30C, my cheeks were cold, my fingers were complaining. The dogs tripod-ed at least once.
We reconsidered the wisdom of snowshoeing today.
It’s a remarkable spell, one I experienced only once before, my first winter in Canada in Goderich. This is awful. But I’m inside now, on a comfortable couch, heater going. I’m very very fortunate. Very poor people, folks living in a badly insulated house, are much worse off. And the wildlife, they are hard put. I’m going through more than a pound of sunflower seed a day keeping the songbirds fed. We have kitty kibble out for one (or more) stray cats. We are not bringing them in but can provide food and we have provided shelter. It’s the right thing to do.
I’m fortunate, not complaining about the cold. The Maker does not give a damn whether I like it or not, whether I complain or not. It’s more to the point to me, for me, to accept the cold, not fight it, not wish I was elsewhere, to appreciate it as a kind of blessing and years from now an event to look back on, to talk about. This kind of cold does not happen often in the banana belt. Twenty years from now Faye and I will look at one another and ask ‘Remember January 2014?’
It is an awesome experience, using the word awesome in the sense of inspiring feelings of wonder, awe, and fear, according to Merriam-Webster Online. Wonder that such amazing cold seems to alter the very nature of life and light. Awe that animals are surviving outside. Fear that a seemingly small error or accident – dead car battery, twisted ankle while snowshoeing, skidding into a ditch – can very quickly put my life, Fayes’, the dogs – at risk.
It’s good to be periodically reminded that we are not All-Powerful.
previouslytexan 