Winter in a Nutshell

Wow.  I think I picked the right winter to be a single mom.  With Aaron in Arkansas, and me taking care of B-man 24/7 (well, some hours I get a break!), taking care of the winter too sounded a bit daunting.  Luckily, when the snow was pummeling us for days in a row, Grammy and Grampy had my little guy in Wisconsin, so I could shovel every day and go to Mount Bohemia to shred some fresh pow.  Ow ow!

And bring in wood.  

I really should have put on my helmet cam this one time I had to bring in wood.  I mean, no time is easy, but some days are horrendous.  Like the one time I had to shovel off a three foot drift on my back porch just so I could get the wood-hauling sled off the porch.  But then, I had to pull it approximately 40 yards over undulating drifts (one as high as the top of the wood pile!) with my legs post-holing up to my thigh in spots and me swearing like a drunken sailor.  Then to dig out the flapping tarp and secure it up, so I could get to the wood, fill up that otter sled and haul the loaded sled like a scorn donkey back over the humps and finally up the steps to the porch where I could fill up my wood rack next to the wood stove.  Three times in a row to fill up the rack.

Yeah, that would have made a funny video.  Perhaps my neighbor John took one.  Hopefully he at least noticed my efforts.  Anyway, we stayed warm!

But back to my first point that this was a good winter to do all these burly chores myself.  This was certainly the mildest winter I can remember in my ten years here.  The harbor never even froze over!  Maybe a little sheet, but not for the walking!  Here are several pans of the Harbor with different ice statuses that I took throughout February.

Looking through "The Gap" early February

On the shore by the Fanny Hooe Creek exit mid February

Near the Harbor Haus later in February

So many times this winter I would look out and think, This it is!  She's gonna freeze for good this time!  But, nope.  Ain't gonna happen this winter, folks.  

And that is fine, I guess.  It's already March, so bring on the spring!

As the sun shines on my chair as I type now, I think spring is on the way.  Yes, it was a short, mild winter indeed.  But B and I made the best of it.  We got out for XC skiing, snowshoeing, pulling in the sled, shoveling, and walks along the ever-changing shore.  Oh, and here is a super fun one: ice volcanoes!

Me celebrating climbing the biggest one!

B erupting from one just his size!

I pan of the shore that day -- see which ones we were in?

No ice skating this year.  And no death-defying descents down Brockway Mountain.  Not this year.  Wink.

Nope.  B and I are headed to Arkansas to visit our hard-working man in some snowless weather.  For two weeks!  So we'll be gone for most of March and then lots of April to Portland, OR.  Spring is a good time to get out of here because there's often not a lot of do-fun-stuff opportunities while everything is melting, mushy and muddy.  Except see waterfalls...

So who knows where I'll be when I see you next?  Enjoy your life til then!