Well, the holiday season is over, the tree and decorations
have been put back in their closet for another ten months and here in Calgary
we are in the midst of a week long deep freeze. Yay…
In years past when I was young and had more of my life ahead
of me than behind me I would be prepared to spend 3 – 4 hours a day making sure
that the customers on my route got their bills and letters from aunt Matilda in
a timely fashion. I was known to say when asked about the weather “Well, we do
live in Canada
after all!” or “Yeah…. But it’s a dry cold.” What else was I to say, I had to
somehow justify going out in God awful weather conditions with a smile
literally and figuratively frozen on my face. I lived through it because I had
to. Now, I am content to watch the weather channel for any lessening of the
cold, drink my hot tea and occasionally venture out to Tim Horton’s to watch
the working people freezing their asses off. It warms my heart.
I do wonder why my ancestors picked Canada
as a place to move to. Most were from England
and some were from Greece
both of which are much milder than Canada .
Maybe they didn’t know what they were in for of perhaps they were lied to by
the government employees who had a quota of gullible souls they needed to fill.
I can just imaging the conversation.
“So what is the weather like in Canada ?”
“Well, you would be hard pressed to find a nicer spring,
summer or autumn anywhere in the world.”
“That sounds great, what about the winter?”
“Oh…winter is the shortest season and it is nice to have a
month or two or three or four to relax and take a break from the hard work you
will be doing the rest of the year.”
“Hard work? How hard? Say, is that why you are giving away
land?”
Yes, my great grandparents didn’t do their homework or life
was so shitty back home that -40°C seemed like a good idea.
I watched Buster go outside this morning to do his business.
Let me tell you that his business took far less time than it normally does.
There was no barking at the back fence, the side fence or the front gate. There
was a very small amount of sniffing to find the perfect spot to pee and he just
couldn’t get back into the house and curl up on the bed fast enough. While I
was watching him I wondered how his distant ancestors handled this kind of
brutal cold weather.
I suspect that they would be holed up in a cozy little den
that was relatively warm and would only venture out to do their business with a
minimum of fuss. Mind you, they wouldn’t have a full dish of food and water waiting
for them when they came back in so I guess they would have to venture out
hunting every couple of days. That would suck because all of the other animals
would be hunkering down trying to stay warm and would be hard to find. Buster
has it pretty good and I guess I do too now that I am retired.
Well, time for me to go out and clear away the snow and
while I am at it I guess I will be thankful that Busters ancestors aren’t out
and about looking for food.
