Archive for December 2016
Short Day
It’s the shortest day of the year and the longest night. In recognition of that, it’s also one of my shortest posts!
Happy Winter Solstice!
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Mukluk Love
Have I gushed about my Steger Mukluks yet this winter? No? Then I’m overdue. These boots are simply the warmest and most comfortable winter footwear I have ever encountered. I’m on my second pair in about 30 years and the ones pictured are barely into their second season of use.
With both pairs I have been somewhat selective about when I choose to wear them, reserving each for times when there was a worthy amount of snow. They work just fine in other conditions, but for me they excel in the snow. Minimizing my time on hard surfaces like concrete or pavement is one of the ways I’ve been able to extend the life of the boots.
One of many features I adore is that they aren’t made with a left or right design. By switching them annually to the opposite foot, natural wear and tear is stretched out to double what it would otherwise be. They feel weird at first during the transition phase, but the soft sole adjusts soon enough to the new shape.
The overall feel is another amazing feature, albeit a little odd at first. Since they are soft soled, it feels a lot like wearing a slipper, and who would wear their slippers out for a hike in the deep snow? It’s just plain weird. But it is also liberating for feet to be so incredibly comfortable in such harsh conditions.
The absence of a firm structure to confine the foot into a specific space allows toes to spread out to their full natural width. This supports maximum blood flow through the foot and that naturally contributes to warmer feet. When wearing my mukluks, my feet are never the part of me that gets cold.
Steger mukluks are not an inexpensive option, but they are a worthy investment that provides incredible dividends. The longer you can make them last, the more value you get for the many dollars spent.
One last bonus: If you are hesitant about being active outside during the winter, owning a pair of boots that are the most comfortable ever and keep your feet warm and dry, will make you want to be out there every day possible.
I love my Steger mukluks!
p.s.: I forgot to mention how easy it is to slide my feet into, and out of them. It really is like putting on slippers. There. One more bonus, after the “one last bonus” above!
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Pet Scapades
Sure it’s cold. So what does that have to do with Pequenita, our indoor cat? She has been a lot more playful the last few days. Cyndie let ‘Nita have her way with some tissue paper yesterday and the cat went to town on it. It was fun to watch, because it was a bit out of character for her.
Other than that brief excitement indoors, the rest of my day involved shoveling, tending to the horses, walking Delilah, fixing the winch cable on the Grizzly, and plowing the rest of the driveway in the evening darkness. I was cold and hungry when I finally headed inside, and happily discovered the scent of dinner preparations upon my arrival.
Cyndie has made so much progress this weekend, she was able to move around without the walker and could stand long enough in the kitchen to prepare food. Since it’s still difficult to carry things, I brought her dinner plate to the bedroom for her, where she was putting her leg up to rest.
When I returned to the kitchen to get my plate from the counter, I saw nothing but salad left on my plate. Delilah was chomping my entrée on the floor. More indoor excitement. At least it wasn’t the cat.
What a way to wreck a meal. Cyndie split her serving in half and shared it with me, but I had a hard time enjoying it after seeing my original portion spread on the kitchen floor. What bothered me the most was the feeling of betrayal and disrespect of our food on the counter by Delilah.
Someone really needs to teach that dog some manners. Is there an app for that?
For the time being, I am going to practice not letting my plates of food out of my sight when she is around.
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After Snow
Here’s how it works. The low pressure system spins up a wonderful snowfall and moves on to the east. Behind that comes high pressure and clear skies, bringing with it the bitter cold air that is on vacation from the North Pole. It’s a little counterintuitive, but our coldest days are also the sunniest.
I moved the horses inside the barn last night due to the harsh conditions of -20° (F), which carries with it the threat of dangerous wind chills. We didn’t get much wind, so they probably would have been fine, but I think they appreciate the gesture whenever we provide the overnight accommodations.
As soon as the sun showed up this morning, I moved the herd back outside where they could soak up what little solar energy possible in this cold. Hunter seemed happy to have access to the rest of the bunch again and wandered around pestering everyone while they tried to munch from the hay boxes in the sunny nook beneath the overhang.
Yesterday my plowing and shoveling was a mixed success. I decided to pull snow off the roof right from the start, so I would shovel the entryways only one time. It made it a significantly more arduous task, but at least I wasn’t doing it twice.
While in the middle of that chore, I heard a rumble in the driveway that turned out to be my neighbor making a couple of volunteer passes with his snowplow. Cut my workload considerably! Gave us a rare opportunity for a brief visit and catch up with local trivia. His main inquiry is almost always regarding how many deer I have seen. He proudly reported seeing a group of seven just the other day.
I couldn’t compete with that.
He left the edges and the loop around the hay shed for me to do, mentioning it like that was the favor he was doing me, not the plowing of the full length of our driveway. I thanked him profusely for his timing, as I have more to do than I can fit in a day, lately. He wasn’t aware that Cyndie is on limited duty, recovering from the knee replacement surgery.
About half way through the plowing I wanted to accomplish, the cable that lifts the plow blade broke. I get to fix that today in the painfully cold weather. This may be the second snowfall in a row where I don’t plow all the area around the barn that I want plowed.
It would have been nice to finish it yesterday before the worst of the cold air arrived. I’m tempted to resort to some hand shoveling to clear essential paths at the very minimum. Riding around on the ATV in these extreme temperatures isn’t that much fun.
Even though I really do love winter the most!
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Seriously Wintery
It’s seriously wintery now. In which, I’m going to need to pull some snow off the roof. How is it that snowflakes will collect facing straight down?
Poor Delilah is having a hard time keeping the snow from freezing between her toes. We tried getting her to wear little booties one time. She kicked them off in minutes. I wonder if she might reconsider at this point.
The horses have blankets on now. Per Cyndie’s instructions, Anneliese and George put them on before heading out of town this weekend. The herd seemed pretty much in survival mode this morning, conserving their energy, hunkered down against the elements, non-stop munching hay.
I will spend the day plowing and shoveling in a biting cold winter wind. This is the winter weather that is legendary for the northland. None of that wimpy global warming stuff where we barely get below freezing and snow melts soon after it falls. That is so last year.
We’re all good again, collecting stories that we can pass on to our descendants about how cold and snowy it was back in the day.
Hopefully, I’ll survive the weekend to tell about it later.
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Depression Podcast
It’s unusual to consider depression something to be laughed at, but maybe laughing at it has some merit. I have discovered a new podcast from American Public Media hosted by humorist John Moe called, “The Hilarious World of Depression.” Through conversations with some nationally respected comedians who share tales of their own experiences with depression, Moe explores a link between the illness and comedy.
The show is sponsored by HealthPartners and its “Make It Okay” campaign. I have long been a fan of the idea that talking about mental health issues is a crucial step toward reducing the stigma normally associated with them.
Depression can be treated. I treat mine everyday. In fact, talking about my experiences is one of the methods I employ to treat my natural tendency toward a depressive mindset.
I think it’s a great thing when humor can be added to the topic that is uncomfortable for most people to discuss. Spread the word about this podcast to people you know. It’s okay to talk about mental illness.
Now we can even laugh at it, too.
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Paralyzed
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it’s all news to me
unconsciously clenching my teeth
one headline after another
none of them offering good
I have to remind myself to breathe
instead of tensely holding my breath
how long is this going to last
this slow motion slide going sideways
a slippery slope of regression
back to a less developed state
when being rich, white, and male
was why america was great
with a king in imaginary robes
in a kingdom afraid to complain
having seen what happens if you do
bullying Tweet tantrums that ignite
legions of haters happy to take the bait
doing the dirty work unleashing their hate
as the majority stand paralyzed and wait
surely someone will investigate
good people will retaliate
the unfathomable can’t continue to contaminate
will good sense ever again dominate
most of us certainly hope
it won’t end up being too late
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Intriguing Finds
Imagine this: Delilah and I were on another walk around our property. How many times have we done that before? Regardless the frequency of our travel on the variety of paths available, there is always something new to discover. Yesterday in the quickly fading light of day, it was snow and marks in the snow that caught our attention.
Well, my attention, anyway.
In both cases, I had almost entirely passed by the beauties when something caused me to stop and fish the camera out of my pocket. Despite the bitterly cold temperature and the low light, I came up with images that work for me.
The first subject was a couple of balanced mossy rocks that the snow had frosted with a flair. It flowed down from the top of the upper rock and circled perfectly around it as it settled over the rock below.
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The second find was even more fascinating to me. At first glance I assumed the marks in the snow were probably from George and Anneliese’s dogs, but one mark didn’t make any sense. My brain processed it as if a bear had swung a clawed paw.
Probably not.
Then it occurred to me. That was the shadow of a passing wing! These were the tracks from a predator snatching up prey. Wow.
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I had to halt Delilah’s progress so I could get out the camera again and position myself to capture the shot. I couldn’t reach because she was pulling against me toward something more interesting to her.
I called her to come back toward me and then quickly pleaded with her to stop and stay, in fear she would come barreling all the way back to me and stomp through the scene. Luckily, she stopped.
Just another walk around the property. Yeah.
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Didn’t Work
As Delilah and I were walking through the woods on Sunday morning after the overnight accumulation of perfectly powdery snow, we came upon a loose strand of spider web blowing in the breeze, still covered with a collection of flakes. I suppose it might have been the weight of the snow that pulled the line from the web in the first place.
I hastily tried to capture a shot of it with my camera, but before I could successfully set the macro and frame the snowy strand, it broke away and fell to the ground.
It became another image for the batch of those that didn’t work.
Last night as I took Delilah out for her final evening stroll, I was surrounded by incredible beauty, all of which would land in my batch of “didn’t work” images if I tried to capture the scenes with my pocket camera.
The December super moon was illuminating the freshly fallen snow and giving off a priceless glow. How amazing the difference between this experience and the darkest moonless nights of summer around here. There was no need for a flashlight last night.
The sky wasn’t entirely clear, and some high wisps of cloud occasionally reflected a circle of light around the giant ball of cheese. It was simply spectacular. The kind of thing you want to immediately share with the world. You’ll have to take my word for it. I didn’t get any pictures.
It was a “you had to be there” performance.
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Winter Indeed
I thought it was going to stop snowing early in the day, based on the way the radar looked in the morning, but the flakes just kept falling the whole time I was out shoveling and plowing yesterday. That really messes with my perfectionism for having a clean driveway and walkways.
It is fascinating to me how dramatically life changes between summer and winter. In summer, I get to walk out the door without a thought. Now I pause at the front door for 5 minutes and put on several additional layers of clothes, boots, hat & mittens. It’s the way of winter.
It has been a long time since I plowed snow with the Grizzly, but in minutes I was back in the routine. Down with the blade, forward gear. Up with the blade, reverse. Back and forth, to and fro. Snow flowing off the blade, off the driveway, and into the ditch.
Summer is a distant memory. I am now fully in winter mode and it feels totally normal to be so. The repetitive motion of shoveling and plowing becomes something of a meditation for me. Meditation with grunting and sweating, that is.
I suppose it’s not much different from mowing the grass in summer.
They just seem worlds apart to me.
I noticed yesterday how my mindset changes dramatically with the seasons, in terms of what is most important. In the spring and summer I work diligently to rake out the gravel from the grass beside the driveway. As I plowed the snow off the gravel driveway yesterday, I had no problem shifting the priority to removing the snow without worrying about pushing gravel up onto the grass.
What matters in this moment isn’t always the same as what matters in another.
Today, snow and cold are the prominent attention grabbers. Winter, indeed.
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Relative Something 