Plenty of snow to shovel

Our New Year has dawned as the great white north. Fifteen inches of drifting snow has turned our world into a white winter land. Waking on Monday, the CBC announcer let all of Ontario know that Fort Frances was the desperately cold spot of the province.
When the sun rose, the sky became a cold blue white colour that only frosty freezing January days hold. Pristine in its cleanliness, the change from the warmer December days was dramatic. Yet that cold blue white sky seems brilliant in itself. The air is fresh and breathing it in feels like your lungs are living again. It is full breath of fresh air delivered unpolluted from the northern reaches of our country.
The snow now crunches and squeaks as you walk along the sidewalks. The trees of the town are painted white by the frost.
The double snowfall on Thursday and then again on New Year’s Eve has given everyone something to talk about. Smaller snow blowers that couldn’t through the snow five feet into the air have been replaced by older technology….. the shovel.
The new more powerful grader of the Town of Fort Frances has met its match in trying to push the snow banks back the curb. The parking lanes on each side of Second Street have been replaced with plowed snow banks rising six feet in height in places.
Wherever a driveway entrance or sidewalk had been dug across the boulevard, piles of snow now tower over the vehicles or persons walking through them.
The beauty of the two snowstorms let everyone hold to their New Year’s resolution to get more exercise. We certainly did! While I spent over an hour removing the snow from the driveway Saturday morning, my wife Marnie cleaned the walkway around the house.
My eldest son, home for the holidays from Calgary, spent another hour taking the snow out of the driveway entrance onto the street. If he had his way, the two dumps that we received, should have been delivered in Banff to improve the ski hills.
On New Year’s Day, we returned to the snow clearing business. This time we also included the roof of our family room that had a five-foot drift across the centre.
The lights that have lit our shrubbery are now safely buried under at least a foot of snow. The snow has climbed to the first crotch of our flowering crabs on Second Street. The young boys on the street are already discovering the thrill of sliding from the top of the snow banks in their shiny nylon ski-pants.
They are immune to the cold. Their bright shiny red cheeks tell you how much fun the outdoors is in winter.
Us older folks are now discussing the pains in our arms and legs from the physical work we performed over the weekend. Yet behind ever ache, there is a sense of pride that once again the snow has brought together the community in surviving mother nature.
Yes there was a lot of snow, but have dug out, we all have

–Jim Cumming,
Publisher