I believe in Global Warming

After this past week, I can’t help but believe that global warming is impacting us. I would never have expected rain in the second week of January. Instead I would have expected deep-freezing temperatures, the kind that takes your breath away just stepping outside.
I shouldn’t complain about warmer weather and its affects, but after shoveling water-logged snow for the second time this year, I am convinced that light fluffy snow is much preferred. That light fluffy snow produces higher piles, but you can at least lift and shovel it.
I live on Second Street, and I commend the Fort Frances Public works for their diligence in keeping Second Street clear of snow and ice and sanding the streets. It will eventually end up on the boulevard, but it does make driving safer now.
But on Saturday morning, the air turned a little blue as I chiseled out the frozen snow that filled my driveway. It just wasn’t fun. It is the second time this season this that we’ve had rain followed by snow. I can’t ever remember it happening twice in one season before. The snow had frozen to my driveway as well. And what might have been a half hour of shoveling turned to well over an hour.
I remember back to Januarys where the temperature seldom rose above 0 F or -18 C for the entire month and those temperatures seemed to hover there for much of February. Any snow we received was probably ice crystals settling out of the air. The air was so cold that lights were installed on Central Avenue where the paper machines belched steam into the air that hugged the ground so that you couldn’t see 50 feet in front of you.
As I write of this, I remember how my electric bills and gas bills spiked during January and February months. I also seem to remember the occasional overloads of electric substations that have caused power outages in the community. Those outages all came under the worst conditions for linemen to be working outdoors.
As a youngster delivering papers back in the 1960’s, my parents bought me felt boots, and over top of them, I wore zippered rubber overshoes. They were warm. Later, one-piece winter boots were designed and my brother and I were among the first to have them for delivering papers.
The most fashionable footwear were “Sorel” boots manufactured by Kaufman in Kitchener. If you wore “Sorels” boots, your parents new that you wouldn’t freeze your toes outside. You don’t see those boots as often as you used to. I still have a pair that I dig out at least once a year. They are over 40 years old now. I have gone through several felt liners but the boots remain as warm as ever. The softer rubber provides much better traction on the ice in my driveway. I was wearing those old trusted boots on Saturday.

–Jim Cumming,
Publisher