Winter Fun

I have been looking back at some of my posts and I am a little worried that any of you out there that are reading this blog may be under the false impression that we are all work and no play here at Owl’s Hollow Homestead.  Heck no!!!  There are tons of fun things to do here in the winter, despite the absence of TV.  I must admit that, for the most part, it does require you to embrace snow in a big way… but it is possible.

So….. let me tell you how us country folks have fun in the winter…..  First of all, let me introduce you to all the fun you can have with your snowblower!  And blessings on blessings, it has hand warmers!!!!  I kid you not!  Now that was a seriously good upgrade.  Not only that but it is a serious workout for your legs and back AND the dog gets a workout too, chasing the blowing snow! A two fer for sure! I know, I know…. you are saying “wait a minute…. that sounds suspiciously like work too!!”  Ok, I will give you that one, but it is kinda fun too.  Might not be after 10 years of moving snow off the driveway and out to the chickens and rabbit homes.  You mostly have to see it from a city person perspective…. snow is very novel to us still….. so we are getting our fill of playing in it.

If that sounds like too much work for you… there is just going for a walk.  Now this is much more my speed!  And the nice thing I have found here is that generally there is not a lot of wind which makes walking in the snow so much nicer.  Now…. uuuhhhmmm I do have to say that the footwear required to walk in the snow is a bit of a workout too (they are enormous and heavily insulated)… here we go again…. but totally necessary to move anywhere in the winter.  Ok but still…. looking out at all the undisturbed fresh snow is beautiful and also lets you find some of the critters that are still out and about.  We tracked coyote, deer, rabbit and turkey tracks through our property. Even wierder, on one walk we found what I called snow spiders and some kind of little caterpillar type bug.  How they weren’t totally frozen was beyond my current level of farmer knowledge – but we found lots of them while walking to the local coffee shop (great coffee by the way!).  3km into town and 3km back – you’ve easily killed an hour to an hour and a half and burned a couple hundred calories plodding away in those boots!  A win, win! As long as you don’t have any of the goodies that they bake there.

And if that kind of walking doesn’t appeal to you, then there is always snowshoeing!  This activity is apparently very similar to the walking activity noted in the previous paragraph, and with equally awkward footwear, but the locals here like to take this walk into the mountains, where the walking is of the uphill variety.  I have included some pictures for you, and there is a very good reason why you only see Fallon in the pictures.  I myself have not yet shed enough of my city girl abhorrence of any activity that requires enough effort to make me sweat. They keep telling me how great snowshoeing is and how beautiful the scenery is (it really is great) but I am not convinced that I could admire the view when I am panting for breath and wiping sweat out of my eyes.  Just saying! I’m not falling for all those “it’s really fun” lies.  I am smarter than that!

I also must confess that I totally got a kick out of Fallon’s utter horror when she discovered that the local Salmo ski hill only had a T bar! Ha! Believe it or not, I (the exercise avoider!) have had some experience with a T bar.  It was totally foreign to her and Darren.   Not the easiest thing to manage on ski’s but really quite difficult on a snowboard! But something that they had to master if they wanted to enjoy the totally awesome night skiing that Salmo offers. Fallon, bless her heart, volunteered for the ski patrol and learned to rock the T bar. Since, I didn’t want to kill myself, I passed on the skiing.  Probably wise as anyone who knows me well can tell you.

I know you are thinking…. really girl, what DID you do during the winter….. well just wait!!  I curled!!! Fallon and I both joined the local ladies curling league.  And, yes, I did get some exercise curling!  There is the heaving of those heavy rocks and all that sweeping that needs to be done after all!  Only one teensy weensy little incident on night #2 of curling – that resulted in a multitude of multi-coloured bruises on both my legs – but I worked through it! And luckily our league has the benefit of 2 paramedics and a nurse for just such emergencies! It really was pretty fun! Both Fallon and I got pretty good, and the whole thing ended in a big party called a bon spiel!!! Since it included costumes and dancing and food, I was all over that!!!

All four of us seem to have a bit of the pyro bug in us….. nothing like a nice fire to get us going…. so the bonfire theme that we started in the fall continued through the winter.  Just add beer or Bailey’s and you have a great night! Throw in the occasional movie, some great bands at the local bar, the new colouring craze and a 1,000 piece puzzle and you have a winter full of fun!