HAIR'S GONE BUT CURLERS STILL IN

 Haircutting salons are finally open again in our area. Most people haven't had their hair trimmed for over 2 months!

The February full moon is called the "snow moon". Duh. But beautiful as ever on a crisp evergreen night...

Speaking of snow, we got another dump of it. The ice in the troughs is back to about 8" thick and 4 feet up into the shingles. (Is February going out like a lion??)

The fox patrols regularly just outside the house. It would really like to climb trees after those pesky squirrels, but at least it can run along the fence rails. Does that blood in the snow mean...you know?? It always seems well fed as it scampers away.

It was Curling Day in Canada! Our happy curler has generations of cred, throwing a rock and using a broom used by her dad in the '60's!! As we say about spring, HURRY! HARDER!

MINDING OUR P's AND Q's

 Not on YouTube or Netflix, the Sunrise Channel is seen live and spectacular every day up here. An awesome way to start the day. Pinks, crimsons, golds, and greys. Sometimes it looks like as rocket launch going up, sometimes like a Space X coming down.

The annual shout-out to the P's (as in "pancakes"). Not as good as those home-made in childhood memories, but done with gusto. How did mom and aunt Mary just mix everything in a bowl and flip ambrosia in a pan??

Meanwhile outside the snow kept coming. Horizontal on the roof, vertical on the windows. The Two Shovelers met in the middle of the luge run.

Winter critters are always in sight, like next-door neighbours whether you want them or not. Turkeys are least welcome because they gobble up the feeder area. Squirrels are OK because they're cute. Foxes can visit anytime because they're just plain wild!

The only roadtrips possible these pandemic times are day trips in the region. This week it was to Beaver Valley with ski slopes on the horizon and cutesy villages on the way. Ice fishers on the bay ---- any masks in sight??

Also a part of the road ritual is Chinese takeout. Quite Quaint. Can you spot the Q's? 

OX and XO

 We celebrate with our Asian friends the Lunar New Year of the Ox. Only a small community in town and it's a subdued occasion this year. But the signs are there and even some fun --- this painting is called "Oxanne" 😉. The Ox year is opinionated and stubborn, an ominous sign for the Divided States that had yet another dangerous setback yesterday. Here's hoping for some sunlight for them, like the sparkle in our trees.

The snow keeps piling up, sticking like white Elmer's glue. TV and internet disappeared until the dishes were cleared.

At first The Roof Guy tried to scrape snow off with a wide pushing shovel. Ice is 10 inches thick in the troughs. Snow is higher than an elephant's knee. Not gonna work...

So next up is a roof rake with 16 foot extension poles. A strain on the arms but much better reach, rake, and results. (Nice move but this morning we got another 4 inches of the white stuff on the roof...)

What a weekend! The Lunar Ox is on the run. The already postponed Daytona 500 is in jeopardy today due to rain. The Carnival Parade in Rio has been cancelled! Break Week in Ontario has been put off. But what can't be cancelled are the X's and O's of Valentine's Day. So here's a great big kiss and hug from us to you...We all need it.

WHAT'S 25 AND GROUNDHOG DAY ALL OVER??

 OK, what were you doing on Feb. 3 1996? 

It was Groundhog Day this week but our Wiarton Willie didn't show up. Maybe he was isolating at home like the rest of us? So we'll take the word of a stand-in squirrel who popped up to a cloudy sky. Early spring! Yay! But until then it's like Groundhog Day all over and over, with heaps of snow daily, and icicles drooping like crystal popsicles.

The fox prowls often, sneaking below our window to catch that squirrel. Stare, crawl, leap, nada. It looks up at us as if to say ---- "Can you spare a nice warm mouse??"

Eventually we have to drive to town for supplies, you know the essentials like ice cream and chocolate sauce. But the roads have been windblown and whiteout. Oh Canada! Poor car...

Groundhog Shoveling, Groundhog Shoveling. Up and down and all around. 

Unlike the ladder, this IS a step. 25 years ago a guy wanted to take a girl on a romantic first date to --- Hockey Hall of Fame?? Much wiser, she suggested having her go-to baked fish dinner at his house. The rest is history...