Who is that masked man?

Hi ya! How're life treating you so far today? Here it is brutal! We got a major dump of snow and it is likely to continue through the day. Welcome to winter, eh. Pour a mugful of coffee and massage a virtual doughnut or muffin onto your plate, why don't'cha?

So who is that masked man? Not to worry. It is neither a terrorist nor a bank robber...no, it is just me getting ready to go out and face the weather this morning. The 'mask' is actually a fleece hood with a piece that you can pull over your nose and mouth and keep the cold away. Nong and I were at a Women's Day event last summer and a vendor was selling the hoods. When I saw them, I immediately recognized the possible benefit for me. I tend to get neuralgia in my teeth and gums if I have my mouth open when it is very cold. Well, I bought it and have been waiting to use it since. Got my chance today, I'll tell you... I got to test it out and it performed very well.

Nong has a scheduled start of 6:00 AM which meant that we are up at 4:45 except that today we were greeted by -11C with a -21C wind chill and blowing, drifting snow. It had obviously been snowing all night; was still snowing and blowing and showing no signs of letting up. The garage door wouldn't open because of snow piled against the bottom. There was a 12" drift a few feet from the garage door and the driveway from the front of the house to the road...maybe 20 feet... had about 8-10 inches of snow on it. I'll get the snowblower out later (don't like to wake up the neighbours at 5:00 in the morning!) so Nong and I just pushed enough of the white stuff aside so I could get the car out onto the unplowed road. Putting winter tires on was another good idea we had in late fall.

By 5:35, the main roads were ploughed so we made it to Tim's and I made it back safely. I am not supposed to do any heavy lifting, which is why we got the snowblower. Fortunately, it was fairly light snow...but it felt as though it was turning to freezing rain...a wonderful natural phenomenon that encourages you  to fall on your butt in creative ways, slipping and sliding along. Not a good day to be a mail carrier, eh!

Ah well, we don't have to go out of the city until Friday when sunshine and a slightly warmer temperature is forecast.

Take your time getting wherever you are going today!

See ya, eh!

Bob

PS: Here's what it looked like out our front window a few minutes ago...