Posted in Holidays, Likes, tagged good news, snow, spring equinox, winter, yay on March 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »
It’s snowing, it’s too cold for the cat to go out, and my front steps are covered in a slurry of slush and ice but! I don’t care because today is the Spring Equinox!
March Equinox in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada was on
Thursday, March 20, 2014 at 12:57 PM EDT
That’s right, Google has a doodle, it’s the first day of Spring and day is (basically) as long as night. After a cold dark winter, that’s good news!
Look, kids, that big ball in the sky. Now do you believe in the Sun?
Posted in Likes, tagged beautiful, inspiration, nature, pictures, snow, Thoughts, winter on February 18, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Oh look, it’s snowing again, and I realize that I’m on the edge of what I’m calling Snow-Related Stockholm Syndrome. When I start to enjoy the fact that I’m buried under feet of the white stuff, it’s time for a change of scenery. Today, I give you Zion National Park.
Posted in Other, tagged Air New Zealand, Australia, cold, holidays, home, New Zealand, snow, travel, vacation, weather maps, winter on January 28, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Dear Air New Zealand and Australia.com,
Please stop showing me perky web ads with weather maps of your fair region. I know that it is summer there when it is winter here, but you don’t have to rub my face in it. I know that my −24C is your +24C, but thinking about it makes me want to cry. I also know how lovely it is Down Under, how full of stunning vistas and sumptuous wines and delectable foodstuffs, and sigh as I peer over the wind-swept mounds of snow outside my window.
So please, please, Air New Zealand and Australia.com, stop rubbing it in. Have pity on a poor Northern Hemisphere-ite, and let me freeze in peace.
Yours in winter,
J.R. Johnson
Posted in Likes, tagged home, o canada, public health, responsibility, snow, Thoughts, urban living, winter on January 27, 2014| Leave a Comment »
A City truck is outside, parked next to the fire hydrant. The hydrant has a long arm attached to it, one that goes up every Fall and comes down in the Spring, so workers and fire fighters can find it even in snow. That’s not good enough, though, not up here where ploughs pile drifts that can be my height or more, and so this worker is outside in −25C weather, digging out the hydrant.
This is my neighborhood, it’s my house, and it’s my hydrant. If I have a fire, or one of my neighbors does, that’s the hydrant we’ll need to put it out. The City takes care of it, just as they take care of the sidewalks. Cute little plows buzz up and down the walkways after a storm, pushing aside snow and spraying ice melt as they go, keeping the pavement clear for pedestrians. I love that.
Every other place I’ve lived, clearing sidewalks is the homeowner’s responsibility. That’s all well and good except for the years I spent climbing over and sliding through other people’s lack thereof. Responsibility, I mean, snow was in abundance. The danger of twisted ankles, sprained wrists, shattered hips, all because someone didn’t do their shoveling. Here, keeping pedestrians healthy and on their feet is considered a public good, benefiting all, and as such is taken care of by the City.
My tax dollars at work, and I’m all for it.
Posted in Funny, tagged deep freeze, home, Ontario, shoveling, snow, Thoughts, winter on January 6, 2014| Leave a Comment »
It’s been a cold week here in Ontario, as it has for much of the continent. This is basically my world right now:
Yep, that’s a lot of snow, and that’s a shovel. ‘Nuff said. Oh, except that I have now had the fascinating experience of −40 degree weather. As cold as parts of Mars, which is spectacular, and so ridiculously frigid that I don’t have to specify Celsius or Fahrenheit… because it’s the same thing!
On that note, I leave you with a video I wish I’d thought to make:
Here’s hoping you are having a warm and happy New Year, wherever you are.
J.R. Johnson 
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