Freezing Rain

The weather here is hideous today. How fortunate that we got out to visit our Rideau Camp on Sunday, when it was mild and cloudy, and the roads were clear and dry. When Attila left for work at 6 a.m. there was already a crust of ice on everything. I assumed he arrived safely at work because I received no messages. By noon it was a mixture of sleet, snow, and freezing rain. I watched a video with a city bus in the nearby city sliding down the street on sheer ice, scary. I crossed my fingers all day, hoping that the roads are good for Attila’s commute home.

Today is paperwork day. We got the business tax returns off last week, and I did all the annual paperwork associated with that. A big pain in the patootie for businesses that provide no income and no profit, quite the opposite, they cost us money out of our own pockets to keep them going. They are online businesses that get up to 100 visitors a day, and I consider them my contribution to the kind of Canada I want to live in. Attila and I have put our money where our mouths are, and the benefits of the businesses are for others, as it is only work and expense for us. We consider the businesses to be our form of volunteer work, invisible as such and taken for granted by those that use the services. We aren’t in it for money or glory, so things are as they should be. So far the only recognition I have been given for my efforts is a threatening hate letter from someone in Nova Scotia who assumed we were a big time corporation. Assumptions are such idiotic things!

There was a stack of papers to be filed, almost a foot thick. They have been calling my name for the last six months. It took all morning, but the pile is now gone, information is recorded where it needs to be recorded, and the top of the desk can be seen for the second time since we moved here.

A walk was out of the question today. I like to think all the bending and reaching involved with filing in the low cabinets is a bit of a substitute in the way of exercise. I still cannot sit for very long at one time, which as it turns out, isn’t such a bad thing, as I get a lot done around the house when I have to be on my feet with such frequency. The only down side is that I dare not lie down, because if I do I fall asleep, and if I fall asleep during the day I have a hard time sleeping at night.

For Christmas I received the books written by Elena Ferrante. I haven’t started to read them yet, they are a treat to be saved until I am ready to fully enjoy them.

The book is bogging down on the images, they are so much work to collect, source, caption, and place properly in the book. The program does not help me much with this process, so it is quite a lot of work. I think this will be my last book, unless my genealogy software offers substantial improvements of on the process of creating one.

The Rideau Camp, January 2017. What is left of the log pile is in front of the stacked cedar logs. We are almost there, just a few more dead trees to drag out of the pile and burn, and a few more logs to stack. All of the logs that can be seen stacked were in the pile, higgledy, piggledy. When the wood is cleared out of the pile, the earth needs to be levelled. The crushed stone that still needs to be spread is on the right of the image, and spreading that is going to be a lot of heavy work. We will have to pace ourselves with that project. Next summer will give us lots to do at the Rideau Camp.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

FREEZING RAIN WARNING IN EFFECT
Date: 11:35 AM EST Tuesday 24 January 2017
Condition: Light Snow
Pressure: 100.4 kPa
Tendency: Falling
Temperature: -2.3°C
Dew point: -3.7°C
Humidity: 90%
Wind: NNE 18 gust 31 km/h
Wind Chill: -8
Visibility: 2 km

Quote

“To find a fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.”
Plutarch
46 AD – 120 AD