A BOWL OF SOUP

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind.  What would normally have been 'the dead of winter' with no activities and a lot of staying at home and keeping warm was anything but for the first two weeks of January.

The first mission of the year actually sent out a warning just before Christmas, but its message wasn't interpreted correctly.  Our daughter and her husband are the recent new owners of an acreage about an hour's drive from here.  It's 22 acres with a house, two barns, a workshop and a huge shed in a well treed yard; the perfect place to raise their growing family.  It's wonderful to have that kind of space and control of what you want to do with it, as opposed to living in a city setting with architectural control and animal bylaws in place.  Of course, there is a trade off for these freedoms: where as no one is going to tell you how to design your house or what kind of animals you can keep, when you have water and sewer problems - they are entirely your own problem to fix.

When their water pressure started giving them problems it was misdiagnosed to be a foot valve problem and that repair was made; it made no difference.  Then came Christmas and then the blizzard and then the yard clearing which led to the discovery of a growing ice pond forming in their front yard - they obviously had a water line break between the well and the house.  It was New Year's Eve and the next three days would be weekend and holiday - they needed to deduce where the break was, dig down to find it, repair the line, and properly re-bury the line so the frost couldn't get at it and freeze it solid.

On the good side they have their own backhoe to do the digging and our son works at a store that carried the plumbing pieces they would need so the holidays weren't going to stop them, on the other hand it was bitterly cold and if we were going to be able to help them it had to be right away - we had booked a week in Mexico and had to be gone to catch our flight by the morning of the 4th, at the latest.

The men gave it everything they had but the little backhoe just didn't have the power to get through the layer of frost.  The break ended up being under where their driveway is and the more ground is compressed with traffic the deeper the frost layer gets.  They finally had to call a neighbour to come with a bigger machine and six hours later it was dug up, fixed, and buried again - all for an inch long split in a plastic hose!  We heard about this in a text about the time we were halfway to Calgary; it was good to know they had their water back.

The tropical holiday was lovely and warm, the beach and pool at the resort were great, we went with fun people and met more while we were there ... and I fought a cold the whole time.  And just as I began to get better Glen came down with it.  We were invited to stay longer and visit more when we got back to Canada but all we wanted by that time was to go home - besides, no one in their right mind would seriously want to share space with our germs.

I think we were in bed within an hour of getting home on Friday night.

And yesterday I got up and made soup.  After all the tropical fruit, fresh fish dishes, and fancy cuisine we had all last week all either of us desired was a pot of hot, meal-worthy, vegetable-filled soup.  Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home.

                                                           WE'VE GOT THIS!

A person always wonders what the future holds as the final minutes of one year steadily tick forward into the first minutes of the next.  We think about the year that has been and what we hope for as the next one unfolds, and being a superstitious bunch, we look for signs to calm our reservations with the unknown.  It's always scary to step into something we can't predict.

This past year has been a doozey, hasn't it?  News broadcasts are a never ending flow of stories that leave us at the very least unsettled, and at worst, deeply depressed.  How can human beings think that blowing up other human beings serves any purpose at all?  How can bombing whole cities into rubble and dust profit any kind of agenda?  What is the point of declaring yourself the victor when there is nothing left to claim, and no people to rule? 

Disturbingly I find myself becoming immune to the stories of terrorism attacks around the world.  It's not a question of was there another one, but where did it happen today, with minor points of interest added like how many bombers there were, how many of them got away, and how many innocent shoppers or concert goers died this time.  It has started sounding like a sports cast explaining who the opposing teams are, what plays were used, and what was the final score.  What should shock us just ends up sounding like a bunch of statistics.  I have to stop and remind myself every once in a while those numbers had mothers and fathers who loved them, children who depended on them, friends who were probably there and couldn't save them.

And no one will ever be able to think of 2016 without the nightmare of the USA presidential election results.  If there ever was a reason to dread this next four years, it's the thought of who is in charge at the White House.  My hope is that we manage to live through it; the world has never been in less trust-worthy hands.

But that is the big picture; something I can do nothing about.  If I let myself worry about the world affairs I will certainly go crazy, so I focus on just my own little place on the map and my own little life.  When the clock ticked into 2017 we were up at the neighbour's place toasting the New Year with loads of food, cups of cheer, and a box of fireworks set off amid snowflakes fluttering down around us.  A half hour later we were on our way home, happy and tired.  The roads hadn't been in great shape on our trip to the party and they had got worse.  We ended up getting stuck a mile from home in the middle of the road because the drifts were so deep and went on for so long. 

The obvious thought that this was a bad omen for the new year came to mind as we put on the extra hats, mitts, and scarves we had in the back seat, put the cell phone on flashlight mode and headed home, but that mile's worth of exercise gave me lots of time to think - yes getting stuck wasn't a good thing, but since we were prepared and confident in our abilities, it wasn't a serious obstacle.

The walk was brisk, but pretty, the tractor started right up even though it hadn't been plugged in, and we were changed into work clothes and headed back to the car in less that a half hour.  We had the tools to dig out and Glen used the snow blower on the tractor to clear the whole road and our driveway before we called it a day.  For me it wasn't about the misfortune of getting stuck, but that we were capable of overcoming the trouble all on our own.

Let's hope we can say the same thing about world affairs and American politics this time next year.

                                                  THE AFTERMATH

Days before Christmas the storm warnings started.  Well, they were more like storm suggestions to begin with, but with every eight hour update the message got clearer - there was trouble headed our way.  The reports all compared it to the Christmas storm of 2009, but I honestly can't recall a Christmas storm that stood out ... they sure made it sound like it was something for the record books. 

Predictions for 2016 had snowfall amounts anywhere from one to three feet starting noon-ish on Christmas Day.  Luckily, for our family, we have our biggest gathering and meal on Christmas Eve so our plans didn't have to be modified at all.  We had the big family meal here at the farm and all the supper guests were off home by 9:00 that night.  Our daughter, son-in-law and their two little boys were here for over night and to open gifts in the morning with our son coming out from town to join in that fun as well.  Santa had no trouble getting through and there were lots of goodies as we opened stockings and we had our traditional brunch feast late in the morning ... then came the time to decide what was going to happen next.  If they were going it had to be right away - or stay for the duration.

The men went home.  Mitchell to town and Andrew to their small farm 60 miles away.  They have animals to care for and when the snow blows their lane has to be cleared before they can get into the yard.  He encouraged Jesse and the boys to stay until after the storm was over so she did. 

Right on schedule the storm rolled in at dusk on Christmas Day.  It snowed through the night and it must have been quite the dump of snow because we had about 8 new inches of the white stuff by morning - not nearly as bad as they got it further to the south or east of us, but significant all the same.  Glen went out and cleared the yard in the afternoon; not too hard of a job because we are protected from the wind to the north and west.  Everything in the yard was soft and fluffy and easy to move, but go outside the trees and the banks are like cement.  There was no telling how blocked the roads were so Jesse knew she couldn't leave yet.

It was another whole 24 hours before the municipal grader cleared our way to the highway.  If Jesse had been driving a truck she probably could have gotten out without the plow, but she had a car and two little kids to think about so she waited it out.  I think they were pretty glad to get home.  A sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house is fun: loads of treats, silly games, wild running around and giggling as they tried to shoot Grandpa's big toe with nerf guns, bouncing on the mattress on the floor until they bonked heads, applying constant "motivational pressure" to get grandpa to go out and clear snow, and other such adventures ... but there is no place like home.

They left late yesterday afternoon and we spent the evening in the shell-shock quiet of the aftermath of the aftermath of the storm.  Sometimes it's good to be the "old folks".  I'm pretty sure we couldn't handle 24/7 at that energy level.

                                                       DOGGY INDECISION

Turbo is a beautiful dog.  Best guess is that he's a German Shepherd/Husky mix.  The shape of his head and the length of his legs and ears show the shepherd part while the two tone greys and that big smile he has prove there's husky in there too, somewhere.  He's big and he's friendly and he's also pretty darned smart when he wants to be.  We are pretty sure he could have been a detector dog for law enforcement - the amount of time he spends examining a scent is something I've never seen in a dog before.  And there is no fooling him:  if we go see the grandkids without him, he knows as soon as we get out of the vehicle.  That's another thing about Turbo - he loves his kids.

Along with the other things his Husky ancestors handed down to him, he has quite the winter coat.  He spent the summer looking for a shady spot when I was out working in the garden or mowing grass;  summer heat is not his idea of a good time, but now that there is snow on the ground he can't get enough of the outdoors.  He's gleefully leaps and bounds through fresh snow like it's icing on his personal birthday cake. 

This past week has been beyond cold here on the prairies.  You can make all the jokes about 40 below that you want - the truth is the air DOES hurt your face at that temperature.  Your fingers also hurt - until they go numb.  And sticking your tongue to something metal is the dumbest thing you'll ever do.  The snow squeaks when you walk on it - the colder it is the higher the pitch of the squeak.  These are just some of the things a person knows about winter when you live out here.  Also, the smart people stay inside until it warms back up to 15 below.  Unfortunately the people with cattle to feed and bed down, no matter how smart they are, have to go outside anyway: thank goodness we don't have cattle any longer.

But we do have a dog.  One with Eskimo heritage.  And he just wants to go out side.

My days are spent acting as Turbo's doorman.  The Husky in him wants outside so he stands at the garden door whimpering to be let out.  I let him out.  He isn't out there two minutes and he remembers that he's lonely without at least one human to keep him company.  He comes to the deck door and scratches to be let in.  I let him in.  Five minutes later his insticts tell him he's an outside dog.  I let him out.  Three minutes later he's worried I might be making something to eat without his supervision.  I let him back in.  Ten minutes later he spots an imaginary coyote to chase.  I let him out.  Seven minutes after that he comes back trying to look the part of the mighty hunter and wants back in.  Four minutes later he wants back out because it's just too hot in the house.  Another three minutes and he wants back in because he misses his human. 

What he really wants is to go for a walk; something that he is capable of doing on his own.  We own 640 acres and he can explore them all any time he wants.  Trouble is, dogs are social animals and he wants to be a part of a pack.  I am his pack, and he just wants company.  I have explained to him that my ancestors are not Huskies, I do not sport a think fur coat, and I'm waiting for the temperature to go up. 

Just a minute, I have to go let him out again.

                     Brutally Cold

The storm lived up to its billing.  First we got almost a foot of snow and then the wind picked up and the temperature dropped like a stone.  It's really winter now.

Our farm yard is like so many others here on the prairies: it's surrounded by a tree shelterbelt.  When the land was first settled in the late 1800s and early 1900s there were no trees here at all.  Mother Nature had kept them from establishing themselves out on the open prairie with a pretty regular occurrence of prairie fires.  My grandparents used to talk of having to go to what is now Moose Mountain Provincial Park to cut the winter's supply of wood in the summer time and then head back up there with teams of horses to haul it home once the snow made the haul easier.  That is almost an hour's drive now in today's vehicles; think of the work it was for them!

It didn't take the pioneers long to get planting trees and plowing fire guards, and recognizing the insulation factor of having trees to stop a blizzard wind, they planted rows of trees around their homesteads, especially to the north and west.  Ours is such a shelterbelt, we are protected to the north and west and open to the south and east which helps us get out of the yard after a storm.  If the wind blows from one way and plugs the west lane we can get out to the south, and vice versa.  Of course, getting out of the yard is only step one; then there are three miles of gravel road to the highway, and four miles of highway to get to town.  We know what "stormed in" means.

Tuesday night last week the wind picked up, as advertised, but we could barely hear it, meaning it was coming straight out of the north.  When we woke on Wednesday morning we couldn't see past where the trees end in front of the house but the snow in the yard still lay as soft and fluffy as it fell.  The wind hadn't touched it.  When the wind changed direction later on and blew more from the west, long, rock-hard drifts blew in through the maples but the driveway is still clear to drive.  It all depends on the direction and speed of the wind but sometimes the snow sculptures that Mother Nature comes up with are breathtakingly beautiful.

What came next was the bitter cold.  Out came the cords to plug in vehicles and the car got packed with extra winter wear and heavy boots; being caught out in windchills of 40 below is a life and death situation.  It has "warmed up' (and I use the term loosely) to minus 25 now; our dog who is part Husky can't figure out why there have been no long walks this past week.  He can keep on wondering until the temperature creeps up a bit more!

                                                        PRAIRIE POWER

We are a strange bunch, we prairie people.  A strange bunch indeed.

As the weather advisories started to appear on TV and Facebook on Sunday night a trickle of excitement sparked to life in our hearts.  There are plenty of folks who would deny this, but it's true all the same.  We all kind of held our breath and waited to see if the early models of the predicted storm would be upgraded or downgraded as time went by.  In the back of our minds we began to do the math ... did we have what it takes to weather this weather?  It's a kind of adrenaline rush; Mother Nature throwing down the gauntlet.  We want to know, are we worthy of picking it up?

Even though there are plenty who say "I hate winter!", unless they are being held here against their will, a little voice deep inside us whispers the words "Bring it on!"  I've never been sure if the people who choose to live here do so because they revel in challenges like this, or is it something in the water - once we have felt the prairie wind in our faces and braved the scorching sun of summer and bitter cold of winter we become infected with this passion to prove ourselves.  We want to show the stuff we are made of.  We want to step up to the plate.  We want to take on the test and come out the winner.

By Sunday nightfall the predictions were turning toward something significant.  There would be snow, and lots of it.  There would be wind and zero visibility.  And with that wind, the temperatures would drop to very nasty territory.  Although they still weren't calling it a bona fide blizzard on Monday morning the snow was dumping down - lots of raw material for what was to come.  In the local jargon, we appeared to be "in for it".  We are aware that it's absurd to be happy about this, but on the inside there was a significant amount of fist pumping going on.

As we waited through the morning, before the storm actually settled in, there was a little stock-taking happening.  How long was this supposed to last?  Did we have everything we needed to sit this thing out?  Was there time for a run to town for basic things like milk and eggs and bread?  Personally I could see myself getting a lot of Christmas baking done during these next house-bound days so these ingredients would be good to have on hand, but this is a well-stocked farm home; we could survive quite well on what we already have.  We are strong and independent; we can take care of ourselves.

And that's the crux of our mindset.  It's because we come from pioneer stock.  It's because we grew up hearing the stories of blizzards of the past - the ones where our ancestors learned what they needed to survive in this climate so they could pass their knowledge on down to us.  For sure we don't have to worry about getting enough wood split and carried in to keep the fires burning through a three day storm like they did, and we have shelter belts that slow down the wind and yard lights to guide us around our yards if there are chores to do, but because we heard their stories we understand and respect the power of Mother Nature.

We know the danger of being caught out in such conditions and that it truly is a matter of life and death.  We may have central heating in our homes but in the back of our minds we have a back up plan if the power ever went out.  We know to ration the important things because there is no guarantee of when we will be able to refresh our supplies.  We will make sure that the tractor is plugged in so we can clear the yard when the storm is over, and we will stay in touch with our neighbours to make sure that are doing okay through it all.

Instead of being afraid of what was to come we revelled in the challenge ahead of us.  We grinned, and we dug in.  We are a strange bunch, alright.  For us a prairie blizzard is just an adult version of a SNOW DAY.

                                            Getting this Show on the Road

While I was making the sandwiches for his work lunch this morning my husband was scrounging around the cupboards looking for other goodies to tide him over through the day.  He picked up the lid to the cookie jar and peered into its depths, removing the last few lace cookies for himself and treating Turbo to his favourite - an oatmeal raisin.  The dog was thrilled; the man looked a little sad.  I knew that whatever was left in there was not fresh but I've been putting off baking more - it's December and the recipes that I will be pulling out next are way too tempting for my level of self denial.  If I bake butter tarts too early I will just have to do it all over again in another two weeks in order to have some for Christmas.  Timing is everything!

After he left for the day I decided to pull out my file box of family favourites and see if shopping was going to be necessary before I could begin - it will be, and I will probably head into town before noon.  Going through the battered (in more ways that one) recipe cards I have slipped into the nostalgic frame of mind that makes holiday baking so much more than just combining ingredients - all of the well-loved recipes have titles that remind me who shared them with me.  Baking all these goodies is always like spending the day with people whom I hold dear.

There is one from a friend who used to babysit my kids.  She lives in Toronto now and we never see each other, but every Christmas I pull out the card for her mincemeat bars and think of the long conversations we used to have over coffee in her kitchen.  I still remember the first time I tried one of these cookies - just to be polite because I am not a fan of mincemeat, but I was totally surprised at how good they were.  Mincemeat is such a rich taste that it over powers tarts and pie, but in these cookies, that are basically a mincemeat fig newton, the cookie part balances out the fruit filling.  I asked for the recipe that afternoon and have made them every year since.  And I think of Shirley when I do.

The one for poppycock I had to research on my own.  Back in my Postmaster days a few of our customers would bring us treats to keep our energy levels up during the crazy days of December.  One lady always brought a dish of poppycock.  I never thought to get her recipe at the time, but the first Christmas after she passed away I sure missed her treat.  I had to try a few different versions before I found one close to hers and it's a family favourite now.  It doesn't have Ethel's name on the card but it's her I think of, and I try to make enough to hand out to the girls at the post office - you know, just to carry on the tradition.

The pastry recipe for the pies and tarts is the standard one printed on the Tenderflake Lard package, but the goodies that go into the shells are family treasures.  My sister Sheila was the master baker of our family, taking over mom's title when she was gone.  Now these two loved ones spend their Christmases together in heaven and the best the rest of us can do is use their recipes and hope for the best.  Sheila's butter tarts were the best - or was it just the joy of sitting in her kitchen and sipping coffee and eating all her goodies that made them so special?  We all use her recipe and think of her when we do.

And, as it turns out that I don't have everything I need to make Granny's lemon cheese for Mom's puff pastry tarts I will go to town.  I cheat of course; mom used to make her own puff pastry - it was quite the fitness program rolling those layers of butter and pastry together over and over again.  I can buy it ready made, which while very convenient is not all that healthy.  It means I can churn out my very favourite Christmas treat by the hundreds without the workout to burn off the calories.  Every mouthful tastes of my childhood.

And while I'm in town I guess I'll pick out the tree and a turkey ... may as well get this show on the road!