Dec 27 - now we are 7

Sandy got back a little after 6pm last night with David, Kylie, Lauren & Mya. She'd had a rainy drive to and from Toronto, doing some grocery shopping and other errands along the way. David's flight was about 30 minutes late, which was remarkable according to Sandy since the fog at the airport was so dense.

When she left in the morning I had moved the SUV down to the top of the stairs from the barn so that she could load a plant that she was taking to Stef. She then proceeded to get stuck trying to get out of the driveway, down by the garage. It was wet and mushy, icy and slippery. While Al Nichols does a great job plowing the driveway, he does not plow down to the gravel and the few inches of hard-pack turns into tough going when it gets warm. I took over the wheel and got it up to the top of the driveway on the second try but had to switch into 4x4 mode for the last bit. Osprey was also slippery, but manageable at a sedate pace. I followed her out to 522 with the ATC just to ensure that she'd made it out ok. I was a few minutes behind but it gave me peace of mind knowing that she was not walking back ! She called once she got to highway 69 to say that 522 was much the same all the way out -- rutty but drivable -- and 69 was in good shape.

On the way back, I talked to David just before they turned onto 522, so I knew their approximate arrival time. I cautioned them to park at the top of the driveway. Knowing the shape of the driveway, with the continued light rain all day, I took boots up to the barn and awaited their arrival. I didn't want anyone coming down the driveway without boots. The sides of the driveway had snow/slush and were ok to walk while the center was quite icy. I fell once, banging my hip and elbow, just crossing the driveway. David and I made a couple of trips bringing all the stuff down while Sandy and Abby romped in the snow.

As far as weather goes, today looks like more of the same. Light rain, occasional heavier drizzle, with the temperature gradually dropping over the course of the day. It's supposed to drop to -9C overnight so we could have a skating rink everywhere tomorrow. It's supposed to turn to light snow though so if that happens, the snow will freeze to the surface and we'll have traction again.

I pulled in another good-sized pike, but lost several minnows over the course of the day. I gave Jim's snow rake a workout, pulling a fair amount of snow off the back-facing roof of the kitchen. Although it was over two feet deep at the edge, it's only six inches deep at the peak. The lake facing side has much less snow since it gets sun during the day.

I took a closer look at Jason's and there was really nothing to do. The deepest spot is where the main cottage meets the kitchen wing but even there it's not overly deep. In other places the roof is exposed. I took the rake and a shovel over to Donnie's because he had a huge cornice hanging over the deck where there is a valley in the roof. It took a lot of shoveling just to get up to his deck and then I shoveled some snow off the roof, standing on the pile of snow on the deck. The snow on the deck is hard-pack, frozen, almost six feet deep at the center. I have no idea how he is going to get into his cottage since the pile of snow/ice is four feet high at his door. I'm hoping that the warm temperatures yesterday and forecast for today will soften some of that pile. I'll go over today and see if I can dig some of it out. Once it's frozen he'll need a jackhammer !

The cornice hanging over the deck reached down almost to the deck. It was amazing -- I should have brought my camera. He has a steel roof and the sun exposure has allowed that snow to slide but build -- like a glacier. I chipped some of it away but some of it is quite thick. I'm hoping that with the surface snow removed and the warm temperatures that I'll be able to break the rest of it away today. I'll take the spade over to help with the digging and ice breaking. The only thing that I worry about though is the weight on his deck. If the snow has softened up enough I'll move some of the load off.

The other thing that I may do today is shovel some snow off the garage roof ... and perhaps the barn. As of last night, there was a little over a foot of heavy wet snow on the garage. I'm sure that it's ok but with David's help it would go quickly. The barn is another matter -- the snow usually slides off the steel roof but this year it has built up. The winter is young yet -- most winters the snow would just be starting to accumulate, and there are many tons of snow -- albeit evenly distributed -- that now form a base. I'll see what it looks like this morning. It could be quite easy to get up there and slide vast amounts of snow down the sides.

The ice on the lake is safe, six to eight inches thick, but covered in slush and water from the melted snow. It remains to be seen whether the re-freeze will produce a crusty lumpy mess or a glassy surface. I don't know how much more rain we got overnight. I'll see in about an hour.

Other than roof clearing, and fishing, I'll go to 10:30 Mass in Britt today. I was originally thinking of going to Sudbury but Sandy did most of the errands and that can wait. I don't need the extra driving -- the trip to Sudbury is boring. There's also Mass on New Years Day -- Thursday -- to attend. I'll check in Britt today to see if there is a Mass scheduled for that day.

Stef and Aaron get their car fixed tomorrow. A VANOS problem causes the car to stall (timing off) and they were advised not to drive to out-of-the-way places until it's fixed. Loring certainly qualifies as out-of-the-way ! If fixed early enough, they'll come up tomorrow. Otherwise they'll be up on the 30th. Jeffrey sets out today and we expect him sometime tomorrow morning. By the 30th we'll be 12, including dogs. Since the dogs demand, and get, their share of attention and make more than their share of noise, to not count them as part of the hubbub would be a mistake.

Family hubbub is good. All too quickly children and grandchildren have lives of their own to lead and we don't see them as often. Every moment is precious. I may get tired ... but wouldn't miss it for the world.

Sandy is still planning our belated Christmas dinner for the 30th. The 31st is a back-up date. Somewhere in there we'll open the presents under the tree ... and take a family photo, albeit missing Kim and Meghan.

That's it !