How Maritimers Deal with 446 cm of Snow (14.64 feet)

While not necessarily homestead related, today's post is about what we are up to these days, while buried in snow, other than working on finishing touches to sell the city house.

When every not-shoveled surface is covered in snow too deep to navigate, you have to be creative!  Sliding? Not likely. Skating outside? Not much is cleared.  Snowmen? Where? THIS is how we do it on Canada's East Coast :)

Winter bonfire.

Snow Pit Bonfire!  A snow blower lead by an eager grandfather, and  you can enjoy a bonfire surrounded by snow. Bonfires are a weekly ritual for us in the spring, summer and fall, so this long winter has everyone missing them! My dad (the kids' Grampy) cleared the bonfire pit in his backyard and we all hunkered down to enjoy the warmth.  We were actually planning to sleep in snow pits that night, but it was calling for snow. ( A Snow pit in a shallow area in the snow, just big enough for you and your sleeping bag, covered with a tarp, with a small area to climb in.  Super warm as long as you are dressed properly and prepared!).

Chicken noodle and hot chocolate!

He put on his Coleman stove (one of many, he is nicknamed the Coleman man, ha ha), with some chicken noodle soup and hot chocolate.  A fun Friday night, and one we will always remember along with the rest of the winter that broke the record, 2014-2015.

The boys walking out to the ice fishing shack 'village'.

Another fun winter activity is ice fishing.  The area we fish as been used for ice fishing for at least 200 years, as the area that is now small cottage-converted homes, was once its own small village with saw mills.  My own family has used this area for many generations, our kids being the 5th.  This year we almost weren't able to.  The extreme cold and snow has made for beyond average ice thickness.  It is usually about 1-1.5 feet thick, this year our auger, which is 3.5 feet to the crook, just barely made it through.  One more inch and we would have been out of luck!!

When all else fails and you NEED to get around, you break out the show shoes.  A great way to
exercise and get fresh air, especially when the winter just doesn't seem like it is other going to end.  One piece of advice:  If you haven't used them in awhile, test your bindings and make sure that they are secure and pliable.  Otherwise, you'll end up like me: In waist deep snow when they break and you end up wading back to your car.  Add the fact that it was a nice day and I was wearing leggings... yeah, my drive home was... cold. It was fun though, and an adventure I'll be telling for a long time to come.

Today was the first day of spring, and although the snowbanks are still towering, there is a hint of spring in the air and the sun feels stronger and is slowly eating away the snow.  As much as we want it gone, it needs to go slowly.  They just announced the beginning of the annual River Watch for our area.  The snow pack is 150-200% of the normal water equivalency (this measures how much water is in the snow pack) and we have about 10 times the usual amount of snow.  If it melts too quickly, it could be disastrous for those on the water.  7 years ago the river flooded (as it does every year) and our cottage, which sits on the banks, flooded as well.  We had furniture up on cinder blocks, as water covered the sunken living room and the front of the cottage became buoyant (our children are the 6th generation to enjoy this jointly-family owned cottage).  It caused a lot of damage, but it was salvageable.  This year, I pray we will be just as lucky or luckier.  Good news?  The new homestead is near the river, but nowhere near the flood zones..  yay!