WINTER by Ralph Bice
From Wednesday, December 6, 1978
If we go by the calendar the winter time starts on December 21st. That is the approximate time the sun reaches its lowest point and the days start to get longer. Many of the old reliable signs have so often failed as far as predicting weather is concerned. Years ago you would hear one man say snow would not stay if it fell on frozen ground; another said it would only stay if it fell on frozen ground. So there was only one thing to do and that was keep track. For quit a few years l watched. Now it is right that snow mostly stays when it comes after the ground has been frozen.
There were many signs in the woods such as a heavy crop of cones on evergreen trees, a heavy crop of hazelnuts, a heavy crop of berries. These signs were supposed to mean a hard winter. The reverse meant that winter would not be so hard. I have seen both signs fail. There was a time when those in the woods watched the signs around beaver houses. If they were well muddied it meant a cold winter. If the beaver didn’t seem in a hurry to get its winter supply of food it meant a late fall. Few years back those animals were enjoying a lovely fall, little work on their houses and not much food stored so l went out on a limb and predicated a late fall and mild easy winter. Well, the snow came suddenly and fairly early and kept it up for nearly six months. To be quite frank l have not been asked about predicting weather since then.
In the fall of 1925 l was sawing logs for Shortreeds and we had a light fall of snow on October 11th. On the 13th we went to work, there was just about ten inches of snow and we still had some of that snow the last week of May. In January 1950 came a thaw and we lost all the snow. Such travelling in the woods. Every little pond or pot hole was well frozen and there was quite a stretch where we didn’t need snowshoes. In 1923 the snow all left by mid-winter but soon returned.
So many remember when spring was late. In 1903 Con O’Donnel drew logs for the chair factory right down main street Kearney on May 4. Then, either that spring or the next an old-timer crossed Sand Lake from north to south, got his feet wet, they froze and he had to have toes amputated. Also in the first week of May. Not many years ago l remember spring trapping pulling a canoe across ice on May 9th. Rivers were open but not the lakes. One spring fishermen flew to Butt Lake but it was the only one open. We went to David Lake and fished through the ice for speckled trout on May 7th.
So, every year, we hear stories of what it was like away back. Stories always improve with the telling but hard or bad we always managed to get through. In 1945 and 1946 the lakes were open in March. So many gripe about cold weather and snow so many go south for the cold months. But winters are not like they used to be. Yes, the snow is still a nuisance and the nights get cold as the days but when compared to years ago winters are rather simple.
One fall chore was filling the wood shed. This had to be carried in and the ashes out. If you got water from the well you said a prayer it was not frozen on some of the colder mornings. (One hunter told me of growing up in a tar paper shack in Sudbury. Water in the bucket would be frozen in the morning and snow would seep between the cracks. –Ed.)
A good supply of coal oil for the lamps we had then. If you carried your water from a river or lake there was the problem of keeping the water hole open. And snow to shovel. The streets and road would be blocked. Many will recall when cars would be put away just after hunting season as the roads were not kept open. Even during the last war in the early forties l can remember seeing three teams of work horses on the snow plough clearing the streets in town. To get to the train at Emsdale a ride on a sleigh.
Compare that with modern living. Flick on switch, there is light. Another and the stove is ready to prepare a meal. Turn a tap and there is water. Control the heat by turning the thermostat. If you are lucky like we are here in Kearney the town plough cleans the streets as well as senior citizen’s driveways sometimes before you are up. For we who are older the paths are kept shovelled.
So what do we have to complain about? L have heard people who live in a modern home, drive a few miles to work in heated car, work in a heated building and with all the buttons and switches needed complain about the cold weather. I imagine there are still quite a few who can remember leaving camp well before it was light, loading the lead teams by torchlight, if it was logs never mind how cold it was. We never had it so good. Anyone thinks it is hard to take just think of what it was like not so many years ago.
There are still many who went to school (no buses, two miles of more and perhaps the road not open) seventy years ago, and had to memorize a poem called ‘Snow Bound’ by Whittier, l think. He describes a heavy fall of snow in farm lands of early Canada and the way he told it was more fun than a summer picnic. (In the early 1960’s l had to walk two miles to school, grades 7-13, with no bussing. Some winters l had to wait for my hands to thaw before l could open my locker. –Ed)
So while we are having winter why not enjoy it?