NIGHT VISITORS

     I am not a great sleeper. It usually takes a while to go to sleep. I wake up three to five times a night. It helps if I get up and stretch. The one thing I have going for me is that my hearing aides are out for the night so I can't blame noise for causing sleeplessness.

    So because of limited hearing some things get by my. How do I know? I find the evidence (tracks ) the next day. Deer pass through  my front yard regularly.

   There are  two small entrances (one to two meters wide ) to my back yard. Animals are fairly cautious when they go through narrow entrances.

   Well, a few weeks ago when I went out to my back yard I noticed deer tracks. Deer very seldom enter my back yard for the above reasons. But they do travel at night and with their color are very hard to see.

   But what I noticed most about these tracks is that they were right below my bedroom window. So they passed very close to me and I didn't know it. I wonder if the deer knew I was that close?

A COLD DECEMBER

        The month of December here was just one long cold spell. It can happen that we get a month to 6 weeks of very cold weather with no breaks. Our highs were minus 20 to 22 C. Lows were towards minus 30C. Usually you don't get much snow during a cold spell but we had snow. This was during my recovery from surgery so the poor guy who shovelled my snow had lots of work. He volunteered to shovel my snow and would not take any money for it.

     In 1969 we had a major cold spell. In the school I taught in ,there were  quite a few rookies and they had old cars. As the cold spell continued, one by one the old cars wouldn't start. I picked up  a car load of people and then my car wouldn't start and we were all walking. 

   So just after Christmas it was very frosty but not hoar frost. So I didn't get the white on these spruce trees but I'll show them to you any way.

    So early January things have warmed up. For the last two days our high has been plus 3C. Today, I did a 2 km walk. 

A JACK RABBIT WHO THINKS HE'S A HORSE

         I tell many jack rabbit stories. Jack rabbits inhabit my back yard for months at a time. So I see a lot of their behavior.

         The jack rabbit is a night critter. In the day time they find a quiet safe place. The safe place is where nothing can approach them from the back. In other words they put their butt against a fence. They can see if a predator is coming from the side or front. The spend the daytime quietly sleeping , grooming, stretching, nibbling on near by plants or wander around the yard a bit. Grooming takes most of the time.

         I've had two jack rabbits inhabit my yard separately from August to December. They are there 90% of the time. They do not share. I happened  to look  out my window in mid Oct. and two animals were having a little tiff. One animal left and it was the one who'd been there a couple of months. The second one stayed until about 2 weeks ago.

     So the horse antics. I happened to see the animal arrive one morning. First , it would run quickly for 4 or five meters and then put on the brakes and sit for about 5 seconds. Then it would run back and twist and curve. Then it would jump up and down on the spot.. What amazed me most is when it rolled on it's back with feet flailing in the air. Horses do this but I've never seen any other animal roll onto it's back. 

    So I was privileged to see some interesting behavior.

MY SHED RISES AGAIN

     Well, I looked at my old garden shed lying on the ground and wondered what to do about it. I honestly didn't think it could be rescued. I thought about it and then said maybe I should ask my neighbor T what might be done. I just wanted to upright it to put things back in and keep them out of the snow. In the spring I would build a new shed.

     When I got back T was looking over the wreckage and said, "I think we can fix this."

      I said ,"You can't lift this by yourself."

     "Sure ," he said ."My wife and I can lift it. She lifts weights."

     So he went to his shop and got a few tools and supplies. He stabilized the shed. He rigged up a safety device that their daughter controlled and T and D grabbed the shed and up it went. 

     Well I was pleased the shed was  standing.

      But T didn't stop there. He moved it back into the original slots. He put in a few more screws and added  some braces to strengthen the shed. D looked at it and said' "The doors even fit."

     So I was more than pleased as my garden shed was in better condition than before. Now I won't have to  build a shed in the spring.

      These neighbors have been unbelievable helpful. I wondered why? I finally thought that they are both paramedics. Their whole world is helping people. So I am most thankful to benefit from their kindness.

I TRIED TO DRIVE OVER MY GARDEN SHED

       Now I've been driving since I was eight years old. Yes, you could drive in the way back years on the farm. So I've had a few scrapes over the 78 years I've been driving. The other day I had an incident that was more frightening than serious. 

      My place has a driveway leading to the side of the house where there is a carport. At the end of the carport is a garden shed that nicely puts a division between the back yard and drive way, So you go up the drive way and stop before you hit the garden tool shed.

      Well, the other day something happened and I didn't quite get stopped  before I hit the shed. I knocked the shed over with a thunderous crash. Days later neighbors told me that they heard a loud bang but didn't know what it was.

     So this shook me up quite a bit. I have  been driving up to the wall for this shed for 56 years. It was easy to stop.

     After I calmed down I tried to find out what caused my error. I discovered that I had my foot at an angle on the brake and accelerator. I was putting my foot on both of them at the same time. The engine was roaring but not going very far as the brake kept the car in almost one place. 

    No damage to the car but the rotten old shed was a mess.

ELEVATOR PANIC

       Several weeks ago the Micro manager was scheduled for an ultrasound at the local lab. Neither one of us were in great condition. I had just had my surgery. Her mobility is not good. It was icy.

      I tried to find a parking spot that was close to the entrance and the least ice. 

    When her appointment ended she was in another part of the building.  We walked back but were  on the wrong floor. Oh there's an elevator! Great!

    What the Micro Manager wants to do at times does not fit with the plan. So instead of going out the door to where the car was closest, she got it in her head to go down a floor and out another door. For some reason she thought this was the best route.

    Well we got on the elevator and the fun started. It must have been an elevator from pioneer days. The controls were two egg size buttons. One for up and one for down. So right away we started experimenting. There was nothing to tell you where you were. We went up and down for a while. Then the debate started and it got louder and louder. Finally, we got to the floor we were looking for but couldn't see how to open the door. Staff were outside yelling and trying to tell us what to do. Finally, we  clicked on something and the door opened. When we stepped out, I said, "I'm not with her!"

    Staff could hardly stop themselves from laughing but kept it together. I'm sure they had a big laugh when we left.. 

    I've never been on an elevator with so  few instructions. I'm sure many people have the same experience we did.

SUN CHANGES

     I'm a  bit of a nerd when it comes to sunrise and sunset at this time of year. I like to know what's happening. What are the changes?

     Well since the winter solstice not much has happened but we're slowly starting to move in the right direction.

     Sunrise on the winter solstice was 8:42 and Jan 1 is 8:44 . So two minutes of daylight have been gained. Sunset  on the winter solstice was 4:24 and on Jan. 1 was 4:33 so the daylight has increased by nine minutes .

     Okay I  promise not to make such a nerdy post until March.