This morning I drove about 100 km (60 mi) out of town to see some patients at the edge of my "territory". I was grateful to note that after a few weeks of lengthening days, the sun started to rise at about 8 am, though ofcourse it wasn't up over the horizon until much later. It was warmer today - but not by as much as was expected. Warmer being -11C (12F) compared to -12 yesterday and -19 before (brrrr). Still, it's almost worth it to see the fabulous play of colour. The sky started out a slate blue/grey, which the snowy fields faithfully reflected. As the sun continued to rise, bringing in hues of violet, pink, coral and gold, the fields changed in colours too - like driving through a rainbow with exclamation marks of dark green and black where the lines of trees wound their way at fields' edges.

There weren't many on the road. Few farmers or ranchers go far for pleasure right now. Most face bankruptcy and continue on only as much as the government grants allow. After years of drought that has brought the farmers to their knees, the mad cow cases have crippled the ranchers. My patients worry more about their financial than their physical illness. Still, they greet me with warmth and goodwill, then see me on my way with "Have a Happy New Year" as I leave. Salt of the earth and strength of our country.

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayels@telusplanet.ent), January 08, 2004

Answers

Bumpity

-- Bump (bump@bump.bump), January 08, 2004.

I don't know how you do it, Tricia.

Todays high here in Northern Jersey will be in the mid teens, and then overnight will be around 1 or 2 degrees (F). I've been chopping more firewood this morning.

I heard someone joke that the best way to get thru winter is to just think about it being Spring soon and Summer next. LOL, maybe I'll try it, who knows it may help.

-- (sonofdust@missesThe.Beach), January 09, 2004.

I don't know how I do it, either Rob :-)

It did warm up - in fact, we had rain on Saturday. Freezing rain. Think 1/2 inch of ice everywhere. My mom slipped, fell and broke her hip, so I've been spending quite a lot of time in the hospital with her. She's had surgery today - I'll be going to visit her in about an hour. Did someone wish me that Chinese saying; "May you live in interesting times"?

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), January 12, 2004.

Ah, the board is back.

It was cold down the past few days.....

Got don to 18 once, down to 22 the next day, and was still below freezing last night.....

(T the C grits her teeth .. Is muttering at Robt ...)

-- Robert & Jean (Robert&Jean@south.whatsnow), January 12, 2004.

Tricia; I was sorry to read about her falling and all. My grandmother had the same thing happen. I hope everything turns out ok for all of you and I want you to know that I have just said a prayer for her and you too. It is very stressful for the caregivers, not only the one who is sick. I know it's probably near impossible but try and relax a bit and take good care of yourself as you usually do. We don't want you getting sick too!

Good Sir of Cooke; Your complaining about it goin down to 18?!?!?!?! LOL and ROFL, that was our High for like 4 days! And it's going back down to zero again starting Wednesday. Who orders this stuff anyway? Sheesh! And to think that what I have is nothing compared to what our Sweet Princess endures. Sheeshie Poopie.

Off to get more hot cocoa.....

-- (sonofdust@misses.TheBeach), January 12, 2004.

Thanks for the well-wishing and prayers, Rob! I'm *still* recuperating from that flu I had over Christmas and with the stress of mom being in hospital, my voice is rough and nose is runny yet again. Sigh.

I know we get colder air, but you get wetter air in winter. So you get more snow, and the cold feels colder - it gets down to the bone in the damp. At least our cold is just a dry cold, and fortunately we don't usually have nasty awful cold for very long. My husband still has the certificate that came with the newspaper in 1969 when the below 0 degrees F for 6 weeks cold spell came to an end. That year, we (my parents and brother and I) lived in Fort McMurray, several hundred miles north of Edmonton. I guess it was nasty awful cold for about 2 months or more there, but being a kid, I never particularly noticed it. Of course, I was sick with tonsilitis a whole bunch that year, too. And caught the Hong Kong flu. Hmmmm. Maybe I just didn't get out in that nasty awful cold very much :-)

I think that anything lower than -20C (about -4F) is awful nasty cold. Mind you that's talking highs for the day, not lows - Robert :-P You're really not going to get much sympathy from me for having such "cold" weather in January! Then there's Carol, who is likely suffering through her hottest days of the year (((Carol)))

Anyway, it's so nice to have you back again. I looked hopefully at the alternate site once, but there have been no new messages there since November. (How do I apologize for not responding to a birthday wish I didn't know I got?)

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), January 13, 2004.

Oh dear Tricia, I hope all goes well for your Mum. She certainly has the right daughter to help take care of her.

Dare I say that the temperature here today was 27C (80F), blue sky with a light breeze to cool me down down while gardening. Is that a collective moan I hear? Okay, you can all give me grief in a couple of months.

-- Carol (c@oz.com), January 13, 2004.

(((Tricia)))

-- helen (kinda@cold.here.too), January 13, 2004.

Mom is doing very well, so far. She had her surgery after only a 2 day wait - which, given how many bones broke with that icefall, is a miracle of its own. She will likely be discharged to a rehab facility this weekend and is amazed at what she's already doing in physio. Life for me is busier than ever - no haiku for a little while (is that sighs of relief I hear?!?) :-)

-- Tricia the canuck (jayles@telusplanet.ent), January 14, 2004.

That's really good news, Tricia! Thanks for bringing us all up to date.

Back on topic...Last night into this morning we got about 8 inches of snow and now things are getting interesting. We're going down to around minus 10 degrees (F) tonight and will have a wind chill of about minus 30 degrees...record-setting dangerous freezy-cooooold. Even NYC is supposed to go below zero tonight. And I have to get up at the crack of dawn to go to work. Wonder if the car will start...

poopie

-- (sonofdust@record.cold), January 15, 2004.

Hope you made it to work and back today, Rob.

Tricia, that wasn't a sigh of relief over "no haiku" -- it was a sigh of despair.

-- helen (the@mule.despairs), January 16, 2004.

T the C, glad to hear your feeling better and your mother's doing well. I don't know her age or previous health, but my experience has been that with advanced age and/or a fragile physical condition, such injuries can affect the mental as well as physical well-being. My dad, who would be the last to admit that he could be such an example, has provided such an example. Likewise my mother-in-law (whose injury, by the way, was also a broken hip). The pain, pain medications (some of which may induce amnesia and most of which affect brain function in various ways) the pain itself, and strange surroundings with unfamiliar routines (translation-hospitals or relative's homes where they've gone to recuperate) combine to disorient us more as we age and our recuperative abilities begin to pace themselves. This effect is what I refer to as "Break your arm and lose your mind," a concept with which the subjects vehemently disagree (when they're lucid)no matter how much empirical evidence there is to back you up. You're better off not to try to talk to them about it until long after the fact. Fortunately, with improving health it eventually disappears and things are back to what may be normal in your family. (In mine it's just back to as normal as it gets.)

Cold? We've had two or maybe three frost-on-the-windshield days so far this winter. But it rained an inch or two last night. We're still swatting a few mosquitoes down here. Our news is full of pictures of winter's wrath from Jefe's part of the country.

Good luck with your mom & stay warm!

-- J (jsnider@hal-pc.org), January 17, 2004.

Rainy today ....

Cold too.

28 (real degrees) last night. (The NJ residents collapse in laughter ...)

But, sunrise was earlier ....

(Workin' towards March 22!)

-- Robert & Jean (Robert&Jean@south.whatsnow), January 17, 2004.

Thanks to all the well wishers. Mom has been doing very well, healing well and staying lucid (she's been passing her time doing crosswords), but she's developed diarrhea which is weakening her. They were talking about discharging her yesterday, but decided to keep her at least until tomorrow.

We were away for the weekend to a seminar in Calgary. All went well and we are returned. Once more into the fray and all that :-) Having Mom in hospital does reduce my already precious free time - makes it harder to drop by here regularly. I have the sense that I am not the only one with this problem... Gayla? Aunt Bee? We miss you!

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.nt), January 18, 2004.

Poopie. I doubly missed Lon. First I missed him and then I missed saying that I missed him. Hope all is well with all the FRLians!

-- TRicia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.ent), January 18, 2004.

I'm glad your Mum is doing well Tricia. It seems to be a busy time all round. In the last couple of weeks we have had family down over Christmas, painted two rooms, been up to the city to help our son move house and my dear old dog became ill (crook pancreas)last Friday. He is on the mend now thank goodness. This weekend is our Australia Day Holiday and we are toying with the idea of de- wallpapering and painting another room. We had planned to have a quiet couple of days away on our own, but I don't want to leave the dog just yet. I just need to psyche myself up for all that prep. work and tell myself how nice it will look when it's finished.

-- Carol (c@oz.com), January 20, 2004.

T the C!

Did you get locked inside the other day?

http://www.strangecosmos.com/view.adp?picture_id=14717

(Or was it just warmer inside the frigerator than outside the frigerator?)

-- Robert & Jean (Robert&Jean@south.whatsnow), January 20, 2004.

Carol, you go girl! And when you've got your house all set up, feel free to come up North and work on mine ;-) Glad to hear your dog's doing better - hope he's all well soon.

Mom's out of hospital now. She's doing well.

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), January 20, 2004.