Environment Canada has been issuing one extreme-cold-weather warning after another this winter. Ottawa is usually a snowy location, but even the snowstorms last week that brought us a 60cm accumulation don't reflect the height of the usual snowpack that accumulates over an average Ottawa winter. On the other hand, the region has been shivering under much colder temperature lows than is usual for a normal winter season.

And we're not yet finished with the extreme cold. Tonight's low might break a weather record if it eventuates as forecasted; -31C, with a day-time high expected tomorrow of -20C. We've often enough in past winters had the odd -20C afternoon high, but never a low approaching -30C. We don't have long to wait to see if that's what occurs.

 

On these really cold mornings when the temperature has recovered only to around -25C, on its way to 'warming', we put little woolly sweaters on Jackie and Jillie before taking them out to the backyard. They've learned to high-tail it back up to the deck to be let into the house as soon as their morning business is done. When they tarry to play together, racing about the backyard in an excess of enthusiasm, or spend time sniffing about after the wildlife scents, they tend to suddenly freeze up, paws lifted, each in turn, as they freeze.

 

For dinner last night, thinking of something 'heavier', warming and comforting on a day when the thermometer couldn't be nudged above -14C, I roasted a Cornish hen, made an egg-noodle pudding and steamed Brussels sprouts to accompany the meal. We had hard, sweet, fresh green grapes as dessert, and it all went down very nicely. There isn't a single portion of that menu that doesn't appeal to Jackie and Jillie, with the exception of the grapes, a doggy no-no.

 

This morning when we did our food shopping, we once again encountered empty shelves. There was more than ample fresh fruits and vegetables to suit anyone's needs. Processed and packaged foods appear to be most scarce, and we don't bother with them anyway. Plenty of different types of eggs and lots of cheeses. The only real surprise was the refrigerated meat counters, with their unusually bare shelves. There was beef and there was pork, just less of it. But the corker was no chicken but for a few packs of thighs and attached legs that I usually use for chicken soup, and packages of chicken wings.

 

Both Canada and the United States have enacted COVID legislation mandating inoculation for truck drivers. Fully 80 to 90 percent of Canadian truckers are vaccinated, but only 50 percent of U.S. truckers. Campaigns are in the works to persuade governments to backtrack, to excuse truck drivers from such mandates as part of the critical delivery infrastructure to ensure food security. An estimated 10,000 long-haul trucks are now off the road as a direct result of the vaccine mandate affecting truckers.

 

A light dusting of about 5cm of snow came down this morning. And then along came blue sky and full sun. The afternoon high crept up to -10C, with an icy wind, but still decent enough for Jackie and Jillie to haul us out to the ravine for an early afternoon hike through the forest trails. The trails are in fairly good shape, though it remains somewhat difficult to march along with the usual carefree confidence. Ascending hills is slower and there's a tendency to slip backwards in the snowpack covering the trails.

The sun illuminating the forest canopy from its height-trajectory in the sky creates a luminous landscape of transcendent beauty, and at different points the various vistas make one stop and gaze at the spectacle, ample reward for a little effort to transcend the cold and awkwardness of negotiating wind-penetrating cold and maintaining a stable equilibrium on slippery, ice-bound trails.