If summer just happened to come right now, I'd be totally cool with it.

(Written from my porch)

Today marks the first day this winter that I rode the bus to work instead of walking.

It wasn't the temperature that prevented me from using my normal means of transport, but the massive amount of snow that carpeted the ground. Now one thing that I should mention is that I really enjoy bad weather, a hike in a downpour or a stroll in a blizzard is great fun, but when you are pressed for time those snow drifted sidewalks begin to lose their appeal.

The two highlights of my trip to work this morning were waiting at the bus stop and stepping off of the bus.

Waiting at the bus stop was great because of the opportunity to wait ten minutes and watch the snow blow all around me. Visibility was horrible and all the other people waiting were cowering behind a fence, but I really enjoyed standing by the curb watching the wind blow large snow squalls down the road.

The other highlight of the trip was leaving the bus when I got downtown, because when the door of the bus opened the sidewalk in front of me was just a thick mat of untouched snow. I leapt from the bus, landed squarely on both feet and then proceeded to walk the short distance to my office on the sidewalk which was alternating between being completely snow covered or iced over like a skating rink.

I hope this blizzard keeps up until its time to leave since I'm really looking forward to walking home.

Yesterday was a harrowing day. The weather started out looking not entirely bad, but over the course of the day I tracked the weather using the Environment Canada website. For some strange reason they couldn't tell it was going to rain in Winnipeg until an hour before it happened yesterday.

This was an issue since I was without my rain jacket.

My walk home from the office is around one and a half kilometers, and when I stepped outside I looked at the sky and thought "Maybe I can make it!". I was totally wrong.

About two hundred meters in a light drizzle started. It was time to take off my tie. I quickly untied it while walking and slipped it into my backpack. I, the eternal optimist, thought "This could still work!". Nature had other plans though.

Another hundred meters on my trek home the skies opened and a torrent of biblical proportions began to fall on me. At this point a new strategy was in order. I ducked into a doorway only to discover that no - it provided no shelter from the rain, and yes - the rain was not going to stop anytime soon.

As the wind picked up I thought back to some previous storms I endured, most of them at camp. The old phrase 'Cotton kills' came to mind and I knew what needed to be done.

Without breaking pace I walked down Memorial Boulevard and started to take off my shirt. One woman I passed while changing said "Not a bad idea" in passing. It was a good idea. With a shirt, you are simply some dork who got caught in the rain without any shelter. Without a shirt, you are a man's man in a quest to battle the elements on your commute home.

Being in the rain without clothing is a wonderful experience. When you are wearing clothing all you usually think about is “How wet am I now?” about twenty times a minute. Without clothes you know you are simply wet, and chances are you cannot get any more wet. This frees you to think about other things like what to prepare for dinner, how to access to your neighbors Internet connection, and ocelots.

As manly as it was, by the time I could see the apartment, all I could think of was my wife, large towels, and a warm cup of tea.

I really wanted to avoid posting an entry on my blog like this, but I have fallen to a cliche - talking about the weather. The thing is, I think I have good reason to talk about it, because something as simple as the temperature outside has a huge effect on my day to day life.

For example, I tend to run late when it is cold because I need to spend extra time getting all bundled up before even leaving the house. I would love to the use the cross country skis I got for Christmas, but I am not inclined to until the temperature returns to a balmy -10 C. The thing is I am less inclined to leave the house when it is this cold.

I took a few pictures today, perhaps fifteen. Not a long time by any means, I took probably forty five seconds to take them, and by the time I was done I had lost most use of my thumbs. I really forgot how much fun it is to take pictures in the winter.

The cold also leads to interesting social patterns. Earlier this week the malls were simply dead, because no one wanted to leave the house. On the weekend the mall was packed. It was like Christmas all over again. The thing is everyone seemed to be around the food court. The mall wasn't a place for shopping as much as social interaction. People stayed inside for a week, and when cabin fever got to them, they went out regardless of the cold.

So anyway, I am waiting until the temperature rises a bit before I pursue outdoor activities or a social life again. I have to say that Emily sure picked a good time to leave for South Africa.

On Saturday my father and I drove out to Bisset to check out some land. On the way we passed the beginning of the Island Lake winter road. There is a forest of signs at the beginning of the road which begged to have their pictures taken.

I really wish there was snow in Winnipeg right now. It's annoying having cold temperatures but no snow and therefore no winter activities.

I am really happy I was able to spend a bit of time this weekend outside considering what it looks like outside right now. Going cycling appears to not be a feasible option today.

Emily picked a good time to leave town.

It looks like it will be going a bit north of us, but I am still wary of storms.

Last Thursday evening we had a great big storm out at camp. It all started with Mark W saying, "Wow, the sky is dark". I checked the radar maps on the Environment Canada website and saw a solid wall of red sweeping across eastern Manitoba. I was going to go down to Lakeside hall to ride out the storm with the campers but two seconds after I declared that I was leaving the office, the rain started and I decided to stay.

Good thing too. The storm came up really fast and within five minutes of the first rain we had tree snapping wind gusts and hail. Fun for all. The bad bit of the storm lasted only 30 seconds but did plenty of damage across camp. Here are the most impressive trees that were leveled.

I ran out of the office into the rain after noticing that a few trees were down. On my way across camp I found two trees that were leaning or had fallen over power lines. While the rest of the staff started to clear the trees and drag them away I stood guard over a fallen tree. My job was as follows; stand guard over the tree, make sure no one comes near it, and put out any fires it may start until help came. My job would only be finished when Manitoba Hydro arrived to shut off the lines.

For this important task I was armed with a fire extinguisher. After spending half an hour standing, and no fire occurring; I abandoned my post briefly in search of a chair. I continued to man my post for the next hour and a half until Hydro arrived.

I had a boring job; the rest of the support staff had busied themselves clearing the trees that had fallen over the road by the summer washrooms. I found out that in addition to the two power lines I saw, another tree was on a power line and one tree grazed the corner of cabin six.

Things are nearly cleaned up now; the camp is in possession of a lot of firewood and so much brush I don't know how we will get rid of it. Most of the guys really enjoyed the evening of work because there are few things that are manlier than spending the night nursing a sore arm from prolonged chainsaw use.