Muskeg Daily Creek. Dateline: Winter...........
Chapter 4..?
Winter Draws on......
Life in Muskeg Creek is a unique way of life. Thanksgiving is celebrated in early October, prior to the clocks falling back. Thanksgiving long weekend is a sure sign that winter draws on, time now to begin battening down the hatches, to prepare for the long nights, the snow blizzards, and temperatures of 40 below. Families gather to gorge on turkey and pumpkin pie, and busy themselves before the first snowflake falls.
Empty boat trailers are hooked to trucks and cars, and a seemingly mass exodus from the town begins. Later one by one they return home with their boats retrieved from their moorings. Boats of all shapes sizes and classes are stowed in back yards, stripped of refinements and covered.
As the seasons change so do the toys. Snowmobiles, Skidoos, ATV's, Quads, and Snow blowers are serviced and checked. The neighbourhood vibrates to the spluttering throb of engines, as they fart and stop. Expletives of "Oh dear it has stopped" and such like can be heard. Wrenches/spanners clank, hammers bang, and more expletives, until an engine springs to life and purrs. Cars are prepared for winter; tyres are swapped for ones that grip better in ice and snow. Oil changed to a thinner mix, and block heaters plugged in to be checked. Antifreeze topped up, and alcoholic based windscreen fluid replaces plain water.
Inside the car it is essential to carry a winter survival kit, in this season they are full price at The Muskeg Motor Company, but most people make up their own kit. A typical kit would comprise of a torch/flashlight, chains, towrope, axe, shovel, blanket rope, chocolate bars, flares, booster cables and an empty one pound coffee can with a toilet roll inside, a candle, some metholated spirits, and matches. How these items individually or together are utilised is totally up to the owner.
Patio furniture is stored in the garage along with bug spray, and hosepipes. Plants are removed from their summer spot, re-potted and taken into the house. If Christmas lights had been removed from the eaves of the house in the spring, which they seldom are, they are replaced. Gaudy Christmas decorations, painted plywood cut outs of reindeer, Santa's and nativity scenes are erected on front lawns, in preparation for the festive season. Some store bought plastic Santa's and 4 foot tall candles, have lights within, these made ready for the big illuminations in the first week of November.
Halloween paraphernalia is also set out. Black bin liners, plastic gravestones skulls, crosses, broomsticks and effigies of witches, also pumpkins are placed near front doors; for simple removal should an early blizzard arrive. Kids talk of Halloween and candies, women of Christmas, and men of moose hunting, and ice fishing.
Inside the home, air-conditioning units are demobilised, furnaces serviced, filters replaced and large quantities of transparent cling film placed across windows and stretched tight with the heat of a hairdryer, for added insulation. This year there is a special offer on having your ducts cleaned; an almost irresistible offer - according to Berets Boiler Co. flyer. Boasting the benefits of clean air, dust control, allergy relief, improved airflow, and reduced heating bills. If you need more convincing the clincher has to be.. Book before October 31 st and you get 10% off an undisclosed price, and receive a large pizza FREE from Crazy Pat's Pizzeria!
The boats, once displayed on the Copper Corner Garage fore court, are banished to the rear. Replaced by a fresh consignment of boxed snowmobiles, piled five high. Perched on top of each stack are this years latest machines in new aerodynamic shapes, different colours, all with go faster stripes.
In the shopping mall the Health Authority offering flu injections, with their slogan “Get shot. Not Flu.” It seems like winter and Christmas get earlier every year. Some Christmas items were in the stores in September. That is when I heard the first “White Christmas” some-what irritating, as I know that I will hear it dozens of times before Christmas Day.
Don't forget folks, on November 26th the Bed Down Store located in the Hobson Mall are having their Pre Boxing Day sale This will to make room for more stock in the real Boxing Day sale. Not to mention their end of season sale, pre season sale, end of winter sale, Easter sale, spring sale, special 3 day's sales, and many other gimmicks which has me questioning what season we are really in.
Stores have rack upon rack of Halloween costumes for all ages. Some of the clothes are very skimpy clothes and not practical for the weather conditions at trick or treat time. Halloween is the one night of the year kids come knocking upon the door expecting candies. The rest of the year they are knocking on the door trying to sell us unwanted chocolate, with the reassurance the profits benefit their school, or club.
All this and we have not had our week of autumn, if there is not a high wind autumn can last up to two weeks. Leaves once so green and plentiful turn a golden brown, transforming the landscape into a plethora of autumnal colours. The first strong winds strips bare the birch, aspen, and tamarack, leaving the trunks to stand naked exposed to all weathers. Fallen leaves crunch under foot soon to become compost.
Canada Geese congregate on green space in town and by ponds to feed fatten, and prepare for their V formation flights south, running the gauntlet of hunter's guns. Loons assemble on lakes, to practice separating, calling and reassembling. This enables them to recognise each ones voice, prior to their departure south to salt waters. Chickadees, snowbirds and robins slip quietly away unnoticed. Just the stalwart ravens, whiskey jacks, and sparrows remain scavenging to survive on scraps and garbage cans. Seagulls, that have never seen the sea, stay at their home base, the town dump.
As temperature drops ice forms on the lakes in small chunks, this crazy paved jigsaw soon fuses together. Upon the first snow fall lawns turn white over night. This is always a false start, as by midday most will have melted leaving a wet slush. This is the first of three phases introducing winter. Next we are treated to the ice rain, sidewalks and roads become sheets of ice making driving and walking hazardous. The third stage is a relief when a substantial amount of snow has fallen, and cars have packed it down driving becomes easier. Gritting trucks begin the laborious task of spreading sand and grit at intersections. Their colleagues in snow trucks and diggers push masses of snow to the sides of the roads, to truck out of town.
Meantime at the Queerys Lake Ski Hill they are making snow, spreading it on the slopes in hope for an early opening to the Ski season. A large machine has water pumped through a cooler and blows snow out of a funnel. This is then compacted, and natural snow allowed to fall upon the prepared base. Miles of Skidoo trails are cleared of fallen trees, as are the 20 miles of cross-country runs. The fallen trees are used for firewood in the cabins along the ski route, which provide a warm shelter for the intrepid snow fanatics to relax talk and recover, prior to reaching the 18 th hole, the Ski Lodge for aperitifs. If you are going to try cross-country skiing, start with a small country.
Queerys Lake sounds intriguing, even romantic or the title from an Enid Blyton Famous Five Novel. In reality just a 400ft hill next to a lake of the same name. The query is how did this one hill appear on other wise flat terrain of the northern Boreal Forest.
Dedicated figure skaters practice all year. Now due to the increased demand for ice time, their practice times are moved forward starting at 5 am , making way for Ice Hockey. Men, boys and girls dressed like American football players on skates, padded and protected in the most vulnerable places, complete with crash helmets and metal visors take to the ice, to upgrade their skills in control passing the puck, and tactics. Many have dreams of becoming a NHL player, or to appear on television's Hockey Night in Canada . Others enjoy the fight, maybe boxing or wrestling would be a better pastime! Hockey has become a contact sport. Crashing opponents against the wall seem to be normal, and if a disagreement occurs, sticks fly, fists punch out, an in all in brawl follows.
At the curling rink, it is not so violent. All ages participate in the sport akin to lawn green bowling, except it is played on ice with granite rocks. Curling is hurling the rock along the ice to a bull's eye target under the ice at the opposite end. A team member walks along side the sliding stone brushing and clearing the way. The person who chucked or hurled the rock shouts instructions to the sweeper and the rock: “Go, go, left, sweep stop, right, leave it. No, no, aah! oh shit!” as their rock cannons off another and out of play.
Outside kids are creative, making toboggan slides from mounds of piled snow. Mothers exchange stroller/pushchairs placing their little ones in sleds and pulling them to the supermarket, kindergarten or wherever. Schools begin rehearsals for Christmas concerts, and a multitude of craft sales begin.
Notice boards all over town advertise this and that craft/bake sale, and the classified section of the local rag have not been so full since the first spring garage sales. School and church halls throng with people looking for Christmas presents. Local crafts of wood, quilts, paintings and knick-knack's are on offer. These creative folks hope now they will show a profit, and make room for their next creative activities. Scouts are fund-raising by selling Christmas wreaths, and imported, already decorated, Christmas trees - as if there were not enough trees in the bush and all around Muskeg Creek! Many folks with foresight select their tree in the summer and tag it - without the tag, to find the same tree in snow is almost impossible. They then chop and collect in early December. It seems the trend to erect the trees in the window area of the home, and not draw the curtains at night thus showing off their display. Proving a window-shopping bonanza and great invitation for burglars to see what is there for the taking.
At last, a good fall of snow and temperatures drop. Time to dress for the occasion. Multi layers are the key to keeping warm. Vest, long johns, jeans shirt, sweater, thick socks, lined snow boots, parka, gloves and toque, (a warm woollen hat). This is unisex attire, and there are times one can't tell a man from a woman, all vanity has gone, practicalities take precedence.
Dressing takes time, as does the preparation to leave home. There is a system to departure. First unplug the car's block heater, and battery blanket, start the engine, put heater and fans on at full blast. Leave the car to warm for ten minutes, while you warm by shovelling snow from the driveway. Now sweating you return to the car, carbon monoxide pouring in a blue grey smoke from the exhaust, brush snow off the vehicle and scrape the windshield inside and out. Inside during the scraping process with fans blasting, a shower ice chips blast to the ceiling and fall like snow in a glass bubble paperweight. Then you are ready to depart and hope you can find a parking lot that has a plug-in connection for the vehicle's block heater. The first half a mile will is always bumpy ride, with "square tyres"; they are not really square, just flat where the rubber has been in contact with the ground over night.
It is said that when the ice worm nests again it is time for the ice-fishing season to begin. I prefer to wait until heavy snowploughs have ploughed a road and it is safe to drive upon the lakes. In the winter small remote towns now have access to the outside world by ice roads, at other times they have to use a ferry, a boat or train. Provisions are delivered in convoys of eighteen-wheeler trucks and stored. Six lane highways are grooved through the snow over ice 3 to 4 feet thick. Mounds of snow mark the lanes, with tree branches placed on top every half-mile.
There are two ways in which to ice fish, the easy or the hard. The stalwarts drive out, choose their favourite place and with hand auger drill a 5-inch hole, which have to be cleared of forming ice every half an hour. Short rods about a foot long with reels are prepared, minnows attached to the barbless hooks, and line lowered into the water. This is pleasant on a good day even at 40c in sunshine and well attired it can be an enjoyable pastime. When the wind blows the minus 40c with wind chill can fall to minus 60c, and any exposed skin will freeze with in less than a minute. So if you have to pee, be quick! If a snowstorm approaches it is possible to get a complete white out. Total white and disorientation can be dangerous, even your car parked 100yards away can be missed by a few feet. Many keep their engine running so the car can be found in such conditions.
The easy way once set up for the season, is more comfortable and weather proof. Ice Shacks are made from chipboard or plywood, a prefab made to fit together with a few nuts and bolts. Huts vary in size, on average they are 10ftx8ft. Ours is a little larger, raised off the ice on 6 inch x 4-inch timbers, and a plywood floor, which contains foot square holes, bench seating around the sides and a drop down table. Heating for this Shack is supplied from a ten-gallon oil drum welded on a stand with hinged door A chimneystack is attached and protruding through the flat roof. The log fire produces ample heat and soon we begin to strip off our layers of clothing. A flat piece of metal on top of the stove is ideal for cooking Deer sausage, Moose Steaks or fish.
A two stroke motor auger soon drills ten-inch diameter holes, the last of the ice is removed with a scoop. Above our heads on the wall adjacent to the holes are reels with line attached. The line is threaded through an elastic band in the ceiling to which a small bell is a placed. The line is hooked, baited and lowered into the water and set about two feet off the bottom. Now we are fishing, or to be more precise sitting drinking coffee, talking about the big mariah that was hooked last year and got stuck in the hole, and others that got away. Fun wagers on who will catch the biggest fish or the most are placed. During this time a listening ear is kept on the radio, for weather reports, and for bells to ring.
When the bell tinkles, it is action stations, one big scramble. First to see which bell is ringing, then to pull the line up by hand. Most fish are landed, if the fish is fighting well you know you have a jack fish, the local nickname for a great Northern Pike. A small fight and it will be either a perch, or pickerel. When landed if it is a keeper, the fish is placed outside in the snow and frozen.
Some lakes have small villages of ice shacks, the occupied ones all have plumes of smoke emitting from their stack. To visit and socialise other fishermen is common. A drink and story shared - none of which one should pay any heed too. As trucks drive over the ice it can be heard to crack and move beneath your feet. The rumble can be heard a long-time before visual contact is made. Peer into ice hole and the water moves up and down from pressure of a wave formed in front of the truck. It is most important stay at a steady 25mph, any faster and a wave could be built up and crack the ice.
Emerging from the shack at night can be an exhilarating experience. No man made light or light pollution, just natures lighting. The moon illuminates a silver path over the reflective snow, the sky a deep rich blue. While the northern lights in their array of greens amber, rose, and violet, dance ethereally, swooping across the sky, teasing the Great Bear, ever changing in formation and colours. Whistle and they come closer, or so it seems, a thousand miles above us yet looking so near as to reach out a hand and touch.
That is winter in Muskeg Creek, and the one thing to be grateful for is: Not being on the Grey Hound Bus going to the big city.
