I Have A Sunburn
March 10th, 2008 @ 14:26 by NormMonkey
That’s right: a sunburn.
I did not go on vacation to Acapulco Bay for the winter.
I did not even spend the day skiing down the side of Cheval Blanc at Mont St. Marie.
No, I got a sunburn from shoveling snow all day. There’s a toque-line across my forehead.
As I wrapped my scarf around my neck, pulled on my good winter gloves and donned my jacket, the thought never even occurred to me to slap on some suntan lotion. I mean, c’mon! Then again the thought “I’m going to be outside shoveling snow all day” was also absent.
Somewhere there is a “True Canadian” checklist, on which one of the items is “Sunburned while shoveling snow”.
Check.
For those playing along at home who might not be in the know, Ottawa got 56cm of snow this weekend. We’ve had 413cm so far this year. We’re on track to beat the 1970-71 record of 444.1cm.
I wrote a snow-oriented post late last December and I invite you to compare pictures with me:
Driveway in December
Driveway in March
Notice how:
- my house had a nice picture window in December?
- the adjoining neighbours had a first floor in December?
- the yellow “fire hydrant is here” stick can be seen in December?
- the snow in front of my car is only hood high in December? (see next picture if the detail through Hunnybear’s car windows isn’t clear enough for ya)
House in December
House in March
Notice how:
- there was a cat in the window in December, but there’s barely a window at all in March?
- we had a doorway in December?
- the yellow “fire hydrant is here” stick can be seen in December?
- the neighbours have a nice evergreen in front of their door in December?
Finally, let’s turn around and look across the street:
The Neighbour’s House
If anyone ever cuts it down, the tree in the neighbours’ yard is going to have a particularly noticeable ring for this season, I think. Especially note the height of the car in the driveway on the left.
For more wintry pictures of our house, visit my “Home” gallery at the Gnurple Photo Gallery. It includes pictures of the driveway before shoveling (the snow comes up to the mirrors on the side of my car) and even a couple of non-winter pictures of the house. Wow! Lawn!
And now I have yet another excuse not to shovel. I wouldn’t want to get sunburned.
Love the pictures of the mounting MFsnow, though, as much as I dislike the MFsnow itself.
When Winter 08-09 comes, will you be calling it MFsnow from the start or will it take the imperial assload of snowfall of this season to re-enact the name-change?
It’s a seasonal affectation. When the MFsnow gets to be as quantitatively huge as it has this year, I suspect the moniker will reappear. (The ‘MF’ are silent; I don’t pronounce them out loud … )