By What the Hill?

Preparing for another Saskatchewan winter

Nov 19, 2010 | 2:30 PM

The first time around I had every right to be shocked, the second time surprised, but you’d think by my third fall in Prince Albert, I would be prepared for the temperatures to drop.

And yet, when the wind came up and the mercury dipped below –10 C on Thursday night, I shuddered.

Mother Nature did it to me again.

With some beautiful hot weather, albeit for only a short period, this summer and a long fall, even though it was not particularly warm, I was lulled into a false sense of security.

I thought it would be manageable this year. How easy it is to forget the blowing cold, the ankle and knee deep snow, the sliding my car does driving down the hill in the morning and the amount of effort it takes to get ready to go anywhere.

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It’s all coming back in a horrible rush — scraping my windows at 5:45 a.m., the knot that forms in my stomach whenever I have to drive anywhere and always checking to see if there are enough people present to push my car, in case I get stuck.

A car kit will need to go back into my car, but this year I’m making a few additions. Along with the sleeping bag and boots, I’ll be adding a bottle of wine and some good quality chocolate. The St. Bernard rescue dogs carried brandy for when they found people stranded and at risk of freezing to death.

So I figure, if I’m stuck in the snow with a candle and warm blanket, I might as well make a night of it. What girl doesn’t love red wine and dark chocolate by candlelight?

I’m also getting more in tune with appropriate footwear. Open toes are officially out, unless the snow has been packed down enough that I can wear flip flops to the gym, boots are in. Yes, I have Sorels, no I don’t wear them. See, now that I’ve been in Saskatchewan for two full winters I’ve mastered the art of wearing boots with heels. Well, as much as I have ever been able to master heels.

The snow boots haven’t been discarded completely though, they are part of my car kit. I mean if I run out of red wine, I should probably be prepared to hike to get more.

Accepting winter is the first step, but already part of me is returning to that childhood feeling I get when I see snow. It’s exciting, I still can’t override the feeling that snow means Christmas. Mind you by late January that feeling is long over.

When I see the snow blowing horizontally past my work window, my gut instinct is to swear, once again, that this will be my last Saskatchewan winter. Obviously I’ve been jinxing myself, because I’m still here and still getting shocked.

And with time this will become normal and one day in December, I’ll find myself appreciating the beauty of the snow along the icy river.

Until then I’ll be battling my co-workers for control of the heater.

ahill@panow.com