Winter Fun (With a Side of Chores)

I know we’ll be talking about winter, snow, ice, and all of that for the next few months, so I’ll skip it this time. Instead, I’ll tell you about what we’re planning to do to actually enjoy this time of year — skating!

Addy and I bought ice skates from Canadian Tire this year. Addy went with hockey skates, and I picked figure skates… I’m much more used to the straight blade with a pick. During our first winter here, we noticed that Officers’ Square gets turned into a beautiful outdoor skating park. Ever since then, it’s been on our winter to-do list to go skating there together. It’s free (and on certain days they have skates for use that is also free (unconfirmed) at least when we were there), it’s set in a historic and beautiful area, and honestly — why not?

Outdoor skating wasn’t something we could do very often when we lived in Nanaimo, so it felt extra special. On my birthday weekend, we had our shiny new skates sharpened and headed downtown. It was fairly busy — families with speedy kids weaving in and out of the wobbly adults… okay, that was me. I hadn’t skated in a while, and it showed!

I’m blaming the racing kids for zipping past and throwing Amalie off balance. A little bruised, but no broken bones, and at our age, that’s a very good day. Stefan is an excellent skater; he could have kept up with the kids if we wanted to, I am sure.

That was the highlight of that day but Stefan and Amalie also took us to an Art Show at the EX (local artists) to inspire us and we had a quick lunch/snack at the Happy Baker. After skating we went to Picaroons for a couple drinks to celebrate the great day!

Addy also included a photo of the truck parallel parked in downtown Fredericton beside the skating rink. Busy street and I managed to park it on the first try, not having had to parallel park since Vancouver so it’s been a few years since.

We had a very busy Saturday! We had two Christmas parties to attend, starting with Addy’s work party at Bowl-A-Drome. We went bowling — 10-pin candlepin style, with the small handheld balls and no finger holes. It was surprisingly fun! The alley was built in the 50’s and it still had its charms; the art deco vibes/façade, those bowling shows you remember as a kid, the attendants running up to fix any issues with the pins and the pencils to manually input your scores. In all fairness none of us really knew how to score strikes and spares – oh well we had fun!

We haven’t bowled in quite a while. The last time we went was with the larger ball, and we ended the night in the ER thanks to a back injury… poor Addy. I’m happy to report that this time around, we had a great time and no injuries were sustained. There was a great selection of snacks and drinks, and lots of amazing company — including Addy’s boss’s adorable daughter. So cute!

We had to leave a bit early to pick Josh up from work, which kept us right on time for the next party. With Christmas just around the corner, it makes sense that the weekend ended up double-booked. After taking Josh home and doing a quick change, we were off to Alison and Andrew’s gorgeous home to continue the celebrations.

As I’ve said before, their house is beautiful. Andrew milled the massive wooden beams himself to build their chalet-style home. They also had the biggest live fir tree I’ve ever seen inside a house, reaching up into the vaulted ceiling of their living room, decorated with handmade Christmas ornaments. We met quite a few new people, caught up with familiar faces, enjoyed plenty of finger foods, and sipped on some holiday cheer.

We’re incredibly fortunate to be part of so many amazing people’s circles.

We also celebrated Mandy’s birthday on Monday evening with our two neighbours in Stanley. We couldn’t find our birthday candles so we improvised on the quickly melting chocolate fudge ice cream cake from DQ. You’d thought we’d have melting ice cream in this weather?!? Addy also found Granville Island Winter Ale in NB! They had just started carrying it and it’s one of Mandy’s favourites along with Prosecco sparkling wine… Addy bought two different kinds as he wasn’t sure which was the favourite.

Okay, I fibbed… I will talk just a tiny bit about the challenges of ice and snow.

We thought we were being very smart this year and bought a new snowblower — I might have mentioned it in the last post. Well, last week we got about 15–20 cm of snow (pfft… it was at least 35 cm!). Addy was able to use the snowblower to create walking paths to the animals and the hay, and of course clear the driveway and the mailbox. It took three charge cycles, which honestly isn’t bad at all.

He was nearly finished when a small-ish stick wrecked our fun. Pop goes the shear pin.

We bought the machine from Home Depot, already assembled and sitting on a pallet. It came with the batteries, the charger, and a manual… but it didn’t come with any extra shear pins — which they are apparently supposed to include. Maybe that only applies when it comes in a box and requires some assembly? Either way, lesson learned.

After some searching, we discovered that none were available in Canada. We could order them from the U.S. for a cool $80 in shipping (not including tariffs), or from Europe — five sets for $54, shipping included. Guess which option we chose?

Tariffs strike again! Here’s hoping we don’t get another snowmageddon until we’re back up and running.

Winter really would be my favourite season if we had heated waterers for all of our animals. Battling ice and hauling water adds about 20 minutes to our morning chores. During the day, when it’s below –10°C, I head out a few times to break the ice and top off all the water buckets. One of the benefits of working from home — I can put my breaks to good use.

The goats are at their fluffiest right now. So fluffy! The juniors and seniors are still separated, but that will change soon. We’ll be moving Bron back to the buck area and letting Gwyn and Meg rejoin their mothers in the doe area.

Even though it’s only mid-December, I’m already browsing seed catalogues and thinking ahead to the gardening season. It’s funny how gardening follows its own cycle every year — the excitement of planning and deciding what to grow, the maximum effort of starting seeds and planting, the steady routine of watering and watching everything grow (plus the occasional garden snack), and then the hustle of harvest season. Preserving everything, and finally feeling relieved that it’s all wrapped up for another year.

Every. Single. Year.

I’m trying not to get too excited since it’s still far too early for seed starting, so for now I’ll just flip through the catalogue and dream.

If you made it all the way to the end, thank you for spending a little slice of your day here with me. Whether it was skating downtown, juggling busy December weekends, battling snow and frozen buckets, or dreaming of gardens yet to come, I’m so grateful you’re along for the journey. These slower winter days have a way of inviting reflection, and it means a lot to be able to share them with such a kind, thoughtful community. Until the next post — stay warm, stay cozy, and I’ll see you soon.