Another Sunday In The Winter of 2012

Sunday has arrived.  Again.  And in the land of people who no longer work for "The Man" it means almost nothing.  And the reason I say, almost nothing, is because the only real reason it does mean something is when a body needs something like gyprock, or screws, or insulation, or some other detritus which is required when renovating, the stores which sell that stuff around here are closed.  For a person who only recently moved here from the far west that fact still rings as somewhat unnatural.  Where I come from you can go to any large center and find everything open to consumerism wherever you go, pretty much on any day, at any time of the year.  In fact, the only day I can really remember businesses closing out west is on xmas day.  Way out here on the other side of the country Sunday shopping has only been permitted as of the end of 2006.  You read that correctly, 2006!  Sometimes I feel that not only have I moved distance in kilometers but I have also time traveled back in time to the days of having to write a cheque to a grocery store on the weekend if you didn't get to the bank during the week to take out some money.  Or having to listen to the rings on the party line to know whether or not the call is for you.  Or having to use a come along to pull your tractor out of the ditch.  Oh wait a minute, that was only yesterday. 

This morning the mercury read -20 Celsius, that is by and far the chilliest it has been all this winter.  The best thing about it is that even though sometime last night the fire had burned out the temperatures in the house were still rather civilized this morning.  Well civilized for the residence of Kitpu Estates at any rate.  (Although Karson, the cat, did decide to snuggle next to me sometime during the night.)  Which means that all of our efforts to increase the R factor this summer have paid off.  And even though we only put a fire on this morning to cut the chill in the air the house has been nice and snug since it burned down to nothing thanks to the passive solar heat we are able to capture from the almost perfect alignment of the structure to the sun. 

Now we happen to live in the sticks, well as stickish as it gets out east, so we make a habit of going for a walk in the bush (on our land) and sometimes even venture out into civilization (the dirt road leading to our land) and this morning we did just that.  The weird thing about our morning walk was seeing a new truck flipped onto its top in the ditch on the side of the road.  A tow truck was already on the scene and dragging it out so there was no need for either of us to go to the rescue, but I found it really odd that someone was back here either last night, or early this morning, driving imprudently enough to flip their truck over in conditions which were not exactly hazardous.  And when I say not exactly, I mean not at all.  I've decided, based on no discernible evidence of any kind whatsoever, that it was a bunch of intoxicated, good for nothing, unemployed red neck punks, out for a joy ride in a stolen truck, and leaving it at that.  Oh what exciting times there are here in the land that Sunday forgot. 

And for those of you who cannot stomach reading my blatherings, here is a picture that tells the story of Kit, the dog, and her trusty cat, Karson, chillaxing on a lazy Sunday afternoon.