Check it out at her blog: http://heathergracestewart.com/2014/02/06/take-ten-thursday-writing-prompt-2
Winter traditions. Country style.
When I was little and home from school sick we could watch Sesame Street. Buffy St. Marie making bannock on a stick over the fire. Quebec and Ontario kids making snow candy and maple syrup candy. Things these prairie kids never got to do. But they were fun to watch!
Instead we have our own traditions for winter. Like hood sliding. What is hood sliding you ask? Take a tow rope, a rope handle and an old truck hood. Put on a mattress pad. Hook up behind the quad or side-by-side and have a grand time riding. This winter has been hard on the hood sliding. So cold. Cold enough we can't enjoy our snow.
The other winter traditions we share are chores. Winter chores. I don't gain weight in the winter. Between walking in the snow, and falling through the crust on the drifts, and forking hay and carrying salt blocks it's a workout daily. Oh and put in a few pounds of winter gear and boots. That is fun! It is also an important job. Caring for our animals.
A favorite treat in winter is tracking. Seeing animals tracks, wing imprints and sometimes interesting scat. It's all so cool to see what animals stick around in the winter, how they live, what they eat and if we can spot them. The other day I was waiting for the school bus to come and the birds were just everywhere. Then I heard a tapping. Tap. Tap. Tap. And I slowly started looking around. Up and sideways. There he was. A woodpecker making a hole in a birch tree. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Blue jays scolding. Chickadees chirping. Snow buntings flying wildly. Soaring ravens. Owls almost invisible. Sparrows. Magpies. Cedar waxwings.
Wildlife watching in winter can be so cool. Like watching the coyote eating frozen apples. Jumping up to get them off the tree.
All the fun things we get to see in the country in winter.
What are some of your winter traditions?
