Blowin' in the Wind

One of the many things I don't remember about PEI is the wind. Seriously, these winds are crazy. We've had more high-speed windy days in five weeks than I remember in five years back in Ontario. I'm talking winds that are exceeding the posted speed limits. And we live on a highway. Tomorrow we have a father-son project to work on: Putting the siding back on the garage after the weekend winds blew it off to the ground. Not to mention cleaning up the latest bunch of branches torn off the trees in the front yard.

I mean, I realize that we're very close to open water; six kilometers or so to the east, maybe fifteen to the west. And the Gulf of St. Lawrence is very wide open. But the winds aren't coming from the Gulf; they're coming from the west, from the Northumberland Strait. Which means they're coming off of New Brunswick. Where the heck does New Brunswick get that kind of wind from? It's hilly, even approaching mountainous in parts. How are we getting gale-force winds so often?

I went out to the closer garage the other day. Thanks to the wind shear, I aimed for the second garage and got to the one I wanted to go to. Hey, it works for pilots.

We still haven't gotten snow, although I hear Charlottetown's already had a couple of inches, and that's only an hour away from here. But it's coming. I'm looking forward to it, for some bizarre reason. My whole intent in moving in the first place was to get away from the damn snow. Instead, I brought my family to a winter wonderland. I think I'm most looking forward to the boys' reactions to the anticipated levels of snow. Back in southwestern Ontario, we could expect a couple of feet of snow in total in a heavy year. Here, we're expecting over nine feet.

It's too bad we don't have a fireplace in the house; we certainly have access to enough wood to heat the house for the rest of my life. Maybe we'll install one at some point. There's something about the idea of curling up on the couch in front of the fireplace on a winter's day. It's...primeval, in a way.

Well, I'm going to batten down the hatches in case we get another windstorm tonight. Especially if it's accompanied by those white flakes. Keep reading, and don't forget to look me up on Amazon.