How to make the most of winter

For years, winter was a time for me to sit around on my ass and wish I was in a coma. It turns out that isn’t the best way to maximize your happiness. Below are some photos that have resulted from venturing outside during some of the coldest windiest days a Canadian winter can offer.

While trudging around on an ungodly windy day in Northern Manitoba this red fox popped out of its den and ran around for a bit. It seems to bothered by the freezing wind to care about us, so it ran up close, took a poop and then bolted off.

During a whiteout storm, we saw a ptarmigan (grouse) struggling to fly by our lodge and a goshawk swooped out of the air and smashed it into the ground. One of the young kids with us let their reflexes take over. They ran over to the injured bird and spun it by the neck like a farmer killing a chicken.

We left the poor ptarmigan on the ground for a few days, but after our food ran low and we got hungry it started to get harder to leave it for another animal to eat. You can see in the above photo my eyes are closed, more on that later.

We ended up cooking the ptarmigan and it was the best meat I can recall tasting. It was stained purple because of all the dark berries that they eat during winter.
During this adventure I got snow blindness. It was pure vanity as I didn’t want a goggle tan. For those who don’t knowm it’s painful and they tanline is worth it.

And finally here are some pictures of me and my biologist/musiscian friends Patrick with a frozen beards. It was -35 celcius and we played hockey on a frozen pond for the afternoon. I haven’t offered much advice here and I heard from an advice piece never to give advice. I’ve shared some of the memorable adventures that I’ve had because I got off my couch in winter and braved the cold. Just doing it brings a lot of satisfaction and I’ll be doing it again this winter.