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The month of February has passed so quickly and I had many adventures, some that I would like to share.

At the beginning of the February, we had so much snow that the yard and fields were covered with about a foot of white powder and where it had drifted, it was about 30 inches deep.  Walking around the property was just too difficult for me so I tried using my cross-country skis. That was almost as bad as the skis sank so far down that I couldn’t see my feet!

One afternoon, while doing some errands at the Whitby Mall, I noticed new snowshoes for sale at $80.00 on the wall of a shoe repair shop. They were less than half the price of the sporting goods stores, so I decided that with the amount of snow we’d been having this winter, that they might be a good investment. And it turned out that they were….but not initially.

Now, let me say, snowshoeing is NOT as easy as it looks.  When I got home, I put on my casual winter boots (a pair of Skechers) , easily adjusted the bindings of my new snowshoes and started out. I had pictured myself “prancing” on top of the powdery snow and the drifts. Well, not quite! Because the early part of the month lacked the “freeze-thaw” cycles, I looked down and, just like with my skis, couldn’t see my boots or the snowshoes under a foot of snow.  It was hard work, taking each step with the added weight of the snowshoes even though they are constructed of light-weight aluminum. Apparently, an hour of snowshoeing can burn up to 500 calories an hour and with poles, 640 calories. Well, not so at the speed I was going! I managed to make it to our trail and then turned back.

A few days later, after some warmer weather and some heavier snow underfoot, I set out again. This time, I brought my camera and with a firmer footing did walk on top of the snow. As I started out across the field, I looked back and there was one of our cats, Stanley, trying to follow me! He didn’t appear to need snowshoes…..

It was great being able to go up our fenceline on top of the huge drifts and I took some nice photos. Snowshoeing is great exercise and a way to enjoy the winter scenery that has been just amazing this season. I’ve included a slideshow of some of the pictures I took this month while out on the fields and trails around my home.