I did something on Saturday, and I can’t remember the last time it happened.
I barbecued in December.
It wasn’t my best work, but when it’s well above zero and we’re just over two weeks away from the first day of winter, I’m not complaining about the end result when I get to fire up the grill.
Most years the barbecue is shut down in late October. This year, I was lucky. I was able to continue barbecuing until early November. Consequently, I was able to cook all of the burgers and steaks in the freezer.
No freezer burns for the meat supplies this winter.
Of course, one of the issues that would keep me from firing up the grill in December is the lack of daylight, especially with an east-facing patio. I want to be able to see the steak that’s on my barbecue.
(Note: for those of you thinking that I could always barbecue indoors, I have too much respect for the men and women of the Estevan Fire Rescue Service to ever try that. And people who live in condos and try to barbecue indoors deserve to get beat up).
The other issue is there’s usually a lot going on during weekends in December, but not this year. Of course, I would much rather have leftovers for supper and then head out to an Estevan Bruins hockey game that has 800 people present, than barbecue a steak in December.
I wouldn’t complain if this is the weather trend for the rest of the winter. Obviously, that’s not realistic. We’ll get hit with some cold weather eventually. Even in the winter of 2005-06, when the average daytime high in January was above zero, there were a few frigid stretches.
We ducked one powerful winter storm already last month. We can’t expect it will happen again.
And I’m smart enough to know that we need the moisture. We’ve been pretty dry since mid-July; many areas have had fire bans in the late summer and early fall. Give us a nice healthy dump of snow, one that can sit and soak into the ground, and then gradually melt away at the end of winter.
(I’m sure the local snowmobiling fraternity would agree with me).
Plus, the ground looks so much nicer with that nice, thick layer of light fluffy snow on the ground. Right now, when I drive through town, I see bare, brown grass that is crying out for moisture.
Still, you won’t see me doing a snowstorm dance in front of my apartment building any time soon.
And given the few chances that I’ve had to barbecue in December in the past, you likely won’t see me barbecuing again until February, at the earliest.
***
While we don’t get to do many of the things that we would normally do this year before Christmas, we can still do some things, including some measure of socializing.
The opportunities to gather for a boozy Christmas party, or have those large gatherings with family members and friends are out the window. I was at a Thanksgiving dinner on Oct. 11 that had 27 people; at that time, it was acceptable. Nobody became sick, but now you won’t have more than five people present in a private residence.
We can still have a measure of socializing. We can still meet up with a few friends at a table of four and enjoy a few drinks.
And while we’re not supposed to gather outside of our own immediate families, that’s not going to stop some people, although if you’re in a private gathering of more than five, and you get fined, you have nobody to blame but yourself.
But if you do choose to get together in that small social group, please don’t drink and drive.
We’ve seen the number of impaired driving charges has been dropping the past few months. Some of that is due to the pandemic, and fewer people out and about, but still, we’ve had months in which you can count the number of people charged for impaired driving on one hand.
For a city that had a serious problem with impaired driving just a few years ago, the lower numbers are encouraging.
We’ve had a couple people charged for impaired driving-related infractions so far this month. I’d be thrilled if that number remains the same.
Staying safe and being smart isn’t just limited to how we cope with the pandemic.
It also extends to whether we drive while impaired over the next few weeks.
Hopefully we can do the right thing.
