Thanks A Lot, Gramps!

   We got our first snow yesterday, a taste of what's to come in the next few months. I know an awful lot of people love winter, snowmobiling, skiing, snowboarding, skating, even ice fishing. With the exception of having done quite a bit of ice fishing 30 plus years ago, I'm not one of them.
   I don't look forward to the biting cold. I don't look forward to shovelling 8 inches of "partly cloudy" from my driveway. I don't look forward to having to wrap myself in so many layers of winter clothes I can barely walk. You've probably noticed by now that I don't really care much for winter. Boy! Am I in the wrong part of the country and/or world!
   It didn't have to be this way, but it is. And I'd like to "thank" both my grandfathers for choosing Canada of all countries to emigrate to. Grampa Wallebeck immigrated in 1907 from the Akershus region of Norway. Just outside Oslo. In January, Oslo's median daytime HIGH is -2. The median LOW is -7. Contrast that with Saskatoon, where the high is -12, and the low -23. But it gets a lot colder than that.
   Granddad, who was 23 at the time, was one of thousands of Scandinavians who came to North America at the start of the 20th Century, eventually settling in Claresholm, Alberta. In a way, I can see why he came, following not a few of his countrymen to a promise of new land and opportunities.
   But for the life of me, I can't understand why Grampa Tydeman came to Canada from Britain. I know very little about him, other than my mother was born in Halkirk, Alberta. What I do know is he had a chance, and an invitation, to join his brother in Australia. But didn't.
   By the way, Sydney, Australia's mean temperature in their winter (July/August) is 17 for a high, and 8 for a low.
   Thanks a lot Gramps!

TTFN