Ryshia Kennie ...The adventure begins today!: Even the Squirrels are Cold!

Saturday, February 6, 2021

Even the Squirrels are Cold!

It's mid-winter on the prairies and we're getting weather that's not for sissies. Sissies - wrong word. And here's how I know that... I looked it up! And then, I discovered that Sissie is a variant of the names: Cece, Celia, Cissy, Fannie, Fanny, Fran, Frankie, Frannie, Franny, Pris, Prissy, Sissy.

So today, I learned something. Sissie is not only feminine but also an
abbreviation for some pretty cool names. So - okay Sissie is out - winter is for Sissie's! Why? They're tough! Women are brave in any number of ways that men could never imagine and we're brave in imaginable ones too. Okay, I'm bias to my sex but I think there's some truth in what I said.

That said, every book I've written has always had a strong heroine. In fact, right now I have my heroine in the midst of breaking up a human smuggling ring - but that's a story for another day - although I'll give you a bit of a taster at the end. In the meantime, back to winter and this post. Today it's about how brutal winter can be on the Canadian prairies. It's -33 celsius today or -27.4 Fahrenheit. Had to add that .4 just in case negative 27 didn't sound quite cold enough.

So, sissies unite - we've got this...

Even though, it's so cold that driving can be a little bit hazardous. I mean think about it, you're stuck somewhere in the middle of the city or worse, the highway, and you get a flat. It's so cold that your mitted hands stick to the jack as you try to fix the tire. Okay, that's assuming you get the jack free from wherever the manufacturers have hidden it. Yes, that would be me - searching for the jack. Never mind the jack, this is the weather for "square tires". That's when, if a vehicle hasn't been in a heated garage, when they first begin moving, they kind of thunk along, the tires seeming to lose all their give on the pavement.

Or a more precise explanation: Square tires occur when the cold is severe enough for the part of the tire resting on the road to remain flat for a time. So when you drive there's this clunking like the whole tire is flat rather than round giving more the impression of a square tire. As you drive, the tire eventually rounds out.

It could be worse - we could go back a century and be here with horses and a cutter - I can't even imagine...

So back to our modern world where my reality involves staying inside and working on my latest story. The story is set in the imaginary eastern European country of Anatar and my heroine who is about to put herself out there to stop a smuggling ring. Here's a bit of what I'm working on today:

Midas, Anatar – Wednesday, 12:02 a.m.

Adrian Sinclair shivered as she stepped outside the hut and into thick silence. A silky-cool breeze skimmed her cheek. It was a less temperate area of Anatar, a small country in Eastern Europe. And, tonight, it was cooler than normal for mid-September. It was as if the weather were ushering a warning as a chill that ran through her body. Her senses were on high alert as if anticipating trouble. But the weather was the least of her worries. The plan was in place and time was slipping away. Once the sun rose, they had three hours to close the deal. Either that or call it a failed mission. Three hours was a long time and it wasn’t long enough. She was at the mercy of the fates and it was one of the most unsettling positions to be in. She’d rather be in the field, in control, a gun in her hand. But those were different times and not an option here, not yet.

Til next time!

Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com