It can be a hard time of year for people, post-Christmas.
There are plenty of outdoors enthusiasts who take part in snowmobiling and ice-fishing and various other winter activities, and who clearly enjoy being outside when one's saliva freezes.
However, there are a great many who now go into full-on hibernation mode, with little fresh air and physical activity. For many, winter means survival by any means necessary, essentially killing time indoors while waiting out the winter.
The kids are not back to school yet, but when they are, adult life in northern Ontario falls into a pattern absent of any sense of time. It's winter, pure and simple. For some, the only way to guess the date is by the height of the snowbanks. For many, winter means driving (if you can afford gas) to and from work in the dark between driveway shovelling duties.
Depression due to the seasons or weather is a real thing, so here is something you can do for a little exercise and excitement: throw your (real) Christmas tree onto the pile at the Public Works Yard at 1399 Franklin St.
The Christmas decorations that first started appearing before Halloween are being boxed-up for their nine-month storage. It's time to get rid of that brown Christmas tree.
The City of North Bay is encouraging citizens with live Christmas trees needing disposal to bring them to the collection site until January 16, between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.
All ornaments, tinsel, and lights must be removed from the tree before drop-off. Within a few hours of opening time Tuesday, a public works employee said that two full trucks worth of discarded trees had been removed already.
What this means for real Christmas tree lovers without vehicles, is unclear. Since the Christmas tree collection program was axed, seniors, citizens with mobility challenges, and people who take transit, walk or bike will have to make other arrangements.
Maybe taxis would take fares with trees? The same pick-up truck owners who were called upon to move precious cargo on Boxing Day may get calls again. More likely the trees end up in a business' unlocked trash bin or a snowbank somewhere.
Since the drop-off for trees is located directly in front of the transit bus garage, maybe a bus finishing its daily tour could be designated as a tree transportation bus? Every area of the city would have the chance to drag their trees by sleigh over to a common bus stop to load up the bus with dead trees. Efficiency.
BayToday reader Daph Hopkins commented that hers was "outside as a birdfeeder."
Callander residents have long re-purposed their trees into sources of heat (see gallery above).
Terri LeBreton and Ken Moreau, both BayToday commenters agreed that the old trees make for good sources of heat, and LeBreton wrote simply, "Bon Fire."
Bert Brunet indicated that it was, "Not a big deal to put them in the forest somewhere. Last time I looked there were many dead, fallen trees providing cover for animals and slowly rotting into the soil to provide nutrients to the live trees."
Tammy Crane-Bourget came up with a simple solution: "give them to farmers with goats...they love chewing on them."
We think Tammy means the goats.
