“For the first time I can remember…”
But it’s not the first time I can remember because it’s a benefit of Stars Hollow that I could grow up as a kid with snow banks high enough to construct a proper waist high fort with plenty of reserve ammunition, a life size snow person (I dunno, isn’t three balls how we all look?), and a highly dangerous block long sled run through multiple yards and hedges.
Keep your arms inside the car and stop or bail out before you hit one. Not that there’s much traffic, but you could have an evil look out.
When I was in upstate New York it snowed all the time and I plowed home with positrac more than once which was quite a contrast from the tropical confines of the heated pools where I worked. One day I walked over 2 miles in sub zero temperatures because the Blue Shark (my car at the time) wouldn’t start.
My friends would cross country ski through the park across the street which I tried a couple of times but found the uphill parts fatiguing and the downhill parts terrifying so I soon gave that up (they were good losers at Flash Bowling though).
Other amusements were Pitch (also called Set Back) which we played at work whenever we had a break, and Wednesday night Season Pass to the local mountain to shiver on a lift and not sweat your way up a slope. Quite the sight to see all those skis rusting at the side of the pool.
Then there was the year I snooted the last six pack of Knickerbocker (that vile) at the Universal Market which happened to be right next to my dorm.
The point is that while I can remember what I consider “normal” snow I haven’t seen it much recently. It’s reminded me of the early springs when I used to crunch through patches of dirt frost on my way to the library and imagined I was on a terraformed Mars. This is the warmest year ever.
The world our children will inherit will be deeper, steeper, warmer, and wetter (not in a good way) than ours.
4 comments
Skip to comment form
Author
the last of our snow will most probably melt today. we had about 4-5 inches on the 10th. we still had lots up until yesterday when it warmed & then started raining. it’s been lovely.
the last time i saw snow last this long here was 1985 just after christmas break. we had gotten the kids a NES & we had a 2 week gaming marathon, lots of fun. the snow didn’t last that long but school stayed out extra days because of Martin Luther King Day
before that was ’73 i think. but it was only 4 or 5 days.
there are old people who say it used to snow here at least twice every year.
while i’ve been here we sometimes get a dusting in january or february but more often than not we don’t see anything but sleet.
when i was a little kid (’64 or 65)we lived in maryland & there was a big blizzard. snow drifted up the back side of the house to the second story windows. my brother opened the glass door & dug out tunnels taking the snow to the tub. we had a whole family of snowmen on the front lawn. the kid next door had 2 great snow “forts” on his front lawn & the whole neighborhood got into the battle.
farmers around here have been commenting on strange weather for the past decade at least. those who follow the signs rather than the calendar are apt to do better.
getting ridiculous. We had snow on the ground for the better part of three weeks, then a “warm” rain came late last week for a few minutes, and now more snow. At least we have not had too much ice this season. In January 2009, my neighborhood was without electrical power for 15 minutes shy of A FULL WEEK and we all have total electric houses. This was before the ‘zette, but I posted a piece about it on the big orange after the power came back. I even missed posting my turn at What’s for Dinner? since I had no power. Speaking of that, on 20110119 I have a piece coming up that is essentially the entire preface of my book about cooking for novices. I shall crosspost it here.
I once read a funny about a southerner who moved north and his letters back to his relatives about snow, at first loving the “wonderful white flakes coming down” and finally saying, “more of that white shit again tonight!…” I will look around the tubes and see if I can find it.
Friday, get ready for a Popular Culture installment about Donovan Leitch, one of the most popular musicians of the mid 1960s.
Warmest regards,
Doc