Snow-Country News

Perhaps you've heard that it snowed down here in Bumpkinville. It's all just been so exciting. There are lots of good notes but the best is that the city is on pause and people aren't going to work so there's a mild "ghost town" feel about the place and it's very peaceful and friendly feeling. The delight that the snow has brought has been a wonderful unifier and everyone you run into is giddy and friendly and wonderstruck.

What I like about the snow is how it covers up property lines and roads and medians and so makes the land feel larger and wild. Our yard extended right across the street into the neighbors yard, across that glaring divider, making me realize how close we all live to each other and how we have our houses oriented around made up things, like streets and subdivisions.

You might think that a dainty whiner like myself would run and cower from such a cold thing as "snow" but I've been surprisingly enlivened by it and even told Brett I'd consider a snowy vacation someday. On the day of the big snow, The Crew came to Mom and Dad's for games and soup and movies. Ellen brought a couple of people and even Ari and Nate dropped by so we had eleven people and four dogs in the living room at one point and it was actually far from cozy - I had nowhere to sit and I was cold because it turns out that I don't have any waterproof shoes.

But we bundled up and played in the snow and I did not expect it to be so fun. Even sweet Nancy threw a snowball or two. The next day really tickled me because I woke up and had the morning of a true Northerner. I chiseled ice from my windshield, brushed snowed from my car, I drove on an icy road and slid into the wrong spoke of a roundabout. Also I kicked, with gusto, an electrical box that I thought was just a pile of snow. I watched icicles drip and snow blobs melt and I drank hot drinks and mused about how unmotivated I was to do anything.

Then I woke up this morning and the crappin' snow is still here. I didn't know I felt any kind of "crappin'" feelings about it until I woke up and saw it and was already exhausted by the ordeal. I didn't want to spend another day bundled in uncomfortable layers. I did not want to do the "on off on off" thing you have to do with your snow-laden boots every time you come or go from a place. I did not want to run errands on slippery roads or walk through such cold to get groceries or the mail or to let Pippa go to the bathroom. I do not wish to live like this anymore. I have cabin fever (and plenty to do) but I just can't because of snow. That's all there is to it.

Mom and Ellen and I have marveled that people live like this in places. Crappin' weeks of it. No wonder we're overrun with Yankees. I get it now and I can sympathize - not to be mistaken with welcoming them.
I really really miss summer.