What's truly disappointing to me is that, when I was growing up, I was a 2 1/2 hour drive from one of the best powder ski hills in northern British Columbia: Powder King (seriously? 199 cm at the top right now?). There were high school ski trips that I never took part it - I think because I didn't grow up with a family involved in sports, let along winter sports.
Fast forward to today, or rather, last night. Environment Canada says that at midnight, the visibility was 0.3 km. That's a lot of blowing snow. I still have a hard time with the blowing snow. I've now lived in Alberta 10 years, and the fact that we get so much wind still drives me slightly batty. Woke up this morning to see the lower panels of my car in front of the house. The rest of it was a lovely shade of white, in a sea of white, with more white falling and blowing on the wind.
I spent about an hour shovelling the front steps, walk, and sidewalk. The back of the house? Mañana...
As I was moving frozen water about, in a somewhat fruitless attempt to forestall nature, I was reminded of just how amazing it was to sit on the white sand beach at the resort in Jamaica last week. Which left me wishing I was back there. Today.
This is an old piece of humour for which I don't know the source, but I was sure in this mindset today. As I look out the front windows and see another inch of snow covering the walk, I'm really done with winter in the city. Snow on the skihill = awesome. On my car = not awesome.
Our first winter snow:
Dec 8: 5pm: it started to snow…our first of the season and the whole family took a bowl of popcorn and drinks and gathered around the window…watching the soft flakes drift down all over the ground…so beautiful!
Dec 9: We awoke to a big beautiful blanket of crystal white snow covering the ground as far as the eyes could see. What a fantastic sight! Out the door raced the kids! Every tree and shrub covered with a lovely white mantle. I shoveled snow for the first time in years and I loved it! I did both driveways and the sidewalk.
Later, the snowplow came along and covered up our sidewalk with compacted snow from the street so I bundled up and went out and shoveled it again.
Dec 12: The sun is out and has melted our lovely snow. Oh, well…I’m sure we’ll get some more before the beautiful season is over.
Dec 14: it snowed 8 inches last night and the temperature dropped to 20 degrees below zero. Shoveled the driveways and the sidewalk and the snowplow came by and covered it all up with snow…again.
Dec 15: sold my van and bought a 4x4 Blazer so I can drive in the snow. Bought snow tires for my wife’s car.
Dec 16: Fell on my rear on the ice in the driveway..while I was shoveling all that lovely white…stuff. All it really hurt was my feelings.
Dec 17: Still cold…below zero in the a.m., and the icy roads make for very tough driving. The hill our home sits on didn’t seem that steep when the road was dry.
Dec 20: Had another 4 inches of that white ….stuff…again last night. More shoveling today. That #@$% snowplow came by twice…it hadn’t even snowed after the first time!
Dec 22: A White Christmas is pretty much a sure thing at this point; we had 3 more inches of that white stuff today and with this freezing weather it won’t melt ‘til August!
Got all dressed to go out and …yes, to shovel – boots, jump suit, heavy jacket, scarf, ear muffs, gloves – and then had the urge to pee!!
Dec 23: was going to go ice fishing today, but my worms froze …
Dec 24: if I ever see that ….guy….that drives that @#$% snowplow…….he waits…I swear, he waits …he hides around the corner and waits until I finish shoveling and then he comes barreling down the street throwing snow all over what used to be my yard!
Dec 25: Merry Christmas. They predict 8 more inches of this %$&^ white stuff tonight. Do they know how many shovel fulls of snow 8 inches is?! My gift to the snowplow driver is I’m letting him live.
Dec 26: We got 8 inches and then some. We wear sunglasses all day because the sun is shining bright but it’s beaming down on about EIGHTEEN INCHES OF THIS #$%WHITE ….stuff! The kids make snowmen on the roof.
Dec 27: The toilet froze. I’ve stopped shoveling….not out of protest…but, because I left the shovel out and it snowed…so it’s buried….and we can’t get the car out of the driveway because, yes, the snowplow has buried our driveway.
Dec 28: I’ve threatened to burn the house down so that white @#$% stuff can’t cling to the roof…but the kids’ snow people are almost as high as the pine tree next to the house and so now it’s a neighborhood contest…
Dec 31: My New Year’s Resolution is…that’s right…I’m going to let the snowplow driver live!
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