Tag Archives: snow

Groovy Snow

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Ski Tracks Once the Snow Fades

Ski Tracks Once the Snow Fades

We have had some melting over the past several days.  It is cold now but our snow has shrunk.  Check out the cross country ski tracks above.  These were recessed but once things got warm, they seemed to pop right out.  The kids have had fun with it.  They can walk on the surface without busting through and they can make groovy designs like the ones below.  It started snowing again this afternoon.  The road outside is so slick that I slid past the driveway.  I turned around and made it on the second try.  We might get a little of the white stuff but keep hearing the forecast mention “except for the Champlain Valley.”  That would be us.  So maybe we’ll get lucky.  Otherwise we’ll get a couple of inches.  We’ll have to wait for the next storm.

Snow Art

Snow Art

Poor Snow

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Rain.  That is what we have gotten the past couple of days.  Butt.  That means the snow has been slowly melting away.  Of course, it also means our driveway has gone from way too icy (Daddy! Our driveway is just like the ice skating place where they played hockey!) to sort of icy and also sort of muddy.  That is a bonus.  At least I won’t slide off the driveway like my wife did the other day.  Four wheel drive low comes in handy, baby.

Rain.  That is what is falling now.  It sounds kind of soothing falling from the eave to the deck.  Last night the children and I lie quietly together, just listening.  It was soothing last night as well.  Too bad it didn’t help them fall asleep earlier than usual.  So much for grownup time once they are asleep.  Maybe tonight.

Skiing ought to be crappy this weekend.  Warm air, more rain, that is what the forecast has to offer.  We definitely won’t be doing any cross country skiing in our field like we have been.  I finally busted out my skis, a graduation present from my parents twenty years ago, and had a great time zooming up and down.  I even knew which wax to use, even though I haven’t used those skis in a couple of years.  Red did the trick with temperatures in the 30’s.

Temperatures are still in the 30’s.  And did I mention it is raining?  I love rain.  I just wish sometimes it would hold off until spring really is ready to arrive.  It’s a little early for things to thaw.  I am guessing we have some snowstorms yet to come.  Then I can bust out the cross country skis again.  And the children and I will turn on the light over the deck and, instead of listening to the rain, we will watch the snow falling through the beam.

I guess whatever weather we happen to get, I can’t really lose.  That’s a deal and a half.

Deep Enough Snow

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Snow After a Storm

Snow After a Storm

This morning we woke to the effects of yesterday’s storm.  We have several inches of snow on the ground.  It was deep and fluffy.  The sun rose to a clear sky and the world was aglow.  The low light slanted against the whitened firs, that air was still, our feet crunched as we walked.

When I was in high school I headed from my home in Connecticut to rural Vermont for a semester.  That was on this date a whole passel of years ago.  The experience had such an impact on me that not only did I end up living in Vermont, but I remember the day I started that semester.

I arrived with my parents in Vershire on a day much like this one.  The snow was deep, the world was quiet.  It was beautiful.  After my parents got a chance to see the place and get oriented, and to offer me a solid goodbye, I began my four months in a new place–a school on a working farm.

I dug it.  I learned a lot about myself.  I made good friends.  I came to love the world.  I still do.  And I came to ask lots of questions.  I still do that as well.

I mentioned the place, the Mountain School, to a couple of students with whom I now work.  I told them they might think about applying.  It would do them some good.  I suppose it isn’t for everyone, living in a small community and working hard and being pushed to learn, but, frankly, I think more of that would do all of us some good.

Snowing Like Stink

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I would, of course, be in Milton all day.  Most of the schools in the state were closed but all of Chittenden County was open.  That made sense in the short run, since it was not even snowing when I left this morning.  But whenever I got the chance to peek out of one of the too-few windows at Milton High School, it was snowing.

By early afternoon it was snowing like stink.  Some schools that had not closed for the morning closed early.  That would have been smart.  Driving home was craziness.  Snow was falling hard, visibility was low, there were lots of cars on the road; it was a recipe for smashing.  I made it home, however, with nary a scratch.  I simply had a long drive.

Now, long after I am home, it is still snowing like stink.  Look:

Snowing Like Stink at Night

Snowing Like Stink at Night

The timing of this was all wrong.  Schools were open because it wasn’t snowing in the morning.  They can’t close around here because too many parents complain if they are closed.  But when it was time for buses to carry students home, the roads were about as dangerous as they can get.  Plus, it will likely peter out so we don’t get the bonus snow day tomorrow.

Not that I can afford a snow day.  That would mean more work to make up. But still, I frickin’ love snow days.  If I can swing it, I will take a couple of hours to go skiing tomorrow.  Or not.  But maybe.  We’ll see just how much of the stinky stuff we get.

Fresh Snow and Cold as Nuts

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We had a couple children spend the night with us last night.  It gave their parents a chance to have some time to themselves.  The youngsters had a good time.  It was even fun for me.  I even got to tell them about the rooster who thought he was useless and so ran away from home and caused all the animals to sleep in too late and miss their farm duties.  They went to bed too late anyway.

When we all work the sky was white.  They ran in excited about the fresh snow.  They played outside, sledding, for a while, although we worried a tad.  They were bundled but it was 7 degrees.  And breezy.  Can you say frostbite.  We pulled them in before they got too cold.

Then, after dropping the two extras with their parents, we went skiing.  We last a while.  Our last run was a cheek biter, however.  The sun had dipped behind clouds, the wind picked up, and brrr.  We headed in after that.

The snow is pretty amazing–beautiful to look at and fun to ski upon.  It was just right for a couple of beginning skiers.  They did great today.  Both of them seemed to take a significant step in their learning.  That was good for my back.  It won’t be too long before we can all ski together, and then they will leave us in a cloud of snow, zooming down the mountain.

This week it should get cold again.  Way cold.  Highs in the single digits for several days.  That’s nuts.  It is now zero.  I’m thinking that early morning run in the dark before work just ain’t gonna happen.  Some cozying in bed won’t be the worst thing.  Maybe I will be a good husband and wake early to make coffee for my wife and to crank the fire to make a warm house.  That will be as satisfying as a run.  And no danger of frostbite.

Last Minute

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Snow is falling.  Roads are slippery.  I popped into work for some last minute end-of-the-year details.  Friends are on the way.  I am headed back in a few minutes.

Happy New Year.  Hard to believe it is the last day of the year.

Here’s to a good one in 2009.

Santa in the House

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Evidence of the Fat Man's Presence

Evidence of the Fat Man's Presence

We had a classic Christmas here at our house. Our children were pumped up on treats and gifts. As it should be. Santa came in the night and did his thing. We all benefited from his visit.

The parents were awake (5:30) before the youngsters (6:00 for one, 7:00 for the other) and we got started early. Snow showers fell during the critical morning hours to lend to the air of Christmas, but it was warm enough for some icy outdoor play after lunch. In the afternoon, both my wife and I even managed to fit in a run on this not quite frozen day.

The kids opened gifts all morning. We tried to keep it going slowly. We did not stick to the one-at-a-time everyone-goes-in-turn method employed when I grew up. We will do that in time, but it just feels wrong to keep small children from enjoying the thrill of unwrapping.

By request, we had pizza for lunch. We had out usual dinner of mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, peas and roasted maple butternut squash. That went down just fine. I realized that I did not have any candy until I had a half dozen M&M’s as I was making dinner. I did, however, have a vanilla Coke.

My daughter was so tuckered from going to bed late, rising early, and playing hard all day, that she was asleep by about 5:30. Her brother followed about an hour later. They couldn’t have had a better time. They don’t usually squabble, but had nary a disagreement all day.

Maybe we need to do this every day.

Snow Piled Up

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Snow on the Roof

Snow on the Roof

We got lots of snow over the past few days.  Today the sun shines.  I have been noticing how the snow has gathered on roofs.  On many of them, it sits in even layers.  On some it lies deep on one side and shallow on the other, the wind having brushed it off on the east side.  Some sport wavy combinations of both.

I keep watching the forecast.  It looks like rain tomorrow.  After all this snow, that is hard to take.  It is a bother on any winter day, but to get rain on top of all this amazing snow on Christmas Eve, well, that is a straight up bummer.  If we get rain, we will still have a fine holiday.  And if we don’t I will consider it a gift.

Until then, I’ve got some admirin’ to do.

Deep on the Eave

Deep on the Eave

Wretched Driving

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I’ve done some driving in bad conditions. More than once I have driven in weather so bad that I stopped driving to spend the night in the middle of wherever. I have seen snow on the road.

Driving from Connecticut to Maine one time the visibility was so poor we couldn’t see the road and had to spend the night at a random hotel. Before I moved to Burlington we spent a day apartment hunting in a snowstorm. The drive back from the queen city was a slow slog on the interstate with swirling snow and cars off the road. A long drive.

Yesterday I drove from Milton to Hinesburg. That was not a speedy drive. I left later than I had planned. Get a little more work in, you’ve been there, no? I was in a windowless room, so I had no cues to how the weather had become so fierce. The snow was heavy on the car when I brushed it off and packed on the roads.

I made two stops before I hit the interstate, so I had time to consider whether I should even take the interstate. Would it be better to travel on roads where others would drive more slowly? Or should I just take the most direct route? Popping in for toilet paper (stocking up for the storm!) then filling the tank with gas (and getting a warm cup of decaf) I decided to go for the big road.

It was some of the most dreadful driving I have encountered, pretty much ever. It is not a drive for which I would have opted if I were leaving home rather than heading toward it. The worst moment of my journey last night was on a bridge, a semi passing me on the left and whooshing a cloud of snow so dense I could just see my hood. When I could see a little more clearly I was way too close to the guardrail.

I moved over soon enough.

When I finally exited that four lane highway, slowly, behind another (or perhaps the same) semi, a car too close behind me, on the icy exit ramp, I was somewhat relieved. Then I had to navigate traffic. To travel about two miles on Dorset Street took me at least an hour. I was passing the mall, along with all that other strip development, and it was the final Friday before Christmas, but still, those traffic lights slowed me down lots. The keystone light on Kennedy Drive must have cycled red and green twenty times before I drove through it.

I did make it home. The car was coated in ice and snow. I was too hot (I had to keep the heater blasting to keep the windshield from icing–it was 7 degrees out there!). I needed to take a leak. I was hungry. It was dark and late after a long work day. But I was home to a warm house and a beautiful wife and some smiling children and pizza hot from the oven.

I ran the gauntlet, and the reward was great. It is enough to make this man happy. Last night, the snow falling heavily through the darkness, I slept well. And in the morning, the snow kept falling.

Snow Still Falling in the Morning

Snow Still Falling in the Morning

Ankle Biter, Face Biter

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We did have a snow day after all today. This meant I had more flexibility in my schedule than I had planned, so I went for a run mid-morning. The snow had let up, but started again after I left the house. It was slippery but things started off well.

Gravel Road, Easy Running

Gravel Road, Easy Running

I ran down Leavensworth Road. Two cars (two!) passed me before I got to the section that is not plowed. Then it got interesting. I was doing that thing that dogs do when they come outside and don’t know about snow, picking their feet up high and looking ridiculous. I had to step high.

End of the Plowing

End of the Plowing

I have run in snow before and usually I find it fun, but we got a crust of ice, a thin one but a crust, between layers of snow. It cut my ankles. I took it for a while, tried to be tough, then realized that this was silly. Why hurt myself while getting wet in the falling snow?

Running in the Snow

Running in the Snow

So I turned back and ran down O’Neil Road, plowed the length of it. That was fine, except by then the snow had turned to sleet. It slapped me in the cheeks, except the little grains were so tiny it felt like it was biting me rather than slapping me. I took that for a while too but turned back again. By now I was laughing out loud–for real–the situation was so absurd. Why do I do this? I asked myself. Oh yeah, it’s fun.

Back Home

Back Home

It was snow falling again by the time I returned home. I appreciated the warm fire all the more when I got inside. Of course, I had to shovel a bit before I went in. That made me laugh as well. Ah, snow. How can I help but laugh?