So this is my response to Jenny and David’s blogs about embracing winter. David, I like your positive thinking there. However, as a fellow Texan, I REALLY struggle with this. As I mentioned in the title, the only embracing of winter that appeals to me is the really tight, right around the neck, kind that would render it non-existent. Actually I really don’t mind it for 2 days — Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I like having a white Christmas. But then I want all the white stuff to go away and not return for 363 more days. Or at least stay up in the mountains. It’s pretty up there. However, it is not pretty piled up by the foot all over my sidewalks and driveway. And the last month has been especially crazy with snow. We’ve had a TON of it. And it isn’t warming up so it can melt, so instead, it just keeps piling up. This morning is a prime example. At 4:00 am this morning I woke to the new double alarm clock we have (aka “the Twins”). When I went downstairs to get a bottle, I noticed out the windows that we’d had what looked like a few inches of new snow sitting on top of the walkway I had just shoveled yesterday. Of course. Well later, I went out to shovel. By the way, all this shoveling would not be required if a certain Texan who dislikes the snow — ok, fine, it was me– hadn’t tried to start his snowblower without checking the oil level first, thereby seizing the engine and causing $400 worth of repairs that are currently being undertaken at the mechanic while we receive foot after foot of snow. Anyway, when I went out to shovel and opened the garage, not only was it snowing quite a lot, but there was actually ALMOST A FOOT of very new, very wet and heavy snow awaiting me and my surgically repaired back. The truck is parked outside on the driveway and with all the accumulation, it now looked about 8 feet tall, the bed is filled up and the snow on the ground was up ABOVE the tires. Our mailbox now looks like it is about 8 inches off the ground. And to top it off, we have a 4-FOOT TALL berm of snow running clear down the street, blocking our driveway, leftover by the snowplows during the night. In the backyard, the 3-foot tall fence we put in dividing our yard from our neighbors has about 1 foot of fence visible on it. And the big hole we dug for our trampoline is almost filled to the ground level with snow now. It’s crazy! It took about an hour to clear a path to get the cars out of the driveway. I also cleared the walkway leading to our front door. And I’m happy to report that 2 hours later, we now have at least 2 more inches covering what I’d uncovered. Isn’t winter great!!!!
Now honestly, we REALLY DO need the moisture. We’ve been at or near drought conditions the last few summers here in Utah and our water levels are extremely low. So it is nice to get this. However, we’ve had big snowfalls in previous years and almost always, in the spring it warms up too fast causing all that snow in the mountains to melt too quickly, which leaves us with hyper-saturated ground and flooding and mudslides. So my preference would be to instead have a spring with TONS of those AWESOME South Texas rainstorms where the rain isn’t really falling, it’s flying horizontally and not in drops, but in SHEETS of water. Add in the huge thunder and lightning and it’s an amazing spectacle. I could live with a month or so of that to get our water supply.
Twins Update
Anyway, like I said, I did finally get the snow cleared enough to get a car out. But by that time I had given up on actually going in to work today. The snow continued (and continues) to fall and it would take a LONG time to get in. So I’m working from home. But I did have to take the twins in to be weighed. Last week, at their 2 week checkup, they were still almost a half pound lower than their birth weight. So the Doctor gave us some special formula and wanted to see them back in a week to be weighed hoping they would gain 5 to 7 ounces by then. Well, they pulled through with flying colors! Maren went from 4lbs 15oz to 5 lbs 9 oz, and Roman went from 5 lbs 11oz to 6 lbs 3 oz, putting each of them just above their birthweight!
HAHA!!!! Seriously! Two days of snow would be the best thing ever! I am all about the Texas Gully Washers! Hopefully it will warm up for a few days so some of that snow can melt.
I’ll try not to gloat too much, but I just have to chuckle at the thought of all of that snow, when we are having nice warm shirt-sleeve weather here. This time of year I am reminded about why I live in Texas. Keep this post, because come summer I will need to be reminded again.
Mom
OK all of you Utahns — you really have no reason to complain! I will admit that I thought that Utah had tough winters…until I’ve lived in the winter wasteland of IOWA for 5 winters. We STILL have an inch of ice on our driveway from 2 months ago, and we have a week with single digit highs still to get through. Not to mention the worst part of Iowa winters – the fact that they don’t end til April at the EARLIEST! So next time you all think that things are so bad, just be grateful. You could live by us in Iowa, or worse, by Jared and Jamie in Minnesota! LOVES TO ALL! š
Embracing winter does not have to include all aspects of winter. Shoveling snow should never be embraced (although I might count it as one because I am losing the drive to embrace winter and am running out of ideas…)
Jessica, just for the record, Utah winters ALSO last through the first part of April, at the EARLIEST. Every single year I was at BYU (5 winters total), it snowed the first week of April. I believe Derek had similar experiences when he was there too. I have NEVER seen a Utah winter that ended earlier than April, but have always seen snow during that month. That’s why I can never believe it when Utahns gloat about having 4 seasons! They don’t. There is no Spring, really, and winter literally lasts for 6 months – Nov through April.