It’s entirely too cold this morning. If it’s going to be this cold, we ought to have something to show for it, like snow. Snow would be fun. We don’t get much of that around here.
A few days ago, we got a fair covering. Fairly small, that is. Tiny, and I do mean TINY, bits of it can still be found scattered here and there. We had a “heat wave” earlier this week. It got up to 25 or 30, I think.
This kind of weather is not typical for us. We’re not used to it all. When I was much younger, we used to get more snow. Now, perhaps due to global warming, it occurs much less frequently.
The biggest snow I remember happened about twenty-two years ago. I was around eight years old. The snow was several inches deep and we had great fun with it. We even got to ride my sled. I only got to use it on a few occasions.
When I was much younger, I remember sliding down a hill in my yard by means of riding on top of a round garbage can lid. It may sound a bit haphazard, but it worked surprisingly well. The degree of slant of the hill comes into play when working to determine the safety of this method. All I can say is that the yard was fenced, not “too” steep and our old truck, a ’77 Ford Ranger, made an effective barrier before getting to the fence.
I did have a non-snow way of “sledding,” though. I used to position my red wagon at the top of a hill on my grandparents property next door. I would then get in the wagon and my dad would give it a gentle push down the hill. I held the handle of it toward me and used it as a steering wheel. Before I got all the way to the road, I would pull the handle sharply to the left and cause the wagon to dump me out and stop. It was great fun.
When I was young, I remember desperately wanting to build a snowman. Even back then, snow was a fairly scarce commodity; however, we had gotten a bit of snow and I was determined. Ah, he was a grand creation – all of 18 inches tall. Or was it 12 inches? 6? Memory muddles the specifics a bit. Regardless, I was tremendously proud of him.
He was elegant in his simplicity, if I do say so myself. (And I do!) His only adornments were two pennies placed in the snow to form his eyes. I was so proud of him that Grandma put him in her deep freeze. I checked on him periodically. He stayed there for a few years.
Once in college, we had a wonderful weekend of snow. It was amazing. It started around a Thursday or Friday night. I was in my dorm room. As soon as we became aware that it was snowing, we all went outside. The experience was even more fun because it was shared with so many others. Some of us went to a nearby hill and rolled down it. That was a lot of fun. Some of the others took trays from the cafeteria and used them as make-shift sleds.
I built a snowman that weekend. He was pretty tall, though he was a bit misshapen. He had character, though. Again, less is more. He was pretty simple. His primary adornment was my camera bag around his neck in lieu of a scarf. A few of the others, obviously from states used to more snow, got together and made an entire snow family. It was quite the work of art.
The little bit of snow we had just recently still provided a few opportunities. On the way to work, I noticed a three or four inch snowman on top of a car. That made me smile. It’s the kind of thing I would have done if it had occurred to me. Later that morning, I saw two snowmen, each in a different yard on the same street. They were remarkably good considering how little snow we had to work with. They were even pretty tall.
The snow is mostly all gone now, though the cold remains. While I try not to freeze, I’ll reflect on the fun times we’ve had with snow over the years. And since I’ve “no” place to go, “let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!”
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