Thursday, January 21, 2016

Memory Well: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...






One of the advantages of my peripatetic childhood - my experience pool is really wide.  Not necessarily all that deep, but definitely wide.  I've had a lot of different snow days, from a lot of different viewpoints, and seeing my friends on Facebook talking about the blizzard coming in reminded me of a few of them.  

Washington, Utah - I saw snow there once.  I think it was 2 inches and it shocked the community - snow plows?  What the heck is a snow plow?  118 in the shade we can handle - anything below 32, don't even try to talk to us.  However, this was back when practically everyone there was still a rancher, so the animals were still taken care of, and everyone had a year's supply of food in their basement (or in the freezer), so there was no run on Quentin Niessen's mercantile.  Anything short of nuclear winter was not going to phase them - they were pioneer stock.

Salmon, Idaho - The only place I've ever lived where it was necessary to plug your car in at night to keep the fluids from freezing solid by morning.  I remember stepping outside and feeling the snot in my nose freeze.  This was back in the early 70s, when elephant bell bottoms were popular (don't judge me - I was 7!), and I used to love the way that little balls of snow would collect around the hem of my pants, so I sort of jingled when I walked.  There was snow on the ground pretty much from October through April, but I don't remember them ever calling a snow day - it just didn't happen. 

Washington, DC, however - I was working in Fairfax and living in McLean, and we got an unexpected 3 inches of snow.  It ended up shutting down the Metro, and I had to wait 11 hours at the office for a cab, but I was stuck with three other guys, and we made a party out of it, with boxed wine and sandwiches we got down at the corner deli.  (more to come later)

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