NOW PLAYING: Snow Place Like Home

30 January, 2000
Enough with the snow already! This is the South -- it's not supposed to look like Minnesota outside!

It's probably all my fault that there's still over six inches of the white stuff on the ground, since a few days ago I was making fun of all the people who go nuts when the weather forecast calls for a chance of snow.

Well, serve up a big ol' slice of crow for me -- we've been getting hammered with winter weather for a solid week now. The big storm on Monday night dumped a foot and a half of snow on top of a layer of ice. The temperatures stayed at or below freezing, which only allowed a little melting (which would refreeze overnight). There's freezing rain coming down right now.

My experience with snow in These Parts is that it always goes away in a day or two. So I couldn't believe having to shovel 75 feet of driveway to make a path to the highway for the car. Oh, my aching back! And of course we have no snow shovels here, either -- we had to use our "dirt" shovels to do the job.

A trio of snowplows come by earlier, gifting us with a 3-foot-high snow barrier across the driveway entrance. Thanks a bunch!! Once we had the snow moved (at least enough of it to get by), we made sure we could get The Wife's auto out onto the asphalt (though we didn't go anywhere at that point). The neighbors were watching us do this, I'm sure they thought we were completely nuts. Moving the car out to the road, only to put it right back again! But we wanted to make sure we could get out if we had to. The only other vehicles on the roads were four-wheel drive trucks. My little Miata convertible isn't going anywhere for a while!

Our chickens are definitely "southern" birds -- they don't like the snow one little bit! A little snow drifted into one side of the coop (on the north face, where the wind had really been driving it) and they stayed away from it like it would eat them. We even opened the coop door for them on Thursday when the temps rose to a "balmy" 34 degrees, but they all just crowded at the entrance, looked out at the field of white stuff and refused to set foot in it. Funny peepers! We've got two 250-watt heat lamps out there for them, and still the sides of their waterers that are away from the light get a little glaze of ice over them. They can still drink, but may have to peck through a little ice on one side to do so. Good thing the peeps have got all their feathers now! They seem to be handling the cold OK, but I know they'll be happy to get back outside to scratch around.

The dogs love the snow, though -- Jessie (our 11-year-old Eskimo Spitz) burrows into the snow and rolls around in it. Annie (our 3-year-old Border Collie) could care less about the outside conditions, just so long as she's outside and running. They're both having a blast in it.

Me, I think it looks pretty and brings back memories of my childhood in Minnesota... but it would take a while to get used to living in the ice & snow again for months at a time. I won't miss it too much when it finally melts away.

previous | archive | now playing | next