TheBanyanTree: Shnow

[NancyIee at aol.com]

Being from Minnesota for the first half-century of my life, I too love the 
snow.  Snowmen and forts, where' we would wage war on the neighbor kids, 
stockpiling snowballs and hammering at them in their fort as they hammered at us.  
Or, we'd 'camp out' in the forts, bundling up in sleeping bags and snowmobile 
suits, and endure the sub-zero as long as our candles and comic books held out. 
The biggest thrill was when the forts, eroded by sun, would cave in and we 
would play 'avalanche'.

When we got older, it was sledding down the hills on cardboard, or tobaggons, 
and skiing, and then snowmobiling over fields and ditch, hurrying to get in 
ten miles or so before frostbite nibbled our toes.

I remember going out to feed the horses in the early a.m. when it was still 
dark. The barn cats would have spent the night on top of our furry horses. The 
ice would crunch, and I would have to punch a hole in the ice on the water 
tank, even with the heater there. The water then would steam, and the whiskers of 
the horses would turn white. We had a few cattle, too, and we would have to 
rub vaseline or something called 'udder balm' on the cows to keep them from 
frostbite or, worse yet, sticking to the frozen ground as they lay resting.

But, plugging in the cars so they start on a twenty-below zero day,  dressing 
up like Nanuck of the North just to go out and get the mail, and getting 
frost bite while shoveling off the back steps is not fun. Having ice-buildup break 
branches and wires, and being without power, and heat for a day or more.  
Everyone sleeping in the same bed and wearing everything they can put on to keep 
warm. Having the roads so snowed in you can't get out for three or four days 
out in the remote rural areas, where we were. Finally shoveling out the 
driveway so that we can get our cars up the slope to the garage, and having another 
foot of snow blow in overnight. Playing outside and breathing hard and then 
realizing your nostrils have frozen together.

Eight months of sub-freezing finally wears one down.  I love the snow, the 
crisp crunch, the riming of trees after a storm. But, I can no longer stand 
months of unrelenting cold.

 I guess I will get my snow on Christmas cards.

NancyLee