The Snow Came

Friday night/Saturday morning the snow came.  It was a wet, heavy snowfall that accumulated.  It was the kind of snowfall that young kids love because it packs into the most beautiful snow people and snow castles.  It was the snow that older kids love because they can make the best snowballs.  The best thing about it was that it came on the weekend when everyone could go outside to play in it.  It might have been better if it had come on a weekday because the schools might have given everyone a snowday. 

We unfortunately did not like it.  We had to get up Saturday morning to drive to a workshop 80 miles from home.  We set out at 6:00 a.m. in the dark.  I tested the brakes in the road just down the street from home before I got out into any traffic.  Yes, the anti-lock brakes worked.  Yes, I remembered the feel of a car coming to a stop in the snow.  As soon as we got out onto the highway, a large truck, really a tractor and semi-trailer, passed us splashing slush across the front of the car and onto the windshield.  Instantly it seemed like a curtain was drawn across my field of vision.  I had not even had enough time to judge the traffic behind us; I did not even know if there was traffic behind us.  The only thought in my minds was, "What was I tthinnnnnnnking?" 

The windshield wipers slowly cleaned the goop off the windshield and my field of vision became larger and clearer.  Traffic was really quite light; we were fortunate it was early on a Saturday morning.  About half way to our destination, we realized that there was more rain than snow falling.  That made the driving conditions much less messy and a little easier.  The sky was so heavily overcast we still felt we were in the dark when we arrived. 

Just in case the weather conditions deteriorated, we each brought along an overnight bag.  Our rationale was that if we were prepared, we probably would not need the provisions.  But if we did need them, we had them.  They were a good insurance against bad conditions.  The drive home was much easier as the roads were much cleaner and we at least had a little twilight  when we pulled into the driveway. 

This little squirrel ran along the fence top early Sunday morning.  He looks so happy to be running outside. 

The snow hung itself out on my clothesline.  It would not have been so bad if it had fallen off or melted.  Instead, it froze to the clothesline.  This morning when I tried to hang out the bed pillows to air, the weight of the snow and ice caused the central pole to bend near the ground.  When the pole could no longer support the weight, it toppled over.  Right now I have no idea what I am going to do to air pillows during the winter.