EIGHTY-FIVE INCHES AND ANOTHER SNOW STORM TOMORROW

Two snow storms a week since the beginning of February.   When it is not snowing it is blowing.  When I am outside shoveling I try tho think of spring and tell myself that soon I will be riding the bike, but then the snow blows in behind what I just shoveled and I  I  I  I k no  w that it wi l l   be   o v e   r   soon   But.....
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SNOWMAGEDDON

The south has been has been overwhelmed by Snowmageddon.   Two inches in Georgia brought traffic to a standstill – people abandoning their cars – families were separated and the routine of normal life interrupted.  

In the Carolinas three to four inches of something resembling snow (the suspicion is that the military, on the orders of President Obama, is experimenting with a new weather weapon) caused traffic crashes, stranded people in their cars for hours, and sent the fundamentalist Christians streaming to church to plead with God to forgive them for not opposing homosexuality more stridently.

Up here in western Maine I watch the TV weather with fascination.   Any snow that I can measure with my dick I don’t consider as a storm of note.   I don’t even bother to clear my driveway if the snowfall is less than four inches.    It is not until I hear that mystical word Noreaster that I get the least concerned.  

A Noreaster occurs when a low pressure system skirts the southern coast of Maine and the counterclockwise rotation of the low pulls moisture from the Gulf of Maine and drives it across the state with high winds coming out of the north east. 

A Noreaster came through yesterday dropping about sixteen inches of snow here in western Maine by eight-o-clock this morning.   It took me three hours with the snow blower, the shovel and the roof rake to finally dig out from the storm. 

The problem with this storm was that the temperature rose to thirty-two degrees making the snow thick and heavy to move.   Being in my mid-seventies I was pretty much exhausted by the time I got the area secured.    However, a pizza, two glasses of wine and a short nap – along with a BC powder when I got up has the Ol’Buzzard back flapping his wings again. 

We are pretty comfortable with snow storms up here in Maine.   It is the ice storms that take out power lines that most people fear.   Having lived much of our married life in the wilderness, my wife and I have prepared our cabin for all contingencies.    Loss of power, to us, is an inconvenience but no big deal. 

Needs a new mantle.

Gas lamp upper right.

  We have propane gas lamps mounted in the living room and kitchen; we have a wood stove for heat, a gas range in the kitchen and we keep six gallons of water stored in the bathroom cupboard to flush the toilet.   When we hear an ice storm in imminent we break out the flashlights, put oil in the oil lamp, check our firewood supply and kick back for a time of reading and playing games.  

And we still have our solstice tree to brighten the dark and dreary winter days.  We will take it down at the Spring equinox.