White Manna
On the heels of the last storm is a new one, currently still dumping snow over the states of New Mexico and Colorado.
There were a couple of inches on the drive this morning; when I got home mid-day there was at least another inch. I shoveled the access points on the drive. Then at sundown I went out and shoveled the drive again -- another 2 inches had accumulated. I did a thorough job of the drive, and while doing so another 1/2-inch fell...
Went out just now (9:30) and cleared a path through the going-on-2-inches which had covered my earlier clearings. The undisturbed snow in the drive is 8 inches deep.
It is a good packing snow -- comes up in great blocks on the snow shovel -- and I took a break from shoveling to make a snow obelisk in the back yard. Rolled up the first level of it, a la snowman construction, then rolled up a smaller cylinder to place atop that one. Then stacked disks of snow atop those. As I used a ladder to place the last disks, the whole thing now looms 9 feet tall. Since erected, it has developed a curve to one side -- so now there is a huge phallus thrusting up from the snow of the back yard. I wonder if it will last to Easter...?
As much of a hassle as the snow may be (travelling is definitely affected, and my workplace is sure to be snowed in tomorrow) the transformation which the snow has wrought upon the world is beautiful. The sky is a strange soft pink from reflected cityglow, a bright backdrop limning the limbs of the trees in the yard, these branches in turn limned by the balanced coatings of snow which are capping every twig, every bit of fence wire -- even power lines are dignified by the snow. The world is eerily quiet. I walk about, quietly crunching into the snow surface, marvelling at the wonder and wondering at the marvel. It seems as though I can feel each flake as it coasts past my face.
Memories strengthen my wonder: these snowfalls are more like the ones I recall from my youth, when we first moved to New Mexico. We could expect several big snow dumps each winter then, deep enough to close schools and provide the basis for snowmen and snowforts and massive snowball fights, with sledding in the streets. New Mexico has been relatively dry for the last 20-odd years, so these deep falls make me feel like a kid again. (OK, more of a kid again.)
Sure it's a hassle, and sure if I lived in Minnesota or somesuch I would probably tire of it, but damn this snow in the desert is magical.
There were a couple of inches on the drive this morning; when I got home mid-day there was at least another inch. I shoveled the access points on the drive. Then at sundown I went out and shoveled the drive again -- another 2 inches had accumulated. I did a thorough job of the drive, and while doing so another 1/2-inch fell...
Went out just now (9:30) and cleared a path through the going-on-2-inches which had covered my earlier clearings. The undisturbed snow in the drive is 8 inches deep.
It is a good packing snow -- comes up in great blocks on the snow shovel -- and I took a break from shoveling to make a snow obelisk in the back yard. Rolled up the first level of it, a la snowman construction, then rolled up a smaller cylinder to place atop that one. Then stacked disks of snow atop those. As I used a ladder to place the last disks, the whole thing now looms 9 feet tall. Since erected, it has developed a curve to one side -- so now there is a huge phallus thrusting up from the snow of the back yard. I wonder if it will last to Easter...?
As much of a hassle as the snow may be (travelling is definitely affected, and my workplace is sure to be snowed in tomorrow) the transformation which the snow has wrought upon the world is beautiful. The sky is a strange soft pink from reflected cityglow, a bright backdrop limning the limbs of the trees in the yard, these branches in turn limned by the balanced coatings of snow which are capping every twig, every bit of fence wire -- even power lines are dignified by the snow. The world is eerily quiet. I walk about, quietly crunching into the snow surface, marvelling at the wonder and wondering at the marvel. It seems as though I can feel each flake as it coasts past my face.
Memories strengthen my wonder: these snowfalls are more like the ones I recall from my youth, when we first moved to New Mexico. We could expect several big snow dumps each winter then, deep enough to close schools and provide the basis for snowmen and snowforts and massive snowball fights, with sledding in the streets. New Mexico has been relatively dry for the last 20-odd years, so these deep falls make me feel like a kid again. (OK, more of a kid again.)
Sure it's a hassle, and sure if I lived in Minnesota or somesuch I would probably tire of it, but damn this snow in the desert is magical.
posted by InsightStraight @ 9:43 PM
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