about the storm that almost canceled Christmas? There were scenes of
cars covered in snow, people pushing cars out of snow piles, newspapers
proclaiming "We're Fr0zen" and "Ice Peril Warning". That's what it felt like
in Rochester last week. Winter's are "special" there. Upstate New York
and Minnesota are the only two places I've been where winter is sooo harsh.
The temperature hovered in the single digits and went below zero when the
sun set. The snow screamed out in a dry high pitched scrunch under each
step you took. Fresh snow stuck to cars like road rash on skateboarders. It
moved away from your feet and fell from car tires in small cakes and slices.
There was no squashing or melting, it was too cold.
Foyer doors at building entries were glazed with a kaleidoscope of ice.
Icicles hung like hungry daggers from the overhangs of buildings and from
the under-carriage and bumpers of cars.
People hunkered against the cold with faces squished and necks pulled
into their bodies. Most didn't even have hats, gloves or the appropriate
winter jackets as they huddled under car hoods emptying their back-up
bottles of wiper fluid into their wells. Car exhaust and breath sent plumes
skyward.
I remember those winters well. I remember strapping on ice skates and
skating on Hilltop Rd., right on the street. It was solid ice! I remember
reaching out of our second floor windows to pull 2' and 3' icicles off the
overhangs. We'd suck on them like popsicle's. When the snow froze
over and got a decent crust we could walk on the surface. We'd be
2 to 3 feet off the ground! And if you broke though you'd sink down to your
knee losing your boot when you tried to pull your leg out. It stayed below
reezing so long we built bobsled runs for our sleds and iced them down
with the hose.
As the world tramped over the purity of the heavens the snow eventually
took on the dirty patina of life. Cars added a layer of dirt and spray looking
like 4x4's that just came out of the desert. Dirty snow built up and caked
on the inside of wheel wells leaving just enough room for the
movement of the wheel.
Behind the wheel little snow turds built up under the car chassis
eventually get kicked off or falling off to leave brown piles littered around the
landscape like buffalo poop on the prairie.
...and no one blinks an eye at this severe environment. No-one misses
work or school. Streets are clean, sidewalks are plowed.
In fact if you live here or anywhere in the north lands of America why not
have fun with it? Enjoy. I did.
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