Snow

I can't sleep. Probably because I didn't get out of bed until noon today, but regardless....I haven't been blogging much lately, not that I haven't had things to blog about..but I'm thinking it's due to the fact that I no longer have my three mile walk to think about what I have to blog about. Which brings me to my point....snow.

I have ALWAYS loved snow. I grew up about thirty miles in from the Washington coast, so snow was a rare thing. If it snowed an inch, we'd be home from school because people just wouldn't know how to drive in it. If it snowed all day, you could guarantee it would turn to rain by morning.

When deciding where I was going to college, I have to admit that weather played a key factor..well and the fact that my boyfriend was going to be on the east side too...anyways. I knew I wanted to live somewhere where the summer was hot, and the winter meant snow. My first and most memorable winter moment until recently was the Ice Storm in 96. I was a freshman in college when the ice hit, and was remarkably sheltered from the true enormity of the storm. Our power went out for a day or two, so I caught a ride to Pullman for a few days and came back when things were better. I lived in Cheney, so I didn't really know what Spokane looked like as far as the storm went. I was just jealous that Whitworth and Gonzaga students got to leave for winter break early. So THAT storm was 12 years ago..

In the years since we've had snow storms that lasted a day or two. We've broken a few freezing temperature records. We even broke the record for the most days with snow on the ground in 2001. I think it was 120 days or something like that. But that year the snow was not memorable. It just snowed a little and never got warm enough to melt it. I have never really had any issues where I have had to change my plans based on the snow. UNTIL NOW!!!
Last January when "snowapocalypse" happened we had a TON of snow. School was cancelled for a week. The town shut down, and I didn't leave my apartment for almost a week. We had snow until June, and we all feared it would be back in October. Many people I know laughed it off when talking about this year..like THAT would ever happen again. That was just a freak year right.

My co-worker and I were doing our daily walk on December 10th of this year. Talking about how lucky we had been to not have any snow on the ground yet, and making plans to walk the whole year. December 12th, it snowed a few inches. And then got really, really cold. When I went to work on December 17th, the forcast said 4-6 inches starting that evening. It proceeded to snow something like 19 inches in 24 hours and kept snowing. It took me two and a half hours to get my car shoveled out enough to move two days later. I left for a week and a half, and got to deal with snow storms in Western Washington too. I kind of forgot about just how much snow was here until I came home. And it snowed another foot last night. I heard today that it has snowed 58 inches in December. In less than three weeks. 58 inches!! I would post pictures, but honestly it's too depressing.

Here is why I'm starting to not like snow......

1. A broom and a shovel are needed everytime you want to go somewhere JUST to get the snow off of your car and around your car.

2. The feeling of driving in a maze because there are walls of snow higher than your car on both sides of the street.

3. The parking spot you just spent an hour clearing, has been occupied by someone else once you get back from the store.

4. The LACK of parking spots because the snow plow has decided to use half of them for snow.

5. You have to add hours into your planning, just to get from point A to point B and sometimes you just can't get to point B.

6. No cruise control.

7. No matter how hard they try..snow boots are not nearly as cute as flip flops.

8. You have to worry about roofs caving in due to heavy snow while shopping, or in some instances sitting on your couch.

9. You have to worry about Carbon Monoxide poisoning if your vent on your roof gets blocked, or your car's exhaust.

10. My three mile walking path is covered by three feet of snow until April =(.

I saw four snow plows in a row on Maple today and wanted to honk and cheer for them. SERIOUSLY! I filled up with pride for these HERO's. Snowplow drivers! Who knew....

Summer is so carefree.....maybe I should move south.