This morning as I was reading the newspapers and my ever-inspiring Google News Feed, I came upon an article predicting the US winter weather for 2023-24. According to Science, my area of the country will have a warmer than normal winter with a lot less snow.
Hooray, hooray, hooray!
That is my kind of winter, and I could not be happier. Bring it on, Science, and let's hope you're right!
I'll never understand the Kind Of People who say things like
1. I love snow.
2. Let's go skiing.
3. I hope we have a White Christmas.
4. Snow is so pretty.
5. I just love to go tobogganing.
These people are, to be polite, crazy. Have they ever driven in snow? Cleaned it off their car? Shovelled it? Gotten stuck in it? Had it ruin/cancel their plans? Walked in slush or salt that ruins your shoes/boots? Had to clear snow/ice off your roof? Gotten tired of ice, snow, and melted same tracked all over the place? Does snow on Christmas really improve it in any way?
My mother likes to say Olde Fashionde things about Snow and Winter to me all the Tyme. She claims that we need Snow, that it's bad if we don't get enough. I tell her that there are enormous areas of the entire world that never, ever get Snow and they do just fine. She shakes her head sadly at me and tells me that I don't understand. And then she says some stuff about Nature and I give up entirely.
Truly. I give up on SnowLoving People. Like the people at this place, which I heard about on TV this morning while Rick watched the local news. The reporter was very excited to tell us that during their FROST experience, the attendees will be snowed upon INDOORS. With real snow.
LIKE THAT IS A GOOD THING.
I was horrified. Even if I wore my battery-operated heated coat, there would be no way in hell I'd go to be snowed upon inside a building. That, dear friends, is my nightmare.
I moved to Florida in part to get away from snow, I have zero interest in experiencing snow again, but inside?! That is bananapants.
ReplyDeleteccr--Thank you. I will accept your rather insensitive term Bananapants because I agree with it wholeheartedly. But I think it's more polite, as I said, to use the Socially Acceptable Term for winter-loving people, which is Crazy.
DeleteFlorida is full of people who are nonnative Floridians. I think the overwhelming percentage of them moved there specifically to flee Snow.
I was a smidge excited to move to Ohio so we could see more snow, but a) I was moving from the NC mountains & we got plenty of snow there; and b) what the heck was I thinking? I was excited for the FIRST snow. All the ones after that were only ok if I didn't have to go anywhere. Although I never lost that first instant of delight before reality would set in.
ReplyDeleteAnd inside? Nope. Nope. Nopeity Nope.
Bug--What the heck WERE you thinking? And look where you are now. Not Ohio, and I think that says it all.
DeleteIndeed it does. The great thing about living here is that if it DOES snow we can't handle it & we stay home. Ha!
DeleteI'm hopeful that a light snow year for you will mean a good rain year for us (though perhaps not quite as much rain as last year) I've never gotten tired of snow, but I've never really had to deal with it. When I lived in Alaska, I was very young, so it was fun, or cold and annoying, or dirty, but I didn't have to do anything about any of it. My two years in Philadelphia, we lived in a big apartment building. Usually when it snowed, by the time we got up the streets were cleared, and our car was in a big garage. January of 1996 we had an epic snow (3 feet I think), but we were cozy inside and had food, so no big deal. Being an adult in a home of ones own, having to get from here to there, all of that? Blah, snow is not so great.
ReplyDeleteJ--I'd like to take credit for all of your rain because I wished it for you mightily and almost constantly. Obviously, I overdid it, and for that I'm quite sorry, but my ardency was pure.
DeleteWhen we were kids, we had to do the majority of the snow shovelling because my father had a terrible back. All of us would get out there and shovel away, which I detested. And I always walked to school, too. All through elementary school, girls could not wear pants, so I had to wear snowpants under/over my dresses. And horrid rubber boots over my shoes. Winter was always a chore.
I don't like weather that traps me. Snow or even terribly hot weather that keeps me indoors. Control freak? Oh yes.
Snow skiing is beyond my comprehension. Intentionally slipping down a hill like it makes sense? I can enjoy the beauty of white snow, once or twice a winter, but I don't want to slide on it.
ReplyDeleteAlly--Anything that intentionally puts me outdoors in the winter for an extended period of time and calls it Fun is beyond my comprehension. My husband speaks glowingly of his childhood days sledding down a big hill in the park, over and over again, and how fun it was. Crazy.
DeleteI am not a cold weather person. I am already dreading winter. But...I like the snow. I do drive in it, but I like the way the neighborhood comes together after a big snow to shovel and clear each other's driveways. I like the way the whole world seems quieter after a snow. And, this shouldn't be controversial, but sort of is in this day and age, the snow is necessary to protect soils and plants from wind and freezing temperatures and is crucial for modern agriculture. If we don't want to see prices at the grocery store continue to climb, we need snow.
ReplyDeleteNGS--You do realize that your neighbors could all come together and do other things, right? FUN THINGS IN THE WARMTH OF SPRING OR SUMMER. Or even rake leaves in the fall. As far as the necessity of snow for agriculture, all I know is that around here, there are no plants that thrive in snow. Corn, soybeans, and veg crops are harvested and then the plants are cut for silage or plowed under. I'm sure you (and my mother) know more than I do, but I hate snow, period.
DeleteI stand corrected. There are pesky weeds that love all kinds of weather and winter over in my herb garden and in my stone path. I hate them, too.
DeleteOh Nance, you and I diverge on the point of snow. I am one of those crazies who LOVE IT. Skiing is my favorite sport, I take vacations to areas of the country that are colder and snowier just to experience the cold and the snow, I love how it looks, and I love everything about it. EXCEPT driving in it. I am not a fan of that.
ReplyDeleteSuzanne--How I wish you could come here and take all of NEO's with you when we get it. I will never understand you crazies, that's for sure. You are all wired differently. How in the hell do you stay warm? How do you not freeze in a cold car?
DeleteOK, I get that you do not understand me. I want snow! I love taking a walk in the snow! I love the feeling of being snowed in and baking bread and making soup. The real thing is I love having four seasons - it keeps me from being bored. Snow won't last forever and after that there is Spring!! (not my favorite, but it will do...)
ReplyDeleteVera--How can you stand being bundled up in the car and waiting forever for it to get warm? And having your face hurt in the cold? And pining away for even one glimpse of grass after weeks and weeks of snow on the ground? Perhaps you don't get the unrelenting greyness that NEO does in the wintertime, either.
DeleteSpring is my favourite of all the seasons. It's a reward for enduring winter. I could take it for all four seasons. Please keep all your snow wishes to yourself.
It's official. You and I share a brain. I 100% agree on this. Yep. Snow sucks and people who get excited about it - certifiable. Pretty? Not enough of a reason to like it.
ReplyDeleteErnie--LOL! Your last point says it all for me, and succinctly too. Perfect.
DeleteOh, neighbor! I will be so happy to experience less snow this winter. I'm fine with people wanting a white Christmas, but always feel snow beyond January 1 is so redundant.
ReplyDelete(I guess less snow IS bad from the climate change perspective and overall agricultural timetables, but... I'm privately relieved not to have to deal with so much of it.)
maya--You and me both, as they say. I still don't get the whole White Christmas Aesthetic, though. As far as I'm concerned, those people can watch a movie or look at a card.
DeleteI can not imagine being excited about Snow. It's cold. Right? Don't they know it's gonna be COLD SNOW? 😳😳
ReplyDeleteI like a minute or two of winter, but after that, it's just a hassle of layers. No thanks.
BB Suz--Winter is a colossal hassle. Period. I'm with you. Perfect word for it.
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