Snow- nope

Yesterday’s storm left us with an official 7 inches of snow.  Now, I was raised on a farm.  If you are raised on a farm, it taints your opinion of snow.  When other kids would come back from a snow day, they had been sledding, drank hot chocolate from a secret recipe their grandma developed, and made cute snowmen with little carrot noses.  I won’t say as a kid that we didn’t do these things as well, however our snow days looked a little different.  Snow meant cattle and  calves, chickens, rabbits, and whatever other creatures we had at the time needed extra care. Breaking through icy water, bedding things down, and dad running the snowplow so the milk truck could get up the driveway.  No, i never had to do all these things by myself, but chores took a noticeable amount longer, parents and grandparents who farmed together, were a little bit grumpier, and they were all very staunch in their belief that animals in your care must be taken care of before people inside the heated house.  And while I do not mind work, and completely agree with these viewpoints, by the time you were done defrosting animal water, feeding calves in the frigid cold, and bedding everything down, you truly weren’t in the mood for a jovial trip sledding, and building snowmen just seemed like a torturous activity.  These attitudes about everything being worse in the cold, and even worse still in the snow, have carried over into my adulthood.  Nothing is worse for me weather wise than stupid, disgusting, idiotic snow.  It makes everything harder, slower, miserable.  Driving takes longer, chores take longer, walking becomes dangerous, motorized things don’t work they way they should….everything is annoying.  I used to think if I never had to go outside, I might be able to read a book, eat some soup and then the snow wouldn’t be so bad.  I resend that statement.  It is never going to be a thing I like.  I just can’t.  Sure, I can see how some people  might find it beautiful.   I will even admit I don’t mind making soup and being forced to stay home for short periods of time, but sooner or later the reality will crash in.  

This morning, I got up early.  I was secretly hoping that Father Jo would cancel mass.  He has cancelled for much less.  He must be getting used to living where there is winter (he is from India- this weather isn’t his favorite either!). No such luck.  I woke everyone up.  I snapped a few photos because I wanted to remember the first big snow of the season, and I got myself ready for church.  I should have gone out early, before I showered to clear off the car.   I didn’t.  I went out damp, couldn’t get the trunk open to get my long scraper, and ended up soaking wet, freezing cold, and more than a little annoyed.  We loaded up and headed to church.  A 15 minute drive in good weather. The township I work for had bladed our roads.  We then hit the county road.  Nothing had been touched.  It was a little slow, but my Nissan handles snow ok.  But then, the mass air flow sensor decided to do its thing.  Thankfully, Jim had left the stuff in the car.  He got it taken apart and were only a couple minutes late for mass.  This was Harper’s last day as sacristan.  We got her duties all finished and headed home.  Car still not running well, I talked to Jim about using the truck to get to my shift at the liquor store later in the day.   Once home, Jim was being nice and cleared the truck off for me.   He couldn’t reach it all, so he then decided to take it for a drive down the road to blow the rest of the snow off.  I’m not entirely sure what happened from there,  but next thing I know, he is walking up the driveway, the truck is buried in a ditch, and he isn’t feeling really happy. Knowing what I do about the truck, there is no good way to hook onto it to yank it out, so we made the decision to call my friend Jagger to come with his tow truck.   Jim went out to meet Jagger. They were able to get the truck yanked out, but then Jim slipped and fell.  When he came back inside, he was back in the state of pain and misery we have worked so hard for a month or more to get him out of. He was finally making some progress, and it legitimately made me sad to see him back in agony.  Pain meds back out, hot rice sock back out, we got him settled in the recliner.  He seems a little bit better this evening, but we definitely didn’t need anything setting his progress back.  Did I mention I hate snow?  

Only after getting home from working my shift did I get in a little bit better mood.  Who could be annoyed or upset with cute little granddaughters around?  Well, that and there was hot food waiting, and Madison made cake.  Life is good, even if it is a little annoying once in a while.