Officially, yesterday was the “snow day” event that we seemingly get every year here in my zone of the Pacific NW (PNW). To my friends farther north or in the mountains across the plains, pardon me while I enjoy it as long as I can. Rain is forecasted Sunday, and this will all be a memory. Until then, it’s a Snow Day!
Sitting here this morning, I remember the snow of my younger years. Texas does get snow! Sometimes.
Baytown. We brought snow in and made a “snow cone” in a bowl. I was about 3, maybe—very faint and fond memories. Then in Deer Park, snow so high we could make a snowman – only we had no snow gear, and it was a miserable experience. I remember dad raking the snow into a pile for us to call it done! A trip to the San Jacinto monument to play in the snow! Yes! I was about 5 or 6.
Then, it seems like snow disappeared until I was 17. Channelview. I was working at First State Bank of Greens Bayou, going to my senior year in LaPorte, and enjoyed getting a snow day from the bank so I could take pictures for them! Slipping and sliding one day, bone dry the next.
There’s nothing like enjoying cold weather, icy experiences, and piles of snow!
Then, Alaska
When I was 25, my small family and I moved to Anchorage, Alaska. In November! That first week we experienced -40 degrees, and true winter wonderlands everywhere we looked! I slept with the window cracked to enjoy the cold!
Dad worked on the pipeline. Mom taught in a school. We stayed at their place for a few weeks until we could find our own home. I had not been on the job a month until that sub-zero weather warmed to above freezing. Snow turned to slush. It rained. Then plunged back down to zero! I had an inch of ice on my windshield, and my truck slid out into the street overnight! That was a “freeze day.” I could not get out of the neighborhood to go to work! December 23, 1980!
Through 16 years in Alaska, we never bemoaned the snow or ice. Sometimes it minimized our plans, but for the most part, it created great memories. A few times, we felt endangered, but mainly we enjoyed the experience.
Now, Washington
For nearly 18 years, we’ve enjoyed the experience of the land between. Not quite as enjoyable as our experience in the far north, but definitely not the Land of Heat and Humidity. Every winter, there is a snow experience. Sometimes more than one. It’s been cool enough at times to keep the snow in place for upwards of a month, but mostly it’s gone in after a couple of cool and wet days.
Nearly 10 years ago we even had an Ice Storm! Trees loaded up with ice and breaking their tops out made it sound like we were in a war zone. We were without power for 5 days and had to “rough it”. Living in the country it’s life with a water well that requires power to pump from several hundred feet underground and into the house. Without electricity… Well, you get the picture!
Living With The Weather
Regardless of where you live, you simply learn to tolerate that which you don’t enjoy, and revel in what you wish it were like all the time!
Down south? The downside? Hurricanes. Tornados. Heat indexes that will cook an egg on any flat surface. Humidity was enough to drown out even the hint of a wildfire. The upside was always a hopeful winter with days around freezing and maybe some snow and ice! When they forecasted rain, it was generally so thick you couldn’t see the other side of your street!
Up north? Halloween required cold-weather gear, mainly. Temps dipped below zero often enough to make you accept it as usual. Snow would show up and hang around for 7-9 months. Yeah! If we were lucky (only once), 38 inches of snow shut the city down for days!
Down south, A/C was important. Even though it wasn’t when I was a kid, it definitely was by the time we hit our adult years! Up north? A/C would have been nice on long hot days of summer. 70 degrees for about 20 hours of sun can be miserable in a house built to stay warm! But we sure knew how to heat our homes!
Life in the Between’s
Here in the land of “in-between,” we are stuck. In nearly 18 years, it’s hit 100 degrees about 10 times and hangs out in the ’90s about 5 days per year, the ’80s for about 30 days, and the remainder is a hot summer day in the 60-70s. Our A/C is just as important as our Heating system.
Our dogs and chickens live through the extremes as they are called to do. Animals, as natural as their wild counterparts, live through all the variants and survive with little pampering. Yes, we give them shelter and protection, but they do survive just fine. It’s around 26 degrees this morning, and the dogs are laying in the snow…sort of like the coyotes and wolves they descend from.
That’s Life
Yesterday was the start of our snow day. For the next 3 days, we’ll enjoy it. Then the rains will wash it all away. For those up north? This is nothing. Down south? They may not understand it. But if I could extend it for a few months – snow on the ground, and shorten the hot days in this land of in-between, well, I would. In a heartbeat!
