About a Foot

In the last storm we received about a foot of snow. While it’s something to deal with, it’s nothing like those folks in California had to deal with. Some got up to ten feet. Even people who thought they were prepared to be snowed in were not as prepared as they thought. 

I’m still using a shovel so a foot of snow is enough. The worse I’ve had to deal with at one time was six feet of snow. That storm had dropped about three feet most places but a huge drift formed by my porch. It was one of those storms where people opened their front doors only to face a wall of white. 

No need for a gym membership. Shoveling snow is exercise enough. 

In general the winters have been milder than in the past. While it’s not great to get most of our snow at the end of the winter, we probably need it. The snowpack water will certainly help the growing season. I’d rather deal with a bit of snow in March than forest fires in June. 

It is nice being retired. Sure beats getting up early to shovel out a car before going to work. The fire department never shuts down. If I had to drive through a blizzard to get to work that’s exactly what I’d do. Fighting fires in those conditions wasn’t exactly pleasant either. 

So now I get to the snow when I get to the snow. No setting alarm clocks to get an early start. I make sure there’s plenty of coffee. My lovely wife lit the cook woodstove to bake cookies while I was shoveling. There’s something truly satisfying to having cookies and coffee by the fire after a good workout. 

-Sixbears