Here is the article I sent in to the paper this weekend. It should be in the paper this Wednesday, or at the latest, next Wednesday. Also, at the end, are some new pictures of Caitlin's baby. They came over this afternoon, and we set up a Mini-Portrait Studio!
Article:
It’s snowing as I write this.
There’s about four new inches of snow to add to the eight inches that is still here from the last storm.
This time last month, we were sitting under three and four-foot drifts, and I was all but giddy about it.
When I lived down in Kannapolis, four inches of snow was a major Winter storm. Up here, these Buffalonians could care less. The plows scrape the road as soon as it falls, and the salt they throw down melts what’s left away…quickly. Four inches for them is merely a nuisance dusting.
There is not one person I’ve met here in Buffalo that has said that they like the snow. Sure, driving is often erratic, and many of us spend the day wet up to our knees, but the whole place is like one giant Currier & Ives postcard.
It’s the most spectacular weather I’ve ever seen; how could I not love it?
However, much as I love it, a few issues have arisen.
The salt, for one, really grates my nerves. The city throws so much of it down, that when the snow melts and the road dries, it’s still white. It coats the cars, gets splashed up onto everything within 10 feet of the road, and generally makes for an even bigger mess than the snow that originally fell.
On top of that, when it dips below 10 degrees, which is often here, the salt doesn’t work. Everything freezes anyway.
Another issue is potholes in the road. As I’ve explained to my students over the years, hot and cold temperatures cause everything to expand and contract. When the road expands and contracts in reaction to temperatures, it cracks. Those cracks get bigger, and material is weathered down, and monstrous potholes form everywhere.
The people here just drive right over them, but the potholes infuriate me.
According to residents, potholes aren’t fixed until July or August, but by then, the area is only a couple of months away from having new ones form. During good snows, though, Mother Nature temporarily fixes the potholes. It’s probably a sad fact that I find joy in that.
The cold itself is also a bit of a nuisance.
Last week, when the morning temperature was 14 below zero, I could swear that my knees were frozen and no longer bendable as I walked into work. When I got to within 15 feet of the door, I had to will myself to keep going. The simple act of walking into school had turned into an exercise in survival. Ten more seconds, and I would have been frozen in place.
And the wind chills? Fahgettaboutit. (My new New York lingo…) The wind chills drop into regions that my only previous experience with was in a Science textbook. I’m talking cold that will crystallize your eyes, and turn any exposed skin blue in seconds.
These issues, though, are small in comparison to the beauty.
I sit in the bay window and just watch it, slowly coming down, slowly settling in the front yard, on the trees, in the road.
The kids at school ask me every time it starts snowing whether or not it’s the most snow I’ve ever seen. More than once, it has been. From the stories I tell them in class, I’m sure they have the impression that it never snows down South, and believe that I, in fact, have never seen it before.
I assure them that I have.
Regardless of any problems I’m having with the way the snow is handled, I enjoy it.
I am still excited about it every time I see it, even if the people up here sure know how to ruin a good thing fast.
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