winter.
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When I moved up here, I was really dreading the
winter. I had visions of endless gray skies and snow drifts as
far as the eye could see, unbroken for six months straight. I
guess I was confusing coastal Massachusetts with upstate Michigan…my
bad. Needless to say, I was surprised that the winters here don’t
bother me nearly as much as the humid, un-air-conditioned
summers. Or at least they didn’t until recently.
Because now I have dogs. And they are wonderful dogs. And not just because my wife thinks they’re wonderful. They’re big and fluffy and handsome and excitable. They bounce around like overgrown puppies and love to have their backs scratched. Every evening they wait for me at the top of the stairs and come racing down to greet me as soon as I open the door. They are always glad to see me when I come home, and it never gets old. Come to think of it, they’re usually more excited to see me than the wife is. Huh… But they are wonderful dogs who need to go for a walk twice a day. Every day. Even on days when the air temperature is in the single digits before you factor in the wind chill, which we’ve actually had several of this month. Even on nights where the wind is blowing and not even the full moon and the twinkling stars can distract you from the fact that if you were stuck out here without a coat you would die. So now I understand why my wife dreads the winters up here so much. We didn’t get much snow here this year, but when we did finally get some a couple of weeks ago it promptly froze. Hard. The snow drifts in the yard are completely frozen solid; we’re talking inch-thick slabs of ice on the sidewalk and even on the roads, not to mention our driveway, which is on a hill. All of which adds up to treacherous, paralyzing hazard that goes way beyond the level of mere nuisance. Ice sucks. I always knew I’d be kicking myself every winter for turning down that job in Santa Clara, but one regrets it a bit more lying dazed in the snow. |