It has been a pleasant week around here. We don’t’ get too many blizzard days, and we’ve enjoyed watching the beautiful snow and getting a little time to get out and play in it. One storm can’t reverse the effects of a drought, but the moisture seemed to come at just the right time as the hills were beginning to green up for spring. The moisture is slowly seeping into the ground and there is even a bit of mud in a few places.
It is good for us to have our routines disrupted. We get stuck in a rut, doing the same things every day, forgetting what is most important and becoming distracted by all sorts of tasks that don’t align with our real priorities. Most of the Black Hills was shut down for a couple of days. People stayed home. The snowplows were operating only on the most critical routes. Businesses and schools closed. Much remains unchanged. We still have bills to pay. The church will have worship as usual on Sunday despite having cancelled rehearsals. We still have to get a bulletin out today. We still have plenty of work to do. We’ll be playing a bit of “catch-up.” But we also have had the time to get a bit of rest, read a bit more than our usual routine, reflect on the absolute beauty of God’s creation, and connect with our families.
The snow not only closed the schools and businesses, it set records for the amount of snow for the particular days of the storm. We’ve lived here for nearly 18 years and we don’t remember ever seeing the snow quite as deep, even in other spring blizzards. The snow came gently, without the winds that cause so much damage. There was a little wind and a little drifting, but not much else happened in terms of damage.
As soon as the snowfall let up yesterday, the neighbors were out. Some were having a good time, building snowmen, playing with their kids, and getting out the sleds. Others were shoveling. There was a lot of snow to clear from driveways. And, as is a custom in our neighborhood, a few were eager to get out before the snowplow made it to our neighborhood. We seem to have a neighborhood tradition of someone getting stuck sidewise in the street and blocking the traffic for everyone else. This year it wasn’t even a big SUV. A neighbor with a Volkswagen sedan seemed to have forgotten to check how much ground clearance he has in the vehicle. No worries, there was time to do a little shoveling and a lot of neighbors to provide a push and the car was soon back in the driveway before the plow came to clear the street. Susan and I waited until the plow had come to our neighborhood and took our pickup, which has plenty of clearance to run to the church. It was soupy getting around town and many streets weren’t plowed. Again the trouble getting around didn’t have anything to do with street conditions, but with other drivers who parked their cars in ways that didn’t leave a clear traffic lane. But we got where we were going without any troubles.
The prevalence of all wheel drive vehicles has resulted in a lot of people who don’t have tire chains and don’t know how to use them. More than a few people don’t seem to know what to do when they get stuck and simply wait for someone else to help them. I didn’t see any cars that could not have been easily moved with a little shoveling and a pair of chains.
We did see quite a few neighborhood children and youth out playing in the snow. That was a delight. I’m sure that too many area youth spent too much time in front of television sets, playing video games, or looking at videos on the Internet during their break from school. Yesterday was an especially good day to get out, slide down the hills, get wet, and go inside for a cup of hot chocolate. My theory is that the kids who did just that went to bed happier and will wake better prepared to return to school today than those who spent the entire time indoors.
We had fun watching the deer making their way through snow what was up to their bellies. The grasses that they like best were, for the most part covered up, so they probably are on skimpy rations for a few days, but as the snow melts, the grass underneath will be green and fresh and tasty for them. We just haven’t seen the turkeys since the heavy snowfall began, but they’ll be back as the snow melts.
For the most part, our world will be back to normal today. We can get around town in our cars. Businesses are back open. Schools are in session. The church office will operate normal hours. The lot wasn’t plowed when we were at the church yesterday, but it will be plowed before we arrive this morning. There’ll be a substantial bill for moving all that heavy snow, but we haven’t had to spend too much on plowing this winter and the big piles of snow will provide an additional place for neighbor kids to play for a few days until they melt.
As storms go, this one wasn’t a disaster. It was, rather, a welcome disruption. We’re back to normal and none the worse for a couple of days of looking out the windows at the snow. There will be some gorgeous pictures circulating on the Internet in the next few days. And the pictures don’t really capture the beauty that our eyes could see. How lucky we are to live where we do. How fortunate to have the blessing of moisture as a free gift on a land that was too dry, too brown and too prone to fire.
Life is good.
Copyright © 2013 by Ted Huffman. I wrote this. If you want to copy it, please ask for permission. There is a contact me button at the bottom of this page. If you want to share my blog a friend, please direct your friend to my web site.
