Saturday, January 13, 2007

Sugar (do,do,doot,doot,doot,do)

I have shoveled wet snow, dry snow, heavy snow, and light snow. I have walked through falling snow made up of hard little pellets that stung as it bounced off my face. I have walked through falling snow made up of snowflakes so large and so great in number that it was like walking inside a snow globe. I have walked through crud, lumps of soft packed down snow alternating with ice patches, and through slush. I have even walked on the top of crusted snow, snow that has had the top layer melted and refrozen then becomes hard, and on corn snow, snow that has melted and refrozen enough times to change the consistently of the snow and make it more granular and coarse. I have heard of powder, a type of snow which is light and fluffy enough to allow you to kick it away with your boot, but had not seen it before. Well, until this morning.

Last night it snowed again and when I walked outside this morning I was struck by how different this new snow looked. My yard looked as if someone had carefully spread a two-inch layer of sugar on it. At the same time this new snow glittered like one of those old textured ceilings they used to put in apartment buildings about twenty years ago. I started shoveling it off the walkways and the way it moved reminded me of sea foam. It seemed to float above the snow shovel blade and move out of the way on its own accord. When I dumped a shovel full of this stuff off the front porch it looked and acted like Cottonwood fluff;lightly floating in the air before it dropped slowly to the ground. I have never had so much fun or been so fascinated by shoveling snow in my life.

Ain't life grand?

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