You know ‘snafu’ is an army term, right? It stands for Situation Normal, All Fudged Up. That is of course the Kimmy Schmidt version. Soldiers use the other ‘F’ word. Well, here in the great white north, we’ve gone from Skater’s Paradise to SNASI: Situation Normal, All Snowed In. The skaters had their month, now it’s the cross country skiers’ turn!
This time, we didn’t have a thick layer of ice under everything so it’s really quite gorgeous.
Its one of the shames of modern life that we don’t appreciate a good snowfall. If we didn’t have to go anywhere in cars, we’d be able to look out at that magnificent precipitation that covers the earth in a glittery, soft, smooth blanket of light bouncing white and say “Thank God!! It’s Wonderful and fun!”
I guess I’m one of the lucky 1%; I work at home and I’m no longer responsible for getting any kids to and from school.
A week or so ago, after the big melt left everything covered in ice and then we got 4” or so, I was up on my roof, clearing away the snow and any ice dams that were trying to form. I don’t have to actually get on the roof, I just climb the ladder so I can chop away the ice and sprinkle salt/melt on the rest. It’s easy and perfectly safe; my feet are rarely more than five feet from the ground, which is covered in a deep drift of snow anyway so quit worrying, Mom!
Anyway, while I was chopping away at the ice, I was reminiscing about all the measures my folks took on the big house on Queen back in the old days. That house had tall gables in front and in back and the snow tended to gather right over the back door. Ice dams were a major problem every single winter. Unlike my roof, the one above that back door was two full stories above the ground, so climbing a ladder to chop ice was actually fraught with danger but letting a platoon of giant, heavy icycles form was much worse! We’re talking long, sharp glaciers, poised right over the heads of every kid in the neighborhood who came and went through that back door. At one point in the early 70s, my folks had a fiberglass awning attatched over the door; an ugly little roof that was there to protect everyone from any falling ice.
An iceberg fell that was so heavy it took the whole dam roof down.
Thank God no one was standing under it when it happened.
Eventually, Dad strung heat coils all over that part of the roof. I think they helped.
That was nearly 50 years ago.
So as I chopped away at my own little ice dams, I thought “If you want to convince me that climate change is a thing, try showing me a little change in the climate.”
Oh, but climate’s not weather! Is the new whine from those who would save the world.
It isn’t? then what is it? Oh never mind, if it’s not the weather, then IDGAF.
Soldiers know what that means.