No . . . Snow!

As I sit in the glow of the computer, the snow is gently falling for the second time this week.  The prediction is for four inches of new snow by morning.  It has been since the end of October since we have seen our yard . . . it has been buried in snow since about Halloween.  Dora and Lucy, the family Dachshunds, haven’t taken a potty break without squatting in snow since who knows when . . . they are beginning to take a lot more interest in the toilets in the bathroom . . . at least there they will keep their rear ends warm.  But, it has been a long snowy winter this year and we still have nearly two months before it starts to swing over into springtime.  I am tired of snow.  The only nice thing about the snow this evening is the fact that I do not have to get up and do anything in the morning.

I am not alone when I state that I am getting tired of snow . . . call it snow fatigue if you want to . . . but, there are a lot of folks expressing the same feelings when it comes to the snow.  As much as most of us like snow, we are getting tired of it . . . about as tired of it as those who live around Atlanta who saw their community literally shut down with two inches of snow this past week.  Two inches!  That is a pretty normal day around here in Montana.  Here in Montana, at least in the area where the homestead is located, is on track to have its snowiest winter since 1978 . . . and, from what I have been told, that was a pretty snowy winter in Big Sky country.  Outside of the snow boarders and skiers, most folks are getting tired of the snow.

I will admit that I have pretty much reached my limit when it comes to snow . . . at least between Monday and Friday.  Snow changes my routine.  Snow messes up my day.  Snow raises the emotions and ups the ante in the stress department, especially Monday through Friday.  When it snows I have to get up earlier in order to clean the car off, give myself enough time to drive snow and ice covered roads, and to wonder who in the world are those other idiots driving down the road in the storm.  Makes me anxious, even though I do just fine driving in wintry conditions.  Messes up my day . . . and usually my week.  Symptoms of snow fatigue.

I have not yet joined the lamenting ranks of the wife who usually has epic sessions of whining about having to drive from the homestead to the big city in snowy weather . . . but, I am getting close . . . especially when the pattern is beginning to be snow about every other day.  Of course it is usually nothing major, just enough to be an inconvenience . . . a little extra work, a little more time, and a little more anxiety . . . a mere inconvenience, that really is all that it is.

We Montanans like to brag that winter is those nine months we have to deal and put up with to enjoy three months of perfect weather in a beautiful location.  Yeah, we brag, but the truth is we would give up a couple of those wintry, snowy months for a couple of drizzly, rainy, muddy months just to get the heck away from the snow . . . but the weather people, nor God, seem to be listening to us this year.  The result?  Land sales have gone up in Arizona and a whole lot of the southern states . . . well, until it snowed in Atlanta.  But, Montanans are beginning to experience snow fatigue . . . we are tired of snow.

I want to see my yard . . . my dogs want to see the yard!  I want to see something besides snow and ice.  I want to experience a forty degree temperature swing and it actually get above freezing.  I want to quit using so much sign language while driving.  I want . . . to get beyond this inconvenience that is called winter.  But, I don’t think God really cares about what I want when it comes to wintry weather . . . there is probably a good two inches on the ground since I started writing. 

And . . . I’m okay with God’s indifference to my snow fatigue.  I do not ask God to stop making it snow.  No . . . instead I pray to God that God put the snow only on the lawn . . . not the driveway . . . not the sidewalks . . . not where we park the cars . . . only on the yard.  I am tired of shoveling and I have no where new to put all of the snow.  I pray to God to keep the snow from accumulating on my car . . . I’m getting tired of cleaning it off.  I pray to God that God will give me a clear lane all the way to the big city where I work . . . and, I pray that God will have my parking space cleared off by the time I get to work.  In the silence of my wintry prayers, I can hear God snicker.

It is January 31^st . . . Groundhog Day is two days away . . . and, it won’t matter.  Anyway that a person adds it up . . . we still have nearly two months of winter left . . . and, at least another two months until the snow melts in the yard.  Yeah, I hear God snickering . . .