First Snow

I woke to beauty this morning. Our fall turned suddenly to winter. The kids were dressed, and out in the first snow of the season, before I could say good-morning. First snows are always special, for they define the essence of lovely. I haven’t had time to get tired of winter, and all the leaves have fallen and been raked up. There is a hush over our glen, as if nature is holding its breath—at our house, broken only by the laughter of children at play. Today, the snow is fluffy and feather light, drifting down slow, as if the snowflakes are afraid to end their heady downward journey.

And then as I watch, the flakes change, fall harder, faster, straighter to the ground. They are smaller now, no longer downy soft. The thermometer has inched one degree higher and I know what will come next. But it doesn’t seem to matter. I’ve captured the beauty of the moment, and for now, will hold it close to my heart until it captures me again.

Too Much of a Good Thing?

Here’s hoping you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. I’ve been offline for a couple of weeks playing with the kids, having an awesome birthday and generally just having a great time in the snow. We’ve been skiing and sledding, we’ve made snow trails and had snowball fights. I received a pair of snowshoes for my birthday and we hiked up the mountain behind our house and sledded down the BIG hill. Tromping around I began to wonder if I didn’t do my snow dance a little too long a few weeks ago. It seems every other day has brought a new storm and we’ve now had about 65 inches of snow in the past three weeks. (So you don’t have to do the math…that almost 5 and a half feet!!!)
As I write this it is snowing again with another 4 inches forecast for this afternoon. I’ve spent the past 3 days raking snow from the roofs of our house and outbuildings—a very good exercise routine. As you can see, the snow on top of my bird feeder is now taller than the feeder—a fact I find slightly comical.
Today Sami went skiing with Papa while Zach and I stayed home to finish getting snow off the roof of our house. We had a grand time and here is a video I couldn’t resist posting. Also, a picture of Zach on a pile of snow so high he can touch the roof. We love the snow as it provides the many wonderful activities we enjoy, but we are beginning to wonder if it isn’t a bit too much of a good thing.

Of Work, Storms and A Full Moon

I woke up Friday morning and knew instantly it was going to be the weekend from HELL—a perfect storm of moon, weather and work. Reports from the national weather service had been dire for the past four or five days with weatherman using words like ‘white-out conditions’, ‘heavy snowfall’, ‘high winds ’, ‘blizzard’ and ‘Arctic cold front’. Most reports said driving would be difficult if not impossible.

Under ordinary circumstances, I would be ecstatic. Dancing and singing “Here comes the snow…do…do…do…do” (Think the Beatles here). I’d do the ‘Happy Dance’ and jump into snow clothes with the kids for joyful trompings through a pristine white wonderland. Hot cocoa and cinnamon toast upon our return from adventures in the wild outdoors. We would be exhausted, but elated, that our longed for snow had finally arrived. Unfortunately, these were not ordinary circumstances. I was due to work the whole weekend.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I haven’t worked in conditions such as these but the dire weather report was topped off by a full moon at its perigee and as any nurse or cop will tell you, it is no myth that a full moon always brings out the ‘crazy’ in people. Last night the moon was almost 18,400 miles (30,000km) closer to the earth then usual making people even a little nuttier than normal.

I left for work at my usual time of 11:45 in the morning. I have a thirty-mile drive and it usually takes me about 35 minutes to get there. The pictures above and below, I took shortly before leaving for work.

It started snowing lightly when I was half-way to work and by the time I arrived it was snowing heavily. The ER was ‘quiet’—a word we never use while in the ER for superstitious reasons—when I arrived with just one cardiac patient who was on discharge. That of course was about to change.

The first call that came over the dispatch scanner was for an ‘unknown injury accident’ on Hwy 95 south of the Long Bridge. Minutes later a second and third accident were dispatched. Both police and dispatch scanners were suddenly spitting out directions and further reports. The police scanner informed dispatch of multiple slide-off’s and then reported that a fire truck dispatched to an accident scene had also slid off the road. A call came in that there had been a head on collision on Hwy 2 blocking both lanes, extrication required. This was followed by a call from a local rest home that a resident had fallen and they were sending the patient for a routine exam. A PA from Montana phoned that she was sending a patient with a critically low sodium level and a call went out for a cardiac patient in Priest River. Within the hour every ambulance and fire unit in the county were dispatched and calls were stacking up. Medics were asking dispatch which scenes needed priority attention. After that, I mostly lost track beneath the on slat of walking wounded. Between patients, I phoned family members who were traveling and encouraged those who called to stay home.

My supervisor let me go home an hour early, as she knew I had a long commute and she had adequate staffing due to some unanticipated discharges from the ICU. I brushed about 5 inches of snow off my car and headed out. An hour and fifteen minutes of white knuckle driving and I was home safe.
The rest of the pictures are from when I got home and what I found upon waking this morning.

I’m off now for more of the same. I have three more days in this work cycle and I know they’ll be interesting. Come Tuesday morning however, you’ll find me in my snow clothes doing the ‘happy dance’ with 10 glorious days of freedom!

PS. The total snowfall accumulation thus far...12 inches. Yea!!!

Longing for Snow

Today is the most beautiful day.  Not a cloud in the sky and it is crisp and cold.  The thermometer out below the bird feeder reads 22 degrees and it is noon.  The air has a clarity that we have not seen in the past few days of fog and drizzle.  In art class, Sami’s assignment was to make a ‘cityscape’. 

(Note for new friends and readers:  Sami is my seven-years-old daughter.  She is attends a virtual school and is in a gifted and talented class.  In practical terms, this means that while she has a virtual classroom and teacher, we do most of her classes off-line, with me as the teacher.)

Schooling a G/T kid is sometimes challenging and I have virtually given up on the idea that she will ever do an art assignment as it is given to her but today her assignment reflected our longing for snow.  A cityscape with snow.  Weeks ago, we went to the ski swap.  I got the kids fitted for their skis and boots, and we got all our snow gear washed and ready to go.  Sadly, no snow!  We had a dusting at the beginning of November—just enough to get excited about—but it all melted by midday and we have had none since. 

Every morning the kids run to the window looking to see if it has snowed.  Zach, at three and a half, doesn’t understand that no snow means no skiing because every morning, regardless of the fact that he can see there is no snow, he asks if we can go skiing.  And of course, every morning I explain that we have to have snow first.  We’re going a little nutty indoors.  We want to ski, sled, snowshoe and tromp trails in the snow.  The temperatures are cold, the days are short and it seems like winter.  The beautiful fall colors so vibrant at the beginning of fall have gone, leaving us with a dreary brown monochromatic landscape.  We can hardly wait for snow to turn the dismal landscape a brilliant white.  Everyday we wait and hope…any day now I’m going to research the ‘snow dance’ because if we don’t get snow soon, the kids are going to drive me crazy!

cityscape with snow by Sami C.