Snow Blowin'

Here is a story I wrote for Maya the last time we had a winter like this one, which was 1999. Richard wasn't able to come and fix my computer on Saturday, since a tree had come down on a power line and we were having blackouts, so he came today. I was reviewing for the class I am going to be teaching tomorrow, and so I have just come upstairs to the computer and am posting this and then to bed. I'm glad to have my computer back, and you can expect daily posts once again.

So, when I wrote this story, Missy was still alive and I was working as a parenting coach. I rented a car three days a week to do home visits, which was cheaper than owning one because I had worked a deal with the local Rent-A-Wreck. And, since parking is a problem on the hill where I live, it was helpful to only have to worry about that two nights a week.

Now, Maya remembers how on Wednesday night the snorts came up to Granny's hill on Basin Road and spent twelve hours removing snow and keeping everyone awake. And Maya remembers how on Thursday night the snorts came to Granny's hill and spent two hours clearing snow from the parking lot right across the street from Granny's apartment and that they did it in the middle of the night and it kept Granny and Missy and everybody else awake and scared Missy very much. And Maya also remembers how Granny noticed that the snow removal truck took the snow from the parking lot and made the corners straight and square, just like Mike Mulligan and Mary Ann.

Well, so that takes care of Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday afternoon Mary came and shoveled snow from Granny's stairs and shoveled a path to the street for Granny and a place to park the Rent-A-Wreck. So, at 2:00 in the morning of Friday, when the snow removal crew finished the parking lot, the road was clear and the parking lot was clear and Granny's stairs were clear and the path from Granny's stairs was clear and the parking space for Granny's Rent-A- Wreck was clear. And that night it did not snow one flake more. Oh, no it did not. Instead, the wind blew and blew and blew as hard as it could. It lifted the snow from the rooftops and it lifted the snow from the hillsides and it lifted whatever snow it could find and it blew that snow around. Yes, that wind just had a merry little time, indeed.

So, when Granny and Missy got up on Friday morning, what do you suppose? Granny looked out her window, and the corners of the parking lot were not straight and square any longer. No, indeed, there was drifted snow in all the corners. There was drifted snow in the center of the parking lot. When Granny went downstairs for breakfast, she looked out the window and she could see that the road wasn't clear any longer. No, indeed, there were snow drifts in the road. When Granny went down the outside stairs, the stairs weren't clear any longer. No, indeed. The top two steps only had a half an inch of snow, but by the time she got to the bottom of the stair case, she had crusted snow on her pants right up to the knees! It was way too deep for Granny to sweep clear. She would have to call Mary to come and shovel it for her again. And when Granny got to the Rent-A-Wreck, there was snow drifted from the bottom of the windshield out, out, out beyond the front bumper. It looked like Granny had driven into a snow dune. Luckily, there was no snow drifted behind the car, so Granny was able to just back out of her snow dune. "Goodness, gracious, me," said Granny as she brushed snow off the car, "this is a pretty pass! Yes, indeed, this is a mess. Here everything was neat and clean and straight and square at 2 a.m., and now it is all drifted up and messy again. It's amazing, the different ways that this winter is creating messes."