Boy, is this getting old, both the snow and my reaction to it. I think I’ve finally figured out what gets me, though: impaired mobility and mud.
You see, I know, now. When you live on a dirt road in northern New Mexico, the snow is a blessing at first: all the bumps get smoothed out, and everything looks clean and nice. The county might plow, but probably won’t, so in a day or two the snow is packed down hard and slippery as hell. But still smooth! And then… and then… sooner or later, maybe 10 days or six weeks from then, it MELTS, and what happens over the next two weeks determines the contours of the road for the rest of the year. Whatever massive ruts are left from all the sorry goddamn slogging through the mud will be there through the summer, rounded off, shiny, and hard as concrete. They’ll be there in the fall, although just a bit more rounded, and the first snow that falls will take the shape and carry it into the following spring, when it all turns to mud again. (Unless the county grades, but they probably won’t.)
As I write this, it’s been snowing for about 22 hours. The depth isn’t really important — eight, 10, 12 official inches, who cares? There’s plenty: enough to completely cover the woodpile, and at least a few drifts up almost to my knee. Chopping firewood in these conditions is really a joke: the snow is powder, mind you, not thick and heavy, but lying on a foundation of earlier snow that’s turned to ice. When I manage to get a footing and let the splitting maul drop, the wood splits like it should but flies off and disappears! Let’s all go play “find the wood” — if I can locate the splitting maul in the first place, that is. A few hours ago, I had to fish for it with a rake.
Winter! The real deal…(also today’s FotoFeed)
Driving home from the concert earlier this evening was a trip, too. I’m sure it’s been worse here, but I’ve never seen it this difficult, myself. For one thing — and yes, I know it’s been snowing all day — it looked like nothing had been plowed anywhere. The streets were heaped with snow and ridiculously slippery. Every 100 yards or so, there was somebody else stuck on the side of the road or in a parking lot (it was kind of hard to tell).
I haven’t done that kind of driving for quite a while, where the drive wheels are almost constantly spinning, but you’re still moving and hope to God you don’t have to stop — or if you do, that whoever’s behind you can manage it, too. Somehow we got through town, and I’ll tell you how bad it was: the few Taoseños on the road were actually going slow!
By the time we got near our own road, we ended up taking the long way around the neighborhood because of a steep little hill we knew better than to try. This road was paved, deserted, and unplowed too, of course. (The county might– oh, never mind.) This leg was actually kind of fun, because only one or two vehicles had been out in the snow, so what we had were just a couple of ruts meandering through the drifts, and no one else around to get hurt if I got crossways. Everything went well, though. I was delighted at how well the Vibe blew through the piles of powder and just kept on going, front wheels slipping all the way. That is one excellent little car, ladies and gentlemen — buy one now, before GM dies.
It’s very, very quiet here now, at half an hour after midnight.
It’s also still snowing…
UPDATE: Success! This blog post qualifies for paid publishing as my latest column for Horse Fly, which hits those paper boxes in Taos about a week from now. And just for that, here’s the pesky insect again:
Certified Fly-Worthy
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