| ..."Swimming In A Winter Wonder Land."
A lot of people know I'm a "snow plow jockey" - I'm in the snow plowing business. Of course, for essentially the last decade, that's been theoretical; it simply hasn't snowed much. This year? We've gotten essentially a season's worth of snow in a month and a half. And that season's worth of snow has come down in basically three big dumps: the November 13th blizzard (which was really wet snow), the December 3rd thru 4th storm, and December 10th thru 11th blizzrd, the 5th largest dump in Minnesota history. What is notable about these three storms that were all over 8 inches in depth, is (according to the Univ. of Mn) we only average a greater than 8 inch snowfall every other year.
Through recorded history, Minnesota's snow came mainly in the form of "Alberta Clippers" - which are fast moving storms that dump a quick inch, two, even up to four inches of light powdery fluff that's easy to plow, easy to shovel, and generally are more of a nuisance (for those that don't ski, snowmobile, or otherwise play* in the snow. The last decade or so? Not so much; it's these big dumps we're getting. From someone in "da bidness" - let me tell you, I'd much rather have five two inch snowfalls, than one ten inch snowfall. |
| Those big dumps are a lot of work and they are hard on equipment. Dangerous, too. I'm kind of caught up on sleep; still sore all over. Most (nobody makes everybody happy) of the ol' TwoPutter's customers are happy over the service they received; we'll see how happy they are when they get the bill....
So it was nice to see MN2020.org give a shout-out to Plow Jockeys - even if they were talking about the guys that drive the really, Really, REALLY big trucks that keep the Interstates, the State Highways, and County and City roads open. They really, Really, REALLY did a fantastic job during this last record-setting storm. From MN2020's "For Those About to Plow, We Salute You":
Despite steady, predictable conservative policy rants declaring that government is failing, city, county and state snowplow drivers achieved an impossible level of street clearing in a remarkably short of amount of time. Government did this, acting on our collective directive to maintain safe, free-flowing and commercially vital transportation infrastructure. As a consequence, emergency calls were answered, people traveled safely to and from work, and Minnesota quickly returned to the business of Minnesota prosperity.
They nailed that one - even if they didn't mention the small guys with trucks (like me!) that also did yeoman's work. That said, Gentle Readers, after finishing the work of cleaning up that storm, yours truly, the ol' TwoPutter, decided to relax with a quick dip to refresh myself. You may have noted the asterisk above, behind "play." Unbeknownst to me, my wife decided to take a picture of me at play - the link is below.
Winter weather does strange things to tundra trudgers up here in the frozen north. And quite frankly, if you're gonna live here, you gotta figure out how to love the snow. That said, I'd like to remind our Gentle Readers that while driving during snowfalls - SLOW DOWN. Oh - and "Happy HanaRamaKwanzMas" to you and yours!
* those easily offended, or that can't take a joke, shouldn't look at the link. You've been warned!
(link here for "swimming in a winter wonder land...") |
