Snow going in Skagit County!

So, two days ago when the Seattle area weather people were once again predicting Puget Sound would cease to exist under an impending blanket-of-God-forbid-snow! A measly inch or so fell in Seattle, and most area folks continued their lives, albeit now with a fully stocked pantry. Should have it stocked anyway for impending earthquakes and terrorist attacks-so this is good practice!

Meanwhile, up here in Skagit County-the Snow gods must have felt we needed a blast of winter-so they unleashed on us-14 inches of snow in the west up to three feet in the eastern regions. Twenty miles to the north and south-Niente neve! But we got covered! One of the more remarkable things about this snow epidemic was the rate that it came down-about 3 inches an hour for a couple of hours. So, the next morning, Skagit County awoke to a wintry wonderland.

This New Hampshire transplant loves it-and I might add that I work at home, so I don't need to fret about hitting the roads. Now, if you aren't a western Washingtonian you'll have a hard time imagining this - we had a storm drop 14 inches of snow in my neighborhood-and a plow never came by! A day later when he finally did, all he did was drive around-you actually have to have that blade scrape the pavement to do any good-and use some sand and salt while you are at it!

So, my road is not looking so good. No problem though-life continues for me. Heather and I shoveled our driveway and -it's impeccable-cleared right down to the pavement. So are the driveways of my neighbor from Alaska, my neighbor who once lived in the Cascades, my neighbor from the Midwest, my neighbor the fireman (who is also former military) and my Mexican neighbor (he works hard and so does his young son doing what I had to do back east when I was growing up-help my dad shovel the blasted driveway! These coddled American-born kids can learn a little responsibility and work ethic from their Mexican-born peers!)

Now, some of my western Washington born and raised neighbors have yet to leave their houses. No sign of them. Driveways completely buried. Cars covered. Do they not go to work? Are they in their bomb shelters? Meanwhile-Heather and I have some skiing to do-off to Sedro-Woolly to cut some tracks in all that fresh powder at Northern State Recreation Area. What a day! Only the second time in the four years I have lived in Skagit County that I got to enjoy low country Skagit County skiing.

The first time-during the winter blast of Dec 2008-we were the only ones there-we even made the paper! This time the word is out-the place has been tracked. More East coast and Midwest transplants moved into the area I suppose? Maybe if enough of them keep moving here they can hold a plowing seminar-and have a fundraiser to buy more plows! Think about it. We spend a lot of money preparing for earthquakes, yet I have only been in one here in my 21 years in western Washington. Snowstorms? At least one or two a year-and they are getting fiercer than they were in the 90s. I think its time our cities and towns budget more snow removal equipment-and for the rest of you-buy a shovel-and some cross country skis! Let is snow! The world will go on-and it can be fun!

(photo-Heather breaking tracks after the big Skagit snow blast of 2011)

Mi Piace Neve!
(That's "I like snow!")

I grew up in New Hampshire, a state not exactly known for long summers. In fact we have an expression about New Hampshire's seasons, that goes like this- 11 months of winter and one month of damn poor sledding! So you can imagine that growing up in such a place you either love winter and embrace it or hate it and suffer or head to Florida. I embraced it-learning how to ski both downhill and cross country, snowshoe ( I started on wooden Quebec-made ones with lace bindings) and ice skate. We all played ice hockey back there (Cripe-40% of the state claims French-Canadian blood, what do you expect?) partaking in afternoon hockey pickup games. We'd play on a small pond well into dark making our own teams and settling our own indifferences. Gasp! Can you imagine today's parents actually letting their kids play with other kids on ice in the woods unsupervised? What a radical concept! Anyhow, since I learned to love winter I love to play and travel during that time too-and not to escape it for sunnier warmer climes. I have had the opportunity to visit Chile in the winter (Okay-you got me-its summer down there then!)- Japan, Italy, Austria and Slovenia in winter (real winter). And boy were those great trips. Got to do some great downhill and cross country skiing and snowshoeing in some pretty spectacular places like Italy's Alps outside of Trento (pictured here at Monte Bondone). And of course the best thing to skiing in Italy is Apres-skiing espresso e pasti! That sure beats burgers and gas station coffee any day. Embrace the winter miei amici-it is just about to begin-enjoy it!