Living here in the Valley of the Sun, having grown up in other parts of the United States (where they have four seasons instead of two), there are times when I miss weather related things. For instance, the turning of the leaves in the fall. Around here, even the “deciduous” trees hang on to their leaves most of the year. My two Chinese Elms, in the back yard, do lose their leaves, but if I happen to be doing something else at the time (like, for instance, blinking), I miss the whole changecolordrop series.

I miss waking up to the sound of silence that accompanies a heavy overnight snowfall. The whole world is blanketed in a muffling cover of white, and the only sound is of the furnace kicking on, or, in rougher times, the sound of someone slamming the woodstove shut after throwing another log on the fire.

( side memory – early eighties, Flagstaff, winter, the small cabin the family was renting at the time, home on a winter weekend pass from Pendleton, dressed for cold weather, standing around the ‘stove, lighting the first cigarette of the day off the top of the stove, the smell of pine sap burning and cigarette smoke mingling in the cold air not two feet away from the source of the “heat” …)

Back to missing the snow – this morning, here in my corner of the Valley, it is a “brisk” 46 degrees outside. The news tells me that the East Coast is, again, being slammed by more Global Warming. I miss the thought of snow, sure – but I don’t miss the logistics – keeping the vehicle operational through a dipstick heater, starting the vehicle five minutes before needing to leave so it gets used to working in the cold and so you have time to scrape the night’s frozen remnants off your windshield, dealing with drivers who don’t know how to drive in the snow (hint: having a four wheel drive vehicle does NOT give you immunity from the laws of physics or the right of way), and, of course, the whole shoveling part. There were days when I just said the heck with it and drove the snowmobile to work.

But I sure miss the thought of having snow right outside the door.

Chat ya later…

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