I'm Gonna Cry

Enough Snow Already!!

Now we are under another snowstorm watch. This one is coming from the west and promises, at the moment, to dump "substantial" snow on all of New Jersey.

OK, OK, I can handle it. I can. I can. I still have some places to pile the stuff with my front end loader. And I was fine shoveling the initial path out to the barn the first time.

Since I've already smashed up the tailgate of the car, it will be fine to load it up with hay again and cart that to the barn. Why I might even go over to the sandpit and pick up a few extra bales just to be safe. And, I should have time tomorrow to go buy some more alfalfa cubes.

I have plenty of food in the house, although, I am nearly out of milk, so I'll put that on a very short shopping list.

It's just that....I hate it! I hate dragging myself through the snow, or having to watch where I put my feet so I don't slip on a patch of ice. It's hard to get the stalls actually clean when the manure is frozen in solid lumps so you can't differentiate between the frozen bedding and the actually clean stuff. And filling the water trough by carrying buckets gets old too. While I did use my coil hose yesterday, it's a bit shorter than the old one, and I really had to fight the coils. I may manage to attach two hoses together which will make it better, but that too is annoying.

Fact is, everything is annoying. I think the problem is that snow forces you to do things "its" way, instead of your own. First, of course is that the spontaneity of life is lost to preparation. You can't put off an errand "until tomorrow" because tomorrow you may be stuck in the driveway, unable to go anywhere. You have to decide what rugs the horses need to wear and set up the barn so there's a minimum of tasks needing your slogging through snowdrifts.

And then, there's the imprisonment of it all. The snow forms barriers everywhere. Once you decide to shovel a path somewhere, that's the route you have to travel unless you want to shovel another one. Stepping in a drift fills up your boots and makes your feet cold, so you limit yourself to the confines the snow determines.

Of course, there is the inevitable promise of meltdown some time in the future. As bad as snow is in its frozen form, when it melts, there's nothing quite like the slop, mud and general sogginess it creates. Depending on the ground conditions before the snow, it ranges any where from a slippery surface mud to that deep abiding pull off your boots mud as the melted precipitation soaks itself into the earth trying to find a place to go.

As I look out my window now, all I can see is white. Even the blacktop road, is covered in while salt in my line of vision. Some people seem to think its beautiful, and for moments, so do I. The world is still, clean, incredible. Blue shadows paint patterns of tree branches on the white canvas of snow. Unraked leaves disappear from view under white wrapping, as if nature is telling me it's Ok that I didn't clean them all up this time. Little bird footprints decorate the back yard along with cat pawprints telling me my little stray has been touring the barn. Snow hides and reveals secrets at the same time.

But even with beauty...enough is enough!