Each wave of moisture that moves from it's destruction in California to it's dumping of snow in Flagstaff has become the direction of our lives. Not only has it been inundating Flagstaff with snow but our decision to winter in Boulder has brought the most snow in many years, most of it this week. We arrived to a new inch on the ground with probably another 6 inches of old snow on the ground. Add another inch the first night home and another 8 inches or so on Tuesday and then 3 or 4 on Wednesday, all waiting for the big storm to hit. It did with 14 inches of snow. We get up each day and shovel an area for the dogs to go out and pee and clear all the snow off the porch. We kept the car by the house until Wednesday when we pushed snow with our bumper as we drove up the hill. We decided it might be time to park the car up by the road, a very good decision indeed. Steve helped Camille and Doug clear over a foot of snow off the top of their business roofs yesterday only to add the same today. We plan to clear our roof off but decide to wait since we don't know where to put that snow anyway since our snow piles are now over our heads. Steve's legs are worn out with all the shoveling and my back has a hitch especially after missing yoga last night due to the "big one." We plan for the power outage during these storms. It has stayed on more than we imaged it would but we did head for bed about 8:30 last night until the power miraculously returned. We listen when we wake in the morning for the sound of the snow plows and this morning we watched the school bus head the 28 miles over the slick rock to Escalante to the high school even with 14 inches of new snow on the ground. I doubt I would have put my own kids on that bus today, but this is Boulder. Our goal everyday is to get to the car and go to the mail. We aren't even expecting much in the mail, it just feels like we aren't trapped if we can at least go to the mail and see how others in our community are fairing. So tonight we wait to see if that one more storm will arrive in the night. It is all so incredibly beautiful and the best part is that we don't have anywhere to go but a day without shoveling would be a welcome relief to so many. And if we whine for even a minute, we remember those in California with houses full of mud and even more those incredible Haitians trying to survive what seems so unfair to a people who started with so little.
It takes a lot of weather to consume a person in Boulder where normally people are hoping for snow and not getting much. I was shocked at the piles of snow in the photographs on the family site at Camille's, I am sure repeated all over town. Mother Nature must be chuckling, but yes, it does seem so unfair what happened in Haiti which cannot be blamed on to people but the earth's upheaval in entirely the wrong place. Causes a person not to be able to relax when natures starts behaving in unexpected ways! I did laugh at your account. So far doesn't seem like anyone is hurt there and the snow bunnies in Flag are always happy when it snows.
ReplyDeleteThis is the most snow I have seen in Boulder for a long time. I'll bet it is hard even to hoof it up your hill. I loved David Lee's book about the canyons of southern Utah. I'd like to read the book by Katie Lee, (is this a relative or wife?) I also like the picture of LaRae with her babies.
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