Monday, October 31, 2011

The winter wonderland that almost wasn't

 
Thought you might enjoy this view of the town from my walk this morning before we got into the meat of the post. This is looking west along the river into town. You can see, if you look very closely, the end of the falls right at the left edge of the buildings. You can also see the white rooftops left over from yesterday's snow.

So there was a lot of talk out East about this crazy October snow storm that was shocking everyone from New York City north, only it wasn't touching Machias at all. On Saturday, as I was talking to my friend in Manhattan about all the snow that was falling on her the skies in Machias were bright blue and it was a gorgeous day. As the day wore on, however, clouds began to roll in and I got worried. Not worried cause of snow, I was looking forward to snow. Worried because I feared it would rain first and then snow leaving a layer of ice underneath the fresh snow that my dog would no doubt try to pull me across leading to me falling and breaking an elbow.

Sure enough, around nine, it began to rain hard. It continued to rain until at least 12:30 (I was staying up late to watch a West Coast hockey game) and I thought "Maybe it won't snow, maybe it will just keep raining and I won't have to worry about the ice".

Well, I was rudely awoken, as usual, by my dog around 6:30 to find that it had, in fact, snowed, and was still snowing. Big disgusting wet blobs of ice and water being whirled around by powerful gusts of wind. Not at all the kind of snowy scene I had been looking forward to when I envisioned my, and Hastur's, first snow.

Well, putrid weather or not the dog was gonna force me to take her out. I got bundled up as much as I could and then considered putting boots on Hastur but she's always so hyper when a walk is looming I didn't think she'd slow down enough to let me get them on. So out we went into the harsh conditions. She took one step outside where big clumps of snow driven by the wind with enough force to hit her like hail started to pelt her right in the face and she immediately turned around and ran back into the house.


She was torn because part of her was desperate for the walk, while the other part did not want to go back out there. I tried putting her boots on making another go of it. This time she wondered a bit around the front grass but was still very uncomfortable and ended up kicking the boots off anyway. We went back upstairs and I exchanged the boots for her jacket. Again we went outside and this time she started to get into a bit. The jacket was really helping, I think she didn't like the way the snow was hitting her so with her jacket on she could ignore it better. We took a short walk, for us, and she really started to get a feel for the way snow worked.

Later in the day the weather got really nice. The wind died down to practically nothing and the snow became soft and light. We went out again and this time Hastur really started to have fun. She did everything she could to make sure she was walking in snow. This last week, every time I've walked her, she's tried her hardest to walk in the middle of the road. Even when I've shortened her leash to just an inch or so she's tugged on it to try to get into the road. This time I was walking in the middle of the road to get away from the freezing puddles and snow banks left by the plows and she was tugging me to the sides of the road so she could walk in the snow.

The past week she's been... pretty good about walking on leash, but yesterday she was pissed. She wanted to romp all through the snow and every time she had a moment to walk on the snowy grass she'd start to jump and prance on it... that is, if she wasn't attacking the leash in the hopes i would let her off of it.

So in the end a shitty day turned into a not-so-shitty day. The only think keeping it from being a great day is that the power went out for two hours earlier in the day, when it was still windy and freezing, and I lost my heat. It wouldn't have been much of a problem if I had all my things here, I would have had blankets and coats and all sorts of other things to keep me warm, but all I have is a sleeping bag. When will my stuff get here damnit!

Well, today, at least, is really nice. The rest of the week should be the same. Be even nicer if I had some furniture.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds very nice, aside from the losing the heat part and the sloppy chunks of snow. You'll have to find a field where she can romp. Pretty picture.

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  2. If you are not actively in classes and if the dog could stay in our heated garage or in the guest suite (I have 4 cats who would hide under my bed so maybe not a big deal) you are welcome here until some furniture arrives, and if not you could come and get some extra stuff we have (a futon a couple of chairs a table dishes, and you could bring it back another time. really it just sits in the cellar taking up space.) As I have told your mom we are holiday orphans so you are welcome for Thanksgiving or Xmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza. I am an excellent cook altho probably not as good as your ex chef mom.

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