Sunday, November 06, 2005

Green grass and powdered sugar

Two weeks ago, I was lamenting the golden carpet of leaves awaiting my attention and covering most of the green lawn. Thank goodness, after a variety of strategies, most of the leaves are gone. This morning the grass has a new accent, and it does, indeed, look like God scattered some powdered sugar out there.

It's just a skiff of snow here in the valley, but I'm sure it translates into several inches and maybe more than a foot in the mountains. The skiers and boarders will be thrilled as they awaken this morning and see that more insurance has come to cover their hopes for a good year on the slopes. After last year's relatively snowless winter, this outdoor transformation has got to be more welcome than usual.

I'm happy for the folks who like to play at Schweitzer Mountain Resort during the winter. They deserve a good year after all the money most put out last year, only to wait and wait and wait. Finally, in the spring, some snow came, but that hardly made up for December, January and February's drought.

While skiers and boarders were smarting, many of us rejoiced last winter while riding our bikes, hiking up mountainsides in February and just continuing many of the outdoor activities we're accustomed to enjoying throughout the year.

If I had a chance to talk to God or Mother Nature about this, I'd say "distribute the wealth." Dump all the snow you can up in them thar hills. Take that extra helping you drop down here and give it to the skiers and snowboarders so they can make up for lost time from last year. Folks like me would never complain if we just had to look out the window at a powdered-sugar dusting across the lawn.

I don't think my lobbying efforts will do a lot of good, though. Mother Nature and God do what they want, and they always keep us guessing. Some people say we're going to have one heckuva winter this year, while the weather forecasters say it's going to be another fairly warm and mild one. Only time will tell, but one thing's for sure, we've already had a lot more snow than we did this time last year.

My dad used to say something a lot of folks around here believed: only fools and newcomers predict the weather in North Idaho. In the wisdom of my old age, I've modified that a bit: whatever we have, we have a lot of it.

So, if the snow decides to hang around for a couple more days, look out. Get those shovels, and put those bicycles away.

Happy Sunday.

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