WINTER'S GIFT
I’ve been reading a book entitled "The Raven's Gift" by Jon Turk. It tells of the years he spent traveling through the tundra in Siberia, sometimes on skis hauling a sled on a sling strapped to his shoulders. Clearly this guy is pretty hard core.
The subject matter is especially fitting given the weather we are having right now. The view from my living room window is obscured by sheets of snow being whipped down the street by blizzard strength winds. The drifts are slowly climbing up to the top of my 6 foot high fence. My back yard looks like a big bowl of whipped cream.
This is our second major storm in a week, a foot plus of new snow on top of the nearly 30 inches we already had. The reindeer herders of the frozen tundra may feel right at home in this kind of weather but for us surburbanites this is big news and a big mess.
Tomorrow begins the process of digging out — again. The mounds are so high it is hard to find place to put the new snow. The one good thing to come out of this is the homemade beef stew and split pea soup that fuels our shoveling and the chocolate chip cookies that reward our efforts.
Life this week has been hard, even a bit risky. But with those risks comes the satisfaction of getting through it, the knowledge that we may be getting older but we can still carry our share of the load.
This is what winter does. It puts nature right in your face and lets you find out for yourself where you stand. Sooner or later we may get thinned from the herd, but not this season, at least not yet. That's about all you can ask for.
February 10, 2010
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