Dudes!
It finally snowed. (Click for bigger pictures)
It took me an hour and a half to drive 20 miles yesterday, but that was ok. I had books on my iPod, which lasted maybe 10 minutes until I started dozing off, then I switched to the loud screaming metal instead.
We had hardly any snow up til now; xmas was brown, and then we had a few ice storms which made up in irritating what they lacked in beautiful. But last night was awesome; I slid home and parked my car waaaaay down the odd side of the street (the city of Minneapolis will now SMS you to tell you of a snow emergency! No way!). Then I decided to walk to Gigi’s for coffee, because driving any of the local streets was an invitation to needing to be towed from a snowbank.
It was hardly cold at all, and it had almost stopped snowing. Neither the streets nor sidewalks were plowed, so I had to trudge through the snow, probably 4-5 inches deep at that point. I ended up doing this kind of bouncing-run most of the way there, because the less you have your feet on the ground, the less you’re likely to fall down. I had fond memories of the time I ran up the side of a mountain in Glacier, because running shoes have no damn traction in the snow at all.
On the way there, I helped direct a stuck cop out of a snowbank, because he kept running into a fire hydrant. I really really wanted to get behind and push the cruiser (you know, just to say I’d done it), but he wouldn’t let me. Nor would he let me behind the wheel. Damn! On the way back, it was one of those moments: hushed quiet because of the snow; even the rare car on the street rolled by almost silently. There were a few people out shoveling, and they all said hi as I passed. A fireman coming home to the next building on my street came leaping over a snowbank, yelling, ‘GOOD EVENING!’ so enthusiastically I laughed. Another girl stopped me to review the parking rules so she didn’t get towed. I really don’t miss living outside the city at all.
This morning my fears about getting Chico out of the snow were justified, but I managed after about 10 minutes. I got stuck in the intersection in the above photo for another 5 minutes or so, but got out without having to be pushed. I miss having a manual transmission; it’s much harder to rock a car with an automatic.
The main streets were plowed, so it was a matter of finding a way to a coffeeshop not on a side street. I did just fine.
There’s nothing better than the snow before it gets all slushy and grey. I want to go skiing. I saw kids all over, running to the rinks with shovels and skates. I drove fast through high plumes of snow people were snowblowing from their driveways into the street. I saw a dog jumping up and trying to bite every shovelful of snow his owner tossed in the air. I talked to Bertine while she sat in her car in a ditch on the side of I35 in Lakeville; she has since been rescued by a cute towtruck driver and is back on her way to Texas.
(I took this picture for comparison, with my phone instead of my camera. Man, that’s quality. Quality!) These are of my favorite lake, by the way: Calhoun.
So I picked up some flowers this morning. I’m dreaming about windowboxes in the spring.
Oh, since I was snowed-in last night, I destroyed my bedroom in the process of building a new episode of creamedpeas. It might not be great, but it’s definitely something.
I have some baby-knitting to do, and there’s sun out there in the other room.
Bye now!Jenni