I love the snow. Growing up in Edmonton, you'd think I'd effing hate it, since the snow ruined many a Hallowe'en and occasionally Easter or Victoria Day and once, the Fringe (which is in August). But, like Lorelei Gilmore, my love affair with snow is ardent and few things give me that queer, down there sort of thrill like the sight of fat snowflakes swirling through the air.
Since we moved to Vancouver, my snow love has intensified because:
A) It rarely snows here - MAYBE once or twice a year.
B) The snow never stays, so you get to have a beautiful, fluffy snowly couple of hours with zero consequences.
Last year, just as an example, it snowed TWICE the whole year and nothing stayed.
This year...was different.
The first day it snowed, I took Effie to Trout Lake off-leash park in the pre-dawn hours, so that she could experience her first snow run. She did not disappoint. It was magical and I loved it.
Look at that light powdering of snow! We were so innocent then.
A week later, the original snow hadn't really melted and it snowed yet again. We went back to Trout Lake, where Effie met a new friend.
Right before this photo was taken, Effie ran out on to the barely frozen lake to chase some ducks while I screamed bloody murder from the shore, certain that today was the day the dog and I would both drown in disgusting Trout Lake. You'll notice that in the photo, SOMEONE IS NO LONGER OFF LEASH.
The Shoebox Project was still happening through all of this and we started to get worried that people delivering their shoeboxes filled with holiday cheer to our house would fall down and sue us. But we didn't have a shovel and snow salt was sold out alllll over town. Fortunately, our neighbour Syvo had 1/3 of a bag of salt left over FROM HER MOVE FROM TORONTO and between that and her snow shovel, we and our neighbours were collectively able to at least clear our sidewalk. A good lesson for you hoarders out there - you MIGHT use that road salt from Toronto, so definitely hang on to it.
We were snow-free for several days but it was too cold to melt much, so while sidewalks started to clear off, the curbs were still icy as fuck - and our favourite off-leash park, Everett Crowley, was like a frickin' skating rink. "It's a good core workout!" exclaimed Drtr on Christmas Day, as we paused on our walk to contemplate which route would be less likely to lead to falling down and dying. Predictably, Effie loved it.
For a week after Christmas, it was warmer and rained a little, so on New Year's Eve morning, I took the dog back to the same park, figuring that a week of warmth and rain would have broken down the ice to acceptable levels. NOT THE CASE. Not shown: any photos, because I was solo this time and was concentrating super hard on not slipping into a ravine.
It turns out it was smart to hit the park on New Year's Eve in the a.m., because in the p.m., it started to snow AGAIN. Big, beautiful, fat flakes of snow. Fucking up our clean sidewalk. Drtr went out and shoveled in the last of the daylight and then we watched in dismay as the snow continued for four more hours, obliterating his good work. It was super slushy but it was supposed to freeze and road salt is still sold out all over town. So on New Year's Day, we took all the the bath salts that people donated to the Shoebox Project (no bathtubs in shelters, gang) and sprinkled them on the frozen slush that is our sidewalk. And then a few hours later, our valiant neighbours busted up the ice with Syvo's shovel and now the whole block smells like fucking Lush.
It's supposed to snow again on Friday.
The last time we had this kind of snow was waaaay back in 2009 and it was much the same. No one saw it coming, NO ONE did anything about it and walking the dog was nearly impossible because every sidewalk was an icy sheet of death. My mom didn't believe me that it was actually that bad, so on the way home from Solstice that year, I made her this video.
I don't blame my Mom for being skeptical, as Victoria looked like this over the holidays.
TL;DR Happy New Year, it snowed more than usual and I still love snow but I would give my left nut for some road salt.
