Thursday, February 01, 2007

'And The Snow Is Flaking, Hearts Are Breaking, Words Are Making A Mess Out Of These Thoughts I'm Thinking'

It snowed today for the first time in three years.

Oh, we've had our share of ice. But not snow. No snowballs, no footprints, no snowmen. Just frozen daggers and clear sheets of treachery.

I was only able to enjoy it for about an hour or so before I had to go to work.

I finally got to use the sled that I, along with my neighbor, got for Christmas a few years back from our respective wives.

Wait, I'm sorry ... Santa Claus.





Work wasn't so bad. You get be one of the few heroes who actually made it into the office. And I work downtown next to our riverside park and took a few minutes to take a look at the landscape.






I never got around to building a snowman. Work took a little longer than I thought it would, and I lamented that all the snow would melt by Friday afternoon.

But while I was gone, the neighborhood stirred. Children who normally don't see each other found themselves playing together. That's something really great about snow -- especially here in the South, where it's such a novelty that a mere two inches receives around-the-clock news coverage.

I was told to drive by the neighbor's house on the way home and check out the ... unique ... snowman next door.

As I drove by, it was clear to me that this had been the work of an adult. But, come to find out, this was a creation the neighborhood kids came up with.




And it's name?

Peter.


12 comments:

Jay said...

Yes snow! You're right about all the kids who don't even know each other playing in the snow. That's what happened when I was a kid, back when we would get HUGE snows and we would all be out building snow forts and having snowball fights and all that fun stuff.

Woman Analyzer said...

Peter? Is there a joke about Peter? My brother Daniel, would let the neighborhood boys call him Dick. That starstruck little boy. He was so happy for the attention.

dan said...

snow always adds rustic charm to places. peter, eh? interesting. i wonder if something was omitted somewhere.

p.s. plastic bags make interesting sledges, especially when one goes over a stone or something. also they're incredibly portable.

oh, and i think sprog comes from gaelic but that's just a guess.

Lone trail said...

peter's another way that kids say penis.

Anonymous said...

Hooray for snow!
Ironically, we get news coverage when there isn't enough snow.

Anonymous said...

bag some up - it's on it's way to being extinct

Anonymous said...

that's a very lovely snow penis you "erected."

Ha!

I guess the joke is on Al Gore.

Global warming my ass. And they just nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

I can no longer take that contest seriously. It's ranking right next to American Idol. in my book.

Tink said...

I think there's something wrong with me... My first thought when I saw that snowman was, "Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo?"

Rusty said...

Lucky bastard. In this same FREAK snowstorm, I was awake at 7:00am, two hours before I normally wake up, watching monstrous flakes fall down.

I checked my campus alerts throughout the morning to no avail. Class went on as scheduled.

Also got no accumulation. Go figure, being in NORTH Carolina has no advantages...

Jake said...

There is nothing fun about the snow here in Chicago, yeah I'm living in Chicago now. It's just keeping me locked away in the apartment, which is a good thing, I think, for the moment.

Anonymous said...

duckie ... that's what i love about you, man. you can take a subject about a snowman that resembles a penis and turn it into a debate about the validity of the nobel peace prize. i agree with you on that, by the way.

tink ... you'd have to give me some explanation on that one. or maybe a picture. ;)

rusty ... i can't tell you how many times i look at the snowfall accumulation map and see the midlands of s.c. get more snow than the upstate. it's strange.

jake ... good to see you. i've been watching on the news about all the lake effect snow up there. i know what you mean, too. i wish we had a little more of it for that reason sometimes.

Anonymous said...

I can also turn a discussion about the validity of the Nobel Peace Prize and turn it into a discussion about penises. I'm actually way better at that.