Day 73, Year 7: It Snowed Last Night
Date: Friday, January 20, 2012
Weather: Sunny with Temps Hovering Around the Freezing Point
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
When I taught first grade and it snowed overnight, we always sang a song
that said, “It snowed last night. It snowed last night. The sky bears had
a pillow fight . . .” I was singing this to Jonah this afternoon and Sam
looked at me as if I were a bit daffy. But when I explained that the
feathers in the sky bear pillows looked like snow, he got it. And we did
have snow, but less than an inch and icy. It was a bit of a problem for
Mark and me early this morning as we hadn’t really prepared for the icy bit.
We have a set of polyethylene dock steps to get us from the dock to the deck
and they were covered in ice and on the side of the boat hidden from morning
sun. The first thing I do every morning is get up and go up to the club
house to the bathrooms to do morning ablutions. I tried stepping out in my
Birkenstocks and came right back in. I put on my boots with good treads and
tried again. No luck. I could tell if I stepped out I could possibly slide
into the water. No thanks! So I got a container of kosher salt and
sprinkled it all over the dock steps and the dock as far as I could. It
took about an hour, but the salt worked and we were able to step on to the
dock and walk very gingerly up the ramp to the car. We were headed to
Hyannis to do a little shopping and we added de-icing salt to our list. We
went to Home Depot and bought calcium chloride pellets that are slightly
less harmful to plants and the aquatic environment than plain old rock salt
(sodium chloride). Neither is good but we really have no alternative unless
we just stay on the boat during icy weather. We can shovel when there is
more snow, but this morning’s snow had already turned to ice by the time we
got up. The forecast for tomorrow is 100 per cent chance of precipitation
calling for 4-6 inches of snow and ice pellets. I had planned to ask Jed if
we could borrow a snow shovel, but I forgot. So if we can’t get out
tomorrow morning, we’ll have to call Jed and have him bring a shovel and dig
us out! Oh, the joys of winter. Sam is all excited because he thinks “the
sky” is sending him snow for his birthday. There was a big snow during the
night leading up to the morning of his birth and it looks like we are going
to have a repeat for his 5th birthday tomorrow. Since Heather doesn’t get
home until early Sunday morning and Sam’s birthday party is on Sunday
afternoon, we are downplaying the actual birthday tomorrow, but “the sky” is
honoring his true birthday and bringing him the gift of snow.
It was so cute today when Sam talked about “the sky” bringing him snow. And
then I read Jo’s latest Facebook entry.
Ziggy: Mummy, won’t you get me a glass of water with a straw?
Jo: Can you say the magic word? (meaning “please”)
Ziggy said: Abracadabra!
After spending time with Ziggy over the holidays, I think what he really
said was more like “Abadaba”, but close enough and just too cute.
 |
| From 120120 Day 73 Cape Cod, USA–First Snow |
