Attack on Snow
Every winter, an insidious enemy hiding in plain sight attacks our cities. At least that is what our local politicians want us to believe…that snow is a stoppable enemy whose attack we can assail with taxpayer dollars and back breaking labor. Most snow storms follow a predictable pattern. The major meteorologists disagree until 24 hours before the “event,” at which time local news has near hourly coverage of the preparation of the salt soldiers, ready with their tanks and hand to hand assault weapons. The news teams attempt to warn us what time the battle will commence before giving neighborhood briefings as to the damages. If this isn’t a war, I don’t know what is.
The flakes in this latest attack started shortly before 11 a.m. eastern before progressing to full fledged white out conditions. The snow quickly took the upper hand turning roads to ice and trees to Ansel Adams photographs. The salt soldiers struck back with the mayor guaranteeing that 100% of city roads would be plowed at least once. Property owners, desperate to take back their asphalt and sidewalks, came out in droves. By the time I picked up Jake at 3 pm (after trudging a mile in snow up a hill…seriously), a few inches had successfully made it to the ground.
There are some who hate snow…who attack its very presence. I have one word for them. Florida. As for Jake and I, we had a great snowball fight. I got him to the ground and was bombarding him with snowballs as he laughed hysterically. A school bus driver rolled down her window and said, “that’s not fair.” I looked at her, the snowball in my hand and Jake on the ground. Jake and I laughed as my snowball hit its target. Snow 1. New York City 0.