snowed in

[moominmolly]

When I was growing up, I always wanted to get snowed in. I lived in central Maine, so we got plenty of snow, but only people in Alaska and the Yukon got to be "snowed in". Them, and people at ski lodges in sitcoms. In my mind, in order to be snowed in, you had to see a wall of snow when you opened the door. Snow had to be piling up around your windows, making it impossible to see the world outside. If you were snowed in, you could make a snowfort in your front yard, and you wouldn't even need to use a snowbank to get enough height for the ceiling. It would be the kind of snow you could lose cars in, and not find them for weeks. We didn't get that kind of snow.

One year, my aunt and uncle came to visit us at Christmas from southern Virginia. We had a gigantic blizzard on the 26th, and so we all bundled into the car to go see a movie. My parents had both grown up in the south, and wanted to prove that dammit, in MAINE people didn't just roll over and play helpless when it snowed! The roads are mostly plowed, so what's a piddling little foot of snow? LIFE GOES ON, because we are TOUGH. Of course, we were the only people in the theater. My dad always used to grill steaks outside in the worst snowstorms, too. I learned that if you had wool socks on and it was cold enough, you could walk out to the end of the driveway and back in your sock feet: as long as you didn't dawdle, the snow wouldn't melt enough to get your feet wet. I never ever ever got to be snowed in.

Anyway, here I am, snowed in, and the snow probably doesn't even come to my knees. It's easy to shovel, too -- so light and powdery, it's the kind of snow that you have to be sure to throw downwind so it doesn't fly up in your face in a big puff. Shoveling snow like that is simple. It feels like cheating. The walkway is shoveled; maybe not masterfully, but it's walkable. We got a foot of snow, the roads look gross, and I just don't feel like bothering.

And so, in my dotage, it occurs to me that "snowed in" isn't just a phrase people use humorously when they really mean "I don't want to leave the house because it's gross out". It actually means that. It means "the roads are awful", or "I'm not going to shovel right now", or "I really don't want to lose my parking space to some yahoo". It means "there's so much snow that really, it's much more convenient to stay inside and watch a movie." The effort and preparation required to go out into the world just increased for everyone all at once; thus, we are all snowed in together. But, um, separately, and mostly just because we can't be bothered to go out, because if you think about it, when was the last time you curled up on your couch with a mug of cocoa and a comfort movie?

Comments

[entrope.livejournal.com]

Having grown up in Caribou, I kind of scoff at these so-called snowstorms as well - especially when I lived in Texas. One inch! Everything closes for two days! HAH!

However, I found myself unable to bear the thought of driving my daughter back to Auburn today. Four wheel drive and heated seats be damned, it just sounded like "snowed in" to me too. Except for the part where we didn't have everything we needed for roast pork and potato scallop and needed to see the pink panther - then we went out. But I refuse to tell my ex-husband about that part.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

My mom actually was snowed in like that once when growing up (in northern NH). She has pictures. It was up to the roof over the porch. They dug a tunnel to the road.

By the way, she only remembers school being cancelled once in her childhood, and it wasn't then. It was when it was 40 below and all the pipes froze.

[elvendoll.livejournal.com]

I remember the year my father learned the value of removing screen doors for the winter: a snowstorm dumped 2 feet of snow over Worcester, and there were screen doors that opened out on both exits of the house; the snow piled up to the doors made them impossible to open. That's always struck me as a great definition of snowed in.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

"Snowed in" also means "too many idiots on the roads" who think that SUVs can defy the laws of physics and can stop on ice just as fast as on dry roads.

[fanw.livejournal.com]

There's a picture of my dad I'm fond of from the 70s when we lived in upstate New York. There was quite a snowstorm and he's out there with a dowel rod trying to find his car!

But yes, here I'm rather dissapointed at how prepared the city is for a foot or two of snow. I did enjoy walking down a quiet unplowed bike path, being passed by a woman in skis, but nothing would beat getting a snowday from work.

I will sip my hot cocoa and you can sip yours and we'll be sipping cocoa together!

[oakenguy.livejournal.com]

Central Maine as in Dover-Foxcroft?

I was spoiled by the surprise April blizzard of '97 or '98...it's just not a real storm if there isn't an abandoned bus parked diagonally in the middle of Boylston Street.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Well, no. As in Bangor, though.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

Hm. For us, a foot of snow really does mean "snowbound", since we can't get the cars out till Plow Guy arrives (up to 24 hours after a major snowfall) and walking to anywhere resembling a town would take hours. :}

[dcart.livejournal.com]

This is one of those times when I'm truly glad not to live in the Boston area anymore. Frost on the windows is harsh enough for me these days.

I was once snowed in like that: January 1978. It was our first winter in northern Indiana and we got what I'm sure was the biggest blizzard of my lifetime in the area.

[cruiser.livejournal.com]

I grew up in Upstate NY in an area subject to Lake Effect snowstorms (http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/t/p/tph134/WxComm2/six.htm). My hometown has an average season snowfall of about 170" per year. When we said "snowed in" we meant that there were snowdrifts blocking the doors of the house. When this happened, we went out an upstairs window and shoveled a path to the door.

[cruiser.livejournal.com]

The description of Lake Effect snow is about two-thirds of the way down the linked page, and my hometown is in the magenta area at the eastern end of Lake Ontario.

[cruiser.livejournal.com]

Does this happen more than a couple times a year? If so, I'd recommend getting a plow for one of your vehicles. Where I come from, at least a couple people living on roads like yours have plows.

[leeble.livejournal.com]

I also lived in Cruiser's hometown for a while, and remember definitely being snowed in as in only being able to get out an upstairs window. I remember my mom walking me through 3 feet of snow to school because even though the radio was out there wasn't any reason for them to cancel school.