Sick of Winter

I am officially sick of winter. OK, I've been sick of it for a while now. But my longing for warm weather is reaching epic proportions! And spring is yet a long way off.

It snowed last night....again. It seems that happens every day or two. Sometimes it snows in the daytime and sometimes overnight. But it snows.....and snows.....and snows. Which makes life pretty complicated. We live on a steep mountain road at an elevation of about 3600 feet. Yes, we chose to live here in this remote location. And in the four years we have lived here, we haven't really had a problem. But this year is far from normal. The snow started early and comes often. It hasn't melted away. The gravel road has been plowed so many times that there is no gravel left, which is a problem. No traction. Just ice on the packed down places.

Last Friday, after we had decided not to go to Columbia, Al decided he would go to town and get a few groceries since we (he) hadn't done any grocery shopping in anticipation of a weekend out of town. He made it about halfway down the hill in front of our house before he hit ice and ended up in the ditch. So he walked home, up a very steep hill, in the snow. He should get 4-wheel drive, you say. He has 4-wheel drive. It doesn't help.

I have rarely been off this mountain since mid-December. That is partly due to surgery and recovery. But it has a lot to do with the weather. Even if we could get the car down the mountain, there's always the possibility of getting stuck or ending up in the ditch. And in my current post-ankle-surgery state, I am not able to walk home, up a hill in the snow. So I stay home. And watch it snow. And wonder what's going on in the rest of the world.

In other cold weather climates where we have lived, specifically Minnesota and Colorado, the day after snow usually means bright blue sky. That is not the case here. Even on the rare days when we have seen sun, it's in a partly-cloudy (or partly-sunny, depending on your point of view) sky. And while I have been glad to see the sun on those few-and-far-between-days, it has never in all these weeks been for an entire day or in a cloud-free sky. Mostly what I see when I look out the window is gray. "Naked" trees (no leaves), nothing with any color at all, gray sky, fog, and snow-covered ground.

The snow-covered ground is pretty on the occasional moments when sun shines on it. And the view out my window occasionally reminds me of an Ansel Adams picture. But mostly I'm very tired of gray. Very tired of snow. Very tired of cold. Very tired of winter.

Yes, I know we chose to move here. We chose to live in this remote location. It was a conscious choice to leave Florida and move to the mountains. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Lately, I've really been questioning that decision. Maybe my attitude will change once spring comes, and I'm sure it will come......eventually.

But right now, I'm just sick of winter!