This Side Up

The heart grows fonder with each snowy date

John Howell
Posted 3/3/15

OK, you’re going to think I’ve lost it, but I’ve fallen in love this winter.

Like the rest of you, I’ve had enough snow and heard too many times how this February rivaled the all-time …

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This Side Up

The heart grows fonder with each snowy date

Posted

OK, you’re going to think I’ve lost it, but I’ve fallen in love this winter.

Like the rest of you, I’ve had enough snow and heard too many times how this February rivaled the all-time record for the coldest February. I know it’s cold when Carol checks the outdoor thermometer before the sun rises and joyfully reports it’s 18 degrees, a good 15 degrees warmer than it was the morning before.

That sounds funny, but she’s serious. Temperatures in the teens are a veritable heat wave. And you know it’s time to break out the shorts and the t-shirts when the thermometer climbs into the 30s.

That’s just what I saw a week ago Sunday when the sun appeared; the ice canyons of the neighborhood started to melt (yes, there were puddles of water in place of ice) and, at least in one case, I spotted a man in shorts washing his car. That was a spring tease. The freeze came back and, as we know from this past Sunday, so did the snow.

That gets me to my love affair.

The object of my affection has a wonderful disposition. Her purr can warm your heart on the coldest of days or nights, and there’s nothing quite like her surefootedness even when the dance floor is a sheet of ice and you’re sliding all over the place.

Unlike others that have preceded her, she is remarkably even-tempered and never temperamental. You might say she’s all business, and in some respects you’d be right. She does her job and she’s there when you need her.

But this winter has been extraordinary, and my appreciation, just by the sheer nature of what we’ve had to go through, runs deeper than gratitude.

It’s love.

How else can I describe the feeling when it’s 15 degrees, blowing 25 and she’s ready to go? Sure, there are a few coughs as we get started, but who wouldn’t be grumpy when woken up and pushed outside and into the snow? Then she settles down. She’s ready.

I can feel the throb of her engine, and I know she’s anxious to go on a date.

That’s the way I had hoped it would be, but until this winter there was no way of knowing.

When she left Sears and became a family member five or six years ago, we had occasional dates. Our encounters were an hour at most and I never got to really know what she was capable of. In fact, I even found myself wondering if she was a mistake, whether I had been seduced by her glossy red attire, knobby feet and swan-like neck that moved so gracefully from side to side.

Was this an extravagance? What was I thinking? With global warming and the history of Rhode Island winters, other than 1978, would we ever progress beyond the casual date?

This winter has changed everything. We get to go out two and even three times a week. She never drinks too much, and at today’s costs she’s really a cheap date.

She’s taught me things I’ve never dreamed possible, like the spin. You see, I learned when it comes to dancing she leads, but you take control. That may sound contradictory, but it’s useless to push or fight her. In that respect, she has a mind of her own.

On the other hand, with a gentle pat to the left or right, she’ll take you there. And if it’s more than a pat, a firm grip, she’ll spin right around and head in the opposite direction. The same is true for that swan-like neck. It’s easily positioned and effortlessly, even in those drifts that dwarf her, she’ll push on. Admittedly, when the going gets tough, her purr deepens, and you might say she growls. She’s never stopped, and she doesn’t mind going out to the same places time and again. She just keeps throwing snow.

Now that it’s March, it looks like she won’t even get a spring break. My girl is not complaining.

How many of us are like that?

See what I mean?

There’s so much to love.

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  • mthompsondc

    Nice ode to a snowblower!

    Saturday, March 7, 2015 Report this