{"id":1553,"date":"2015-02-27T09:25:07","date_gmt":"2015-02-27T15:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/?p=1553"},"modified":"2015-02-27T12:40:31","modified_gmt":"2015-02-27T18:40:31","slug":"it-was-the-perfect-snow-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/it-was-the-perfect-snow-day\/","title":{"rendered":"It Was The Perfect Snow Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Print this entry<\/a><\/p>

I finally got a snow day.<\/p>\n

About this time last year I wrote about wanting to get a snow day like most everybody else. It never happened, although twice classes were delayed a few hours at Kilgore College, where I was teaching journalism at the time. Both my daughter and Beautiful Mystery Companion got snow days, which made me a bit envious.<\/p>\n

When the first round of ice and snow hit town Monday, I had brought a suitcase and change of clothes with me, figuring the roads might be too treacherous to make the 55-mile drive home in the dark. They were, so I spent the night in a motel and was at work early the next morning. But I went home Tuesday\u00a0night and awoke at 5:30 to the sound of rain. OK, maybe the predicted snow is not coming. I checked the weather forecasts and saw it was snowing heavily in Mount Pleasant. Within minutes the rain here changed to heavy snow, adding to the few inches of white stuff still on the ground from the first storm. It quickly became clear before sunrise that driving to work was not a good idea.<\/p>\n

So, snow day it was!<\/p>\n

I really don\u2019t remember the last time I had a snow day. Best I can recall it was in college at Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, because I have a photo somewhere I shot with my old Speed Graphic of a snow-covered creek bisected by a small waterfall. All those decades spent working at newspapers meant I ended up working even longer than usual during snowy or icy weather. We still had to get out a newspaper, and I was usually the fellow in charge, so I had to be there. <\/span><\/p>\n

Snow days in New Hampshire were rare, since those Yankees are used to snow. It takes a genuine wind-whipping snowdrift-building blizzard to shut down schools \u2014 of which several have hit my old haunts this winter. But I am someone who can truthfully say that \u201cI walked to school in the snow, and it was uphill both ways.\u201d I trudged up Valley Street and then down Granite Street to the Allenstown Elementary school, which was a half-mile away. After school, I walked up Granite and down Valley to home. <\/span><\/p>\n

Google Maps is useful for confirming memory. I used the street view to retrace my route to school. What was our family home from the late 1950s until we moved to Texas in 1968 looks totally different now \u2014 more than twice as big as the tiny place we called home, which probably was not 800 square feet. The Courtemanche home next door looks much the same. It is occupied by James Courtemanche, a grandson of our next-door neighbors. My brother Scott and I were close to James and his brother, Bruce, who is my age and lives down the hill from the elementary school we all attended. I visit Bruce every five years or so, and am about due for a return trip.<\/span><\/p>\n

We spent snow days doing what we did after school and weekends \u2014 building elaborate forts out of snowbanks, sledding down hills, ice skating at the outdoor rink the St. John the Baptist Catholic Church set up each year. Seems like we lived outdoors at that age, no matter the weather. I have definitely lost the desire to shovel snow on a regular basis, though this week\u2019s storm was a lovely break from our typical dreary, wet winters. <\/span><\/p>\n

By mid-morning Wednesday, my Beautiful Mystery Companion dragged out an inner tube from the cache of swimming pool toys, and we walked up the hill from our house. The snow was wet and heavy \u2014 perfect snowball material. She got on her stomach across the tube, arms and legs outstretched. I pushed from the bottom of her boots and we plowed a wake down the hill. Then we changed places, and it was my turn to go \u201csledding,\u201d albeit briefly. I tossed a few snowballs and then headed inside.<\/span><\/p>\n

In previous years, I would have been fretting about the paper, but I have competent help \u2014 and modern technology. I have prepared for the day I might not be able to get here to help get out the paper. I installed the page layout software on my Mac, set up a cloud drive on which my co-workers could put the photos and stories I needed. So, wearing my slippers, sweatpants and tattered sweatshirt, my legs covered in a throw and Pandora radio playing in the background, I designed the front page, occasionally looking out the study window at the snow-covered tree limbs. <\/span><\/p>\n

All in all, it was a pretty perfect snow day. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Print this entry<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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