Snowy Days in Northern New York

The snow here in this part of the country is legendary. Stories of the the hardships of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 are common in the history lessons at school. When anyone in the military hears they are being assigned to Fort Drum, New York their first fear is... The Snow! But here we are, in the middle of it all. It's a bit exciting, and already exhausting. The almost daily shoveling can be a bit much.

Why so much snow, people ask? Yes, lots of states in the country get snow. But when you live in an area where it rains for much of the spring, summer and fall, it only makes sense that it snows the entire winter. There isn't a dry season here. There isn't even a week in the year where there's no precipitation of some kind. Well, unless those historic below freezing temps kick in, and then it's just too cold to snow. That's a whole different kind of suffering. The constant precipitation comes from the "lake effect" weather systems off Lake Ontario. So the most common phrase on the news right now is... "there's another 'lake effect' storm watch for the following counties..."

The snow can be beautiful. It's soft, fluffy, sparkly, and when there is no wind it sits so nicely on the trees. It can also be trouble. Like last night when I agreed to substitute for another gymnastics teacher who couldn't make it to work. I drive a half hour up and down a pretty windy, hilly country road to work. It was especially fun when I slid the entire length down a rather large hill. A small mountain, I'd venture to say. My 4x4 truck didn't take that hill as well as I'd hoped. It barrels through the city streets like mad, though! My half hour trip took more than 45 minutes. Not too bad, but I was still late. Coming home was even less of a picnic. After being at work for 3 hours, none of the roads had been plowed. All that snow just kept piling up.

Northern New Yorkers all seem to take this in stride. This is their life. For 5 months out of the year it *is* going to be colder than, well... you know. And for those 5 months there *is* going to be so much snow that you will likely lose your small dogs and children in it. The schools rarely close for even a foot of snow. Our town got about 8 to 10 inches last night, and the buses were right on time this morning. The plows work double over time, and the bus drivers know how to get around in this stuff. That comes with the (sometimes) burden of living here.

This is what we woke up to this morning. Here is a picture of the boys down at the bus stop.
Across the street there is an old church that someone has converted in to a house. And I like taking pictures of Husband doing all the work!
The little candy canes I have in the front yard are almost covered up. Poor little guys! I wondered why NO ONE up here puts outdoor Christmas decorations in their front yards. Now I know! You never see it!
They do look pretty all covered with snow, though :) This picture was taken last week from my front door. We got a lot of snow, and then it got very very cold so the moisture was sucked from the snow. I'd rather have the fluffy stuff!