Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

By: L.A. Kohl
December 10, 2006
(published in the Dec. 13, 2006 edition of the Bullseye)

It’s been stated over and over again in the days following the recent big snowstorm, but bear with me as I say it once more...we haven’t experienced a snow like that in a looonnnggg time! So, is it any wonder that a few unusual sights and sounds have occurred since then? I thought I’d take a moment out of my busy holiday schedule and share a few with you…

For instance, snow cream (or snow ice cream – depending on what you choose to call it). That’s usually a once a year occurrence around here, if we’re lucky. However, after November 30, we enjoyed it once or twice a day for several days. And for you deprived souls who have no idea of what I’m talking about – the next time we get a fresh snowfall, go get a big bowlful of it (no yellow stuff, please!) and just start adding milk, sugar and tablespoons of vanilla until it reaches a taste and consistency that is yummy!

One of the funniest sights here at our place during those first few days was that of a little red-headed, three year old boy snowboarding down our 100+ yard long slope; which, during the rest of the year, serves as a large portion of our driveway – but for now, it’s working better as a slope. For all of you winter Olympic fans, we call him our little Flying Tomato in training. After one exuberant afternoon of snowboarding, he came in the house to inform me that, “When I fall down, I get snow all in my face – it’s SO fun!”

Coming in a close second place to that fun “flying tomato” sight was yesterday morning’s sight of a forty-something year old man on his sled, starting at the top of the “slope” (which now, a week after the snowfall, highly resembles an ice rink.) He wanted to see if he could make it all the way from the house to the highway, with one push-off; about a quarter of a mile all total. The mail delivery lady that happened to be paused on the highway, wondering how in the world she was ever going to deliver our package up the driveway/slope/ice rink, was very happy to see this whooping and hollering maniac come flying all the way to the highway (with only a couple of near misses with a Suburban and a power pole!)

Perhaps one of the strangest, yet most non-eventful occurrences happened on Sunday, December 3rd. It was just a phone call. And since everyone else was out playing in the snow, I took the call, and thus had the unusual opportunity to inform the principal of Rock Bridge High school about the conditions of our roads out here in rural Harrisburg.

They were debating the big question – do we have school tomorrow or don’t we – and since Rock Bridge has a teacher or two out this way, the principal simply thought he would call to see how the roads were in our area. (Trust me, if you knew who the principal was, you wouldn’t be so surprised that he called.) I didn’t think too much of it while I was talking to him, but after I hung up, I couldn’t resist proudly going out to announce to my husband, “Hey, the Columbia public school system just wanted my opinion about whether or not they should have school tomorrow!”

Okay, okay…so I exaggerated that a little bit, but as a stay-at-home mom I get very few chances at claims to fame – so I really have to play it up big when a mere semblance of importance occurs.
Thus, I anxiously await the next fifteen inch snowfall, even though it might be another 20 years in the making. Perhaps by then, the president will want my inside opinion about rural, mid-Missouri road conditions.