How Much Have You Seen?

view from our front door, looking across to the neighbor's house which we can barely see

Earlier this season I posted a photo of snow on our deck. I inserted a 12-inch ruler, and it was almost completely immersed in snow. My friend, T, from Texas, said that was more snow than she has seen in her whole life. It got me to thinking about how much snow I have seen.

I lived my first 2&1/2 years in Panama, so that snow total is easy: zero. But from age 2&1/2 to now, age 57, I have lived in Minnesota. Many of those years were extremely snowy. I think it was 1968, when we had an exchange student from Australia at my high school, we had lots of heavy snowstorms that year, and snow piles in our yard were taller than I am. (I'm 5'8".) We had ten snow days from school that year! TEN! That is a LOT! I actually had forgotten that, but when our exchange student came back for a visit several years later, she told me it had been ten snow days (the first and last year she ever experienced snow days).

So I did some figuring... Minnesota gets an average of 50 inches of snow per year (more or less, depending on how far north or south one lives). I have experienced 55 years of Minnesota snowfalls. If every year was average, that means I've seen 2750 inches of snow or 229 feet. That doesn't seem like nearly enough! That's not even a quarter mile! I truly expected the number to be higher than that.

Here's what our yard looks like so far this year (with more snow predicted for tomorrow). The piles are so high, we are wondering where to put any more snow. When it gets this high, it's hard to lift the shovel high enough to throw the next shovelful up there.



the same view at a different time of year

See our mailbox? It's almost buried! It actually is sort of nice, because when one inserts the key and opens it, the door flops all the way down. With the snow there, it holds the door open at a good angle and doesn't cause it to flop so far. (I stuck today's mail in the snow so I could step back and take the photo.)



Ah, the joys of Minnesota snow! And look at the gorgeous day... I took these pictures today. The sun is out, the sky is a gorgeous blue, and the snow is beautiful. It even felt a little mild today. I didn't zip up my jacket.

Today I'm not complaining. I do love Minnesota and winter!

I'm thankful for:
1) beautiful sun, blue sky, and snow!
2) a garage in which to park my car
3) warm socks
4) soup on a cold day; it warms me from the inside out
5) having my knitting fixed; I can stay inside by the fireplace and knit happily