Hey, you're a Michigan girl -- you know what that white shit is.

Always remember the first rule of winter survival -- don't eat the yellow snow. ;-)

I was born in Michigan, but destined for a warmer climate!

Here's the one I like every year: Diary Of A Snow Shoveler

A friend of mine was out in Idaho a few years ago and he kept finding all these nice houses for sale with great views and lots of land. They were going cheap. He asked a local about it. The local says that all these people come up from southern states to the local tourist trap. Then they see these great places and build/buy. After the first winter -- they're like "Oh, crap! Snow!" and then sell.

That's exactly what happened to us Jim P, in 1991. Except we stayed, and every winter I ask myself "why?".

Thanks Amy! I never thought you would make my SUV famous!

PS- This photo is down in town- up in the mountains they got roughly double this amount. And that photo was about 14 hours of overnight snow.

Took an hour to get out of my driveway this morning and I'm back out there shoveling again.

Honestly though, I fucking love it. Not to say that I don't love Portland, where the snow is usually something you can visit when you want to, but Michigan is in my blood. The six year old has been so fucking geeked about the snow that it makes every shovel full seem half what it really weighs.

It's incredibly beautiful, but it's OK that Eric had to clean it off, and not me.

A favorite memory of that stuff is how it made the world audibly different... Not so much noise in the air, and different noise when you finally heard something.

I understand entirely Crid, though believe me, there is plenty of noise in the air in my 'hood. They actually closed schools today, so the noise is actually a snow dulled roar. Dull roar to which my own is making no small contribution.

I'm fucking loving it. Especially as I just don't care how much more comes down, I'm not shoveling again today - playing only for the rest of the day. I get to go sledding in an hour, if I can get the boy to come in for lunch....

I'll think of you while I'm whizzing down the hill, trying not to break mine, my son's or the neighbor boy's neck....

Amy,

I want to thank you for Hear0s Xtreme on December 15th blog.

I was having trouble sleeping lately waking up in the middle of the night by the sound of noisy old furnace constantly running due to cold weather.

With Hear0s, I cannot even hear my alarm clock in the morning. So, I am going to buy a louder alarm clock tonight.

Thanks again.

In Boston working...eye doc canceled my 4 PM appointment because they want to send the office staff home early. How quaint. That would never happen at my job.

The snow just started falling here and it's expected to pile up quickly - several inches/hour. I am sticking to walking today. Wore my big kid boots and Eskimo-like jacket. It's kinda exciting walking through the city during a snowstorm. Everyone's cars are swirling around in circles and you just keep putting along. Doo doo doo.

Re the insight: today I saw a prius with Spikes Spiders cruising along in the snow with the rest of us subarus. What's it like 5 hours to Mammoth?

The good news about the bad economy is that you no longer have to shovel your own snow. Yesterday I saw a cardboard sign, "Electrician needs work, willing to shovel snow."

My favorite thing about snow is driving in it at night. The windsheild becomes the Millenium Falcon just as it makes the jump to light speed.

Idaho story:

My neighbors across the street are both dying of cancer. The snow plows left a five foot berm in front of everyones house. I promised to keep their driveway clear this winter, so I trudged off to do so right after my last post. Within 10 minutes two teenage boys in the neighborhood were helping, and they never asked for a dime. By the time we finished we had four neighbor kids digging them out. I don't think any of these kids even knows the dying couple.

What's the perfume today Gretchen?

Eric, today I needed some comfort. I grabbed some Les Nereides Fleur Poudree de Musc over which I'll layer some of my Clair de Musc (Serge Lutens).

My second choice for today was Geisha Noire. But in the end, powdery musk was the only thing that could warm me up. Scentually speaking. When I get home I think I'll reach for a different kinda bottle...some dark red. Probably pinot.

Thank you for asking :-)

Gretchen,

I want you to know that you got some competitions out there and you will have to better than that.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2008-12-18-burger-king-spray_N.htm

Whew! I just got in from shoveling the driveway - I left home at 8:30 this morning to go shopping, and when I got back, about 1, it was really coming down - and we're on the shore and supposedly getting 4 to 8 inches of the fluffy white. I'm almost done with the Xmas shopping thing, got a couple more things to get, but I'll have to wait until tomorrow! I'll have to go out one more time today, to pick up my mom. (She brought my dad to the dr.'s this morning, and they're admitting him to the hospital - he's not doing so well. Good thing the hospital is, like, a 1/4 of a mile away!) I don't want her driving in this. I paid a couple of the neighborhood lads to shovel their walk and driveway, but I'm pretty sure it's all covered up and them some. At least I've got 4-wheel drive! o.O

"I grabbed some Les Nereides Fleur Poudree de Musc over which I'll layer some of my Clair de Musc (Serge Lutens). "

Am I the only guy who likes Eau De Lightly Perspiring Girl on the nape of the neck? Not gym sweat, just girl-on-a-warm-day stuff.
Seriously, some women just knock me out with that.

We should have a photoblog. Or Amy should have photo-comments

That sounds really yummy. I have no idea what it actually smells like, but it sure sounds good.

I wasn't sure of your clever wording so I just checked the weather and it's still well above freezing in L.A.!!!

If I may, I'd like to introduce a story from truly cold Vancouver. As you'll read, it combines:
- The cold winter weather
- Civil liberties
- How the Radical Left NEVER takes responsibility

It's truly a tragedy what happened here.

Where I live in Wisconsin, we were on the northern fringe of that storm that just swept across Iowa, southern Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana on its way to the East Coast. We got less than two inches. It impeded our travel so little that I didn't even plow the driveway, especially since we're due for another snow tomorrow and into the night. I'll just take care of the accumulation on Sunday morning.

So I took my dog to the game farm where I have a membership and hunted planted pheasants and wild grouse. Fun to do in a fresh snowfall because tracks show up well, so that my eyes can supplement the dog's nose for finding birds. We found some, too. Unfortunately, I was shooting normally (i.e. badly), so I came home with only one bird, a pheasant. Still, I had almost as much fun in the snow with my dog as DuWayne must have had in the snow with his kids.

Algore promised that there'd be no more winter if I didn't vote for him. So I voted for Bush.

I just got through scraping 10 inches of global warming off my driveway.

The dog had a blast in it this afternoon though.

Sledding was a fucking blast, but I have to admit wandering fields with a gun and a dog would have been pretty nice too. The six year old needs to get a little bigger before we go there though.

I'll have to settle for shooting a deer or two on the farm of a retired judge friend of my brother's. He apparently has too damned many and said he would be happy to get me extra tags if I shoot my limit (not bloody likely to happen, I have only so much freezer space, even with several friends to spread it around to)

Since someone raised Al Gore's name, I though you all might get a kick out of this.

Please note: Though it might sounds exactly like the Great Hero of the Environmental Lobbee [sic], it's actually a parody site.

We were stationed at Misawa Air Base on the northern tip of the Japanese island of Honshu. The AFN radio station ID went something like this: "Misawa Air Base, where the air is clear, the trees are green, and the snow's piled up to your butt!"

It wasn't quite as bad as the photo, but it could still get pretty deep. Finding our little white Honda sedan in the snowdrifts was a tough job. It was made even tougher due to half the people in our building owning little white sedans, too. (Oh, where did I park? Is this one mine? No? Keep digging!)

As long as we're talking about global warming, here's a Christmas gift: An hour with my intellectual hero. (Suddenly those posters of Camille Paglia in my room just seem so silly.) You only have to watch the first half hour to get the point. The second half is just him doing superhero work with smug Google Millionaires who've been totally seduced by the dark side of the force.

Notes:

1. He's incredibly patient. Incredibly patient. Incredible. Don't know how he does it.

2. In the year since this was recorded, he made a few revisions to this speech. Reason magazine has a a sample from last month.

3. Yes, I've posted it before.

In my next place I will ensure that I have a parking spot. Snow emergency + no place to park but the street = really fucking annoying.

"Misawa Air Base, where the air is clear, the trees are green, and the snow's piled up to your butt!" I love it.

When we first moved to Wisconsin, the meteorologist at the TV station where we watched the news was right clever. One night he introduced a forecast calling for 25 degrees below zero with, "Well, folks, if you've got any brass monkeys out, you'll want to bring 'em in tonight."

Gretchen -

that's why one of my "must have" criteria when I bought this place was "2 car garage".

Go ahead and create it,it will definitely make you really feel better,when I do not care about other peoples minds I write pretty good stuff!and believe me..when somebody comes and inform you that he/she loved your book you'll really feel like "God"!and also,who cares if someone have already wrote a book with exactly the same issue,you're a completely different individual and I'm certain what you are about to create will be special!good luck!