When I tell people I live in Colorado, one of the first things they always say is, “Gee, you must like snow,” or, “Betcha get a lot of snow there, huh?” Everyone in the country seems to think we all live in ski chalets in Aspen or Vail, when the reality is that the majority of us live in the High Plains Desert, with an emphasis on the desert, where we get only about as much snow as any northern tier city. I’d say the Denver area probably gets less snow than Buffalo, but more than Washington, D.C. I may be underestimating it–one reason the snow feels less oppressive here than it does in northeastern cities is that it’s very powdery and dry, and then the sun comes out and melts it all so we don’t have to shovel it all that often.
So, I present you with another photograph of Creepy Doll Head in the back garden late this afternoon, with a fresh cap of new snow! We’ve had about 8-10 inches here over the past 24 hours.
Oh, and one more thing, for all of you who live or play in ski towns: Can we please lose the Uggs? They’re SO 2003! They’re the Crocs of winter, and I’m sure they smell almost as bad.
Historiann 
I bet you were pleased you didn’t have to trek all the way to campus today.
LikeLike
My bus ride to campus took an hour longer than it should! (2 hrs, 15 mins.) That wasn’t as bad as the woman who sits next to me – she lives 15 minutes from campus, and it took her 1 hr 45 minutes to make it in! Stupid rush hour.
(I do really like the snow, though.)
LikeLike
Hi, Historiann! In the Northeast, we have not had much snow, yet. Today we had lots and lots of rain. It’s also cold. In my apartment, it’s 58. I have, like my beloved Concrete University, implemented an “Energy Savings Initiative.”
Oh, one last thing, lay-off the Crocs! I love my Crocs. They’re sooooo comfy and stylish. Plus they’re great to dance in!
LikeLike
NK, what a drag. Here’s hoping your commute is less miserable tomorrow (if in fact you have to do it.) As Mary suggests, I didn’t actually have to shovel out to drive to campus today!
And, Ortho: Crocs for dancing? I don’t think I want to ask what kind of dancing happens in those shoes…
LikeLike
Here in Transaltoonia we had real snow on the ground at Thanksgiving, but it’s mostly gone by now. We get a lot of what I call Jimmy Stewart/department store window snow. It’s much like the powdery and dry stuff you describe, Historiann, and it derives from the very easternmost reach of Lake Erie’s lake effect capacity. But I don’t think it melts as much as it just evaporates, even overnight or when there’s no sunlight. It’s one of the few things I like better about here than in Philadelphia. Heading there tomorrow, in fact.
The backyard doll looks like she’s wearing a snow hat rather than snow itself. Philadelphia’s window-box Barbies got harvested last month, along with the tangle of greenery they had been hiding in for the last few months. Hopefully they’re inside somewhere and that the urban farmer on Rittenhouse Sq. Street replants when it’s spring again.
LikeLike
I both do and do not miss the way the Colorado snow so often comes in great stacks of eight inches, twelve inches, twenty-eight inches. Nothing like shoveling two feet of snow out of the drive before you can move the car! And nothing like lazy neighbors who fail to shovel their sidewalks, either. I’m sure that was never you, Historiann!
LikeLike
Tom, we don’t have sidewalks in our 1950s neighborhood–just legendarily wide streets! People are really egregious about not shoveling in my town. I think they take their cues from the city, whose “snow removal plan” is sunshine plus everyone owning their own 4×4 or pickup truck.
However, I appreciate the attention paid to shoveling the sidewalks in parks. That’s nice for runners and walkers.
LikeLike
I love the snow- when I can stay inside. I find the 4×4 ego comes out and people drive like idiots. I counted all the cars on the side of the road and almost all of them were SUVs- people don’t realize ice treats us all the same and trucks do particularly poorly because they have no weight on their back end. Anyway I was nearly hit by a truck going too fast (he ended up all over the road, across the median and stopped just short of oncoming traffic on the other side). Don’t folks realize a big car means you can get around in snow easier- not that you can drive as fast as usual?
LikeLike
Yes, when you’re not in 4-wheel drive, friends, you’re in 4-wheel brake. And in this state, we obey the laws of physics. I’m glad that you weren’t hit, Nicole–and that the truck driver didn’t go into oncoming traffic!
I just got a phone call that a friend of a friend rolled his truck this morning. He’s not critically injured, but he has a broken nose and some bruises. The lack of plowing around here means that there are bad icy patches before the roads warm up in the morning, and I think that’s what got him.
LikeLike