For over a week, I’d been keeping an eye on yesterday’s weather forecast that showed snowfall lasting all day long, Time to hunker in the bunker — snow day!
That’s not what happened. Oh, sure, we started seeing some flurries drifting down round about noon. I took our dog, Stella, out to romp a bit in the falling snow. I wanted a picture of her with snowflakes scattered across her black fur, so I snapped that while the snow was still falling lightly.
But then it stopped in less than an hour. We stayed cold all day, just over freezing, so that with overcast skies and the wind, it was bitter cold whenever you stepped outside — but no more snow fell.
It was no “snow day” despite what the phrase implies.
Not that I know what I’m talking in terms of “snow days” shutting down school. See, growing up in Houston, my entire history of “snow days” consisted of precisely one day in 1st grade after we got five inches of snow.
Me & my brother with our new friend, Frosty (1961)
I vaguely remember staying home from school the next day. This black & white photo documents the one and only snowman my brother and I ever made when we were growing up. Not bad for a first — and only — attempt.
Well, I guess I had a week off from classes my freshman year in Austin, when snow delayed the spring semester at UT. “The winter of 3 snows,” as my brother called that snowy season of early 73.
But snow is rare in Austin. Mostly, Austin experiences ice storms. I will admit we lied to our son, Lucas, once when he was about 3 by telling him the sleet build-up in the backyard was snow. I figured (correctly, it turned out), it might be his only “snow” experience as a little kid. Why let a little technicality like the truth get in the way of a memory in the making?
Now, we live in Colorado, where snow is not rare. When folks hear “Colorado,” they immediately think of snowy mountains and ski slopes and (let’s admit it) the snowbound Overlook Hotel from “The Shining” — all icy scenes frozen solid in winter.
Not so, here in Cañon City, the “Climate Capital of Colorado.” We don’t get nearly as much snow as a lot of the rest of Colorado and what we do get generally melts off in a day or two at most. Actually, we were looking forward to getting some snow yesterday, as our local climate is notably arid and we’ll take our moisture however we can get it. Meanwhile, we hunkered down, ready for a slow, steady snowfall that never really showed up.
Despite the disappointing lack of the anticipated snow, however, I did take advantage of the weather to make some great chili — a Texas-style “bowl of red,” with NO beans, dammit!
Buller's back porch 