A Fine Whine

Another snowy weekend and I can hear all the adults whining about the weather. Don't you remember, when you were a kid and snow was fun? Remember the snow fort you built? You and the kids on your side of the street would build one, the kids from the other side of the street would build one, and then you'd go to war. Snow balls would fly and nobody would stop until the sun went low on the horizon, and snot was running down your nose onto your muffler. There might be a stop in the action when the other side would start using ice balls instead of snow balls. This was considered bad form and would require the youngest fighter to run inside and snitch to Mom. 

Back in my time side streets were only minimally plowed and there was no such thing as salting the road. So the snow would get packed down hard and form a nice icy glaze. This allowed for the hugely popular pastime of skitching a ride. When a slow moving car came down the street the bravest kids would run out and grab onto the rear bumper and "skitch" a ride. Even better than a car were the school buses. They had a higher bumper and allowed you to almost stand up straight as the bus took off down the street. Yes, skitching was pure fun, unless you hit a patch of bare pavement.

Our sledding hill was down in the woods near our house. It was almost straight up and down, about fifty feet high, and was lined on either side with trees that only the most unlucky would slam into....  Okay, maybe it wasn't fifty feet high, wasn't straight up and down, but the trees were there and once in awhile some poor sap would hit one.

So adults, quit the whining about winter and the snow. And stop watching the television weather people. Watching them only makes you think about the snow, the cold, and the long winter. I don't once remember thinking about any of those things when I was a kid. It was just winter and we did winter things. So go outside and do some winter things. Besides, before you know it you'll be retired from work and won't have to go out in that weather. You can just sit inside watching Fox News and playing cards on the computer, or whatever it is old people do.