The shortest day of the year has arrived. That means that from here on the days will be getting a little bit longer until June 21st when the process heads the other way for half a year. Here in the north we notice the long nights and short days, so the turn is welcome. Like last year, we have winter weather to remind us of the season, even though today is the first day of winter in the astronomical calendar.

I’m a bit stiff in my shoulders today. It isn’t painful stiff. It isn’t “Oh, I wish I hadn’t jumped (or fallen or lifted) stiff. It’s just plain, I did work that I used to do all the time, but haven’t done for a while stiff. We woke to about two feet of fresh powder yesterday and I spread out the chore of shoveling out the driveway into two or three sessions. It was the first time in three years that I have missed the snowblower that we sold before moving from South Dakota. Even so, the fact that I shoveled our driveway makes our house stand out in the neighborhood. Folks around here mostly subscribe to the “wait until it melts” theory of snow removal. That amount of snow pretty much had things shut down. Our church usually uses the public schools as a measurement of whether or not to close the office. The schools, however, are on Christmas break, so they didn’t have to make a decision. Someone at the church, however, decided that since the Public Libraries of the county were all closed due to snow, our church office should be closed for the day. Appropriate notices went out by email and on social media and we worked from home.

We never felt snowed in. We could have driven anywhere we wanted to go in our pickup, which is a 4-wheel-drive with plenty of ground clearance. Our car is all wheel drive, but pretty close to the ground and could have gotten hung up on drifts and places where the snow isn’t packed down. However, we had no place to go and so didn’t go anyplace. It was a pleasant day for us.

The wind has continued to blow during the night, so there will be some snow that has drifted back into the driveway, but it won’t be the challenge that shoveling out yesterday was.

After our afternoon meetings, Susan and I went for a walk. It was slow going. People in this neighborhood don’t shovel their sidewalks, so we walked in the street. There wasn’t much traffic and the few cars that had made their way on the streets had packed down tracks where it was much easier to walk than pushing a couple of feet of snow.

Susan remembers a time when we were dating or newly wed when we were visiting my home town during a winter snowstorm. We walked down the middle of the street because the going was easier there than where the sidewalks were. She remembers the walk as being romantic and special. She was from the city, though the definition of city is different in Montana than in more populated places. They wouldn’t consider walking down the middle of the street because there was too much car traffic to make it safe to do so. In a small town, however, there is no problem with walking in the street. We only had to step out of the street for one car during our walk yesterday and it was going very slow, so we had plenty of time. I don’t remember that walk with Susan. We’ve had lots of walks and I guess walking in the middle of the street wasn’t anything special or unusual for me. I’m sure romance was in the air, however. I’ve felt a special attraction to her and enjoyed walking hand in hand with her for a long time. It never gets old.

Even with the work of shoveling snow and the challenges of going for a walk when the streets are clogged with snow drifts, I realize that I am grateful for the change of seasons. Our daughter-in-law sent pictures of our grandchildren, who were enjoying the snow in many ways. One thing that entertained them was throwing seeds out of the sliding patio door onto the snow and watching the birds that gathered. They sent us a message asking to borrow our bird books and we’ll make sure that they have access to them. We’ve already completed our Christmas shopping, but a bird book for the family would have been a good choice had we thought of it earlier. There will be other occasions.

It wasn’t only a snow day in our county. The library in Mount Vernon was closed which meant that our son didn’t have to drive to work. They had a more laid back day without having the commute to take up its usual time. I watched the traffic cameras on the Internet and I am relieved that he didn’t have to drive. There were plenty of accidents and some had traffic backed up for long periods of time. In addition to his full-time job, he has been fighting the water system at the farm during this cold weather. Their house is functioning normally, but they occasionally have frozen valves or pipes in the barn and cows drink more water when it is cold than when the weather is warmer, so they need fresh water every day. On Monday, he was fighting a freeze up, but he discovered the location and was able to warm it with a torch and then install a lot more insulation, so yesterday there were no freeze-ups. Instead of taking hours to get the water to the cattle, it was accomplished as it should be in just a few minutes. He was celebrating the win, as the 15 degree weather was cold enough to test his fix for the problem.

As has been true since time immemorial, the weather impacts lives of real people. We have to make adjustments. We stay close to the home fires. We wait a bit more. I wouldn’t have it any other way.