Snow Days

When it snows in Western Oregon industry and travel comes to a screeching halt. Good snow days don’t happen often in my part of the world. And for Ducky it means a whole change of routine. Ducky works in a truck stop some 80 miles away from heaven, in the Goshin Vortex. We don’t get to see a lot of each other, when it snows we see each other even less. Translation: We won’t get to see each other for days.

As a concession to age and a need for sustainable, refreshing, REM sleep he stays “in town” at his sister’s house twice a week. On occasion weather and road conditions will require him to leave early or stay in extra. It saves on his nerve and cuts down on the potential for road injury and accident. A major winter storm, or in truth a series of storms, struck Western Oregon starting last Thursday. This had been preceeded by a series of cold weather fronts the weekend before. Ergo, he left home on two consecutive Sundays to keep from having to travel 126 in the ice, snow, and dark. I’m sure my friends Peggy and Natalie are laughing their collective asses off about right now, living in Colorado and Utah respectively they deal with snow on a seasonal basis each year. Dry snow. Quite different than the slushy, wet, soon to be frozen over hell on ice we get.

But I digress. Sunday to avoid the approaching weather related insane commute Ducky left for the Goshin Vortex early. Stopped in Veneta to play with the snow with his sister and bro-in-law, before going to his other sister’s for the night.

His commute Monday morning from west Eugene to work was a bit hazardous (but shorter) with icy roads complicated by inept drivers, specifically one trucker who had it out for both my Zuzu and my Ducky. But my husband the every paranoid, err, I mean very cautious driver and avoided any contact with said truck, guardrail, or ditch and made it to work with only a case of shredded nerves.

Three hours into work with the route trailer unloaded, tires inventoried, sweeping done, boredom was beginning to set in and there wasn’t a semi in sight. Seemingly all traffic on I-5 had been taken care of by a lone jack knifed trucker near Salem. Translation: No truck traffic for quite a while. What is a man to do?

My husband has a very playful side to him. I’m sure, very sure, his sneaky little fingers were heavy on the instigating side in the turn of events at the truck stop of the Goshin Vortex. While I wasn’t there when it all went down, I spent the rest of my day with the mental image of several snow frisky, middle age Baby Boomer men taking on a slightly younger Gen X crowd in a snowball fight. I understand sides held true for several minutes before it became an icy snowball free for all with no winners in sight. This just goes to show he can bitch about the biting cold when he has to work in it, but just like your child who can stand in the chilly ocean water for hours on end without complaint, put men in the midst of snow, & war and joy will surely ensue.

Who says Snow Days are for kids?

Sith
Cele