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Winter Wonderland

Posted on January 31st, 2010 by Retired-Ed in Daily Life

I have spent the better part of the last week shoveling snow. Over and over again. As I write this, I have already shoveled six times since yesterday morning. I have pictures! But first things first.

Today, January 31st, is my younger daughter Allison’s 27th birthday. Happy Birthday, Allison! Your mom and I wish you health, happiness, and prosperity in the coming year. I vividly remember 27 years ago today, and your arrival took me away from a school assembly! Thank you for that! However, your arrival almost occurred while driving to the hospital. Thankfully, you waited, but not for long. It made for some excitement! Happy Birthday again.

So, back to the snow. We have lived in this house for fifteen years, and this is the most snow that we have ever had. I grew up in Midwestern United States and have seen my share of snowfalls, blizzards, and winter storms. What we have now cannot compare to some of those, but this is really unique for Unterfranken (our area of Bavaria). German law requires that your walkways are cleared of snow and ice by a certain time every day. You also have to shovel a path to your front door. In addition, prior to driving your car, the snow must be removed from every outer surface of your vehicle. All of those are good laws, aimed at safety, but it can be a pain. Fortunately, since I am retired, I don’t have to leave early for work. In the past, I would have to leave the house by 6:15 AM. Not so any more! I can shovel the driveway and sidewalk clear before the Queen leaves for work. It takes about 90 minutes to clear everything after a snowfall of more than an inch or so. In addition, I have to shovel several times during the day if the snow continues. I am getting my exercise, and that pleases my doctor! Anyway, here are some shots of our scenery. I would have like to show the pristine condition of the snow before the snowplow clears it off the street, but (bless him!) the Winterdienst (snowplow and salt truck operator) comes before dawn, so it is not light enough to take pictures then.

Here is a shot of our backyard from a balcony on the second floor of our house:

And another of the woods behind our house

Our front yard from a balcony:

And our yard from the driveway level:

The mounds of snow from our neighbor’s shoveling efforts:

And a view of our snowy village from atop our hill:

So, as you can see, we have some snow, and  driving is complicated by the fact that there is a nation-wide shortage of “Streusalz” or road salt. Not all of the roads are being salted; sometimes it’s only the intersections. One of our American bases (Ramstein AB in southwest Germany) is advertising in other European countries that they will pay top dollar to anyone who can deliver 120 tons of road salt to them. It’s a mess all over. In addition, the local stores don’t have supplies of salt for consumer usage either. Actually, it really isn’t salt, as that is banned for de-icing here in Germany, but most people are familiar with the term, so I use it here.

Since I started this post with information about my younger daughter, I’ll close with a comment about Wendy, my older daughter. Many of my readers also read her blog, CityWendy. In addition to her personal blog, she also writes for another site, and that is her paying job. Quite some time back, she wrote a piece about how she was lamenting that she didn’t have  any gay male friends in New York, and she had several friends in Chicago. Someone took offense at her post and wrote a scathing comment that got posted on another website. It seems that he (a gay man) felt that she was being “dehumanizing” in stating that she missed having gay friends. For the record, my daughter is a straight woman (married) but has many gay friends whose company she enjoys. Now just why it took so long for this guy to respond to her post, I can only imagine. I think it took him that long to read the words that had more than one syllable.

I seriously doubt if he reads this blog, but just in case he does, here is something for him. Sir, it’s great that you live in a country where free speech is the norm. If you want to trash Wendy’s posts, it’s your right. However, it’s always better to be nice. You’ll win more allies to your cause by being pleasant and not so vicious in your diatribe. That’s just friendly advice. Now here is a response from her dad. Listen, douche bag, write what you like, but at least give her (and me) the courtesy of spelling her name correctly. Since her byline is on every post, all you have to do is copy it letter by letter. It’s not that difficult, but I can see that it was for you. What is it about the internet that causes people to forget their manners? I can’t figure it out.

Retired-Ed

6 Comments

6 Responses to “Winter Wonderland”

  1. Sue Says:
    February 1st, 2010 at 12:09 am

    What beautiful pictures! It had been mentioned on the news how Europe had been hit extra hard this year from snow. You have a great attitude about shoveling snow good exercise. Here in Canada, if you live where there is lots of snow you own a snow blower. Another advantage of living in beautiful Niagara, very rarely do we get that much snow.

    I am sorry Wendy is having difficulty with one of her “readers”. Is that why I can no longer access her blog with a username/password? I miss reading her blog as she had become one of my daily sites I would check out. I was looking forward to reading her comments about visiting the Olympics in Vancouver.

    Happy Birthday to Allison….my son will be 24 on February 2nd. (Do they celebrate Groundhog day in Europe?)

    Sue

  2. Retired-Ed Says:
    February 1st, 2010 at 9:22 am

    Sue, I don’t know for certain if Europeans celebrate Groundhog Day, but I think that they do. In fact, I think that the tradition originated here. However, I spend very little time reading local publications or watching German TV (my language skills just aren’t good enough….but if I read the paper and watched tv, maybe they would get better).

    You guessed it about Wendy’s blog. She has added password protection to her blog. I’ll send you the info via private email. I don’t think that she will keep the password protection for very long. Just long enough for the crazies to lose interest.

    Only a dusting of snow this morning, but more is predicted. I wish I had a snow blower, but I don’t know where I would blow the snow to. I am running out of space for snow! The only blowers that I have seen lately are electric, and I would have no use for a 220v electric snow blower when I return to the USA. In addition, I don’t know if I could find a cord long enough to reach to end of my sidewalk. Sigh!

  3. Bizereader Says:
    February 1st, 2010 at 5:30 pm

    Hi
    I also enjoy Wendy’s blog and was concerned about the privacy issues. I would also like information on how to follow her. I very much enjoy reading about your life in Germany and the photos as well. Thanks.

  4. citywendy Says:
    February 2nd, 2010 at 12:07 am

    Bizreader, I’m sorry, right now I’m only sharing my password with people I know. I will probably open it back up again in a little while.

  5. Kathi-in-Iowa Says:
    February 2nd, 2010 at 2:07 am

    Wow! That is a lot of snow! I wondered about Wendy’s password thing, too. I look at her blog at least once a week and think she is a very good and entertaining writer. I’m sorry to hear about the problems.

  6. Kathi-in-Iowa Says:
    February 2nd, 2010 at 2:10 am

    PS: Happy belated birthday to Allison from me, too!

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