We’re about 48 hours out from a banger of a storm if the weather reports are to be heeded. The warnings started going out a day or so ago, saying this was going to be one of those ‘snowmageddon’ events, where the accumulations would be measured in feet (or meters) rather than inches or centimeters. So if you’re one of the approximately 120 million people in the way of this storm, be aware that it’s coming and it’s going to be a bit nasty.

Here in the Acres, we’re not unused to such things. Having grown up in Upstate NY for all of my life, this isn’t the first heavy winter storm that I’ve seen. When I was little, we lived on several acres on a cul-de-sac in the Hudson Valley, and it wasn’t terribly unusual in winter to have storms that left several feet of the white stuff on our doorstep. My Dad, having grown up on a farm in a place called Clintondale, had experience in the same thing, back when if you needed to get to the outhouse to ‘go in the middle of the night’ you brought a shovel with you, because you might not get there otherwise.

Forty years later, we had some modern conveniences, which in this case meant a 1972 Gravely tractor with a 40″ snowblower attachment. Ours was yellow, which I’m not certain was an aesthetic choice on his part, it may have just been the one that the dealer had in stock. It was a workhorse. Dad traded in an older model for this new beast, but kept a couple of the attachments we still needed, like the round brush hogger, a pull-behind cart, and the snow cannon. I remember our golden retriever (Missy) jumping and playing when the snowblower would throw snow off the driveway 20-30 feet. I was just so funny to watch her as she frolicked and tried to catch the snow as it was thrown clear. I often wondered how she managed not to get dinged by some of the pebbles and rocks as they were thrown along with the snow, but she was a smart dog, and I think probably she just got lucky for the most part. Or the larger diameter items were thrown further than she was, and she was mostly in the spray of the snow. At least I hope so!

I have a picture somewhere here in the house from 1973 showing an especially heavy snowstorm. Pretty sure it was my Dad that took the picture, he was the camera hound in the family, and in the family album, he’s rarely seen.

About the only picture I have of him in the frame is from a vacation to Florida (1976?), when we went to Cypress Gardens, and there was this mirror set up where you could take your own picture as well as the people next to you. Interesting idea. I wonder how many people took advantage of this? (A quick Google search suggests it was a pretty popular attraction)

As for me, I’m pretty much ready. I planned ahead this autumn and got my snowblower fixed. I’ve already used it a couple of times this winter and it’s worked splendidly. In storms of the past it’s managed to handle up to 18″ of snow without having an issue, just have to make sure I have sufficient gas to power it and it will work just fine. We also had our side/front walks replaced last year so I don’t have to be concerned with the snowblower bogging down trying to navigate the heaved sidewalk pad, so that will make things easier as well. About the only issue I’m still saddled with is getting the garage squared away, it still has items stacked and blocking it from when I was storing and rearranging items over the summer, and I managed to avoid getting it ready for winter. I have the day off, so I’m going to make an effort to get that done before tomorrow evening.

Should be a good storm. So long as we don’t lose power!