Usually by this time of the year I have hand-shoveled, oh, about a million feet of snow off my driveway and the sidewalk in front of and past my crappy old house. I mean, come on, it is mid January in Michigan — the Winter Wonderland State, we have snow.
Not so much this winter season.
This past Sunday whilst shoveling for only the second time this season, I began to ponder. If you don’t know, shoveling snow is a grand time to root around in the dark recesses of your brain to ask questions, draw conclusions and make self discoveries. I think it has to do with the repetitive action required for proper snow shoveling. Once you get in the groove of pushing, throwing and clearing snow, physically your body goes into autodrive allowing your brain to wander where it will.
As my mind wandered, these things I thought . . .
Shovel, push, throw.
Hot damn! Winter is half over, which means the days are getting longer, my seed catalogues have arrived and soon, I will be out in the yard putzing around my garden complaining about slugs, earwigs, pill bugs and other garden destroying varmints.
What kinda person are you?
Are you a ‘Yay! it’s half over? type or are you the, ‘I hate winter, we have two and half more months of this crap left? type? I kinda divide winter into five months: November, December, January, February and March. When we get to mid January like we are now, I think to myself, ‘it’s all down hill from here on the road to Warm Weatherville.?
I reckon this makes me a ‘Yay! It’s over? type.
This self-delusional tactic helps me to forget some of our worst snow storms come in February and March.
* * *
Shovel, push, throw.
If we really haven’t had a winter yet, are we entitled to a January thaw?
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Shovel, push, throw.
How many days ’til spring? Let’s see . . . let’s call this January 15, so there are 16 days left in this month. Leap Year this year, so there are 29 days in February. Thirty plus 16, minus one equals 45 days. The first full day of spring is on March 21, so 20 days added to 45 days means we are 65 days away from spring. (I told you, shoveling snow allows my mind to do miraculous things like how to add days in the month.)
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Shovel, push, throw.
Sidewalks. I like to shovel the sidewalk not only in front of my house, but also my neighbors to the east and west, too. The school district picks up and drops off kids at my driveway, so I think it’s my civic duty to make sure their shoes (do school kids wear boots these days?) are as dry as possible when they get on the bus.
Do the kids care if their feet are dry during school? Do they care if the sidewalks are cleared? Do their parents care? I remember when I was a wee lad growing up in the mean ghettos of Clarkston (aka Independence Township), we wore boots in the winter to walk to the bus stop. And, while our feet remained dry our pants — usually from the knees down — were snow and ice caked because there were no sidewalks for anyone to clear for us. Every morning after the previous night’s snow, we blazed a new trail through the snow, across our neighbor’s yards to get to the bus stop. And, if I remember correctly, wet pants didn’t affect my schooling. I didn’t care.
So, why am I shoveling the snow at 9 in the evening these days?
* * *
Shovel, push, throw.
What is the Spring Equinox? Note to self: Look it up on-line Monday morning.
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Shovel, push, throw.
Okay, it’s 9:30, I’m tired and cold. Time to go inside and go to bed.
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True to myself, just now I googled Spring Equinox. Now that I know, I will share with you what I found from www.TimeandDate.com
1. The March equinox marks the moment when the Sun crosses the celestial equator ? the imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator ? from south to north. This happens on March 19, 20 or 21 every year.
2. Equinoxes and solstices are opposite on either side of the equator, and the March equinox is also known as the “spring (vernal) equinox” in the Northern Hemisphere and as the “autumnal (fall) equinox” in the Southern Hemisphere.
3. There are two equinoxes every year ? in March and September ? when the Sun shines directly on the equator and the length of night and day are nearly equal.
4. The Earth’s axis is always tilted at an angle of about 23.5? in relation to the ecliptic, the imaginary plane created by the Earth’s path around the Sun. On any other day of the year, either the Southern Hemisphere or the Northern Hemisphere tilts a little towards the Sun. But on the two equinoxes, the tilt of the Earth’s axis is perpendicular to the Sun’s rays.
Who says you can’t learn anything reading what I write?