Let it snow, I beg you
Alex Strickland
On any given Saturday afternoon from November until the ski hills open, it's not uncommon to find me in my living room, ski boots fastened, clicked in to my downhill skis on the rug.
Sure it's embarrassing, but until the snow starts to fly each winter, it's as close as I can get to the real thing.
Needless to say, this year's somewhat tardy winter precipitation is driving me down the path to insanity. And what's worse, as I drive to work staring at Whitefish Mountain Resort and Blacktail Mountain's brown hills, is that I know people back East are enjoying piles of fresh powder.
It's one thing to see Weather Channel reports around Halloween that some high-altitude resort in Colorado is opening up a few runs, it's a different thing entirely to see that Dry Hill, NY received 14 inches on Thanksgiving Day.
I know that snow came late last winter and it ended up being one of the best seasons in recent memory, but that offers little solace when I'm waxing my car in a T-shirt in mid-November.
I'm no stranger to praying for a little inclement winter weather. Growing up in the South, my siblings and I often kept vigil for just a dusting of snow or a light sheen of ice, just enough to cancel school and maybe give us a chance to prove our steep driveway was good for something besides sending errant basketballs bouncing into traffic.
Sure, in a few months I'll be kvetching about icy roads, shoveling snow and having to listen to people extoll the virtues of ice fishing (sorry, I've learned to love winter, but not that much) but for now, the grass is a lot whiter on the other side of the fence.
Good causes piling up
Christmas is just a few short weeks away, and for those of us who made it through Black Friday with at least a few dollars left in our billfolds, there is no shortage of excellent options for helping others this holiday. A short list includes the Toys N' Joy program being run out of BigforkWEB, the Bigfork Food Bank and the Toys for Tots program, which has drop-off locations around Bigfork and the Valley.