Snow and the woods

We got our first real snow of the winter last night.It was so nice to see my wife, the kids and our dog out playing in it when I got home. I couldn't play, though. I needed to continue the shoveling my wife and mother-in-law had started. The kids spurred me on to keep moving by pelting me with snowballs. And Charlie Dog guarded me (and barked when I slowed down or did something he disagreed with). It's nice to be out in the snow. It looks so nice and muffles all the sounds. Also, it cuts down the volume of the traffic in front of our house - both the number of cars and the noise they make. But the worst part of shoveling snow is dealing with the heavy, wet, gritty snow that the town snowplows throw back into our driveway after we've cleared it. Am I the only person bothered by this? Am I a lunatic to think that there must be a better way to remove snow from the streets of our town? Not only did they cover up the end of our driveway but also the end of my mother-in-law's driveway and our neighbor's driveway (which I had also shoveled because he is elderly). Not only did they cover up the end of those driveways but they covered up the town sidewalk that I had just shoveled. Not only did they cover up the sidewalk but they covered up the street drain (which I had also shoveled out). So, when the street starts to melt, where is the water going to go? The worst part of this is that the plows make passes down the road even after the snow is gone - they come by to throw the snow at the side of the road even farther into our driveways and the sidewalk. Perhaps they get paid by the number of passes they make - not by the usefulness of the passes.

That was all last night and this morning. Today, at lunch, I went for a walk in the woods behind our office. I was the first person to use some of the paths. Here are some pictures. I always think of the Robert Frost poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening at these times. I've loved this poem since I first read it in high school. A Men's Chorus I used to belong to even did a musical version. It was a terrific arrangement. So quiet and peaceful.

I forgot how hard it is to walk in a deep, new snow. My walk usually takes about thirty minutes. Today it took fifty minutes. But I couldn't stop or rest. I had promises to keep. And code to write before I sleep. And code to write before I sleep.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

By Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound’s the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.