Classic Rant #428 (January 21, 2011): Snow More

It is Friday, January 21, the day before my parents' 55th wedding anniversary (congratulations!), and it is snowing again in the Northeast.

It's the fifth major storm that we have weathered during this winter season, and we aren't even out of January yet.

I was out digging at 5 a.m. this morning. The snow was still coming down, but I had to get two cars dug out, my Kia and my wife's Jeep. It really wasn't that difficult, but anything is difficult at 5 a.m. in the morning.

The roads are terrible. I guess the plows don't wake up that early in the day.

So it's another snow. It's funny how your perception of snow changes according to your age and your situation.

Growing up in Queens, I didn't care about snow at all. It gave me another reason to get my sled and careen down the side of a slight hill that we had near my development's shopping center. I know I didn't have a care in the world back then.

Now, as an adult, I dread the snow. I hate driving in it, shoveling it, having anything to do with it.

When my kids were young, I would put them on their sleds and be a sled dog, dragging them around the block behind me. It was tiring, but they had fun.

Now, I just hate the snow. It is a nuisance that I can live without.

After a few winters that weren't much of anything, we have now had at least three winters that have been just horrible. Well, that's what you get from living in the Northeast.

Once solace that I have is that pitchers and catchers report to spring training in about two to three weeks. You know that when that happens, the warmer weather is right around the corner ...

But first, we have to get through February and March, and if this winter so far is any indication, I will be counting the days until April, in between snow shovelings.