Monday, December 28, 2009

Oatmeal! With Raisins! For Energy!

One winter in the 1950s we didn't have snow. My brothers and I wanted a white Christmas! Surely it would snow before Christmas! But it didn't. And that Christmas our "big" present from Mom and Dad was a sled. If we got snow that winter it was mere dustings of white powder and not the stuff of which sleds need in order to provide good play time.

Some winters we had satisfying snows and my brothers used the corn scoop to shovel the sidewalk from the door to the driveway. (I borrowed this photo from a website and I have no association to the brand.) Corn scoops are highly efficient at grain or snow. But they can be heavy, especially with a load of grain or, in this case, snow. It was hard work. We didn't have a snow blower then. We didn't even have a real snow shovel!
corn scoop shovel
When I woke up this morning, the first thing I did was check out the window. Ahhhh! This is the first time in days we do not have to anticipate shoveling snow right after breakfast. That's because for the first time in days there is no fresh accumulation of snow. I'm pretty okay with that!

We had a record snow this year. The city north of us received 20.7 inches over the several day storm. I would guess ours was similar. And our state capital, Des Moines, has experienced the snowiest December on record with 27.7 inches for the month! (May they never break that record!)

The city crew will be out today. And if they blade the streets, the side-drift of the snow from the blade will create dams of heavy, hard, chunky snow across the ends of every driveway in town. Those dams are very hard to move and everybody grumbles curses when the snowplow goes by for the third time in three days, plowing up a new dam each time.

I think this calls for an oatmeal breakfast.


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9 comments:

Elle Bee said...

Definitely some oatmeal is in order. I don't envy you those snow dams!

Unknown said...

... sometimes I think they 'dam' us up just for kicks!

Happy New Year! May your year be full of joy & blessings ~ TTFN~ Marydon

supplies overflowing! said...

HI! Sorry to not have visited in a while. We actually had a white Christmas this year for the first time in many years, but in our case, the snow fell the Sat. before, so we were able to dig out our driveway and path in time for Christmas.
I truly hope that 2010 is happily healthy for you. I read through some older posts and held my breath as I read about your tummy pains. I was so glad you felt better the next day.
Take care.
jenny.

S. Etole said...

Love the aroma of oatmeal ... a comfort way to begin the day

Kelly said...

That kind of weather is beyond my "southern" comprehension!!

Bill said...

I had oatmeal today, too. With craisens and walnuts.

Pretty good.

Dorothy said...

Yep, we hate that plowed up snow at the end of the driveway. Our term for it is "plow plop" but whatever you call it, its hateful. I hope that oatmeal helps!

Mariclar said...

Hey, that looks like the snow shovel in our garage!
We were stuck for 4 days before the plow made it to our lane. The Farmers Almanac predicted 21inches and we got 20. It's predicting another 17 in January.

Debby said...

I like oatmeal with dried berries, brown sugar and a little dot of vanilla. Mmmmm. Oatmeal.