As I look out of the window toward the mountains that tower behind my home, I shuddered a bit. Not five kilometers from my house the snow depth is over three meters. The wind is gusting to 80 miles per hour and the wind chill is ranging between -20 and -40 degrees (Fahrenheit). If one stands in the mouth of the canyon, you can observe multiple avalanches cascading down the narrow chutes of the surrounding peaks. Elsewhere in the Salt Lake Valley, the roads are sheet ice, with hundreds of accidents including fatal crashes of 16-wheel Semi-trucks with fuel-efficient Japanese cars made of Aluminum foil and silly putty. Altogether, it’s a good day to sit inside my house sipping a few shots of Jack Daniels. It is still being warmed by my furnace powered by natural gas, and the electricity is still on (unlike thousands in Salt Lake City and its adjacent bedroom communities).
My brother gave me a Christmas gift: A set of snow tires for my new car that grip the road like the suckers on an Octopus, but I’m too chicken to try them out and go to the health club for my daily two mile jaunt around the track, followed by a luxurious soak in the hot tub and steam room. Life is good for me, and I know that I am very lucky. I weep for the wildlife near my home that are dying as I write this. The gentle Mule Deer, Moose, Elk, Mountain Goats and the Cougars that feed on them; the Coyotes that sing me to sleep at night, and all the rest that do not hibernate are now starving and freezing to death. I realize that I have also been gifted with a fortuitous accident of birth and circumstance. I could just as easily be in Syria, Iraq, Somalia, or the Ukraine dodging bullets; or watching my family be slaughtered by Islamic nutcases and foreigners drawn to the prospect of unlimited rape, enslavement, and pillage without consequence. I close my eyes and think of more pleasant things like my addiction to fly fishing for Trout and Salmon. But even this can have unpleasant surprises:
Don’t look back; something might be gaining on you!
Nice blog post DL, I’m in Salt Lake myself and know exactly what you’re talking about!
I enjoyed reading your post as I sit here getting snowed in myself in the mountains of CA. 🙂
Thanks for the visit and your comments, sandman. We don’t have things as bad as the lizards that live in Las Vegas right now. Consider how they are being traumatized by the two or three inches of SNOW they getting!;)
Hi GramaLiberty; thanks for the visit and your comment. I hope you are not without snowshoes or skis and a Bota bag of Napa valley’s wine (a little first aid)…..:)