It’s here!

Those frozen crystals, falling from the sky by the billions, turning our world white. Snow always puts me in a good mood, even when our roof is only protected by tar paper in some areas because we didn’t finish the roofing job (blame our crippling indecision, our builder falling in love, the usual stuff).

To paraphrase the great Jack Townsend, a local optimist, “No roof. It’s a problem. No Problem.”

Snow trumps everything with joy. I just went for a run on the ski trails with the dogs, knowing we’ll soon be limited to our dog loops so as not to offend the groomers or other skiers. The dogs, of course, love the snow, biting it on the run, sending up rooster tails as they dig into winter. I love the silence of running in a snowstorm, and knowing all the flakes on those spruce boughs will make our world quieter too. Snow is the best running substance, too; makes you feel tough when you’re punching your way uphill and cushions your steps on the downhills.

Making the loop tonight, I wore a baseball hat to keep the snow out of my eyes but I could still feel the pinpricks of cool on my face. Yes.

The best part of the jog was going past the reindeer farm and encountering three bulls with nice racks on the other side of the fence. The swoosh of the biggest bull shaking snow from his coat was the Sound of the Night.

Our world, in mid-October, has changed. The ground is so white with these four inches that it will bounce solar energy back to space, it’ll stay below freezing, and winter will remain. Many, many people in Fairbanks are happy tonight. Last fall, we had very little snow, and October and November were grim in Fairbanks. It hit me hard; made me want to be somewhere else. But tonight, skiers, dog mushers, snowmachiners, and little kids are all aflutter. Yee-haa!

dogs love snow, buddy