Snow

We had our first real snow fall of the year this past weekend. So, of course this meant my wife was sick and the kids had to go sled riding. With no other option, I did the daddy thing. Both kids were bundled up until they couldn't move and shoved outside. Since my wife was still in the house, I had to go out with them.

I made the first run down the hill next to the house. When we bought the house, one of the selling points for me was the hill it sat on. I saw many winters of fun sled riding with the kids. In DC, the snow usually lasted a weekend at most and the hills near our house dumped you out into a busy road. So, while it looked fun, and I kept telling my wife we could always make more, sled riding was frowned upon. Another nice feature that both my wife and I liked was the creek that ran through the property. Unfortunately, I didn't quite put all the geometry and physics together when we bought the house. Water runs down hill, and that is also the general path a sled will take. This meant that the sled run tended to end up at the creek. Luckily, there was a row of bushes and trees that bordered the creek. So, you'd have to be going pretty darn fast to actually make it into the creek.

Last year, both kids had been too young and it was easy to keep them toward the bottom of the hill. This year, I think my son is going to feel the need for speed, especially when his friends come over. If it was just me, I wouldn't worry. By the time he has his long johns, snow pants, boots, coat, hat and mittens on, he is pretty much invulnerable to anything. He has rolling off down pat. There is nothing quite as funny as watching him fly down the hill, snow flying over his head until he dives off the sled, the red mingling with the white. However, with his mother, and both grandparents ready to voice their "opinions" on safety, I'm pretty sure we will be making the sledding hill "kid friendly."

This year, I figured it would be a slow run to start. We only had a little over an inch of snow. A few runs down and most of the snow should be gone. I didn't take into account the leaves. We had a belt break on the tractor this fall, so I dug out the manual and replaced it. After successfully proving my mechanical manhood, I was able to use the tractor to gather the leaves that had fallen. What I didn't take into account was that if one belt breaks, there's a good chance the remaining ones are probably going to break soon. That soon was before the majority of the leaves in our three acres covered the ground. Between work, school starting and general laziness, I never got around to replacing that second belt. So, we have a nice layer of leaves covering the grass. When you add snow on top of the leaves, you get Mother Nature's grease.
That first run, over the thin snow turned into a race of death to the creek. Of course both kids stood at the top of the hill cheering. They must have mistaken my screams as excitement. Luckily, the first row of trees slowed me enough that I gracefully plowed into the prickers right along the back of the creak.

The next time it snows, I'm making sure I get sick first.