It all comes down to snowplows

So, some of you may have heard about "Snowmageddon 2008" in Portland. Seriously, that is what they called it in the newspaper the other day. After living through the last two weeks in Portland, I've realized it all comes down to snowplows. I like snow. I like sledding. I like snowmen. I like bundling up to go outside. I like white Christmases. And I like snowplows. But, that's the only thing that has been missing in the past two weeks...the snowplows.

The Portland metro area is home to 2 million people. Portland itself owns 50 snowplows. Fifty! I think there were more than 50 snowplows within a square mile radius of our apartment when we lived in Vermont. And half the neighbors had plows attached to the front of their own personal vehicles! It took at least a foot of snow in 24 hours to slow you down there, and then it was only for a matter of a few hours, maybe a two-hour school delay. Seriously...when you got the school supply list each year, they reminded you that your child's backpack should be big enough to hold their snowpants, gloves, scarves, and a change of shoes (they wore their boots to school) because they would be going out to recess regardless of the snow level!

Prior to Vermont, living in Utah and Idaho, we still were no strangers to snow. I like snow. Did I mention that? But again, Utah and Idaho like snowplows. Oh, and they like salt. Vermont likes salt, too. Portland does not like salt. Salt, they say, is unfriendly to the environment. Salt, while it could quickly de-ice many roads and help clear the snow, is unsafe to use because it hurts the environment. I mean, really, can you imagine if that salt got into the lakes and streams and made its way to the Pacific Ocean? Then what would we do? Don't mind the countless car accidents that could have been prevented, the boost to the Portland economy during the peak holiday shopping season had people actually been able to get out, the quicker service of downed powerlines and the people who would not have had to sit without power as long had the roads been clearer to get utility workers into where they needed to be, etc. The environmental savings of NOT using salt during the past two weeks was probably more substantial. Right?

So December 2008 is going down on record as the snowiest December in history in Portland. And the 2nd snowiest month on record ever in Portland. We had 19 inches. Nineteen inches of snow blanketing the rolling hills of the westside of Portland. And without a snowplow in sight, we have waited for Mother Nature to melt the beautiful snow so we could get anywhere. We missed 5 days of school, the last two weeks of church, and we haven't had trash pickup in almost three weeks or mail in over a week (my Christmas cards have been sitting in the mailbox waiting to be picked up this whole time). Finally, today, we are seeing the normal Portland winter weather returning...today was 45 degrees, gray, and raining. And we can actually see the pavement again. Ah, a welcome sight.