The snow started on October 30th - Tuesday - four days ago. You may recall (if you've read any of my other blog posts, which is a narcissistic assumption) that I wrote a post about the first snow happening in Skagway already. That was kind of a teaser. (The snow, I mean, not the blog post.) In case any of my readership is from one of those places that doesn't really get snow (again, assuming i have readership, narcissism yadda yadda yadda), I'm going to explain some winter premises really quick. If, like me, you grew up in a state that gets dumped on every year, feel free to skip ahead to the next chapter.
When the first snow happens it usually doesn't accumulate on the ground. That comes a little later.
OK, i guess that was all. I really was envisioning some grand tangent about the science of snow and why it doesn't stick to the ground right away but I actually don't know anything about that topic so I'd almost certainly have people like my brother and other smartasses who know things about stuff point out the error of my ways and make me look like an idiot (assuming I don't already).
And now, on with the show. If you're just joining us, we've covered absolutely nothing so far.
The snow started on Tuesday. I normally have Monday and Tuesday off, but due to a stabbing that happened a few months ago (read the whole story written by Katie Emmets here) one of the dispatchers had to go testify in Juneau so I had to work Tuesday. I did at least get Monday off, but being that it was my only day off I started early and was out at least somewhat late.
Being that I work nights I also generally sleep late. So, Tuesday, I slept late. The multiple times I woke up before deciding to emerge from my sleep chamber I was completely unaware that outside me the entire world was turning to white as the entire town around me got blanketed with glittering crystals of snow. If i would have known that, I'd have gotten up earlier.
Anyway, the first tip-off that there was actually any snow outside wasn't looking out my window (because why would i look out my window?); it was looking at facebook. i saw the aforementioned Lady Emmets post a photo of her gentleman friend Lord James wearing a snowsuit in the snow and realized that there must be snow outside or else they just went on a really quick vacation somewhere farther north.
I spent a little bit of time out in it before going to work, but not much. The fun was to start later.
I watched it snow outside my window at work for eight torturous hours. Normally at work I stay inside and smoke my e-cigarette for nicotine fixes, but that night I went outside to smoke real ones so that I could be in the snow. It just kept building and building. By the time I went to work, by the by, there was so much snow that my non-4-wheel-drive-but-still-fucking-awesome Astro van got stuck in the driveway. I was going to turn into the parking spots but my van got stuck, so I just let it sit where it was. When i got off work, it didn't want to move, so I was content to let it be. Another great thing about Skagway - no matter where I am in town, I'm at MOST a mile away from home.
So I ended up at the Station ("and I was like PIZZA STATION!!??!") for beers after work, which has now become my routine. The Station is generally the last bar to close at night. Although my favorite bar in town is the Elks, it's very rare that it's actually open when I get off at midnight. So the Station is where I end up most nights, to have beers and play pool.
Now that it's winter, when you walk into the Station you know everyone who's in there for the most part. I say "for the most part" because last night I beat some guy at pool that I'd never met before and I guess he just got to town. So it happens. But mostly, it's full of the regulars. And by regular I mean regular people that you see around town all the time, not "regular" as in "everyday", "average", "normal," "commonplace" - because most of them are none of those things.
I'm trying to remember who actually started the snowball fight but I can't quite place how it got going. A bunch of us were playing pool together. I can't quite remember how that went but I can only assume I was winning 100% of the time. We all had the same smoke break schedule so at some point in the night there we were, six or eight of us, out smoking, and suddenly the patio became an obstacle course.
It was fucking brilliant. And beautiful. And marvelous. most of us didn't have gloves on, which makes us hardcore, not stupid. We spread out a little bit, each person finding some kind of corner to hide in or obstacle to protect us against the onslaught coming from all angles. There were no teams - it was every man for himself. My personal strategy was to build my arsenal so I didn't have to waste time forming snowballs while in the throes of an all-out attack. It worked alright but I think I got hit just as much as anyone else.
Once it was on, it was just on. Every time anyone went outside, it was back on. Just because someone went inside didn't mean it was off. Snow was flying everywhere and I know I'm not the only one who fell ass-over-teakettle in the snow as a result of trying to evade getting hit. I'm one of the most competitive people I know, if not the most, and it really started to irritate me if someone got me and I couldn't hit them back. Erik was particularly good at this because of the fact that he would go outside the patio and stand farther away than anyone else. Although I am competitive I also throw like a girl and, while he was pretty accurate at that range, I just could NOT get my snowballs to reach him. (I'm fairly certain I did end up getting him back at least once or twice when he would come back toward the rest of us.)
The next day, my entire body was sore. Not only were my arms and shoulders and upper back hurting from the actual throwing, but the rest of my body hurt from falling over in the snow so much. Actually, I take that back. The pain in the rest of my body was more likely from those great acrobatic gymnastics moves we all find ourselves performing when it's slick outside (whether or not aerial snow missiles are being projected at us) to avoid slipping and falling. You know exactly the moves I'm talking about - where you end up pulling some muscle or joint way out of whack in an attempt to NOT look stupid by falling over, to the realization that you actually looked stupider doing the move.
The pain didn't stop more snowball fights from happening, though. It's important to say at this point that it was still snowing, 36 hours later or so. It hadn't stopped accumulating. Not only was there another series of snowball fights on Wednesday night at the station, I found myself in a full-contact one-on-one match that knocked me down on the ground more times than I'd care to count. No pain, no gain.
The next day, I walked to my car with my faithful canine companion in hopes of getting it out of its makeshift parking hole in the snow. By this point it had stopped snowing, but my badass Astro was still stuck. I spent a lot of time shoveling the tires out and shoveling out two tracks for me to back it out to the street on, to no avail. However, I did learn at this point that my snowball arm is the same as my shoveling arm. I had to stop more times than I'd like to admit just to catch my breath because I smoke too much and my arms and back were sore. And after all that work, it still took Dirk coming down and pushing me out to actually have a successful afternoon.
Skagway in the winter is just great. You know, some people ski and snowshoe to get their exercise in the winter and I myself do enjoy a good snowshoeing adventure (watch this space for coverage) but I would like to inform y ou all that I actively support the winter fitness regimen of full-contact snowball fights and getting your van stuck at the police department. My entire body STILL hurts, and i think that means it's working. Thank God for two small miracles: Number One, Brittney is giving me a massage tomorrow. Number Two, hot springs outside of Whitehorse.
I'd like to have some poignant end to this but I don't. It's fun to have snowball fights, end of story.
Thanks for the update.
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