A Few Of My Favorite Things

 Winter is not a season, it is an occupation.

Sinclair Lewis

"Okay, Boomer."

There, I said it first. I'm going to mention an app on my phone, where I can alight on the temperature reading and get all kinds of displays about wind, relative humidity and precipitation. It's really interesting, and changes even hourly as the weather service updates their scientific wild ass guess. I do not dread the light blue bars signifying snow. I don't like it, but dread? No, not anymore.

1. I don't have to bundle up for the interminable "In the car-out of the car" evolutions, where a long-sleeved thermal shirt and winter uniform are a bit too cold outside, the thermal jacket too warm inside.
2. There are no "motorists" who should have stayed home that have found their way into ditches. Snow banks. Each other. Well, okay - a trash truck ended up on our front lawn last year.
3. I don't dread standing out in the cold at the range. All day. Listening to one of my favorite recruits complain that he can't feel his fingers.
   
4. It's been years since I've authorized shutting down Wadsworth at Jefferson, or Sheridan at Kentucky.

I have infinite respect for the men and women who do the above tasks, and many others. Truly infinite. On days like today (temperatures in the teens, a couple of inches of snow on the roadways) first responders take their lives into their own hands whenever they leave the parking garage. Seriously, a few days ago CSP remembered Molly Tyler, one of their troopers who died from the effects of an awkward fall on ice while working.

"Motorists" (here remember my late father's caution - "Just because you can make a car go forward doesn't mean you know how to drive") don't make life any easier. For example, a large placard should be posted on the dashboard of every all-wheel drive or 4X4 vehicle that four-wheel drive does not necessarily mean four-wheel stop. People who are not prepared for winter driving, which can occur on the Front Range any time from September to June, seem duty bound to sally forth into perilous conditions.

Chapeau, to all of you first responders out there who work in the cold and snow. I'm rooting for you.

So is Joy, who loves looking over my shoulder as I write. I just need to train her to fetch coffee. Training her to bring me another cinnamon roll was a disaster. So, I guess we all have our challenges.

And, hey... Let's be particularly careful out there.