I Hate Winter

It's February and still several weeks until Spring arrives in the Wabash valley. We've had a fairly mild Winter thus far with only one "big" snow of 14 inches and so far the extreme cold single digit or below 0 weather has been fairly limited also.  It was 11 degrees last night and I'm in the mood for Summer!  

Winter!  As a kid I loved playing outside in the Winter almost as much as in the Summer.  In addition to the usual outside activities, there was ice skating, building snow forts, and sledding, all of which I loved. Blizzards often left drifts taller than our heads.  We could make tunnels under some of them. 

The Monon Railroad went through our farm. It was always a blast watching the first train pass through after a big snow. If large drifts were expected the railroad company attached a big snow shovel to the front engine. At 50 or 60 miles an hour that snow shovel threw snow a hundred feet into the air as the train passed.  In those days railroads had schedules that they stuck close to so it wasn't hard to know if a train was due to pass at or near a certain time each day.  Sometimes when we knew the tracks were being covered by drifting snow we would try go down closer to the tracks when we knew a train was on the way.  The closer the better.  Occasionally we were "snowbound" meaning there was so much snow and such big drifts that we were stuck at home for a day or so until dad was able to get the snow blade attached to one of the farm tractors. We were seldom stuck at home very long.  

Winter weather soon froze Moots Creek and we knew it was time to polish up our ice skates and that presented endless hours of entertainment.  

Between our house and the creek was a row of hillsides perfect for sledding.  Our first sleds were often Christmas gifts.  

Thrills, spills, and chills were the order of the day.  The steeper the hills the bigger the thrills. 

My mind holds many great memories of Winter and as a photographer I love and still appreciate the sometimes spectacular beauty of a winter landscape.  That said, I have to admit my attitude toward dealing with, and being exposed to Winter has made a 180 degree turn from my childhood appreciation of Winter.  

I have a neighbor who is my age who still loves winter and can't understand why I now say that "I hate winter".  She loved winter as a kid and her attitude hasn't changed in 70 years. I got to thinking about that a while back, trying to figure out what brought about that change in my attitudes about seasons. As often as she has heard me say I don't like winter I doubt she would ever imagine that I once enjoyed it as much as she did and still does.  

What I finally decided was that I can blame that change on my career as a police officer.  During the first couple of decades of my life I could, and did, go out and play in the snow anytime I wanted to.  I always had a choice, I could stay in or go out and when I made the choice to go out I'd dress warm and have a blast and I could return to the warm house whenever I wanted.  

      During my career, that choice was removed from the equation.   I went out when it was required, whether I wanted to or not, whether I was comfortable or not, whether I was warm or not. I stayed out until the job was completed regardless of my own level of comfort. 

 

As odd as it might sound, fashion was also part of the problem.  I'm talking about police uniforms and how those evolved over the years to what they became in the 70's.    When my father-in-law joined the Lafayette Police Department in 1954 both the winter and summer uniforms were better adapted to their respective seasons.  Summer uniform shirts were light gray cotton.   The winter uniforms were dark blue wool shirts and pants and the coats were heavy wool, knee-length, "reefers".  

By the time I joined the police department in 1976 both summer and winter uniform material was either all polyester or a polyester-cotton blend. Believe me...those polyester winter uniforms were not nearly as warm as the wool uniforms they replaced.  The coat style had also changed to a waist-length "bomber jacket".   Again, not nearly as much protection from wind and cold as what they replaced.  Not too long after I joined the department we officially changed all uniform colors to dark Navy blue....almost black.  A color that just soaked up the summer sunshine and didn't breathe well. 

During my career I was required to stand in the street directing traffic under every possible weather condition.  From boiling hot and humid August afternoons or summer thunderstorms to freezing rain, snow, or blizzards.  If the job required me to be outside then I was outside and the weather never entered into the decision.  I was never free to say, "no, I think I'll sit here in the car with the heater running".  

I never developed quite as much disdain for being out in the rain because we did have good raincoats and our "campaign" hats had a plastic rain cover that could be put on which made the hat almost (but not quite) as good as an umbrella.  

I still hate Winter, But again... I do greatly appreciate the opportunity Winter can provide for some photo magic.