Dealing with a snowless winter

JC had a field day teasing me the other evening, noting that it really hadn't snowed since our wedding. I wanted a snowy, winter wedding and we just barely got that - a storm rolled through the day before our wedding and I got my snow. The rest of that winter? Nada. We moved up here to the snow line last winter and it started out with a bang. December 2012 was really lovely with snow. Then the new year rolled around and the spigot was shut off. The spigot stayed off all through 2013 and has only dripped once or twice. We are now looking at year three of a drought in the West and it is hard to stay positive.

One way we do our best is by continuing to get out. People here are outdoors people, recreation people - and despite all the hardship that a snowless winter brings, people get outside and do things. They trade the skiis for the bikes, or the snowshoes for the hiking boots. We look for ice.

Beautiful lake ice. There's just a short window for skating most years - the sun has to be low and the temps have to stay cold. Facebook groups pop up with reports from the most adventurous skaters seeking ice in the backcountry and in unusual places. We tend to stick with the standard venues.... the ponds and lakes that sit in the shade or up high or down low where the cold sinks. Ice skating makes us happy when there is a lack of snow - it is the silver lining to a drought year.

I'm always happy to be outside in this incredible place, to fit earbuds to ears and turn the music on, to glide and turn and practice. It is a little present from the weather gods, who for some reason see fit to deny us our very life's blood the last few years. The rest of the country is reeling from snow and bitter cold while we seem to be stuck in nothing. Just nothing. I try to be accepting, but it is an uneasy acceptance. And thank goodness we have had some skating to keep us from slipping into depression as we watch the snow on the mountains shrink, know that the lakes are low to begin with, and wonder when (or if) we'll see any storms this winter.