Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Day 87 Faith in New Life

* * * * Warning: ugly, ugly photos, of ugly, ugly snirt spots. * * * *

Today I set out with my camera to search for patches of snowmelt, and what's emerging from beneath. Mostly, I found snirt, and not much of anything emerging just yet. And I thought of Becky, and her snowman yesterday, and reference to snirt. Becky, my buddy, you don't know snirt! :) That snowman on your blog was beautiful! Snirt is ugly, repulsive, wretched mixtures of compacted snow and dirt! Snirt pops up all over the city as the winter wears on, because there's no place to put the snow.



November snow here doesn't melt till spring (like in JUNE! ok, May). So it mixes with the dirt and sand on the roads (sand put down to keep you from spinning off into ditches). Snowplows come along and try to keep clearing it out of the roads, and they pile it wherever they can. It's not wise to run into it on the side of the road, because it would be like running into an ice wall.


In this pile of snirt, you can see where there was some snow melt, and it refroze into icicles. It's not sparkly clean and pretty; it just reminds you of how cold it still is here.

Sometimes half of a parking lot, or lanes,will disappear. . . taken over by the snirt piles, and you just have to park someplace else, or find another way to drive through the lots.

I particularly hate when the city snow plows pushes half of our block's snow & snirt to the front of our house, and drop it in front of our mailbox at the curb. Then the mailman leaves us a note that we won't get our mail until the path to the mailbox is clear. Clearing it does not mean a shovel, or a heavy duty snow plow; it means a practically a chisel or ice pick, to hack away a path to the mailbox again.

A former pastor/friend made the analogy between the snowmelt in our yards, and emerging new life. He commented that, no matter how bad our yards looks now, as the spring rains fall and summer sun rises, the receding snow reveals all the trash and crud and bareness of the ground now. "But there will be new leaves, new flowers, new life. God promises us the same new life through His Son and the Holy Spirit."

Titus 3:5 (NLT)
He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us, even though underneath our exteriors, there might be some ugliness and trash, and he has faith IN US, in the new life that can emerge.


Even so, when I look at snirt, I can't help but wish for a little cosmetic dusting of CLEAN snow on top of this ugliness, or a rapid melting, washing it away, and new growth NOW! But in ND, we try not to get our hopes up about any of this until we're well into April. Late April.



24 comments:

Mom2Drew said...

Oh, but I think your snirt is cool! I love the name too and yes, ND is cold. I remember back in military life it was the joke to have to move to ND. Quite honestly...I'd probably love it since I'm such a winter gal.

Anonymous said...

Oh hate the ugly dirty snow...Ours has finally disapeared!
Cari

Michelle said...

haven't heard that name before but its perfect for it. and yours is cool. we have piles of snirt still at the corners of intersections--ready for it to go away.

pat said...

Angela, I love this, especially Mt. Snirt with the icicles. We had this in Minn, Wisc, Ill, and Mich...and I don't miss it at all!!

Margaret said...

Amazing how you can make even snirt look good! Nice shots. Hope you see some warmer weather soon!;)

C said...

Wow, well these are greats shots of course, but man that is some nasty snow there :(

amazing grace said...

we have lots of that here too---it's supposed to snow AGAIN tonight!! can't believe it! so ready for spring!!!

pakosta said...

you are so funny! i hate snirty snow too LOL!
tara

Becky said...

I love that I got a shout-out on your blog. Woohoo!
You are right, Olympia the snowwoman does not even come close to snirty. We do have snirt just like yours around here--and snow until April. I even remember taking finals in college one year in May and walking through snow. If you look back at my horse photos you can see some snirt in the one of both horses.
You made your snirt look good, though! Photography is a wonderful thing.

Amy said...

We have tons of snirt here too! It's so ugly. My girls and I always like it when we get a fresh coating over the dirty, gross snow. And you're so right, it's hard as a rock. I remember the first winter we were here, I thought I'd kick through a hunk of snow. Big mistake, it was a rock hard ball of snirt! Ouch!!! Great shots of something that I also agree is an ugly subject! :)

Jason said...

lol I have never heard of it called snirt before... I am just glad we are starting to see less and less snirt ;)

Bobbi said...

I love that name snirt lol. Yes it is ugly but made for some cool shots!

Debbi said...

Ah - beautiful shots of our lovely Grand Forks. Gotta love spring, huh?

Reds said...

Didn't know it was called snirt!!! ;) We have that a lot at the moment here!!

Jess said...

Luckily we didn't get much "snirt" this year, but when we lived in northern ID it was EVERYWHERE and for a LONG LONG TIME! The kids loved playing on the snirt mountains but I hated it!

I really like your preacher's analogy though, that is a great way to put it!

Jeanne said...

Being a Southern California girl at heart, I have NEVER heard the word snirt before, but how appropriate! We get snow here in Denver, and sometimes I guess we get some snirt, but NOTHING like this. You are good if you can make even this stuff look GOOD! LOL

As always I enjoy your commentary as much as the photos. Love the thoughts that go along with the snirt...interesting perspective.

:o)

Ann said...

Oh man I didn't know it had a name but Flagstaff has to be one of the snirt capitals. We don't use salt on the road but cinders as our whole area is volcanic. This makes great snirt---ugly, dirty, and horrid. Thanks for teaching me that word, it's a good one.

Kelly said...

Your right those are ugly LOL Great chronical

Tori said...

I had no clue what snirt was until you explained it! I can't believe how cold it still is there! Wow!

Melissa said...

Hate dirty snow and hate it worse when it all melts and the whole front yard is dirt!

mel said...

looks like you could have taken those pictures here in MN! great shots!

Chrystal said...

I have never heard it called snirt before, but I have to agree. When I lived where it snowed, I always love the fresh white snow, but hate it when it gets to that stage - snirt. I'm going to add that to my vocabulary!

Sharon said...

OK, this reminds me of all the yucky snow in Detroit. So many cars that it never looks white for very long. I SO don't miss that.

Tera Fraley said...

ICK!! Dont you just love dirty snow and why does it take so long to melt!! Why cant the pretty snow stay around that long? LOL