Snow Day

It finally snowed. We were a bit worried there for a while. When you travel 1200 miles to play in the snow and there's no snow, it's not fun. We didn't get a lot of snow, and it didnt' stay for long, but it was enough. Enough for snow men and a snowball fight (which I totally won, it's good being the dad) and sledding and snow angles. It was finally slick enough for my son to do doughnuts on Papa's four wheeler which he'd been talking about constantly for months. The dog was slightly terrified of it at first but soon decided that her imaginary hunting was even cooler in the snow. Even she had a wonderful time.

Snow Angel

The kids only really get this one opportunity each year to see and experience snow. The little snow that we get in East Texas doesn't stick, so it doesn't count. Seeing snow fall isn't the same as playing in snow. My inlaws maintain a huge stock of winter clothing just for our visit. They have cast off boots and coats and snow pants and mittens from all over town. Years ago we started with small sizes and we've worked our way up over the years. When we go everything will go back into the bin and into the attic to wait for us next year. We'll go back to Texas and the kids will tell their friends at school about this wonderful season of legend. Winter.

Books for the last two weeks:
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
The Evolution of Useful Things - Henry Petroski
Brave New World is considered a classic that nobody ever made me read in highschool or college so I thought I'd give it a try. It is a good story, and I mostly liked it. When I read it though I couldn't get over the idea the Huxley was a whiney kid who just kept telling you how important his ideas were and how bad human nature is and why won't you just listen? I can't tell if my first view of this is correct or not. It's possible that this book has had a large enough impact in the past (it was published in 1932) that it's cynical ideas about human nature and technology have become integrated enough into popular culture that they seem like old hat and not worth really whining about to quite the degree that he does. I suspect that the book was pretty shocking in 1932. I'm going to read it again in the future and see if I feel the same about it.
Useful Things, oh Petroski, how I want to love your books. The subjects are near and dear to my heart. I want to become fully engaged and not put them down, but I can't. In large parts of the book I feel like I'm reading a technical paper. That's fine when I'm actually reading a technical paper, but it makes reading a book a tiring process. Petroski does what he says he'll do and he really does go into the history of useful things like paper clips and needles and forks and those histories are interesting. I drove my family nuts at dinner with a 5 minute description of why forks are like they are and how they got that way. For that I'm forever grateful. I'd love to sit down with Petroski and buy him a beer and chat. I'm not sure I'll be picking up more of his books though.