My Favorite Snow Moments
5. The great snow ramp of 90'. I was about 10 I guess and the ramp we made on the hill in my neighbors backyard measured at least 7 feet. It was my greatest creation to date. It was my wonder of the world. I instructed a small legion of 8 an 9 year olds to assist me in my ramp development. I made them go into the houses to bring out buckets of water so we could freeze - not only the ramp but the track leading to the ramp. The distant cleared had to be in the double digit feet range. And since we were on plastic saucers the ass to ground ratio for impact was high and hence brought many tears and cries of "Ohhhhhh".
4. I first knew I was a little psycho when I was 11. A kid made a snowball from a pipe exhaust and threw it at my face. The snowball hit me in the eyes and it burned. I couldn't see for about 5 minutes. I was really freaked out. Him and two other boys were standing around laughing at me. I grabbed a stick and stabbed the snow tosser in the leg repeatedly until the ground was covered in blood. He never told his Mom but I'll be damned if I didn't tell mine. I was so proud of myself.
3. The Barrington snowball fight of 94'. People came out of the woodwork for this one. There was 3 feet of snow on the ground and the neighborhood kids all aged 10-15 created huge bunker snow forts at opposite ends of an intersection. The fight went on for hours with designation of ranks and orders being shouted such as "Cover the left flank. CLOG THE MIDDLE! We have a breach on the right side sir." There were at least 30 kids involved and parents were outside taking pictures.
2. I used to go to my Grandfather's every Xmas for my entire school vacation. My uncle was really into 4-wheelers and snow mobiles and other stuff. They had this river raft that they would blow up with their industrial tire pressure air pump and they would tie it to the back of the 4-wheeler and I would ride that thing around the yard for hours. There would be snot all over my nose and my face would be so red. The only video of me as a kid is of me doing that and the interview afterwards. My Grandfather loves to break out that video every xmas.
1. "Protect the sphere colonel Willis" The ice storm of 95' was the greatest snowstorm of my life. Not only did it lay 14 inches of snow on the ground but then it rained at night and froze over top the snow in the morning. You could not walk up any slope and exams in high school were cancelled because we had off school for about 10 days. We trekked our way to Essex Community College every day to play basketball in the gym and outside on the courts. We had different rules for outside play on the ice. The rules were: you didn't have to dribble, all you have to do is hit the backboard, tackling was allowed. In the same storm Craig and I were caught in the middle of the hail storm on day 3 and we were passed by an ambulance. We were walking backwards down Franklin Square Blvd to not get our faces torn up by the ice. We tried to bum a rude from the ambo but they just rolled by laughing. We fell on the ground and did the same.
