As I sip my steaming espresso in front of the raging fire I’ve just started in the wood stove in an attempt to take the deep chill out of the cabin’s wood paneled living room and watch the blizzard unfolding outside of the large picture windows I can’t help but think “This can’t be normal”.

It’s Memorial Weekend and five short days away from June.  As everyone else packs up their bikinis, umbrellas, and unicorn pool floats to head to the beaches and warm lakes I’m here in a tattered wool sweater, fleece pants, and using my hot coffee mug to warm my icy fingers.

Being fairly new to mountain cabin life I wonder “Well maybe this is normal?”.

I came up this weekend after a grueling travel and shoot schedule to get a jump start on summer chores and to start prepping the cabin for my mother’s visit at the end of next month- Check the snow level, retire the compost toilet for the season, walk out the bedding to be washed for summer.

Having arrived at the cabin to my compromised door (high on the list of the repairs for the season) metal latch having snapped from the snow pressure and the door having collapsed in on itself yet again I wondered if my mother’s June 29^th arrival was going to have to be a hike in?  Having advised her against her original plan of coming in May she had settled on late June as that seemed “safe” for having an open road.  As the snow keeps pouring down this late May morning I wonder if end of July is even safe…

I think about the early settlers of this area and how depressing it must have been to have had a couple of brief peeks of summer sunshine to then be buried under multiple feet of new powder and realizing it was too early to retire the snowshoes and start planting their summer vegetable gardens.

I thought ahead for a moment to our 4^thof July guests this year and that they may also be faced with the situation of wading through the extra river that comes after a big snow season for the second time in three years.  I heard the mountain reported is was the snowiest May on record.  It certainly was some of the best conditions of the season when I took my last spin along the slopes and delighted in the clear skies and Memorial Day powder.

If this isn’t the old normal, I wonder if along with so many other global warming repercussions this was the new normal.  I mean was Christmas in July going to be an actual thing now?

My Canadian guests after an initial moment of PTSD having just recently moved to sunny southern California to escape from the snow, took the high snow levels, power outage, and broken door in stride.

At least we could use the inside toilet!  Having opted to retire the compost one before it warmed up too much and became rather unpleasant we decided to just roll the dice on inside plumbing with melted snow and ample doses of anti freeze.  Fingers crossed come the thaw this was a wise decision!  As with all things cabin it is always a game of risk versus reward!

But the rewards are always ample so mayhap the risks are worth it….