Aw, poor kitty!

2011-12-08 00:14:18.000 – Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist

Snowless snow cat scene.

This fall during one of my off weeks, I watched a movie called ‘Puss in Boots’. While the movie had little to no relation to the short story penned by Charles Perrault, it was still an interesting and comical tail to watch. But the reason I am mentioning a ‘kids’ movie is because of one of the signature moves that the cat is known for in that movie as well as the two Shrek films that he appeared in. In the films, the cat removes his hat, looks down and then back up with huge and adorable eyes that make him outright irresistible and forces those he looks at to fall into a trance-like state for him or others to gain the upper hand. When I see the summit cat Marty with eyes that big, he’s usually not adorable and it usually means he’s in a foul mood but in the movie on an animated cat, it is indeed adorable and makes the audience usually go ‘Aw, poor little guy’.

When we were driving up today for shift change, I saw a similar scene from a different type of cat. As we passed our Bombardier Snow Tractor (which we all call a snow-cat), I swear it’s two front windshields were doing the same thing that Puss in Boots was doing with his eyes cause as we passed I found myself looking over and saying ‘Aw, poor little guy’. Since bringing the ‘cat’ up to the half way mark this fall, we have yet to use him. It’s not that we haven’t received any snow; it’s just that the snow we have received has all melted off for our shift changes or is thin enough cover for us to come up in in a 4×4 truck/van with chains on. Don’t get me wrong, being prone to motion sickness, I would gladly take a truck/van up over the snow-cat any day since taking the ‘cat’ up is (like I’ve mentioned here before) like putting Disneyland’s Tea Cup ride on the back of a boat with a blindfold on. Not fun at all (but memorable and one of a kind none the less). But this time of year, I’m kind of starting to miss the beast and the weekly anxiety it usually causes me. But the purr of the beast and the nausea/anxiety it gives me might be back as soon as next week as snow and cold weather are making a return this shift. So fingers crossed that at next week’s shift change my frienemy the snow-cat will once again be taking me down the summit to its perch at halfway, or even better, the base.

Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist