You gotta love the weather in North Idaho - or at least have a sense of humor about it.

The typically snow late January through most of February lulled us into thinking that, no matter what Puxatawney Phil might predict, we were looking an early spring square in the face.

Then we woke up to bushy snowflakes on Saturday morning that just piled up, ending our hopes for any balmy, dry days - at least for now.

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Watching the flakes descend made me think back to a time when I thought the more snow, the merrier. Back in high school, tons of fun could be had with tons of snow.

Taking to the back roads in a four-wheel drive to see how badly we could get stuck (or at least see how skilled we were in not getting stuck) was a great weekend activity. From time to time we'd even get a chance to help shovel out some poor soul who had the misfortune of sliding off the road and into the ditch, hopefully with little or no vehicular damage.

Gathering up the gang for a round of snow football was also a great way to spend an afternoon - or at least until your teeth chattered as the result of soggy clothing.

The rules were basic, but there was much less emphasis on winning as there was on who could make a nice open-field run or a sweet tackle for a loss of yardage.

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Another game we created was dive Frisbee. It's pretty simple: One person with the Frisbee flings it toward a nice, inviting snow bank and another adventurous soul runs, jumps and tries to reign in the disc before landing all sprawled out in the (hopefully) cushioned mound.

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When things finally dried up, or at least quit snowing, we'd try some other things to keep us occupied. One semi-disgusting activity was cowpie race. Best run inside a corral with plenty of "bombs" to negotiate, the race's goal was to be the first to the designated finish line, and contact between participants was legal. More often than not, the "winner" had a few remnants on him or her, as no one rarely escaped unscathed.

The mantra "If I'm going down, you're going down with me" never rang truer than in such an event.

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When the sun would finally shine and warm everything up in late spring, "water sports" came to mind.

One of the best on a hot day was the "ATV wash." Someone with an ATV or motorcycle would ride past a group with water balloons, and every hit garnered the sniper a point. Obviously, the one with the most points won, but really everyone was drenched at the end, and that was really the whole point.

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Now that I'm thinking sunshine, maybe we can convince the man upstairs to send a little our way sometime in the near future. This wacky winter needs to end sometime.

Jerry Hitchcock is a copy editor for The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2017, or via email at [email protected].