He may not be the Yeti we deserve, but he's the Yeti we need.
February 9, 2015 12:37 PM   Subscribe

As the city of Boston is continually getting buried under record breaking amounts of snow, one Yeti attempts to bring a little joy.
posted by sonika (37 comments total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
As a former Bostonian recently transplanted to tropical North Queensland, experiencing the disgusting humidity of my first wet season, I was kinda jealous of all the snow (since as a city-dweller I could leave my car buried and walk/T and I never lost power or burst pipes). There's something great about a blizzard. It's my favorite extreme weather.

But after this weekend's snow I'm perfectly happy to not be there. This is just too much, and it's only early February.

I love the yeti, though. I miss that kind of humor and attitude.
posted by olinerd at 12:54 PM on February 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


I have to say, it did sort of make me proud to be a Somervillian when the Yeti was first sighted in our fair city.
posted by firechicago at 12:56 PM on February 9, 2015 [5 favorites]


Usually the weather up here is either really cold or really snowy, but this year we are trying something new called "really cold AND really snowy". All the time. People used to say that it was "too cold to snow" and I think we can retire that one.
posted by selfnoise at 12:57 PM on February 9, 2015 [2 favorites]


I am so sick of french toast.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 1:04 PM on February 9, 2015 [13 favorites]


Meanwhile, all ski lessons in Seattle are cancelled thanks to a record breaking lack of snow.

Maybe you could burn your Super Bowl trophy to keep warm.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 1:05 PM on February 9, 2015 [11 favorites]


Maybe you could burn your Super Bowl trophy to keep warm.

I would.

They had the stupid victory parade last Wednesday and put a huge amount of effort into clearing the route when most of the city was still buried from our last snow event just so the players could leave town early.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 1:13 PM on February 9, 2015 [4 favorites]


Sounds like high quality hops aren't the only bitter export from Washington this year.
posted by cmfletcher at 1:13 PM on February 9, 2015 [12 favorites]


The Boston Yeti seems like good people. Can he come to Ohio and do something about the Cincinnati Yeti? That guy is a dick.
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:23 PM on February 9, 2015 [2 favorites]


Yeah, even after years in Upstate NY, this is getting ridiculous. I'm at the point where I'm tired of snow days.
posted by peacheater at 1:38 PM on February 9, 2015


The Awkward Yeti has an interesting perspective on snow. Listen to the Yetis, people! (Except for that Cincinnati Yeti... wow what a turd!)
posted by surazal at 1:40 PM on February 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


I suspect he may be a further evolutionary stage of Keytar Bear.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 1:41 PM on February 9, 2015 [6 favorites]


Meanwhile it was 45 degrees here in Pennsylvania this weekend and the bulbs in the garden got all confused and started sprouting. It's been a weird winter.
posted by octothorpe at 1:46 PM on February 9, 2015


This yeti is a bright spark in a shitty winter. Hats off yeti, you got the right stuff baby.
posted by Divine_Wino at 2:31 PM on February 9, 2015


Forgive the AskMe-ness, but a dear friend's funeral is Thursday morning in Cambridge. Am I fooling myself to think I'll be able to fly in Wednesday afternoon?
posted by GrammarMoses at 2:48 PM on February 9, 2015


Maybe I should ask the yeti.
posted by GrammarMoses at 2:53 PM on February 9, 2015


GrammarMoses, there's supposed to be more snow on Thursday, which may cause some flights to preemptively cancel. I think that flight chances are going to be terrible from now until next week...
posted by TwoStride at 2:56 PM on February 9, 2015


And on topic: here's hoping the Yeti will visit those of us outside of Boston, too.
posted by TwoStride at 2:58 PM on February 9, 2015


I'd guess that there'll be flights on Wednesday, but I don't know if they'll be the flights that *should* have gone on Monday and Tuesday...I don't fly enough to have a sense of these things.
Also, there's talk of more snow starting Thursday...
posted by uosuaq at 3:01 PM on February 9, 2015


GrammarMoses, things are pretty bad. It's possible Logan will be running well again on Thursday, but things are pretty backed up, and public transportation is absolutely hosed, to the point where the MBTA just preemptively closed for tomorrow, to try and recover. We are expecting another storm Thursday Night/Friday Morning, and my understanding from watching the news is that if it's bad Thursday, the weekend storm will be not so bad. If it's not so bad Thursday, the weekend storm could be pretty terrible. Make sure you have a place to stay for potentially a while, if you fly in, since getting back out might be difficult. Wish I could give you better news.
posted by instead of three wishes at 3:02 PM on February 9, 2015


I know the Yeti's identity. For real. I will not publicly out the Yeti, but I will state the Yeti is male and has a connection to television journalism.
posted by Mayor Curley at 3:10 PM on February 9, 2015 [4 favorites]


75" after today's nonsense (lost power for the first time, too). 10" more Thursday, another round due Sunday.

I can't believe I left Seattle for this.
posted by Ryvar at 3:10 PM on February 9, 2015


I fully endorse The Awkward Yeti. Partly because he is MetaFilter Blue. I do notice that some of his internal organs have been getting the best punchlines lately.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:10 PM on February 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


Ah, hell. I was afraid of that. Thanks for the advice.
posted by GrammarMoses at 3:12 PM on February 9, 2015


will not publicly out the Yeti, but I will state the Yeti is male and has a connection to television journalism.

It's Barry Burbank, isn't it? That upside down coffee mug stunt was obviously just the beginning.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 3:25 PM on February 9, 2015


For the first time since 2009, they've asked for, and received, a waiver so that they can dump the snow into the ocean. 74" this winter so far, I believe. And counting. (Average for Boston is 44".) 66" of that was in the last 17 days. We're now #9 on snowiest winters of all time. And counting.
posted by Melismata at 3:35 PM on February 9, 2015


And Somerville just declared an "indefinite" emergency parking ban so they can get the streets cleared.

Our snow piles are up to the first floor windows, and our back yard looks like this. I may never get my bike out of the shed again.
posted by backseatpilot at 3:36 PM on February 9, 2015


It's Barry Burbank, isn't it?

Gur Lrgv jbexf sbe JTOU'f SEBAGYVAR. V'ir fnvq gbb zhpu.
posted by Mayor Curley at 3:45 PM on February 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


Melismata: "For the first time since 2009, they've asked for, and received, a waiver so that they can dump the snow into the ocean."

Can someone explain the significance of this for the Californians in the thread? (My great-great-grandparents moved here from Boston to get away from the weather. I am snow-ignorant and generally happy about it.)
posted by Lexica at 4:02 PM on February 9, 2015


Dumping snow into the harbor (or any other waterway) is a big environmental hazard because of all the deicing chemicals, salt, road waste (oil), and assorted trash that's present in it.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 4:06 PM on February 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


Snow picks up trash and dirt as it is moved and plowed, kind of like a glacier does. When the snow is transported, whatever debris is in it goes along. If you let the snow melt on a surface (ideally a surface with some sort of stormwater interceptor), the debris can settle out on the surface (and/or in the stormwater interceptor). But if you dump it in the ocean, the debris goes too.

Right now we have snow mountains that are -- well, a week ago they were bigger than my car. Now I'm seeing city busses (flashing OUT OF SERVICE) drive by snowbanks that are only slightly shorter than they are. It is bad here. And those huge snow mountains all cary a payload of trash, gravel, salt, and the occasional shopping cart.
posted by pie ninja at 4:08 PM on February 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


I was really disappointed to go outside today and muck up our pristine back yard only to find out that the snow is so powdery I couldn't actually build a giant fort out of it. Now our yard looks like shit, but I guess we only have to wait a couple days before the wind blows it back smooth and we get another foot dumped on it.
posted by backseatpilot at 4:18 PM on February 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


Yeah, the snow is getting to be ridiculous. But not everything is horrible. Chris Pratt honored a Super Bowl bet with Chris Evans and showed up at a local children's hospital dressed as Star-Lord.
posted by A dead Quaker at 4:19 PM on February 9, 2015


Novel idea: FUND THE MBTA LIKE THE ESSENTIAL PUBLIC GOOD THAT IT IS.

argh
posted by lydhre at 4:21 PM on February 9, 2015 [4 favorites]


I grew up in a snow-loving northern New England family and I genuinely like winter. I'm usually the last person cheerfully enjoying the snow in March when everyone's sick of it. But these relentless storms without enough time in between for the transit system to recover are miserable. Last week my normal 50-minute commute on the bus, holding a 1-year-old, became a 3-hour commute holding an angry, either cold or overheated 1-year-old who peed on me. The traffic is awful, worst I've ever seen in Boston. In the past I've just kinda cheerfully "roughed it" and skied to work (true story!) or trudged through the snow. It never bothered me. This time around my patience for buses running two hours late, missing day after day of work, and having all my obligations and meetings constantly rescheduled, cancelled, or combined is really wearing thin. I have responsibility for some lab animals and no matter what the MBTA says they have to be cared for. And balancing the needs of a 1-year-old (whose school has been closed) on top of all this is even more complicated. I couldn't possibly manage without my husband. Since my son was born and I know absolutely first-hand how difficult coordinating life with a young child can be, my level of empathy for people dealing with this kind of disaster-related stuff has shot through the roof. Stuck in a car in traffic for 2 hours? For most healthy adults, that's annoying and your butt might get sore, but hey, there's always radio. If you're traveling with a toddler, it's a completely different story.

Thanks for alerting me to the Boston Yeti :) It's helping me recapture my life-long appreciation of storms which has gotten a little bit... buried this week. I hope all of my fellow Boston-area MeFites are finding a little bit of storm camaraderie when they can. I lost a week's worth of experiments and a critical meeting has been rescheduled a 4th time, but I did get to take an impromptu visit to a friend for lunch (which I certainly can't do on normal work days) and my son walked the entire length of our street in heavy snow and I was very proud of him.

(Please no more though... Let's hope this Thursday storm is a dud... It seems like forecasters often overestimate storms and I hope that's the case this time.)
posted by Cygnet at 5:34 PM on February 9, 2015 [3 favorites]


I foolishly went into the office today, and when I left around 3 pm, it was like the entire landscape had been erased. Like walking onto an enormous piece of blank white paper.

I really want to know when the weather will turn around. Every time I look at the extended forecast, there's another snowstorm coming.
posted by Metroid Baby at 5:42 PM on February 9, 2015


Somerville folks: Will trade bowls of piping hot homemade extra-spicy Korean soft tofu stew with pork belly and kimchi for... beer. It's only 9:13pm Monday (with stores likely closed tomorrow) and I'm out of beer. Gah.
posted by shortfuse at 6:18 PM on February 9, 2015


I'm in the South End with two very small children. When describing the snow to friends, we used the baby for scale... and then the preschooler... and now we've passed both adults.

It's not like there's anywhere I could go, but the front stairs to my apartment being completely covered today did a number on my brain. When a neighbor responded to my desperate email about said stairs and my inability to clear them as my baby is lousy with a shovel by driving straight home from work and clearing off everything as clean as it's been in weeks... He was no Yeti, but tears of gratitude welled up in my eyes. There's something truly maddening about feeling truly TRAPPED. And with kids...

Thankfully, the baby can still be worn in a carrier and the big guy can walk - but still. This very much limits our options. The grocery store is two blocks away and I've had to order delivery between storms because I can't get there with both kids. Two blocks. And I can't do it because I can't carry groceries AND the baby and the snow is higher than the stroller.

I'm no weenie - I made if not "peace," at least detente with winter long ago. I grew up in Vermont and I've never seen anything like this. So, so much worse in the city where we have truly run out of places to put it.
posted by sonika at 7:59 PM on February 9, 2015 [5 favorites]


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