After grousing about the ski conditions and lack of snow all winter long, we finally have snow. It’s great to see it, and we certainly need it for water supply. But somehow, during that long, dry, warm spell, my brain decided it was over. Spring had arrived, trails were drying out, it was warm enough for road biking to be comfortable, and I was sort of into that. And then winter belatedly shows up. I had to plow the ranch roads, which are very muddy underneath because the ground has never frozen this season. So the blower on the back of the tractor would pick up mud along with the snow. I’d raise it up a little and try to leave a couple of inches on the ground, and that worked until I hit a soft patch and it all sank in again. In a normal winter, the ground has the decency to freeze on schedule and stay that way. The dirt roads are about as good as paved when it comes to maintaining them.  People seem to have forgotten anything they ever knew about driving on snowy roads, so getting to the ski slopes was slow going and risky. Cars were launched off U.S. 40 in about every direction. I looked at the UDOT cameras, and things were more or less stalled for miles.  It probably isn’t too early to put your snow tires on. I parked my snow-covered car in the garage. The next morning, I went down the step into the garage to get the dog food, and splashed into a pool of water an inch deep. Yeah, this is what we’ve been waiting for all this time.   I’ve been watching the Olympics. I really don’t care about any of the events or follow them. When the difference between gold and “who cares” is a thousandth of a second, it’s really not great entertainment.  Still, every Olympic season I get sucked into it. There are always some great scenes and background stories. One photo really sticks in my mind. Lucas Braathen won the gold medal in the men’s giant slalom. He’s Brazilian, and his win is the first winter Olympic medal for a South American country ever.              The photo shows him on the podium, well, really flying high above the podium, leaping for joy, while the two Swiss guys who took silver and bronze are kind of giving him the skunk eye. This was supposed to be their event. The photographer is Rebecca Blackwell, and her photo is all over the internet without attribution. But it really captured the essence of the Olympics.  All the Olympic traditions are there — the crooked French figure skating judge, somebody sharing a bit too much like the Norwegian guy who used his podium finish to announce to the world that he had cheated on his fiancé, and stories about the “side” action in the athletes’ village (they ran out of condoms on the third day).  There was penis-gate, where ski jumpers were accused of injecting something into their junk to make it swell so they could wear a bigger ski suit. They want as big a suit as they can to use it like a sail. Women ski jumpers, who waged a decade-long battle to get into the Olympics, were not impressed. There are the tragedies like Lindsey Vonn’s terrible crash, ending what was an amazing comeback. Illia Malinin had been elevated to the greatest skater of all time even before he took the ice. It didn’t go well, and he choked under the pressure. It’s easy to see how that would happen. Trying to maintain focus, tuning all the rest out, has to be another difficult element of the training.  There are big delegations from Park City and Summit County government in Italy to observe the games. I’m sure there will be some useful information gathered and put on the shelf, but the layout of the games in Italy is radically different from here, with venues scattered far and wide.  I’m not entirely sure what we will learn that will still be relevant in eight years, and the people there doing the observing aren’t likely to be in office eight years from now running the preparations. The 2030 games will need a full, deep dive, study and observation.  I wonder if the local planners might be better off picking the brains of the local people who did the planning in 2002, and collecting their very site-specific experiences. Sadly, they might not be around by 2034.  Our local landscape has changed dramatically since 2002. More of the events will be at the Utah Olympic Park in 2034, with less of a footprint in Park City itself. Making sure that there is a good reason to be on Main Street is key.  My own experience in 2002, and comments from others who have gone to several Olympics since, is that the actual competitions are only about half of the overall event.  It’s the unique party vibe that is so special. Hanging out on Main Street in 2002 was far more interesting and fun than any event I attended.  Tom Clyde practiced law in Park City for many years. He lives on a working ranch in Woodland and has been writing this column since 1986. The post More Dogs on Main: Oh, so now winter shows up appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less