Sheesh! I let down my guard, and see what happens?
I promised three posts a week and delivered. Then I said “OOoh! I can’t DO that, I’ll only do one!” And here we are, two weeks later. No post last week. I guess, to make up for it, I shall have to attempt to write TWO posts this week. And that will be hard because I’m not even sure what to write about for this one!
In a letter to my brothers last week, I told about what a lovely winter we were having here in the Heartland. We’ve actually had days in the 70s! In January! Can you BELIEVE that? In that letter, I wrote about how people here in the Heartland have this funny view of weather. We tend to think of winter weather as a bucket of bad. One way or another, that bucket is going to be dumped on us.
In most years, that bucket gets sprinkled over us just a little bit at a time over the course of the winter months. Since October was mild, and November was mild, and December was mild and January was mild, it stood to reason that the entire bucket was going to be dumped on us all at once! There were a few, we shall call THEM the pessimistic ones, who said, no, we’d not get it all dumped at once… we’d still get it dumped, but it would extend into and perhaps through our summer! Most of us know better… it’ll come all at once, we assured those pessimistic naysayers!
And then came last week. The news each day trumpeted the alert “Snowmageddon is coming! Snowmageddon is coming! Quick dash off to the grocery stores and squirrel away as much food as you can because Snowmageddon is coming!”
Talk around the office water cooler turned to the predictions. One person heard we’d get 5 to 8 inches of snow. Another 7 – 12. Yet a third said, oh no, it’s going to be much worse, they’re predicting 12 – 18 inches at the least! And it’s all coming on Friday!
Friday dawned, and it was indeed bleak. Grey. Overcast, and it began to mist. Then it began to sprinkle, and then it rained… a slow, pelting , soaking rain overshadowing the world around us with a dank sense of dread.
Seven pm came, the time for Snowmageddon to begin, and no snow. “Oh, but the weathermen changed their minds! It’s not starting until midnight!” Well, I can’t even stay awake to welcome in the New Year, how does one expect me to remain vigilant for a flake or two of snow?
My faithful dog, the aforementioned Princess Nikki, dutifully awakened me for our 6 am potty outing, and low and behold SNOW!… Nikki stood rigid, peering off into the sky… oh, for want of a camera (the phone still charging by the stove).
Yes, snow had come. At 6 am Saturday, there was 5 inches… and it didn’t stop snowing until nearly 5 pm… we got a total of about 8 inches where I live, I think.
I love watching snow fall. It’s beautiful. It’s glorious! It’s so peaceful.
And then I have to go outside and shovel the stuff (not the word I am thinking, but I’ll keep it G for now).
This snow was not your nice, fluffy, powdery fun snow. This was slush, from the get go. Our snow blower could barely handle it! It took nearly two hours to do our driveway and our sidewalks.
And so there we have it. Winter has, at long last, begun! Was that the bottom of the bucket? That’s the problem with this theory… no one really has any clue how deep the weather bucket is! We may have had the end of winter! Or, we could be facing 3 more months of it!
Forget ole Punxsutawney Phil, what does an old gopher know, anyhow?
On The Road II 