Friday, February 8, 2013

Weather Bulletin

There's exciting weather coming this way, and about time, too.  I like a cold winter, but I especially like it if the ground is covered with snow, and even more if the sun is shining on that snow.  Although it's been below freezing for days, the snow melted during the last weird warm spell and now the ground is bare.  I think about my lavender bushes and how they must long for a snowy duvet to keep their feet warm. 

The news and weather channels are doing their usual apocalyptic song and dance about the expected blizzard.  Don't they realize that with their perpetual hype they are desensitizing the population to real threats?  Of course this coming storm may be a real threat, but how are we to know, when high drama is the staple of these shows?

Still, in preparation for what might come I did send my spouse to the nearest village to buy... not bread or milk or toilet paper, but laying mash.  I figure as long as the hens are fed and happy, we'll have eggs.  We still have plenty of veggies that I harvested and put in the freezer last summer.  And there's some quinoa in the pantry that I bought in a fit of nutritional idealism and should find a use for before it goes bad.  (Does quinoa, "the grain of the Aztecs," ever go bad?)

On the whole, I am not displeased at the prospect of a big old snow storm.  I've been out of the house a lot recently, and I could use a day or two of cocooning. My needlepoint could use some attention, and my Kindle is fully charged.  Not to sound frivolous, but I like the sense of adventure that a blizzard brings.  I sympathize with all those who have work they must go to and roads they must travel.  I especially sympathize with working parents of school-age children.  I feel their pain.  There was one February back in the 1970s when I thought I would go out of my mind if there was one more school closing.  That said, I plan to stay in the moment and enjoy the view out the window.

The snow has started and the wind is blowing hard.  I'm keeping the hens locked in their shed.  You fellow northeasterners, stay warm and safe.  Those of you in warmer climes, wish us luck.  Bulletins will be forthcoming.

14 comments :

  1. i love blizzards. i hate driving in them but i love being home for them. we haven't had one for two years and i miss them.

    and can i just say that my favorite two words in this whole post are: "lavender bushes." oh my.

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  2. MY favorite words are "apocalyptic song and dance".

    I love big snowstorms, too, and as a teacher, there was nothing better than that phone call at 3 in the morning telling me to sleep in. STL doesn't get many BIG ONES the way that the prairie or northeast does, but when we do, it is really so much fun.

    And then 5 days later, it had better be gone and the roads clear and kids back to school.

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  3. Laurie and Bridgett, I so hate to disappoint, but now it looks like we're only going to get five or six inches! See what I mean about the TV weather people ?

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  4. We even heard the news about the terrible winter storm in Holland and it showed the stores filled with people buying supplies and snow shovels. I wish you luck, however it turns out. xox

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  5. Thanks, Irene. It looks like much ado about nothing. It's not even snowing anymore.

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  6. But now it's snowing again! Yay! I swear, yesterday I saw so many reports with varying amounts that I felt I could say, with confidence, we will likely get somewhere between 1 and 30 inches.

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  7. Snow. Wow. Thinking of you (as I slope off to have a cocktail on the deck).

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  8. We did get some--but just a few inches, nothing like the predicted blizzard. But at least everything is nice and white again.

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  9. I am so very disappointed in this storm. People stare at me like I am insane when I say "a couple of feet would be great!" There is nothing to clean a sheep's fleece right before shearing like snow. It sucks all of the dirt right out! Like magic, they are pristine! Oh well, we have time before now and March 2nd for another storm.
    Of course there is always the cost of hay that rises when there is a drought. Sorry to be a downer, but I wanted at least two feet!

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  10. I didn't know about snow's cleansing effect on fleece. I'm guessing you need a lot more than we got...unless you could somehow induce your sheep to roll in it?

    Come to think of it, I have heard that putting your Persian rugs face down on the snow and stomping on them gets them all clean and bright. Same principle, I guess.

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  11. While you missed it, our kids in Boston and Connecticut didn't. They have the 2+ feet, but still have power.

    Here in Nashville, however, I'm getting ready to bike over to the farmer's market and get some fresh greens and root vegetables (greenhouse products) on a sunny, warm (40s) winter day. I'll regret this comment later this year, however.

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  12. Glad to hear your descendants are safe. 2+ feet! I envy them. I hope they're getting some fun out of it.

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  13. They are, plus some work-shoveling.

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