MANIC
It is yet another Monday and although the predicted and anticipated blizzard of December 2007 did not occur it did cause an extra frenzy of activity.Saturday's fun trip to Indianapolis for some shopping and lunch became Friday's frantic rush to get the necessary things only available in "the big town", pushing dinner back to well after 8:00 p.m. and arriving home at nearly 11:00. This was followed by an impromptu trip to Meijer after realizing we were likely to end up with overnight guests (our kids) battening down with us for the storm in case power was lost. We have a fireplace & kerosene heater - oh, and a well stocked pantry! So at midnight we were standing in line (six people back) waiting to pay for the sheets and blankets for the bed that just transformed my husbands office into the office/guest room.
The "storm" started several hours later Saturday morning than predicted allowing us to pick up some orders that had come in and finish off a few more people on our Christmas list. Couple #1 joined us at our house after the snow started and couple #2 decided not to venture north to potentially stay at our house too since the graduation party they were planning to attend was postponed. (by the way - CONGRATS CRISSY!)
The first wave of the storm left a measly two inches of snow- not near the 4"-6" predicted for round one. By evening they were reporting it was the calm before the storm and that the worst would come in the overnight with 6" to 10" of snow and 40mph winds.
The reality was some rain, a little ice and, then, about 2"-3" more snow. The wind came and the roads were pretty tricky Sunday morning for anyone without 4 wheel drive but by late afternoon things were pretty normal for wintertime.
Now, I'm not saying it was a conspiracy or anything, but by the end of the weekend I couldn't help remembering the words of the lady behind us at Meijer at midnight saying she thought the grocery store owners had a deal with the weather men so that when profits were down the predicted a storm causing a mad rush on things like milk, bread, eggs, and the completely decimated soft drink aisle! Yep, they were reporting lower than expected profits for retailers this season - but the grocery stores were cleaning up this weekend, as were the home improvement stores - selling shovels, ice melt, kerosene heaters, generators. Well, maybe? Hey, the guys on the street department could be in on it too. I mean, I'm sure they can use a little overtime money during the holidays.....
1 comment:
Glad everybody is ok, and you didn't get whammed,but I have always wondered the same thing myself-why we have these "put your affairs in order and gather your loved ones" type warnings, the grocery store frenzy, only to have a sort of inconvenient afternoon, weather-wise. And the storms that we really get slammed with seem to come out of nowhere. We are supposed to have 2 weeks worth of hurricane supplies at all times, but no one must actually do this, because we have the same grocery store/Home Depot rush any time a storm is predicted(wouldn't people use their existing stash?). I do remember one year I kind of laughed off warnings in Massachusetts, only to wake up and realize my car had been towed for city snow removal, and I had to trudge through a blizzard and pay the really happy towing guys and drive my Nissan Sentra circa 1983 uphill to my apartment, jumping out to shovel it free every few minutes. I'm a little nostalgically jealous, not of the scurrying part but of the cozy "waiting for snow doom where nothing bad happens and the power doesn't go out but there's no good reason to change out of our pajamas" aspect of Northern winter..I'm sure it would be different if I was actually there.
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