Friday, December 7, 2018

CALM BEFORE THE WINTER STORM







An area radio station has had Bing singing "White Christmas" for weeks.  There are yet 18 or so days til December  25.  A few years ago, we actually had a white Christmas in central North Carolina.  A bit early yet  to know if there will be an encore.  But why wait until Christmas Day, right?

  For several days now local meteorologists have been telling us to get ready . . . there's a 'big one' coming, with up to 8-12 " possible.
Please understand, that is a lot of snow for us.  So, customers are stocking up on supplies of bread and milk (someone asked if these are for 'milk sandwiches'), the Department of Transportation has been loading salt solution for covering the roadways, and the Governor was just on television warning us to be prepared for the possibility of needing to stay indoors for several days.  It's time to inventory your food supply, check batteries, locate flashlights, put extra blankets on beds, pray that the electricity does not go out and generally prepare to hunker down.  Or, so goes the conventional wisdom and common sense.

    But there are those who have no option: homeless people, electric company personnel, mail carriers (if the old slogan of nothing preventing them from their rounds is still in place), hospital staff (already the hospital where I work has activated its inclement weather policy effective tomorrow) , EMT workers, and others that you likely can add to this list.  My clinic is exempt from this particular policy.  However, I anticipate going to my office sixty five miles away tomorrow (Saturday) before the precipitation is expected to begin that evening. By Monday, if the local roads are passable, I will meet any clients able to drive in.

    Well, it gives us something to talk about that differs from typical fare.  And, Mark Twain was correct: "Everyone talks about the weather but no one does anything about it."  However, do you have 
enough milk and bread ?
  Stay safe.

       Satchel


Ghost of Winter storms past.










2 comments:

  1. We Wisconsin types - well, most of us - love seeing a nice snow.

    My wife, a Kansas gal, after a number of years of marriage, noted that the difference between people in my home state and hers, is that in Kansas, people try to endure through a storm, but up north, people embrace it.

    Not sure that is so much so now as it once was.

    For what it is worth, that famous poem about the mailman is inscribed on a post office in New York, but has no official standing as being a statement of policy by the post office.

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