Jokes flew across the internet this week as the South braced itself for a winter storm. While my northern friends giggle over the idea that just the threat of snow can close down the South, they fail to understand that since it rarely snows, the non-mountainous regions of our states are not as winter-storm ready as are states who deal with feet of snow for six months out of the year. We don't have salt trucks, just trucks that spray a thin solution of brine on main roads. Nor do we have plows. We have law enforcement that pleads with the public to please stay home so they don't have to work hundreds of accidents. Pleas that
widely go ignored, mostly by northerners who have no idea the Southern version of snow usually involves ice.
So we braced ourselves as computer models that suggested we would see no precipitation during Hurricane Matthew claimed we would get anywhere from a stray snowflake to six inches of snow. In the end, we had ice followed by sleet, which led to icy streets and a complete stop to life as we know it. We've been stuck inside for two days now, with a possibility of extending time served to three. Temperatures aren't expected to rise above freezing until Monday afternoon—just hours before the sun begins to set. Since law enforcement continues to beg people to stay indoors, indoors we stay, consuming the bread and milk we wisely stocked up on the moment we heard the word "snow" coming from our television set. Living this far out in the country, we had little choice but to stay.
To pass the time we read--me a novella that will be included in a collection our group will release this summer; my husband, a book on Whitefield the evangelist. A DVD full of episodes from season one of Babylon 5 arrived on Friday. We watched four episodes on Saturday. Next, I started a knitting project. It didn't work out as I had hoped...
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| Knitpicks City Tweed DK—Not Supposed to Look Like This |
...but as our famous, fictional Southern representative (who never had to deal with snow or ice in
Gone With The Wind) cooed, tomorrow is another day. And with schools and businesses closing, it looks as if I'll have plenty of time to try again.
