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January 19, 2007
Yes Yes, I hear the laughing around the world..
Hahahahahaha....I hear ya...and its all cool...laugh all you want, because we do it to ya'll in the summertime...! :)
Remember, I grew up just outside of Chicago, so I understand cold and snow and ice and winter very well...but here in Austin and all along the South, we don't have things such as PLOWS..or SALT trucks...or bags of rock salt stashed in our houses to de-ice our porches...hell, a lot of us don't even have winter BOOTS or coats in some cases (I had a snow coat that I didn't wear for 10 years and finally donated it with its tags still on)...Please - let me ask you laughing northerners...if you had no snow blower, or shovel or plow truck to make it thru to your neighborhood, how would you get out of your house? what would you use? I bet ya'll don't give it another thought, you just pull out the shovel, or snowblower, bags of salt and get to work...you have to...and you hope your street gets plowed so you can get to work...things don't shut down just because there is 6 feet of snow on the ground...but what if you had none of those tools to do that?
Its a lot like why we laugh here in the South when ya'll experience heat waves of (gasp!) 95 for a week! And there is no a/c in the house, let alone in the car...and you sweat and cry and complain at how hot it is...and we all just smirk as you're doing now (understandably of course) because you don't have a/c...why would you? It never gets hot enough to need it for more than a week, right? Now, with global warming, you'll probably all have a/c in your homes and cars and things will be fine, and maybe our city will invest in expensive machinery and salt and de-icing chemicals (did I mention the ice started on Monday and by Tuesday the city was already running out of the chemical? ha)...that we won't need because the last time we had an ice storm like this was 1998...I think that's 9 years ago...If you only experienced temps over 90 every 9 years, would YOU buy an a/c for your house? I bet not...they are expensive and unnecessary...On average it snows (real snow, not just ice) in Austin every 11 years...
When I first moved to Texas it snowed once in Houston and all the kids ran to the window and started jumping up and down..I couldn't even SEE the snow, but they were so excited...some of them were 16 and had never seen snow (granted, this looked more like a dusting of confectioner sugar than real snow)...I thought "you should go through a December like I did when it was BELOW -20 for everyday that month" (which is not an exaggeration, it was freaking cold that year)...But alas, people who live and breathe in the North will never understand what happens down here...and that's ok...Believe me, there's a reason why I live in the south...I can't deal with the winter weather up north...when I lived there sometimes it would start snowing at Halloween and keep snowing thru Easter...that is just evil...Sweating is no fun either, but the Californians have all the really GOOD weather and it costs too much to live there to enjoy it...so the rest of us either sweat or freeze and complain about it...
I am filling up my kiln today, I took some cool things out this morning but I want to keep making stuff, so more work today..no beads yet..I'm hoping for tomorrow, depending on how things go today...I'll keep ya aprised of course...and I saw the sun a minute ago...its 40 out...maybe I'll go buy some boots and coat and salt...wait, no...it'll be 85 here in a few weeks, why bother...heh...
Posted by Donner at January 19, 2007 10:47 AM
Comments
I remembered that you were once a Northerner, that's why I was perplexed.
It's really not enough snow to shovel. I hate salt--I'm generally averse to rust on my car. But on your steps you could just whip out a salt shaker and give it a little shake-shake if you needed it.
I'm still just wearing my fall coat. My blood is as thick as stew, I guess. I think it's all just a blood-thinning thing. :)
We love 'ya, Donna.
Posted by: Beth at January 19, 2007 11:34 AM
Hey, folks, that's *not* snow, but compressed sleet--heavy, solid, horrible to shovel, slippery when fully frozen and even slicker when starting to melt. And municipal snowplows don't clear it, but press it together harder and polish the surface nicely. On your steps sometimes you can get it to break up by banging the edge of a metal shovel down on it hard and then sweeping the pieces away; otherwise you need salt (lots of it!) or warmth. I've lived in upstate NY and in Raleigh, NC and believe me, I'd rather have 2 feet of snow than an inch of this stuff!
Glad to hear your power stayed on, Donna--that's always my worst fear about an ice storm, since I don't need to drive...
Best, Sue from Raleigh
Posted by: sklamb ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.blackberrybeads.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at January 19, 2007 12:56 PM
I think you are protesting too much.....just let me laugh :)))))) We don't shovel the driveway....we just drive over it. My husband refuses to shovel until one of us gets stuck.
Posted by: Gail at January 19, 2007 01:28 PM
Indeed snow is one thing, ice is quite another: much harder to get rid of, especially when it falls in large quantities. Montreal and the surrounding areas (places where people are used to dealing with most things winter throws at us) were litterally shut down most of January 1998 because an especially nasty ice storm.
So Donna, believe me, I understand how little fun this is. I'm not laughing at you guys, I hope it's over soon. ;+)
Hang in there!
Françoise
Posted by: Francoise at January 19, 2007 01:48 PM
I was not laughing at you at all...until I read today's post....sounds like someone hit a nerve! Drastic changes in "normal", expected weather all over the world is what is scaring me right now, not making me laugh AT ALL. I don't know if we can convince enough people that global warming and global dimming (which is keep the effects of global warming at bay!) are REAL and we may not have enough time to counteract all the effects....from me who feels helpless with all the havoc those b@stards mining the tar sands up here are creating... *sigh*
On a happier note - that basket ROCKS!!! my cats would love one of those!! :)
Posted by: Coleen at January 20, 2007 09:10 AM