Here in Oklahoma City, we are battening down the hatches, and buying out all of the food and bottled water and batteries we can find. And when I say ‘we’ I mean my neighbors and coworkers who’ve never lived anywhere that it regularly snows. Seriously. You’d think that the zombie apocalypse was nigh.
You know that rule of the internet that says that a sufficiently sophisticated parody of extremist opinion will frequently be taken for the real thing? Well, this was so very much like my neighbors yesterday, that I’m not sure if it’s real or a parody.
Everybody in my division is taking laptops home to be able to work from there just in case. The biggest problem of course is that the cities in the OKC metro just don’t have the equipment needed to deal with the storms. I’m told that they don’t happen enough, but they sure seem to be happening more and more. Well, snow removal and road clearance is socialism, so we don’t do that shit here. I tell people that they should pray for good weather because only God can save you since the city and state can’t, but that only gets me dirty looks.
I’m excited, myself. It looks like I’m finally going to get to use the snow blower my wife got me last Christmas because she couldn’t think of anything else to get me. Since I live in a new subdivision only a quarter mile from an electrical substation, and all of our power lines are buried and we have natural gas for the stove, hot water, furnace and fireplace, and an energy star rated house, I’m planning on settling in with some good books and blu-ray discs this weekend. I don’t know if I’ll have internet (or TV) so you might not see me. Stay safe and warm wherever you are.
Open Thread
Aji
Seriously? Is that when the Four Horsemen’s steeds announce their arrival? Nigh, OTOH . . . . Sorry, couldn’t resist.
That is not confined to OK, you know. When I lived in NYC, one weather report of impending flakes, and all the bread and milk disappeared from the shelves of every grocery and bodega in five minutes flat. Coming from snow country ourselves, we could never be arsed to worry about “stocking up.”
Howard Beale IV
Having buried infrastructure’s a good thing from a weather standpoint-no frozen powerlines to snap.
We got 6″ of snow the last 3 days but now our highs for the next 3 days are in the single digits.
Mustang Bobby
When I lived in northern Michigan where we regularly got fourteen feet of snow every winter and it didn’t melt away completely until April, visitors used to tell me “Oh, it must be so nice to live in the Winter Wonderland!” Yeah, that’s why we held the AA meetings in the high school gym.
I respect those who can make it through the winters there, but after 45 years of it, I said the hell with it and moved to Miami.
cleek
it’s supposed to be close to 80 here in NC tomorrow. and then low 40s on Sunday. and then low 70s on Monday.
yay!
maya
Whaa? OK, don’t mean to be picky but you work for the VA, right? And you and your co-workers are taking home your workplace laptops, right?
What could possibly go wrong!
Jim Foolish Literalist
This reminds me of the scene in the HBO-Sarah Palin movie when Woody the Bartender is told Sarah Palin doesn’t know who was on which side in WWII. You kinda have to wonder what kind of stupid prompted this rueful understatement.
(link to Booman because the original story is in Politico)
Violet
This proves global warming is a hoax!
Omnes Omnibus
@Aji: The big problem I have found when it snows in areas that are not familiar with it is that drivers either move at a complete crawl or, assuming that their giant SUV makes them invincible, continue to drive as though nothing has happened. Since both groups of fools are on the road at the same time, let’s just say that the streets of Columbus, Ohio were fraught with peril. Most snow is navigable – until you start reaching amounts in excess of a foot – if you know how to drive in it.
ant
as a truck driver, I am always amazed at how many folks down in OK, TX, MS, AL GA, ect have full size four wheel drive pick ups with big meaty tires on them.
Id bet it’s prolly 40% of all vehicles down there.
Who needs snow plows?
DecidedFenceSitter
I grew up in Vermont and now live in Virginia – it took me look at town/city budgets for snow, my birthtown of about 10k probably had a snow budget 3-4x a VA city of 50k. And that’s why snow fall is hell down here, not enough infrastructure to deal with the weather.
raven
@ant: Yea and when we do get a storm these stupid fucking redneck peach staters HAVE to go out in their 4wd’s! My 66 chev works fine as long as I have a load in the bed.
MikeJ
@Omnes Omnibus: Every year I post a link to this video for everyone that complains about the idiot drivers where they live not being able to handle the snow. Please check out the vehicle 3 minutes in.
slippy
@Violet:
I’m not kidding, some fucktard just posted that at another site I lurk at.
It’s like regular, every winter the denialists’ useful imbeciles come running out to mention to us that it’s cold again.
I live in Louisville, KY, though I grew up in Denver. I am often amused and then really annoyed at how this city flips out backwards when it snows, and then just waits helplessly for the sun to come. It’s like there is no concept of buying a plough or two and fucking going after the actual snow.
slippy
@Violet:
I’m not kidding, some fucktard just posted that at another site I lurk at.
It’s like regular, every winter the denialists’ useful imbeciles come running out to mention to us that it’s cold again.
I live in Louisville, KY, though I grew up in Denver. I am often amused and then really annoyed at how this city flips out backwards when it snows, and then just waits helplessly for the sun to come. It’s like there is no concept of buying a plough or two and fucking going after the actual snow.
Aji
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, we have that here, too. Transplants from elsewhere who drive Denalis and Navigators to go pick up their one bag of bread and milk, and have no idea how to navigate in rain, sleet, snow, or ice. Same fpr the tourists who are now here.
And it’s snowing right now – we’re getting the storm that’s headed toward Sooner – so we’ll no doubt have plenty of traffic issues. We got more than a foot spread over about four days a little over a week ago, and we had three separate accidents in that period on our stretch of road – two by our fence; one across the road from our gate. All people taking the curves way too fast for icy roads.
Betty Cracker
It’s 80 F here now. The low tonight is 64 F. I’ll need a blanket unless I shut the windows!
Villago Delenda Est
@Violet:
You know, my dear, that channeling Rush Limbaugh is a serious matter…it can lead to permanent drain bamage.
LanceThruster
I’m betting you’re battening them down also, too.
xD
OzarkHillbilly
Supposed to get 3-6 inches of sleet and snow starting about 2 pm thru tomorrow. But when I headed out the door it went from light rain to sleet. I said, “Screw it. Nobodies gonna by me a new truck if I end up wrapped around a tree.” Kept that up for almost an hour and then… stopped. Nothing since. Guess I could’ve worked this morn after all.
Villago Delenda Est
@Betty Cracker:
There’s got to be a hurricane SOMEWHERE that can be diverted to your home to rain on you through that open window.
raven
@Betty Cracker: yea and it was fucking 30 last week when I was down there!
handsmile
Spelling pedant alert:
The “zombie apocalypse” is nigh. It’s the horses of the Four Horsemen that neigh.
Perhaps of greater consequence, can one weaponize a snowblower? With all the admirable environmental/social precautions you’ve taken SG, I’d have to think your fortress would be a likely destination of those zombies and horses.
ETA: I see LanceThruster (#18) got to the other punless one.
Glocksman
We’re supposed to be getting some bad weather this weekend here in Evansville, and I’d normally do the same thing you’re doing and just ride it out in comfort.
My employer has other plans.
Not only did they mandate 10 hours overtime on Saturday, they scheduled it for 6:00PM to 4:30AM.
I don’t mind the mandatory OT on a normal schedule because I was planning on volunteering for 10 hours on Friday (we work a 4 day/10 hour week), which would make Saturday double time, but with them effectively screwing me out of a normal day off on Sunday with those hours, fuck volunteering.
Violet
@slippy: Of course they did. Typical Republican or conservative behavior–if it’s happening in front of their nose or to them, then its a thing. Otherwise its not real.
Omnes Omnibus
@MikeJ: Ice is different. Ice is dangerous.
Also, note that the one car that goes through without problems is a Saab.
@Aji: It’s one reason I am happy to be back in WI where people may drive 40 miles with a blinker blinking but they do know how to drive in snow.
Villago Delenda Est
@Violet:
Not true. They’ve never seen a SNAP client use a food stamp card, then peel off a few hundreds from a roll to pay for the non-covered stuff, but they know it happens every fucking day.
Betty Cracker
@MikeJ: OMG, the bus! Doesn’t it snow in Seattle fairly regularly? They all seemed so inept…
Amir Khalid
I have heard of this “snow” that you speak of. It must be a beautiful sight: a cold, powdery form of water, covering the outdoors for months at a time. I envy you. We here in Kuala Lumpur never get to experience living in a winter wonderland.
raven
@Amir Khalid: How’s the skeeters?
burnspbesq
My SoCal-born-and-raised kid has been whining incessantly about how cold it is in Seattle. I sent him $ for gloves and a hat, but having gone to undergrad Upstate, I don’t have much sympathy.
Violet
@Villago Delenda Est: Given that they are so fear-driven you’d think they’d be plenty afraid of climate change.
Gene108
@DecidedFenceSitter:
I grew up in NC. Why bother with infrastructure when temps will be above freezing in a day or two and melt all the snow away?
MGB
I live in Chicago, was born and raised in Detroit and went to college in New Hampshire. Snow and cold are quite normal in my life. Now my co-worker who is 26 and from Florida and only on his second Chicago winter (and last winter barely counted), he’s fun to watch.
soonergrunt (mobile)
@maya: our IT laptops have 256-bit encrypted hard drives and we use an encrypted vpn connection through a hard connection because we’ve disabled the wireless on them. It’s as safe as we can make it.
gbear
I was supposed to have a meeting today that requires a 3.5 hour drive north from the office, but we decided to cancel because the meeting location got well over two feet of snow over the last few days, and the entire route to the meeting was covered in heavy wet snow that created a layer of crusty ice on the roads. Our 3.5 hour drive would have more likely been 5.5 hours each way. Not worth it.
Gex
@Jim Foolish Literalist: It’s so cute watching them try not to alienate women by withholding their beliefs or by wordsmithing their responses.
Their policy platform speaks for itself. And their base will be unleashing their misogynistic ID on Hillary, which will no doubt drive the far right Tea Baggers primarying the not quite as far right (but only by a sliver) Republican incumbents to double down on the theocratic positions on women’s issues.
I’m tired of popcorn. I have to find a new snack.
Glocksman
@Amir Khalid:
It *is* beautiful.
Peaceful and quiet and quite relaxing to just sit at a window and watch fall.
Until it passes and normal city traffic and pollution make it all icy gray-black sludge, that is.
WereBear
TP is the stockpiling of choice around here even though we are used to snow, and have the plows moving as the first flakes hit.
We even have a little plow for the sidewalks.
Feudalism Now!
People still freak out in the snow belt when there is a storm announced. The weather people pump it up and people empty store shelves, like Pavlov’s dogs. It doesn’t matter how much snow falls, news needs it to be a Storm! That is why the Weather Channel has its list of winter storm names.
As for one section of the country vs. another, the Tug Hill Plateau laughs at everyone and they still run to the stores when there is a storm a comin’.
burnspbesq
@Gene108:
Yeah, but having ridden out the aftermath of an eight-incher in Durham in the late 1980s, I know from experience that that day or two will be pure hell.
Omnes Omnibus
@Amir Khalid: I love winter. I love snow. I ski. All that being said, by late March, even the most pro-snow among us are ready for to to be gone already. When new snow stops falling, the snow banks start to become dirty and gray. I find it depressing in the way that many people find late autumn depressing. The good snow is gone, skiing is declining in quality as the snow goes, but spring is not yet imminent.
gbear
@Betty Cracker: It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.
Villago Delenda Est
@Gex:
Well, according to our right wing friends, you are not snacking on popcorn at all, but on deep fried fetuses.
Violet
@Omnes Omnibus: It’s summer that’s depressing in a hot climate. June is grit you teeth, its gonna be a long summer month. July is miserable and August nis brutal. By September you think you’ll get a break but won’t until October. I hate summer.
Omnes Omnibus
@Villago Delenda Est: Mmmm…. Protein.
Paul T
I’m from California and I lived in OKC during the winter in 2006. Several times that winter the city was beset with snow and ice and cold, cold weather. Several six inch snowstorms and lots of sleet and ice. ( I know, that isn’t a big pile….) The main parts of the city handled it just fine, but some of the less traveled spots were no fun at all. I took my Xterra out to a big empty uncleared parking lot (OKC specializes in massive parking lots) and practiced spinning, skidding, and sliding until I got over myself and realized what was possible. There were bets on a few days about whether the “Cali boy” would make it in to work, but I made it every day, even one day when the Aeronautical Center closed before I got the word. (I owe most of this to the Xterra, of course). But, I will say, driving on ice is no fun in a city where it just doesn’t happen often.
Aji
@Omnes Omnibus: Love snow. Hate spring. Because here, spring is 40+-mph sustained winds and six inches of mud while everything thaws.
MomSense
I remember about 4 or 5 years ago the kids were complaining that they never got snow days since the new Superintendent from Colorado came to town. There are only a handful of states as nonchalant as Maine about a winter snow storm.
Amir Khalid
@raven:
Nowhere near as common as when I was a kid, now that you mention Heck, it’s been years since I last suffered a skeeter bite. Progress, man.
WereBear
Driving on ice is never fun. And you can do sweetdammall about.
Omnes Omnibus
@Paul T: Driving on ice is a bitch anywhere. You just have to be slow, gentle, and deliberate. Just like walking or running on ice. Snow, however, isn’t too bad – as long as it isn’t so deep that you beach your vehicle.
Villago Delenda Est
@Betty Cracker:
Actually, snow is an infrequent event in Seattle and the rest of the Puget Sound area. It’s nothing like it is in the upper midwest. For it to linger for more than a few days is unusual. Right now there’s this huge arctic air mass over much of the PNW (it’s around 15 F in Tracktown USA right now, and the sun’s been up an hour and a half). So many of the drivers simply haven’t developed sustainable ice/snow driving skills.
Seattle is mostly endless light rain in the winter months.
Josie
@Violet: You nailed it.
raven
@Amir Khalid: DDT
scav
@Betty Cracker: Wasn’t even one of their electric wire-on-the-top buses. Watched some of those lose it live during an ice / snow storm on Capital Hill. They really didn’t think that combination through.
ETA @Villago Delenda Est: Ice probably should enter their planning calculations though, although practice definitely enters into it. First good snow of the year even in areas that get it every year is usually fun to watch /avoid.
raven
@Villago Delenda Est: God, I went through Ft Lewis on the way to Korea in the winter of 67 and it was buried in snow!
gogol's wife
@MikeJ:
Ooh, that makes my stomach hurt! Don’t they use salt there?
Fred
Many years ago in when I lived in Greenville SC it snowed! At about noon the word came down that the factory would close because it was snowing. So we all went out to our cars through a piddlin’ flurry and took to the road as the citizens of Greenville all drove like the damned with hell hounds on their tails, running red lights, running into each others’ cars. It was amazing.
I made it home without getting rammed by any mad hillbillies. By night fall there was a half inch of accumulation and by morning it was all melted away.
Now I live in Sweden where 20 centimeters in October is a normal day and life goes on.
Omnes Omnibus
@Fred: There is is a reason that Scandinavians settled in the Upper Midwest.
ETA: The general response in WI when snow is expected over night is to set the alarm a little earlier for the next morning so you can shovel or snow blow before work. My guess is that the UP, MN, ND and SD all react the same way. It is seldom that snow shuts things down. Ice can – for a day or so.
Karen in GA
I live in NE Georgia, and I used to work in Atlanta. A few years ago we had snow start at around 10 a.m. that was forecast to fall through the day and overnight. I worked a night shift in a law firm word processing department. Seeing that most businesses were shutting down by noon, I called at 1 p.m. to ask, “What are we going to do about tonight?” The response from my department manager was that the HR director wanted me to come in at my usual time. This, despite the fact that the roads become unsafe as soon as any snow starts sticking, snow had started sticking at around 11 that morning, it wasn’t going to stop any time soon, and I was due in at 8 p.m. that night — and Atlanta and its surrounding counties can’t plow snow worth a damn.
Part of the HR idiot’s reasoning was that “it’s not fair” to tell me to stay home when the people working regular hours had to come in that day. Despite the fact that the snow hadn’t even started when they got to work, and travel would be considerably more dangerous when I had to go there. How does “it’s not fair” even occur to anyone who isn’t a toddler?
The other part of her reasoning? I’m from New York, so I should be able to drive in it. I guess my being from New York meant that other people would be able to drive it in too, and there was no risk of anyone hitting me.
I took PTO. A couple of hours later they closed the office anyway, but because I made a decision more quickly than she could, I lost the vacation day.
Seriously, that HR director was one of the single dumbest people I’ve ever worked with.
catclub
@scav: “They really didn’t think that combination through.”
Overall, they did. If the buses run over 97% of the time and are clearly optimal then, getting something else that runs that last 3% will cost far too much to be worth it.
If you mean, they didn’t think that combination through for THAT day, then yes.
A Ghost To Most
As a recent (4 years) transplant to the Denver area, I have to say that people here handle snow pretty well. Rain, however, causes the locals to freak out.
Gene108
@burnspbesq:
The pure hell came in June, from my experience, when the snow days had to be made up.
catclub
@Omnes Omnibus: Garrison Keillor talks about he special pleasure one can get from being the one able to give a jumpstart to a neighbor.
I am willing to be that neighbor – or the one at least who does NOT have a huge pickup when it is time to move something large.
Villago Delenda Est
@Violet:
They’re afraid to acknowledge the reality of it…besides, their Galtian Overlords assure them that it’s a hoax, and Galtian Overlords never lie to their serfs.
Omnes Omnibus
@catclub: I always have jumper cables in my trunk. And a car that has never (knock on wood) failed to start in the cold – Swedes make cars for their environment.
shelly
It IS nice, the first couple of snowfalls. By late February, you’re ready to scream ‘Spring!’
scav
@catclub: There’s also planning involving the “maybe we shouldn’t run that particular bus line on icy days” brain-engage. Not clogging streets with sideways busses (esp when they avoid taking out other vehicles when getting to sideways) would seem a desirable outcome that could be aimed for in the planning dept. That’s exactly what I meant. It’s happened before within memory, think it through.
Villago Delenda Est
@gogol’s wife:
No, they don’t use salt. They might sand, but salt is right out.
Undercoating of cars is unknown in this part of the country.
handsmile
@Fred:
Do I recall correctly that not only do you live in Sweden, but that you have retired to live on a small farm there and that you used to own bookstores, the stock of which now comforts your squiredom?
If that (and my memory) is true, I simply do not have the polite vocabulary to describe my raw envy. And my Swedish lineage would frown upon the language I might otherwise employ.
gvg
It’s true that we freak out if snow is expected but since I live in North Florida and that is about…once every decade I think it’s reasonable. We don’t budget for snow removal. Sorry, it’s not cost effective. We also don’t build the roads to resist icing. Uncle who worked for DOT said the concrete they require for overpasses ices up due to wind chill faster than the required concrete in colder states but that our concrete and other road components were tested to be best at withstanding heat and high rainfall (around 60 inches a year average). Other states all have their trialed best mixes, which are naturally different.
I hate cold and snow.
Karen in GA
@Villago Delenda Est: Are people even spending several hundreds in supermarket to begin with, that they need to peel hundred-dollar bills out of a huge roll? I mean, I know groceries aren’t cheap, but hundreds?
(But I guess in fairness, it costs money to feed an army of scary black males in hoodies coming home after a long day of drug dealing. So, you know, there’s that. Or something.)
ranchandsyrup
Good but long piece on how snarkiness is a reaction to smarminess. http://gawker.com/on-smarm-1476594977/@tcraggs22
MikeJ
@Villago Delenda Est: Actually they do salt here. Of course that just makes it worst for America’s dumbest drivers.
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2022382579_westseattlebridgexml.html
Synopsis: City spreads salt based deicer on the West Seattle bridge. Cars pile up as drivers skid on deicer.
Yatsuno
@Villago Delenda Est: Salt’s been illegal for years in WA. Only authorised usage is for sidewalks.
@Betty Cracker: Seattle snow driving is a totally different animal. And where I went to college it snows every year. Pullman also has hills, but not the big cliffs that make up the downtown area. This place really should stop when it gets snowy and icy. It doesn’t, but it should.
raven
@Karen in GA: It’s a Kansas City Roll, 50 single wrapped in a c-note.
billgerat
It’s been in the low 30’s during the days and into the teens at night up here in Seahawk country. A high front is causing it, so no snow. The rest of the week will be the same. Of course, my gas furnace is out, and I’m huddled in front of an electric heater while watching my breath as I breathe while waiting for the repair people to come later today. Good times…..
gbear
@catclub: I doubt that Garrison Keillor is ever that neighbor.
raven
@Karen in GA: Were you here when Adams closed the University on the threat of snow that NEVER materialized?
maya
@soonergrunt (mobile): I hear you. But. Being in the VA healthcare system myself it is startling how many breaches of VA patient data have occurred and continue to occur for any number of reasons but usually involving employee error.
People leave his or her laptop in a public conveyance, e.g., happens all too often. I’m of the old school: business equipment should be left on the business premises. Period. That is all.
Glocksman
@Omnes Omnibus:
It gets cold here, but not usually -10 or more cold.
Years ago, we did have an extended subzero cold snap and hardly anyone’s car would start due to batteries being too cold to output enough juice.
I got laughed at when I waltzed into work at 3PM the first day lugging my car battery with me (bless the attached handles) to keep it warm.
At 1AM, no one was laughing when the only car in the lot that would turn over enough to start was my old Nova.
Villago Delenda Est
@billgerat:
Right now, they’re forecasting possible snow on the valley floor in Tracktown on Friday. However, the past two days have been gloriously cloudless sunny days (the cat is basking in it as I type these words) but still quite cold due to the arctic air mass.
Supposed to be clear and cold over the weekend and into the first of next week as well, perhaps a few high clouds.
MikeJ
@Glocksman: There’s a scene in the old movie Action in the North Atlantic where Alan Hale says he’s going to put an oar on his shoulder and walk inland until somebody asks him what that thing is.
I had a friend from So Dak in college. He said when he left he decided to drive south until somebody asked him why there was an electric cord hanging out of the front of his car.
maurinsky
Snow is lovely until you have to shovel it and leave the house. I drive like a very old person in the snow, but I stick the right hand lane and put my flashers on. Go around me! I have a small sedan, so I want other cars to stay far away from me, since I’m not likely to fare well in a crash.
billgerat
@Yatsuno: With all the hills there, I’d rather slit my wrists than try to drive around Seattle in snow. Now, across the pond here in Bremerton, it isn’t the hills but the Californians et al that don’t know how to drive in snow that make for interesting times. Get 3-4″ or more here, you’ll see more jackassery on the roads than you’ve ever seen in your life. Last time it happened about 3 years ago they let out the shipyard early and with everyone trying to go home at the same time as the rest of the town. What normally takes me 10 minutes took me 4 hours to get into my driveway. The main culprit? City and school buses that didn’t chain up when the snow advisory came out, and slid across the roadways. Meanwhile I was amazed that no one t-boned or sideswiped me with their ignorant driving/sliding. If I had my way, driving in snow while being a warm-stater would be a Capital offense worthy of the death penalty.
Villago Delenda Est
@ranchandsyrup:
The smarm peddlers don’t get the nice clean tumbrel ride. No, it’s endless crucio for their worthless hides.
Jebediah, RBG
@handsmile:
Certainly – sharpen the blades and use it on zombie heads like a mini wood chipper.
kindness
What Soonergrunt says. Let me add by saying that where I live in N. Cal people somehow completely forget how to drive when it rains too. Probably because it only rains 3 months of the year and only in winter. If most of the state had snow, well, we’d have a lot fewer residents after all the traffic fatalities. See out here you only get snow when you get above 5000 feet. Here we have to drive to the snow and people who do are mostly/sometimes prepared for it.
ranchandsyrup
@Villago Delenda Est: Agreed. Mockery works. Up the dose.
Soprano2
That crap happens up here in Springfield MO too, I’m sure the stores were crazy last night with people buying staples as if they won’t be able to get to a store for the next week. Reminds me of the 2007 ice storm, that was actually close to what I believe the apocalypse will be like. We were out of electricity for 13 days, and stores were running on generators and had to give away all their perishables. It was eerie, unless it’s going to be like that again I’m not worried, I just go on with my business. Or if we get over a foot of snow, then it gets hard to get around until they can snow plow.
Snark Based Reality
@ant: As someone with a Honda Fit in upstate NY who drives around just fine in all season tires that makes me laugh. Thanks.
Oh traction control with an off switch… You are my BFF.
Person of Choler
Why invest in snow removal equipment when global warming will soon eliminate snow? Better to stock up on sun blocker and solar topees.
Botsplainer
@slippy:
Me too. We did learn some lessons after the blizzard of ’78, though. The ’94 MLK Day snow was handled about as well as could be expected.
Kay
Well, of course you are. I’m afraid it’s going to miss us here. It’s not cold enough for snow right now.
LanceThruster
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’ve missed a train or two by not heeding that advice (I’m new to the high desert).
Glocksman
Oh, and since this is a open thread I’ll share an important lesson I learned yesterday while cooking up some chili for lunch.
Don’t buy spices that share the same packaging style and colors without paying attention to what you’re grabbing while cooking.
I meant to grab the nosalt spice bottle, but grabbed the cinnamon (they look exactly alike at first glance) instead.
After scooping out what I could, I went ahead and ate the chili as it was either that or go without lunch.
It didn’t exactly taste bad but strange.
I suspect that the cinnamon chili was also responsible for the case of the runs later that night.
Tommy
Oh I hear you about the weather. I feel like I am getting really old (I am 43). It rains much or we get a few inches of snow it is like the end of the world is upon us. I am like dude you live in the midwest. It can rain some and we get snow. Deal with it or move.
Karen in GA
@raven: I don’t recall that. I’ve been here since ’98, but things have mostly been Atlanta-centric until a couple of years ago. Now the closest I get in or near the Decatur area for banjo lessons (and a tattoo or two, too).
Origuy
The Oatmeal on snow in Seattle.
In the SF Bay Area, we occasionally get snow below 500 feet, with the mountains getting dusted fairly regularly. The road from San Jose to Santa Cruz gets snow every few years, but it doesn’t last long. Daytime temperatures don’t usually stay below freezing, so if you don’t get up early, you miss it.
Jay C
@Soprano2:
You can understand the rush to “stock up” in some places – especially those facing the possibility of multi-day power outages – but it seems to a universal trait: even where it doesn’t make a lot of sense. I remember some years back going to the local grocery before an expected blizzard: for the “sensible” hard-to-get-for-a-day stuff: fresh salad, vegs, extra carton of milk, etc., and being amazed at the junk people were loading up on. Mainly, I recall one woman at the checkout with maybe 15-20 boxes of Jell-O in her cart, and thinking: “We live in f*cking MANHATTAN! With a Chinese restaurant on nearly every corner! How bad does she think it’s going to get that she may need to live in Jell-O??“
Omnes Omnibus
@Jay C: She might have been intending to spend the next few days making a giant jello Chrysler building. You know, art.
danielx
Always a worthwhile tool, assuming it’s a serious gas powered blower. In OKC yours will last forever. I bought one after getting nine inches of heavy wet snow one year, on the theory that while premature death is a drag, premature death from keeling over while shoveling snow would be just too…humdrum.
Of course all your neighbors will be horribly jealous.
TAPX486
When snow is in the forecast in Philly everyone develops a taste for French toast because every last loaf of bread, carton of eggs and bottles of milk disappear from the store shelves.
Yatsuno
@Person of Choler: Sheesh DougJ. You could at least put some effort into it.
polyorchnid octopunch
@MikeJ: Good lord. Two things… One: get real winter tires. Two: learn how to drive. Locking your wheels in those conditions will not stop you and will take away all ability to steer.
tybee
@Jay C:
jello shots
Omnes Omnibus
@tybee: Jello wrestling?
bd of mn
@handsmile: re: weaponized snowblowers: a couple of years ago we got enough snow that I had to make some paths for the dogs to get around in the back yard. A couple of times my blower picked up and flung frozen dog poo, including one piece that ended up on the roof of my neighbor’s garage…
FelixMoronia
@Betty Cracker: Re: mikej’s video. My Chiropractor had his office in the big Victorian with all the neon and my brother lived directly across the street from it and what the video and/or Google maps don’t do justice to is the “hill.”From the nearest ‘flat’ spot to the top is maybe 1/2 mile at a 30-40 degree incline. It’s a mofo! And then add ice.
Brendan in Charlotte
I used to live in Rochester,NY…and worked at a supermarket. Mere mention of snow, in an area that regularly got lots of it, incites full blown panic..
Saw it all.
Drivers of SUVs sailing into the ditch at regular highway speed in snowstorms.
Shelves emptied of milk, bread, water, TP, and batteries with a snowfall of a quarter of an inch
Full shelves after storm warning, with a snowfall of a foot.
Full blown power outages during an ice storm – with geniuses coming to the store and buying a single pack of cigarettes and a 6 pack of beer.
Gus
@gbear: :Iron Range or North Shore?