TheBanyanTree: Winter Wind

[Margaret R. Kramer]

Well, we’re still waiting for the “big one.”  We’re in a winter storm
warning with 12 –18 inches of snow predicted.  It was supposed to start last
night, but we have less than a half an inch of snow and it’s not snowing
now.  I was a little disappointed.  We haven’t had a “big one” for a few
years.  And we need the moisture desperately.

One of our weather people was saying this storm would be like the Halloween
Blizzard of 1991.  We got 28 inches of snow in that one, but that storm was
not predicted.  We were only going to get a couple of inches and it ended up
being 28 inches of snow of top of two inches of ice.  The temperature went
from above freezing to below zero in like about an hour and that ice bonded
to the roads.  We were slipping and sliding over ice for weeks!

We were truly snowed in during the Halloween Blizzard.  Nothing moved for
three days.  That’s unusual for our part of the world, where the plows get
out quickly and we stay “normal” even during the worst of storms.  But this
storm seems like so many others for us:  It starts out with promise and then
dives south or doesn’t get enough warm moist air or the wind doesn’t blow
the right way.  Colorado and other states get snow, but we can’t muster up
any action in Minnesota.

We went grocery shopping on Thursday night just in case the weather was bad
on Friday.  The store was busy, but not too bad.  So, we have plenty of food
to ride out the storm.  We have cable TV, our computers, books to read,
projects to do, and maybe I’ll bake some brownies.  If it doesn’t start
snowing later this afternoon, maybe I’ll go for my customary Saturday run.
If we get very little snow, then I’ll have no trouble getting to the gym
tomorrow.  Even if we get a lot of snow, we live on a road that’s plowed
right away, so we can get out if we need to.

If I’m snowed in on Monday (isn’t that a glorious thought?!!), I have my
work computer with me here at home, and I can sign on to our network and get
some work done without taking the day off.  We’re in kind of a lull period
anyway, I’ve been working on my SMART goals, which are learning
opportunities outside of my normal job.  I’ve spent most of the week reading
and taking notes on the history of Medicaid in our country, so missing a day
won’t hurt too much.

I’m also taking this coming Friday off from work.  Ray is having his
colonoscopy, lucky guy.  I’ll stay with him like he stayed with me.  At
least, having gone through it myself, I can be empathetic with him.  I’m
also looking forward to having some time to read and relax.

My annual mammogram came back normal.  That’s always good news.

Below is a little poem from my grandson’s kindergarten Valentine program.
Even if this storm is a bust, this poem is a good one for today.

I Do Not Mind You, Winter Wind
By Jack Prelutsky

I do not mind you, Winter Wind
  when you come whirling by,
  to tickle me with snowflakes
  drifting softly from the sky.

      I do not even mind you
  when you come whirling by,
        scrambling all over me
        attempting to get in.

    But when you bowl me over
       and I land on my behind,
then I must tell you, Winter Wind,
       I mind . . . I really mind.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach.
~Elizabeth Barrett Browning