Cold but no snow... yet

[altivo]

Did what had to be done, and laundry too. Well, that had to be done, I guess.

Completed the guild newsletter for this month, including adding up the yardage for one of this year's challenges. I challenged the guild as a whole to spin at least 50 miles of yarn over a twelve month period. All they have to do is report to me each month how many yards they've spun. Honor system, no proof required. Though I'm having some trouble getting everyone to report, with just eight participants so far we've reached six miles for October and November. That rate, if sustained, would get us to 36 miles by September 30, and there are at least a dozen members who still aren't reporting in.

Gary is off at another performance, but I stayed home to take care of critters. Everyone is bedded in and fed now. I have chicken in the oven, so he can have something when he gets home if he wants it. Time for me to be spinning myself, I guess, since I got behind on my intended 1000 yards a month quota during the NaNo.

The snow forecasts for this week are slowly rising, but still nowhere near the rumored "twelve inches by Wednesday" that everyone was whispering about at work on Friday, as if it would be the end of the world. I honestly don't get this hushed-whisper-fear-OMG-we're-gonna-die attitude about a little snow. It makes no sense at all. So, if it happens, I'll enjoy it and they can all hide under their beds quivering with fear or rush to the grocery store to denude the shelves of milk and toilet paper. It's utterly bizarre.

[EDIT 8:15 PM: OK, now they've issued the winter storm watch for Tuesday, with a "possibility" of 5 to 10 inches of snow. Sounds good to me, no big deal.]

Comments

[captpackrat.livejournal.com]

I guess most people don't keep much in the way of food or other supplies on hand, so if there's any chance they'll be stuck in their homes for more than a couple days, they have to rush to the store.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

All of which shows an utter lack of planning, resourcefulness, and sensibility. A real disaster would find them dying in the streets, I suppose.

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

Everyone hereabouts remembers the blizzard of '78 when the State shut down for nearly a week. Grey skies fill the stores with panicked shoppers seeking that bread and, here at least, milk. And like you say, the newscasters fire them all up.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've seen the idiocy they do on television newscasts in the VA/MD/DC area when snow is predicted. It's a deliberate play to raise the level of fear and panic, as if it somehow increased their ratings or something.

I disdain people who are so unresourceful that they are neither prepared nor able to take care of themselves without relying on fast food and supermarket conveniences for a week.

Yes, I'm a snob. ;p

[flamekist.livejournal.com]

I've never understood the mob scene at the stores either. Our *yearly* snowfall is a mere 2 inches, and it's not gonna show up all at the same time. But just whisper the word "snow" and people start leaving work early in order to stock up on supplies like the next ice age is coming.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The astounding thing is just what they consider to be "necessities." They buy bread and milk in quantities that will spoil in a matter of days if the power goes out. How much toilet paper can you use up if the water isn't running and the toilet doesn't flush? The shallow incompetence of it all is quite unbelievable.

Flour keeps. Bread doesn't. Obviously, anyone worried about such things should learn to bake bread. But no, that's "too hard." Better to panic like lemmings and strip the stores like a horde of locusts. Gah. ;p

[rustitobuck.livejournal.com]

My life's pretty walkable. Last time we had a big storm, I didn't dig my car out until I was good and ready. The only thing I will usually do is clear some of the snow from around the doors and windows lest it melt and refreeze and seal the thing shut. When I bought new tires for the car, I bought them for weather performance; they have high snow/ice/rain traction and they're noisy (so what). And usually, somebody gets wise and plows the alley; it may be the condo association in the neighboring building.

I can work from where I'm sitting too. If it's really bad, I just won't go anywhere.

I'm "not prepared" in any formal way, but there's usually quite a bit of food in the house, and digging in the cabinets will reveal a whole bunch of dried or canned food that we bought but didn't get around to. So there's easily food for a week or more. And there's flour and sugar and other baking supplies. Stove and oven have standing pilots and I have quite a few stick-type butane lighters.

Only thing I'm missing is somebody to curl up with. And I can't believe I'm even thinking of that.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I have, on two occasions in my life, seen snow heavy and sustained enough that grocery stores weren't getting deliveries. The shelves emptied out. The panic in the air was not only palpable, you could smell it. People simply had no idea what to do. None at all. Had it lasted another week, I swear they'd have been eating each other. We probably have enough to get by for at least a month here, assuming we could keep the frozen stuff frozen. In a sustained blizzard that's probably not too large an issue even if the power is out. Power outage is our largest concern, rather than food. The animals need water, and contrary to popular belief, eating snow is usually not enough for them nor will they do it unless desperate because it chills their insides. We have a generator that will power the freezers and the well pump, but of course it needs gasoline to power it.

As for somebody to curl up with, I don't know why you shouldn't be thinking of that. Winter weather always makes me think about it too. Not even sex, I think it's an instinctive desire to preserve body heat.