[Aleph Null]

{This guy is SO right!! We live in Vermont, there are people who have been here for decades and still, every November, it's like people are seeing the first snowflakes in their lives. And they never have shovels and such until the flakes are flying. Did they think to themselves "gee, maybe THIS will be the winter we get NO snow?" :ll: --a0)

Grrr! The End of the World, Suburbia Style

Tuesday, January 25, 2005
By Mike Straka

The first real blizzard of 2005 might as well have been Armageddon. At least that's what it looked like at a local supermarket and Home Depot.

Judging by weekend shopping sprees, nobody along the eastern seaboard owns a shovel, or rock salt (which is somewhat understandable), or an ice scraper for their cars.

Snow blowers blew out of Home Depot faster than the store could say "25 percent off."

And the grocery store was 100 times worse.

What is it about snow that compels people to stock up on gallons and gallons of bottled water, milk and dozens of eggs? Do they think the grocery store is going to be closed for a month after the snow is cleared? Is this the first time they've ever seen snow in their area?

Do they not know what to expect?

Look folks, unless you live in an extremely rural area where the concept of a snowplow has yet to reach you -- you need only stock up for one day, max. Come on people! Suburbia is not going to end as you know it after a foot of snow.

4x4 Grrrs

Here's just a friendly reminder to all the four-wheel drive SUV owners blazing through the snow: Your big tires and awesome hazardous-condition handling will not prevent your vehicle from skidding in the snow or ice after you hit the brakes.

Sure, your wheels don't spin in the snow. Sure, you can blow by any rear-wheel drive sports car. Sure, you can get out of your driveway without shoveling. But you still have to stop after you get to where you're going, or at those pesky red lights, where a lot of you (and I'm included in the 4x4 crowd) skid into the rear ends of those stopped in front of you.

Please be more considerate of your fellow "snow-mobilers" and slow down.

Weather Reports ... Grrr!

So, it seems that when snow blankets a television station's market, the news directors send out their reporters to blanket the area with weather-related news coverage. That's all well and good, but wouldn't it be nice if the reporters actually talked to one another before filing their reports?

I saw several back-to-back reports from different towns -- and they were all exactly the same -- just different names and different people. Each reporter stood in the driving snow, cowering under his or her hood. Each reporter asked a motorist: "How is it getting around in the snow?" Each reporter asked the sanitation worker in the plow truck: "How much snow have you plowed?" Each reporter went to a supermarket and asked: "What did you stock up with?"

Same questions. Same answers. Different people. Thank goodness for football.

Stupid Lit'l Dreamers

This week's SLD mention goes to every sanitation worker out there who worked 48 hours straight plowing snow this weekend. People take what you do for granted, but here at the Grrr! we wanted you to know that your efforts are sincerely appreciated.

So thanks for plowing our city streets (even when you plow in my freshly shoveled driveway), and by design, keeping us safe.

Sincerely, The Grrr!Guy.

Now for Your Grrrs ....

Ken From Long Island, N.Y.: As most know, most of the Northeast was buried under 1' to 2' of snow Saturday into Sunday. On Monday, many trains were running late (if at all) and were overcrowded. As all the seats filled, riders were forced to stand in the aisle. Most were considerate, by moving into the back of the train so that new riders (the ones that were standing on the sub-freezing platforms) could get in easily. However, when one group of five riders got on, they stood right in front of the door so that it became difficult for new riders to get into the comfortably heated train. All was not lost as one passenger kindly asked them to move so that new riders could enter the train. He was ignored. He then volunteered to give up his seat to one of them if they would move back so that people outside the train could get in, he was ignored again. Finally, other considerate riders joined the call. The Inconsideratazzi relented and moved deeper into the train. I felt relieved and thought for a second that we might have snapped one or more Oblivions out of their narrow focus until one asked another just why they had to move and the other one replied, "I don't know."

[Potemkin]

Same thing happens along the Gulf Coast and hurricanes. They come every year, always threaten the coast and every year Home Depot, Lowes and the grocery stores are packed with the sheep. :sheep:

Sometimes I batten down the hatches, go there and watch the panic.

I have thought about bringing the truck and picking up cash to tote plywood home for people.

4x8 sheets of plywood don't travel to well on the roof of a Mercedes or BMW sedan. :lol:

[A.T.Hagan]

Heck yes. The grocery and hardware stores are the places to be in the twenty four hours before a hurricane is due to arrive. One sees the most <i>interesting</i> human behavior. My wife just sighs when I tell her I'm going to the supermarket...

.....Alan.

[Aleph Null]

As many of you know I am a weather wonk. It has gotten to the point where I have to warn my wife when a storm is coming just so we can plan when to avoid the grocery store. Even in mid-winter... we almost never get a storm that makes travel impossible for more than 24 hours. Bread stays good for a week, and so does milk. It's SO silly.

a0

[FrmlyZ]

I have lived in a number of places with snow. Where we lived in SW Montana, the local ski area averaged 400 in a year. They plowed the interstate but not much else. The snow on the town streets would pack up over the curbs. Lot of bent parking meters from people sliding into them. But the people knew how to drive in the stuff.

The two places where people didn't know how to handle snow were East Lansing, MI and Western Washington. When I lived in East Lansing they didn't appear to have snow plows [then it seldom snowed]. Going on the road when it did snow was dangerous. Western Washington is like DC; and inch of snow is a disaster.

The worst weather I have seen is northern Arkansas and western TN. Those ice storms dwarf anything I have seen, except one winter here. This was in the 70's. We got an inch of ice. Then we got 6 in of snow. Then another in of ice on that followed by 8 in of snow. That was followed by another in of ice. Driving wasn't a problem cause you couldn't; you couldn't even walk. :)

Best Wishes,,,,,

Z