Garrison Keillor was Right
When Garrison would talk about winter at Lake Wobegon, he would mention that sometime during January or February, winter would actually try to kill you--cull the herd of the weak and sickly. Boy was he right!! This last week has been a testament to the power of winter--mess with Mother Nature at the wrong time and you are toast, not merely stranded in a major city like Atlanta. How does that happen, by the way?? There are buildings everywhere and you are stranded!! I guess if you have to walk more than a couple of blocks you are stranded. More on this later.
I was in Savannah, GA this week and the gloom and doom forecast was going to basically have a global ice shelf covering everything in the area. They were pretty serious. The worst part of the storm was going to strike late at night and we would know the next day if we would go to work or hole up at the hotel. After dinner, when returning to the hotel, a line of about a dozen power line service trucks were slowly driving into our area. These people were serious about getting stuff fixed. What sort of omen is this?? Luckily, when we ventured out the next morning, we had a very thin ice build up on our cars that came off in 5 minutes with the defrosters, we were spared the real nasty stuff. Roads were fine and empty. A lot of locals kept inside and did not risk it.
My brother who is a garbage man that starts work very early in the day, claims that it was -20 in Ohio last week. That is cold as he can remember. He was out in the cold for about 6 hours and was exhausted, mother nature was taking a swing at him. It has been very cold all across the Northern US and even in the deep South ( below 40 is bad cold there). So give Ole Man Winter some slack. Plan ahead. Take some extra clothes and if you have to, get out and walk.
I had a little brush with Ole Man Winter several years ago and I survived, it may have been luck or the big guy looking out for me. I was traveling to work in a Dodge Caravan when the transmission decide to quit. I was in Wisconsin and this was the days before cell phones for me and it was very windy and cold with wind chills near -60 degrees. I was a very bad day to be out. I was stuck on top of hill with no protection from the wind and a nearest place to make a call was about a 10 to 15 minute hike to a local Indian casino. I had on several layers of clothes and all the outer wear you would need to survive in this weather, I thought. I sat there a while hoping for a white knight to come by and of course no one stopped to check on me--can't blame any of them a bit. So, I thought I could stand it for the 15 to 20 minutes it would take to walk bad to the casino--right. I got out and went about 75 yards and it was obvious that this may not work, the cold was getting through the clothes pretty easy. I continued a few more steps and a vehicle pulls up and stops and I just jump in. I forgot all that stranger fear stuff instantly. I had not idea who was in it the vehicle, the windows were frosted over completely and I did not really care. It was sure death where I was currently standing. He asked if I was nuts or had car problems?? Probably both, but he wonderful, took me to the casino and probably saved at the very least some frost bite. Mother Nature's left hook haymaker missed me. Whew...
I got a wrecker rounded up and a rental car and went on with my day. The wrecker took a while, because it was so cold, nothing started if it was not plugged in or garaged. The wrecker business was booming. Mother Nature was at full tilt.
That situation was a definite teaching moment for me. In bad weather, you got to be ready to hoof it sometimes. And if you do, someone will look out for you.. unless you live in Atlanta. I could not resist that one cheap shot.
Linda and I donated some really nice outer wear at church last week, I hope it helped some of the local homeless buck Ole Man Winter one more time during the latest cold snap. You got to fight back, winter will take a shot at killing you if it can.
I was in Savannah, GA this week and the gloom and doom forecast was going to basically have a global ice shelf covering everything in the area. They were pretty serious. The worst part of the storm was going to strike late at night and we would know the next day if we would go to work or hole up at the hotel. After dinner, when returning to the hotel, a line of about a dozen power line service trucks were slowly driving into our area. These people were serious about getting stuff fixed. What sort of omen is this?? Luckily, when we ventured out the next morning, we had a very thin ice build up on our cars that came off in 5 minutes with the defrosters, we were spared the real nasty stuff. Roads were fine and empty. A lot of locals kept inside and did not risk it.
My brother who is a garbage man that starts work very early in the day, claims that it was -20 in Ohio last week. That is cold as he can remember. He was out in the cold for about 6 hours and was exhausted, mother nature was taking a swing at him. It has been very cold all across the Northern US and even in the deep South ( below 40 is bad cold there). So give Ole Man Winter some slack. Plan ahead. Take some extra clothes and if you have to, get out and walk.
I had a little brush with Ole Man Winter several years ago and I survived, it may have been luck or the big guy looking out for me. I was traveling to work in a Dodge Caravan when the transmission decide to quit. I was in Wisconsin and this was the days before cell phones for me and it was very windy and cold with wind chills near -60 degrees. I was a very bad day to be out. I was stuck on top of hill with no protection from the wind and a nearest place to make a call was about a 10 to 15 minute hike to a local Indian casino. I had on several layers of clothes and all the outer wear you would need to survive in this weather, I thought. I sat there a while hoping for a white knight to come by and of course no one stopped to check on me--can't blame any of them a bit. So, I thought I could stand it for the 15 to 20 minutes it would take to walk bad to the casino--right. I got out and went about 75 yards and it was obvious that this may not work, the cold was getting through the clothes pretty easy. I continued a few more steps and a vehicle pulls up and stops and I just jump in. I forgot all that stranger fear stuff instantly. I had not idea who was in it the vehicle, the windows were frosted over completely and I did not really care. It was sure death where I was currently standing. He asked if I was nuts or had car problems?? Probably both, but he wonderful, took me to the casino and probably saved at the very least some frost bite. Mother Nature's left hook haymaker missed me. Whew...
I got a wrecker rounded up and a rental car and went on with my day. The wrecker took a while, because it was so cold, nothing started if it was not plugged in or garaged. The wrecker business was booming. Mother Nature was at full tilt.
That situation was a definite teaching moment for me. In bad weather, you got to be ready to hoof it sometimes. And if you do, someone will look out for you.. unless you live in Atlanta. I could not resist that one cheap shot.
Linda and I donated some really nice outer wear at church last week, I hope it helped some of the local homeless buck Ole Man Winter one more time during the latest cold snap. You got to fight back, winter will take a shot at killing you if it can.
Comments
Post a Comment