Thursday, January 4, 2007

ABOUT THAT BLIZZARD...


Antlers In The Snow (actually, they're on my woodpile in the back yard)
 
Up here, in the "Mile-Hi City", we just recovered from a Historic event --- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, tranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, solated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.

FYI:
George Bush did not come.
FEMA did nothing.
No one howled for the government.
No one blamed the government.
No one even uttered an expletive on TV.
Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit.
Our Mayor did not blame Bush or anyone else.
Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else, either.
CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX or NBC did not visit - or report on this category 5 snowstorm.
Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.
No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House.
No one looted.
Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the government do something.
Nobody expected the government to do anything, either.
No Larry King, No Bill O'Rielly, No Oprah,
No Chris Mathews and No Geraldo Rivera.
No Sean Penn, No Barbara Striesand,
No Hollywood types to be found.
Nope, we just melted the snow for water.
Sent out caravans of SUV's to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars.
The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn't ask for a penny.
Local restaurants made food and the police and fire departments delivered it to the snowbound families.
Families took in the stranded people - total strangers.
We fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Coleman lanterns.
We put on extra layers of clothes because up here it is "Work or Die". We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for 'sittin at home' checks.
Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early, we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.
"In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North Latitude, 90% of the world's social problems evaporate."
It does seem that way, at least to me.
I hope this gets passed on.
Maybe SOME people will get the message.
The world does Not owe you a living.
 
The email above was sent to me by a friend of mine who lives in Pueblo and while it is not entirely accurate (the major news stations DID cover the storm, and still are), I found it very interesting.  I do not agree with some of the Katrina reference because the level of devastation and human loss cannot be compared.  Even as I type this though, people in parts of New Mexico and Colorado are still buried under several feet of snow drifts after the back to back blizzards, and thousands of cattle and other livestock have either already perished or are threatened by freezing temperatures, dehydration and starvation.  Even as these people in rural America struggle to dig out of the last snowstorm of the 2006 and salvage what is left of their lives, there is buzz of the first storm of 2007 already heading towards New Mexico.  And what will the people out here do if and when it gets here?  They'll deal with it, that's all you can do.  Just deal with it.  And hopefully life will go on.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know, I never even thought about how hard it must be for those who do have livestock, etc, and need those animals to survive.
Hugs,
Heather

Anonymous said...

99.9 % of the state of wv needs to come live there.

Anonymous said...

There you go.  You just deal with it and go on.  You are right the level of devistation wasn't the same but people didn't expect George W. to do anything.  And he shouldn't do anything.  Weather happens, people.
Traci

Anonymous said...

I love the snow but we haven't had a decent snowfall in years. Around here ( the midlands in england ) if we get a slight sprinkling of snow ( think of the dusting on top of a cake ), the buses stop running, people start driving at 5 miles per hour & the train timetables go to shit......why? Can I come & visit you when my son's born so I can show him what real snow is!!

Anonymous said...

{{{{ Jody }}}}  It really does suck that more isn't being done... maybe when the beef shortage hits home.  I know that your weather has been on the news here in NJ...being compared to our 111 year record breaking warmest December ever.  

be well... stay safe and warm,
Dawn

Anonymous said...

this was great i agree with it for the most part:) yes us up here do live differently than other folks we always have and always will. Isn't it great to live in Colorado? yep i think it is

Deb

Anonymous said...

I know now is not the right time to say this but...I love snow. I can only imagine what 44 inches is like...I lived through 29 inches in Chicago and it was a blizzard with drifts encasing our first floor you could only see out the second floor windows...we had to shovel our way to our front door the snow path was taller than me....but we did it.  Stay warm my friend....Sandi

Anonymous said...

Love the pics, still would like to see some snow, being a Chicago girl, living in the south I forgot what it looks like. The last year I lived there, it was one of the worst snows ever. We moved here and the 1st time they ever called off school-I looked outside and was like WHAT..not even a inch...I was amazed. Keep WARM.
Michele
http://journals.aol.com/glensfork4/these-are-my-thoughts/