Blasted Blizzard

Anyone who knows me knows my extreme disgust with snow and all the cold that goes along with it. I lived in Florida for a couple years, and it was amazing to see life without snow. Winters and Christmases are actually really delightful without snow. And it cools down enough in the winter there that you realize it is winter. I remember shivering once while I was there. It was in about October or November and it got down to 40 degrees but it was cold and wet. That was the one and only time I turned on the heat at my Florida apartment. While there are other things that you have to deal with (extreme heat, huge bugs, cockroaches, humidity, hurricanes) I would actually prefer those to blizzards.

Extreme heat: Just drink lots of water. If you have an indoor job (which most people do) you will be in air conditioned buildings.

Huge bugs: I saw a grasshopper that was bigger than my hand. Seriously. You can just spray for them or just let them be. They really are not that big a deal.

Cockroaches: They are nasty. Keep a shoe handy that you can squash them with or you can spray cockroach spray on them. It works wonders.

Humidity: I actually miss the humidity. Sure it makes the cold colder and the hot hotter. Drink lots of water and even keep a handkerchief around so you can wipe down your sweaty forehead.

Hurricanes: Yeah they do lots of damage. Of all the big disasters I would take a hurricane before I went through an earthquake or a tornado. You get a lot more warning so you can prepare for a hurricane while the others usually take you by surprise.

Blizzards, on the other hand: Come by surprise. You have to push through drifts. You have to plow and shovel your way out of your driveway. If you just have a little car you get to just white-knuckle it to your destination and hope that other drivers are being just as cautious as you.

Southeast Idaho has been in a vicious winter storm for the past couple days. It started on Sunday night and was pretty bad all Monday. Then we went on blizzard, winter warning Monday the 22nd. All day today we have been on this warning. It is nasty out there. My dad works in the ER in Idaho Falls and, on the police scanner, all he heard was "A rollover at this location! A rollover at that location!" People are idiots.

Today I was supposed to go to work. I called in because I was not about to brave the roads. Good thing I did. My boss had the stores closing at 5 PM so I would only be working for four hours. It would definitely not be worth stressing to get there for that short of a shift.

It's times like these I really want a Jeep. I have been wanting one for a few months now but this just reaffirms my desire. Someday. When I have a better job. Then again, maybe I will be living somewhere warmer so I won't really need a Jeep. But a Jeep would still be really fun.

We are starting Christmas early. Here comes a long winter. Oh the joys!