I hate to admit that I get most of my news from Yahoo these days. I just don't seem to read the newspaper like I have in the past and it's easy to flip through the local news on TV in favor of something that is clogging up the DVR. But DH is a news junkie. He reads the newspaper daily .... yes, every section. ( He also does all of the crossword puzzles and other brain stimulating activities found in the daily paper.) And he likes the local news....especially the local weather reporters. I'm not sure what his attraction to the weather is....he is not a frustrated meteorologist. I think he is entertained by their prophet of doom persona.
His current favorite weather broadcaster is Pete Delkus. Pete usually wears a very nice suit and tie but you can always tell when there is a potential weather emergency. Once Pete takes off his jacket and rolls up his sleeves, you know that it's time to pay attention to the upcoming weather. (He never takes off the tie. If that ever happens on the air, we can be sure that the end of the world is at hand.)
The week before Thanksgiving, Pete and the other weather forecasters definitely had their jackets off as they warned us about the pending ice storm. Local people were panicked about getting out of town for the holiday week. DH and I were worried about making it to Dallas for the JFK 50th Anniversary Event. Most of the local school districts were off the entire week before Thanksgiving but the ones that were in session Monday and Tuesday were filled with teachers keeping their fingers crossed that school would not be cancelled on Monday....who wants to have the kids for one day before Thanksgiving? They are crazy enough without the addition of one more day off.
I'm certain that you can predict what happened...it rained but there was not one bit of ice in the area. Pete claimed that we missed the disaster by one or two degrees but I think that the weatherpersons just wanted to see how crazy the metroplex could get.
It has now been 10 days since this last weather emergency and Pete is warning us that another winter weather event is on the way. (I haven't seen the weather today so I am not sure if Pete's jacket is off or on.) They say that the temperature will drop all night and through tomorrow. The rain will begin tomorrow at 6 p.m ...how they know the exact time is beyond me. The temperature will continue to drop and we should have a winter weather advisory on Friday morning with possible significant ice accumulation. The bad weather will continue through the weekend.
So what does this mean to me? When we first moved to Kansas in 1982, DH and I laughed when the weather forecasters came on with the blizzard warnings. They would actually advise people to go to the grocery store to stock up on essentials. Intrigued, I had to go to the store to see what the locals considered essentials. Every cart contained milk, bread, chips, beer and in many cases, diapers. Most of the time, these weather forecasters were just as wrong Pete and his buddies were last week. We ignored these blizzard warnings and went on with our lives. But in the winter of 1986-87, I knew it was time to leave Kansas because I actually started going to the store to stock up when the weather advisories were announced....could not risk running out of bread, milk, chips and beer. (No diapers in our cart....the boys were out of diapers and no Depends for us yet.)
And so, what did I do today when faced with an impending weather crisis? I went to WalMart to stock up. But my cart did not have the Kansas essentials....it contained chicken, soup, ingredients for tortilla soup and chocolate milk. (Chocolate milk? But of course....I need it for my hot cocoa and Bailey's Irish Cream.) Once again...no diapers. And we have beer on hand.
So now we wait....will Pete and the other prophets of doom be right or will one or two degrees make all the difference? DH is wondering if he will have school on Friday. I'm worried that my Friday sew day with the Sewing Sisters will be cancelled. Friends are posting photos on Facebook of empty grocery shelves. We have postponed our planned next stop on the Beermuda Triangle trail until January. Will Book Club be able to meet Sunday night? Where is that ice scraper anyway?
I think it's time to leave Texas.
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