AFTER THE STORM

Snowstorm Nemo hit the Northeast and was over by Saturday afternoon.  Sounds good, doesn't it.  Storm is over.  That means it stopped falling.  It says nothing about what it left for people such as finding their cars under the snow, clearing walks, creating parking parking spaces, or finding the energy or money or workers to make it right.   Unlike the delightful movie cartoon a few years back, we had no difficulty; finding Nemo.'  Nemo found us.  For more detail on Nemo, click here.

24 hours after the storm stopped, by the good graces of neighbors with snow plows and snow blowers, I am now able to drive back into the outside world.  Having had a sedentary job for several decades, I realize I have not had enough exercise.  The one exercise which I love to do is shovel snow.  Shoveling this snow would be analogous to a hiker being confronted with Mount Everest to climb, though.  My front walk is about forty feet long.  Snow that was very fine and dry was quite firmly packed.  My walk was piled about 27" high.  That meant it took about four swipes to lower the last swipe to the ground.  I could only take about a foot, or less at a time so that was no less than 160 swipes.  The truth was that there had to be more when I reached the berm that had been pushed up by the city tucks that extended far beyond the sidewalk, to allow someone to walk to the front door.

It was good for the people who made money every winter to survive by plowing.  Last year was a loss though the rest of us loved having little to shovel.  My house is on a bus route.  Naturally we are plowed all through the storm for emergency workers to get through.  Dead end streets are still waiting in some places to get plowed.  A 300 hundred foot dead end street is not something someone wants to shovel by hand.  Two days later some are still  waiting to have that white wall taken away.

 I was asked if I didn't have cabin fever.  The answer is, "No!"  I might have developed it in a few months but it was heavenly not to have to go anywhere, with a clear conscience about staying put.

The other side of that is wondering when the other shoe will fall.  Electrical power was not lost.  Lights and heat and all technology worked, even  though the winds were stronger than usual and blew snow off the flat roof; no structural damage was done.  Not living by the shore, the unusual moon tides did not touch me.

The law of averages strikes again, this time on our side.