A few flakes, and we sort ourselves out
Fat flakes in Parkton! Flee! Okay, so it's not a big deal, only the first whiff of winter for a region that takes some sort of perverse pleasure in its traditional fear and loathing of wintry weather.
Here's how I see it. There are three kinds of people. The first type we'll call Winter Junkies, and I'll include myself in this batch. We love snow and ice storms because they are beautiful and invigorating, and because they disrupt the humdrum routines of our lives. They test our winter driving skills, our strength, our ability to plan, to prepare and to overcome obstacles.
Then there are the Winter Stoics. They endure snow and ice storms because they have to. If they could, they would escape our winter and take refuge under a palm tree somewhere until it all blew over. They scurry to the grocery store for milk and toilet paper when the weather guys on TV utter the S word, and then they hunker down by the tube and wait for the stuff outside to melt, venturing out only when absolutely necessary.
Finally, there are the Winter Weenies. These are the mysterious tribes whose cars the rest of us see parked and empty beside the road during a winter storm. They apparently prefer to walk along an Interstate highway, or head off through the snowy woods, in their wingtips and pumps, in search of human settlements rather than drive in snow and ice. They vanish, and their kind is lost to the gene pool. Or, they reach a cabin somewhere and remain indoors, eating expired cans of Dinty Moore stew until they somehow sense dry pavement beyond the doorstep, and alert, like canine pointers, to the twitter of birds in spring.
Let it snow.
And while it's snowing, take pictures and send them to me so I can post them. Thanks.
Speaking of snow, AccuWeather's Joe Bastardi will be issuing his winter weather forecast on Tuesday. We'll talk with him and let you know what he's thinking about the winter ahead. He usually hypes the snow risks, but I don't think he'll have much to work with this winter. Still looks like mild and continued dry to me.
