Weather or not...

After hearing dire predictions on the weather for close to a week, I survived. Hopefully so did you, or, of course, you would not be reading this.

Eek! Up to an inch of ice followed by even more sleet (isn’t sleet ice?) and seven or eight inches of snow! That’s what we were told and threatened.

Stores couldn’t keep generators in stock! Ice and sleet and snow, oh my!

Hmm.

As usual, the weather wasn’t as bad as we were warned. I am thankful to Garrett and all the others who spent extra time telling us what could happen, don’t get me wrong. Unless, like, you want to.

But hey, didn’t we go a little overboard here? And no, I’m not talking about the Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn movie, as if.

All day Friday, the local? weather channels, which to me is only the Channel 5, the stations in NW Arkansas aren’t local, showed us the REAL conditions, like we couldn’t see for ourselves. Darren Bobb would send us out to one of the reporters stationed at the mall or driving around and OH MY GOODNESS! It was snowing.

Yep, looked like any other snow I have seen, only without the yellowish snow from where dogs and people have done their bidness. Apparently all the reporters were stationed in various locales to show the current situation.

Okay, that one looks like it does here. Hey, that one has snow! So does that one and the other one!

The ones that rather irritated me are the Icamera, or whatever they called it. Whoa, reporters were driving around showing what the weather was like to be driving around in! Hey, didn’t the weather service say not to drive around unless it was an emergency? And look, there is a car off the road. Yes, there is another one.

All the while I was wondering more if that was Darren’s real hair or the dreaded toupee.

I did have to brave the weather conditions, of course. I drove to Poteau and (drum roll please!) around Poteau! Yes, there was snow! Yes, there was ice! I got there before the heavy stuff was really going on, but the Gene Machine, the truck I drive, did rather well. My girlish friend was ill and I was summoned to run errands.

The cautious Craig said “No way!” The caring Craig said, “Of course, dear!” (Not that I have ever addressed anybody as “dear” unless it was the start of a letter). The guy Craig said, “YES!”

Sorry, but it is a guy thing. We have to face the conditions and conquer them to prove our manliness and dumbness. I drove the chickmobile, since I figured it would be better than driving the Gene Machine. The road conditions had ice and snow! Just like they did on television. Did some sliding, nothing grand or the way my bud Terry Earls used to tear up his car downtown or in the medical center parking lot.

I had to go to Walmart. Ugh. But it wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t late so the freakazoids had not arrived, just a bunch of guys strutting their stuff for driving in the ice and snow. Along with some women, kids and the workers. After that, I slid down to the Pizza Hut to pick up a sandwich, cause that’s the kind of a guy I am. Not for me, but for my special someone. Apparently only Wally’s and Pizza Hut were open, although neither were exactly doing some brisk business.

She lives up on a hill and I tried two different roads to arrive, but failed. Argh! No four-wheel drive! Of course, you only need four-wheel drive approximately once every three years, so I don’t really see the need. But I had to park at a business down the hill and hoof it up a hill, a steep one!

I was cold. I was snowy, if a person can be snowy, and wearing running shoes. I know, nice planning Craig! Why, thank you! But I arrived back at her house and it looked just like it did on the news. I looked for a reporter but they were only concerned with the Arkansas places, as usual.

And then on Saturday, I drove again! Yeah, I was a stud. I wanted to run into somebody so I could brag about my studliness, but they were all home. I thought about calling, but my bravado had died once I got to Heavener as I knew complete focus was needed since many of the drivers had probably 1. Never seen snow or ice before; and 2. had probably never driven in said conditions.

I creeped along slowly, hoping to not meet any traffic. Success! I saw a few people making snow something or the others. One was using a bucket and building what looked like a snow tower. I did test the snow in case I needed to snowball somebody, but the snow was weak.

And that is my story, and I’m sticking to it, unless…