Weather or not

It didn't matter what Spokane station I selected last night during prime time. Within a couple of minutes, the picture would go slightly wide angle and a thick, black banner started streaming across the top portion of the screen. Another weather alert!

Never mind that I was watching all the one-on-one behind-the-back plotting on a "Survivor" season that I've missed since it started. It was a bit out of context for a viewer like me who knew none of the past dynamics. Still, the whispered discussion was intense, and it seemed that Bob had the power and everyone else was trying to dump someone different from the last half dozen survivors.

I tried to concentrate on the dialogue and the facial gestures, but that black banner kept reappearing and distracting me every five minutes as it announced that there's a winter storm coming---in the middle of December, no less!

And, with this winter storm comes "near blizzard" conditions.

I kinda view that description as similar to being somewhat pregnant. At what point do we step outside, wet our finger, stick it in the air and decide the difference between a "near" blizzard and a full-fledged blizzard?

Does it have something to do with our proximity? Does it mean the blizzard may go blowing past over across the road at Taylors' place and that if we want to get in on the action, we'll have to go over to their pasture and stand by a tree?

Anyway, we now know there is a winter storm coming today, and we'd better get ready for it. I'm kinda guessing that most of people in this area probably haven't had time to get unready for winter storms after last year's marathon.

I'm betting, for sure, they know where their snow shovels are, and I'm glad to know we have extras this year, thanks to Bill's trip to Merwin's last spring---or was it winter? As I recall, we had no spring.

Remember that time? The day when snow-shovel customer lines extended halfway out the door at Co-Op Country Store? I think that crowd mentality occurred after the workers in office coffee klatches downtown passed around the news that Co-Op had just three snow shovels left and the next shipment wasn't coming in for a couple of days.

Well, Bill bypassed that scene and drove on to Merwins, where Grant and the gang actually had a glut on snow shovels. And, he brought home three different-sized shovels. I kinda wondered why we needed different styles for shoveling, but I must admit they came in handy as we pared away forever at those cemented drifts around the house which blocked off all our window views for several weeks.

Anyway, that was then, and this is now. We're ready, I think.

Bill and I did have a "discussion" this morning about space heaters and the garage where the dogs hang out all night. I worry about dear Old Annie Dog. She's got her blanket and her couch with blankets on it, but she's old, and she shivers really easily.

I noticed fter reading that banner last night for about the fifth time----this time after switching from Bob, Kenny and Maddy to Channel 4 where I watched the usual things go wrong for Ugly Betty and hoped for no banners on that channel---well, the banners appeared, and I noticed that we'll have frigid temperatures all next week in the zero range. I read later on a facebook posting on my wall that some people are figuring we may go 20 below.

It all depends on which streaming banner they read.

Anyway, it's going to get cold, so we're going to do everything possible to make sure Annie Dog has warmth during the storm and its aftermath.

Another thing I've noticed during Tom Sherry's incessant reporting of the upcoming storm, which began about last Saturday, was that he suggested that this is what the weather data is predicting. Tom inserted a subtle hint that the forecast could be wrong and it may pass by us. I'm noticing that's what weather forecasters have to do these days.

Is it just me, or do we have more weather overkill these days than ever before? Seems they used to teach us in school that it gets cold and snows during the winter months, but now it seems that we need to be reminded every five minutes. Is this happening because of the perceived short memory spans of Americans?

I don't remember many weather alerts from KSPT-1400 radio when I was a kid in the 50s. I just remember that the blankets were never warm enough, that the wind howled outside and somehow we survived, even without the warnings. We just knew it was December and to expect such things.

As we approach the dreaded storm, I'm going to make sure to have one of those shovels Bill bought from Merwins handy, just in case the "near blizzard" is over at Taylors or Meserves, and I can shovel my way over there to enjoy it.