I'm on the hunt for those who wished for a White Christmas!!!

[planetc]

87. No, I no longer wish for snow. I wish, here in upstate NY, for everybody to remember ...

...how to drive in snow, and for them to get where they're going. I tell myself that the reason I don't move to Florida, like my two younger cousins, is because I relish four, count 'em four, seasons. Like you can't truly appreciate spring unless you've survived the winter.

Every year, after the first snowfall, you drive along after these people who have forgotten how to handle snow--you see the graceful S patterns their tires have made before they slid back into the lane they were aiming for. And occasionally I pass someone's SUV resting peacefully in a corn field. I glance in their window to check that they're talking on their phones, and if they are, drive gently onward several MPH slower than they were probably going. This Dec., for the first time, I cancelled a dentist appt. on account of lousy driving conditions: I was going 18 mph on plowed streets, and the visibility was varying between adequate and none without warning.

There was a snow storm late last winter that just didn't stop for 3 full days. I shoveled three times on Tuesday, three times on Wednesday, and twice again on Thursday before I could actually take the car anywhere.

I am re-thinking my position on loving four seasons. Still, it would be a shame to lose all these cold weather skills I've acquired.

But thank you very much for your account of generators and carbon monoxide. I will continue to rely on the local utility company who spend their summers pruning branches so we don't lose power.

Now I'm going to check on how they're doing in Erie, PA.