Snow Watch

It's 51 degrees outside, but the weather forecast says we're under a "Winter Storm Watch."

Here in the South, that means the grocery stores are full with long lines, empty bread shelves and no milk to be found. If this were a school night, there would already be numerous cancellations. What happened to the good old days when school was cancelled after there was actually snow on the ground?

Anyway, all of these preparations are underway in spite of the fact that we've had no memorable snow since the Blizzard of 1993. Now that's one I'll never forget. It started snowing sometime on Friday and didn't quit until we had about a foot and a half of snow on the ground.

Hearing the forecast that Friday, my friend Susie and I headed to the video store (after spending some quality time at the grocery store, of course). A lot of good those videos did us. Sometime Friday night we lost power, and we didn't get it back until the following Tuesday. Others in the area were without power for more than a week.

That week was Spring Break for my oldest son, who was in his freshman year at the University of Arkansas. He barely made the 10-hour trip back to Alabama before the roads were closed. All he wanted to do was to come home and see his high school friends and watch college basketball on television. It was the weekend of the SEC basketball tournament, but without power, you don't see much basketball on TV. I think we were able to watch one game on a 2" screen on our neighbor's battery-powered Sony.

We spent our days and nights huddled in front of the fireplace, not knowing that we would have just enough wood to last until the power came back on. We cooked on the grill and camp stove and put the Coleman lantern to good use. Fortunately we had a gas hot water heater, so hot showers were a luxury we took advantage of.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from that most memorable of snows. This was before digital cameras, and I didn't have any film for my Canon AE-1. The picture above is from an earlier snow that didn't even come close to 18".

While I am not asking for another blizzard, I would just love to wake up in the morning with the ground covered in white. The timing is right. The daffodils are blooming, and the trees are beginning to bud. This time my camera is ready, and the batteries are charged.