General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Velveteen Ocelot
(116,003 posts)We can't go anywhere.
We can't do anything.
We can't remember what green looks like.
We can't remember what's under the snow.
We are hungry for fresh salads.
The ice cubes in our freezers are stale.
Our house plants are spindly.
Our pets are angry.
Our pianos have gone out of tune.
If we were bears we'd be sleeping.
We wish we were bears.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)having trouble understanding "The ice cubes in our freezers are stale" down here in 80+-temp-land. How do you make your margaritas?
The Velveteen Ocelot
(116,003 posts)They sit unused in the freezer until they start tasting weird and you have to throw them out. We want coffee, cocoa, hot toddies, anything warm. The margaritas can wait.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)MineralMan
(146,351 posts)in the winter.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(116,003 posts)It just isn't done.
MineralMan
(146,351 posts)Poiuyt
(18,135 posts)Wisconsin here. This is one of the harshest winters that I remember.
msongs
(67,502 posts)CaptainTruth
(6,619 posts)Winter is one of the main reasons I left the midwest as soon as I could. Freezing, dreary, practically no sun for 3 months ... Blah!
GeoWilliam750
(2,523 posts)...... I think the rest of us will build a big, beautiful wall on the northern Florida border this summer and unplug Florida's air conditioners ....
Laffy Kat
(16,393 posts)It will end. Spring will sprout. There will be life again.
Cracklin Charlie
(12,904 posts)Theres not a spot in this county that isnt muddy.
Ugh. Im over it.
UniteFightBack
(8,231 posts)Mr. Quackers
(443 posts)Last edited Mon Feb 25, 2019, 01:36 PM - Edit history (1)
there's winter in the north.
It doesn't last forever, makes no sense to complain.
If people don't like it, there are plenty of sunbelt red state hellholes one can go to where they don't have winter.
handmade34
(22,759 posts)northerners... complaining is what we do (don't dare take that away from us)
our misery is what binds us together and if you don't like it, just don't pay attention
this is my front door this afternoon and I reserve every right to complain about it!
GeoWilliam750
(2,523 posts)The Velveteen Ocelot
(116,003 posts)When summer comes we'll complain about the mosquitoes.
Pathwalker
(6,600 posts)winter. Besides, complaining keeps our lips from freezing together.
TlalocW
(15,394 posts)One year, I got an extra job managing a video game arcade on the weekends for extra Christmas money. Tulsa rarely got snow that was worth writing home about - I grew up in Kansas in a small farming community where as a teen I drove on country roads that were sheets of ice on threadbare tires. But one year, Tulsa got hit and got hit hard. I still went into work because, snow, no biggy, expecting to have a slow day. I had never seen the place so busy. It was like people felt trapped and had to get out of the house when they should have gone to the stores, gotten some extra foods, some movies, etc. and stayed home. It was weird.
TlalocW
Greybnk48
(10,182 posts)I was flat on my side on the patio before I knew what happened! I went out to the garage in shirt sleeves and pj bottoms and my Crocs (it was 30, which we consider warm) and wham! Before I got up I looked and had missed hitting my head on the deck step down to the cement patio by about 2", but unfortunately I landed on the cement. I checked my collarbone, humorous and hip and was really relieved. I also was the only one up, and could have been lying there for a while if luck had not been with me.
Here's some lesson learned advice:
1. Don't wear Crocs on ice!
2. Don't go out without a phone, and alert necklace, or a phone in your pocket to call for help if need be.
3. Take your barky dog with you, unlike stupid me.
4. Or just wait to do a simple chore outside until someone else is up too (if others are there).
I'm pretty healthy so I'm fine, just sore. I'm feeling very grateful to my Irish grandparents and relatives and my great-grandmother from the Netherlands who endowed me with dinosaur bones that are solid as rocks! I could be looking at hip surgery or something similar! This fall really scared me given what could have happened.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,930 posts)I'm the same age, and I took a nasty fall in a parking lot about a month ago, and the people who looked at the security footage clearly were astonished I hadn't broken anything. Sometimes the Old People Gods look after us.
Greybnk48
(10,182 posts)I was holding a stack of empty cardboard boxes with both hands that I was taking to the garage so they wouldn't get snowed on, so I did nothing to break my fall. I think that may have saved me from a colles fracture of my wrist/arm! I'm sore as hell today (2 days later), but that's it. No bruising either. I almost never bruise. Pure dumb luck.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,930 posts)Luckily the box cushioned my fall somewhat, or I'd have gone straight down on my face, which would have been a lot worse.
Heartstrings
(7,349 posts)Well take that outcome!
Im 67 and try to take necessary precautions but there are always those precarious situations.
Feel better!
Greybnk48
(10,182 posts)The Velveteen Ocelot
(116,003 posts)It's so slippery under the ice now that I won't go outside without my ice cleats.
Greybnk48
(10,182 posts)FakeNoose
(32,917 posts)I can reach my salt bag without stepping outside. It's been a lifesaver (or at least a broken-bone saver) many times!
sarcasmo
(23,968 posts)Greybnk48
(10,182 posts)Ground blizzard/white out the culprit! One fatality and many, many people hurt.
Demsrule86
(68,825 posts)our lights stayed on.
jcgoldie
(11,662 posts)Here in Illinois I don't have it as bad as some of you tough folks from Minnesota and Wisconsin, but it started so damn early in November and looking ahead at the ten day forecast through the first week of March there is no end in sight with nighttime temps in the mid-teens all the way out. I am just hoping we turn the corner soon after and the purple deadnettle and henbit then dandelions will popout for my poor hungry bees.
Talitha
(6,643 posts)And we already had a 30" snowpack - yeah, I'm ready for Spring.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,384 posts)But I am cleaning the golf clubs today, and planning to charge the motorcycle battery tomorrow.
The groundhog did not see his shadow.
MineralMan
(146,351 posts)It snowed here in the Twin Cities of MN. We set an all-time record for the amount of snow in any February. It has snowed plenty.
And, ever time it snows, we go out of our houses, shovel it or use a snowblower to clear it off our driveways and sidewalks. Our cities come by with snowplows and clear the streets, roads and highways. Then, we go about our normal activities.
It's a nuisance, but that's all, really. Even in places where they had a terrible blizzard, with even more snow and high winds, after a couple of days, everyone will be back doing whatever it is they do.
I mean, it's not a flood or a tornado, or anything like that. It's just snow. If it's in our way, we move it out of the way and pile it up. Then, we brush or sweep our cars off and get on with our lives.
Snow is not a disaster. It's just snow. In a couple of months, it'll all be water again.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(116,003 posts)when there's this much cold and snow. People fall on the ice; falls can result in severe injuries (I know of a person who ended up with a compound wrist fracture - the bone coming through the skin - from falling on the ice). A broken hip can be eventually fatal for an elderly person. There have been hundreds of car accidents, including fatalities. Homeless people or those caught in blizzards outside a city can die of hypothermia, or of CO poisoning when they try to keep warm in their cars and the exhaust is clogged by snow. It's not bad if you can stay inside, if you don't have to travel, if you have plenty of food, if your heat and electricity work, and if you don't get sick and need help. Then it's just a nuisance and a bore and most of us are just fine staying inside and whining and/or drinking. But this kind of weather can be really dangerous, especially for the most vulnerable.