Humpday Happenings...
Well, here in the Heartland (Fort Wayne to be exact), the snow continues to fall, albeit a lot less than in the last day or so, but we're not out of the woods just yet.
Schools have been closed here for the second day in a row, and hopefully, I'll be seeing a plow truck coming through our neighborhood.
This smacks of Philly, when I swear the plows ONLY came through after the last snowflake had fallen.
Of course, the MAIN streets are all "passable", with major traffic arteries relatively clear, but it's GETTING TO THOSE STREETS that is the challenge (isn't it always?) with a snowfall in excess of several inches.
The weather people here say we got "about 4 inches"...I beg to differ. On our patio table, we've got well over that...closer to 6-7 inches, and it's still coming down (lightly). Winds are picking up now, and with a "dry" snow like this (think powdery - good for skiing) it's gonna drift all over the place.
The folks I know back east are REALLY getting a nasty "one-two" punch. They've barely got themselves shoveled out and BAM, they get hit again with more snow. I saw where D.C. has been shut down for the past two days. My nephew in the fire department there spent over FOUR days at the station house, and finally got home yesterday. The snow was up to his mail BOX (which means several feet of pole was buried).
We're due for a few more inches here, and I have to say that considering ALL the people in the neighborhood that DO NOT WORK (and all their non-working friends) are STILL managing to DRIVE AROUND the area...simply A-F$cking-Mazing!
Imagine if they DID work...what a testament to personal responsibility, hmm?
There was a time I went to work in Columbus, OH in weather JUST as bad as this...in my Firebird (not the best choice for snow travel, trust me), and I was only one of FOUR people that showed up at the place. We were sent home by the boss with a FULL day's pay, because WE made the effort to get there.
Weather had to be REALLY bad to stop me...that's just the way Dad taught me. I saw him go to work in foot deep snow, walking in his boots when the buses didn't run (not everyone was "rich enough" to have a car back then). Sometimes a buddy was driving close to home, and dropped him off after his shift was over.
But to watch the locals around here stopping by one another's "cribs" all day and night amuses me to no end. Guess dealing and muling drugs IS like the USPS...got that "Neither rain, nor SNOW, nor gloom of night" gig going on, don't they?
It also goes to show that many have no idea what it means to hunker down and do for YOURSELF.
They are so interdependent, or co-dependent (take your pick), it's not funny.
They will put themselves (and others) at risk by the manner in which they attempt to drive about JUST to "go see" whoever they feel they need to. I've seen a lot of "fishtailing" all over the streets in the past 24 hours.
(Wow, that would make a good season of that FOX show - "24"...think about it. Jack Bauer is tasked to get a plow truck through a blighted neighborhood on the south side of Fort Wayne, while dodging drug dealers, random gunshots, boomcars, pit bulls, and kids running in the street...talk about a "tense" season...hell, I'd watch that!)
Curiously enough, with all this "activity" demonstrated by our aboriginal "neighbors", NOT ONE OUNCE of effort is being shown to CLEAR OFF A SIDEWALK, save for mine (ably performed by myself), and MAYBE one other...somewhere else on the block...that's it!
Now THAT, is truly remarkable.
Well, considering they ALL use the damn street to traverse this snow scape, who really NEEDS to clean off a damn sidewalk, right?
Better to be LAZY, and not let others know you could EVER be responsible enough to give a damn.
Who wants to lose "street cred" in such a way, hmm?
If there is one thing you're never at a loss for here, aside from the crime, the shootings, the trash, the blight, and the apathy and disrespect displayed by the locals, it's the amusement that is produced by such vermin...for your "enjoyment".
I mean, it's WAY past being sympathetic for these "people"...they aren't worthy of such things.They're just not.
You can't feel sorry for anyone who is not concerned with bettering themselves in any way.
You cannot have your heart go out to anyone that thinks only of themselves, and is willing to do whatever they have to to feed the appetite of that beast within them, and I've got a pretty high threshold for sympathy and empathy.
Today, our county (Allen) is at a LEVEL THREE snow alert, that means exercise caution and drive only if necessary, which will mean absolutely NOTHING for these morons around here...they "gots ta gits ta McD's fo sum eggamuffin", or to the nearest booze shop "fo ma taste fo de day".
I will say that the police radio has been humming with all the slide offs and accidents, but what was rather astounding to ME, was that officers were still being called out for codes 46/96 (domestic with battery). Now, if you didn't WANT cheese on that "eggamuffin" why didn't you SAY so, instead of beating up on your (in)significant other, Bub?
It amazes me that during a potential emergency, people such as those living in areas like MINE (read entitlement-driven, everything for free peeps) will STILL find the time to practice some sort of VIOLENCE against one another (when they're not trying to rob, kill, or otherwise maim another racial segment of our population).
Go shovel some snow, for Christ's sake...work your "anger" the hell off, and stop beating on one another. Life's too damn short to bother with crap like that, you idiot!
This sure isn't those halcyon days of my OLD neighborhoods, when everyone banded together to shovel each other out, and were always willing to make a run to the store if YOU couldn't get outside to drive.
I had no choice...I had to get out in it and drive, when it was the least bit feasible. That was the nature of the job.
And I saw something back then, I rarely see today in THIS neighborhood.
I saw people who CARED...a lot, and about one another.
It was for the greater good of the neighborhood that people worked "as a team" to clear a (common) driveway, or to help push a stuck car from the intersection or a parking space, when all they really HAD to do was watch from the comfort of their own house.
It was more the "American Spirit" that I used to see.
Can't say the same today...in THIS neighborhood.
Can't really say I see any REAL Americans here, either, at least not the ones concerned about each other, or their block, or their city or country. They only care about the NOW and themselves at that pint in time.
I suppose that some day that may change.
I'd like to think it HAS to, and for so many reasons.
I believe that America has always been made of sterner stuff.
Yeah, when people talk about "those good old days", they honestly WERE.
Be nice to get them back again, wouldn't it?
Hope springs eternal, does it not?
Take care shoveling today (I know I will...again), don't drive in this stuff unless you REALLY have to, enjoy some hot chocolate, feed the birds who might be stopping at your patio, curl up with some music and a good book, keep warm, and above all else...
Stay safe out there, America.