Category: Opine

When will I learn? You would think after 6 years of living in Western Nevada I would learn. I do this every year and it is just silly. Never ever listen to weather forecasts. Not the local, not the national. Well, listen but do not become overly worked up.

We have been told for the last week to expect up to two feet of snow by this afternoon or early Sunday. This would be our first winter storm and a wild one at that. So even though I was not feeling well yesterday, I headed out to the store and gas station. We were to see rain by 4pm turning to snow by 10pm. I gassed up my Highlander and bought groceries so I would be prepared to stay home all weekend. I did not want to get gas Monday morning before work for fear of having to fight slippery road ways. I even went so far as to buy ice melt, find my snow shovel and made sure I had enough pellets for my stove.  I was prepared! My list of plans for the weekend included finishing Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, writing a review of Its’ you not him, doing a few hours of homework and finally starting The Anatomy of Ghosts, one of the two books I received yesterday to review. I made no plans to leave the house, even my weekend trip to the library was put off.  

This morning I woke up early. As usual I cannot sleep in even on a cold weekend morning. I lay in bed wondering how much snow had fallen during the night. I listened for the sound of snow. For those of you unfamiliar with snow, it does have a sound; the sound of silence. It is a different kind of silence. Not only does the snow blanket the ground, it blankets the world of sound. Cars can move by unheard, birds are quite, it is as if the snow defuses all sounds. It is not an eerie silence, it is a comforting one. Back in Montana I could tell when it snowed the night before just by the silent sound of the silent morning. This morning the normal sounds did seem quieter, but not as muffled as I expected.  I looked out the window and saw some snow on my neighbor’s car, but nothing on the ground. I got up, made coffee and again looked out the window. Since it was still dark I could not tell if the snow was falling or if it was waiting for day break. I turned on my laptop and spend the early morning hours reading the news and doing research on painting for a class assignment. After an hour or so I realized my kitchen was bathed in light, light that would only come from sunlight! I looked into my office (the room with the most windows) and saw sunlight streaming in from all directions. This could not be right; we are supposed to be in the middle of a winter storm! I got up and looked outside, and then I went outside. Lo and behold, the sun was out and the sky was blue, as blue as a summer’s day. So much for our winter storm. It seems to have passed us by. Oh well, I still have my plans; I will act as if the snow is falling and enjoy the weekend. I really have to ignore weather reports and stop getting worked up over them. I really should learn.