Weather or not

Yes, we got a dusting of snow recently, about 2 feet. Here’s the thing; we live in the north. Part of living in the north is that you get snow. People still run to the store and buy bread and milk in case they get cut off from civilization. This could happen … for about a day. If it is more than a day your pathetic last-minute shopping is not going to cut it. If it is for an extended period, well, now you know why it is good to have a dog. What!?! You can share his food! What were you thinking?Granted, the media does its best to keep us informed of developing conditions while subtly whipping us into a frenzy. At great expense weather people are dispatched into the field to stand in the storm and show us what snow looks like. Sometimes we get to watch as the idiot drivers that slow down for nothing crash into the guide rails or each other. Now that’s entertainment.When I first moved to The Great White North, it really was. The first snow came around Thanksgiving and we continued to get storms of varying intensity right on through March so that there was always about a foot on the ground. The roads had a coating of snow all the time. Everybody drove rear-wheel drive vehicles, except forest rangers, so you either had studs in your rear tires, chains, or you drove really carefully. Many cars had a ding in their left, front fender from poking their noses out past the huge snow piles while trying to get across the intersection. • •  •State-of-the-art in 1968 was not four-wheel drive, but rather a limited slip-rear differential or Posi-Traction. If one rear wheel started to slip, the power was transferred to the other rear wheel. The guys that grew up around here tell me that when they were kids they had two cars; one cool one for the nice weather in the spring, summer and fall, and a junker for smacking into things in the winter.As the years went by the snow storms became fewer, many of them coming through as ice storms, and not the kind of ice that you can put in your drink.It used to be that the only storms that got a name were hurricanes. Now we name the snow storms. What’s next? Windy Day Willy?In the really old days people did not have much in the way of forecasting. If it was snowing they still went to school or work. Sometimes they got lost on the way to the barn.Uh oh! Here comes Rainy Day Ramona!Bill Abrams resides in Pine Plains year round — rain, sun, sleet or snow.