Random thoughts on snow
Well, Mr. Kansas Farmer, you got your moisture! In the future I think you should be a little more circumspect about what you wish for. At least be a little more specific. Moisture, you see, can take many forms. Ice and sleet are two. Rain is another and rain is good. Gentle rain for two or three days is better. Moisture is just pretty vague. In fact, there is so much "moisture" piled up in our driveway that the mister said that getting out of it is the worst part of his drive to work in Wichita! So next time it gets dry and you get panicked, give me a call. We can cruise through a thesaurus together and find a better word than "moisture."
I have mentioned Jesse Seibel in this column several times, but some of my best memories of Jesse are the many good things he did for people in Peabody without ever being asked to do them. Winter was his wonderland. After a storm like we had last week, Jesse would have been out with his big tractor, his snow blower, or his lawn tractor with a blade. He'd have been cleaning driveways, sidewalks, and parking lots for the people he liked best. He always started early and worked until late. And then when there was no big stuff to move he would get into his pick-up and drive up and down the streets of Peabody obliterating the slushy spots that remained on the streets. I think he considered it his civic duty to be out driving as soon as the temperatures popped above freezing. He would take careful aim and drive through the middle of any slush pile on his route, spreading it out so that the sun would hit it and other cars would drive over it. I think in Jesse's memory we should all be aiming for various and sundry slush piles as we drive.
Yo, you ladies at the Senior Center who were out chopping ice/snow off the sidewalk this morning! If I see you doing that again, I will call your children and tell on you. At this point you aren't going to move that stuff, so just let it be. No one can move it. We are operating on the "God theory" this week. God put it there and He will move it when He is ready. So quit!
On a personal note, you may remember that it started sleeting/snowing/icing late Tuesday night last week. By Wednesday morning everything was a mess and the forecast simply said, "More!" When the Peabody Gazette-Bulletins arrived Wednesday morning I did all the required counting, dividing, and stuffing of circulars. I was ready to head out on my routes. But wait! No school, so the papers for the fifth grade can go in a pile over here until later. And Don's Drugs is closed so those papers can go in a pile over here. Coastal Mart is open; I can get papers to them. But am I going out of town for the rest? Nahhh. Two or three times I crawled out onto Highway 50, but I turned back. It was just too treacherous. I figured no one would venture out to buy a paper anyway. Wrong! By Thursday morning the publisher had called not only the Gazette-Bulletin office, but my house, to say that people had called to complain that they hadn't been able to buy a paper in Florence or Burns, and would I please get my patootie in gear and get those papers delivered! And there were messages on my answering machine at the newspaper office from people who wondered just when I was going to get their news to them. Wow, that is just so great! I didn't think anyone cared. You have no idea how thrilled I am that you wanted me to risk life and limb to get the weekly you-know-what in your hot little hands!
The most amusing part of a storm like we had is when the school district deems it necessary to dismiss classes. It's way too dangerous to be hauling kids to school so it's a "snow day." Don't you just love it? No one can get to school, but most of the administrators, bus drivers, and a healthy number of teachers and staff are in the coffee shops chewing the fat. Just try to rent a decent movie at Jim's Jack and Jill
Well, snow days are fun. Or at least they are a break in the routine. We deserve a couple every year just to remind us of how sane our lives are during dull, boring Kansas weather.
One final snow thought. Thanks to Ronnie Harms and Darren Pickens for getting the darn stuff moved around enough so that we could all navigate our city streets. As someone who gets up pretty early every morning, I know how early they had to be up and on the job to have the streets cleared by the time I ventured out. I expect some of you have complaints about the snow still on your streets, but there are only two of them and the force of nature was mighty formidable for several days last week. So just deal with it! I promise — eventually it will all melt. They did all they could as quickly and efficiently as they could. I bet they would hand the keys over to you any time you think you could do better. Thanks, guys.
— SUSAN MARSHALL
