It's SNOW

Tuesday December 8th, 2009 - Lake Villa, IL

Maybe it’s me, but it sure seems as I get older that way too much hype is involved with the possibility of an oncoming snowstorm with significant accumulation. I grew up in the snow belt and as memory serves me, it was no big deal to get pelted with a foot of snow.

This is where we chose to live, and snow in the winter comes with the deal. Maybe I’m turning into my grandpa, but I don’t think there needs to be weather updates in the media every five minutes with ‘storm trackers’ and ‘Doppler radar’ giving me more than I want or need to know about the ‘potentially hazardous blizzard like conditions’. It’s SNOW.

Most of the time these imbeciles with toupees still blow it, even with all their computer technology and high powered nuclear radar equipment, or whatever it is they use to bring their doom and gloom predictions to interrupt the program I was enjoying on radio or TV.

IF it snows, I’ll deal with it. If not, I’m spared the torture of having to look at the picture from the Hubble spacecraft in 3-D of ominous looking storm clouds over Utah that are on their way to destroy all life forms within a 90 mile radius of where I am at that moment.

Then, today I heard they’re probably going to close some schools BEFORE it snows, if indeed it even does. Now I’m really starting to sound like a grumpy old fart because I had to haul my frozen fanny to school 99% of the time no matter how high the snow piled up.

I spent every one of my school years in Milwaukee and I can only remember a very few isolated days when indeed we had a snow day from school. I’d have to say it was maybe a day or two a year tops, and it wasn’t every year. Even then, sometimes it was only half the day. We still had to trudge through the artic blast to get to school, only to go home early.

I know, I know - I sound like I walked uphill both ways five miles through a mine field filled with broken glass and poison ivy to get to school so I could crack the books, but it’s a different time now I guess. It just doesn’t seem like snowfall should be such a big deal.

One thing a lifetime on the road has taught me is how to get somewhere in bad weather. I can’t begin to number all the times I’ve had to navigate my barely running car with bald tires through blizzard like conditions to make it to my gig in some two bit town 500 miles away from the last one, and I still made it. It may take longer but it‘s not lava, it‘s SNOW.

I had some errands to run this morning and everyone at the bank was talking about how the big blizzard was coming and they were going to stock up on everything from food and water to flashlights and blankets. What is this, another Y2K crisis? How did that end up?

Personally, I’m glad to have the time to myself. I’m off for a couple of days and in town performing at Zanies in Vernon Hills this weekend. I can hopefully use this extra time for catching up on a few things I’ve let get behind while everyone else is scampering to try to save themselves and their families from the impending doom of white death. It’s SNOW.