Winter, Beauty and the Beast

Winter 2010 has been a winter we won't soon forget, and it isn't over yet. Just when you think spring should be on its way we recieve a powerful storm in the eastern states and the middle states get blasted with yet another round of blizzards, that serve as reminder that we still have another month or more of this stuff and winter is not about to leave peacefully. 2010 started off with mother nature dropping over a foot of snow in some parts of Iowa, where I live. Looking from the window it was a beautiful sight as trees glistened with fresh snow. You let your mind try to identify the sculptures made by the falling snow. You notice how amazingly the neighbors garbage can now looks like a giant ice cream cone as it is disguised by the fresh snow How many of you felt the urge to go make a snow angel, even if you didn't do it I'll bet there was a tiny little thought in the back of your mind. Then she followed up with a blizzard that stranded hundreds of motorists and cars in ditches along every highway and side road. The beauty turned into a beast. But it's winter and that is to be expected. Now days nearly everyone has a cell phone and when they become stranded help is often a matter of sitting and waiting until the wrecker arrives. That is if you have heeded the warning of travelling only if the weather hasn't gotten to the point of plows being pulled off the road and a tow ban is not in place. Prior to the cell phone it was much different. Roads were not as well maintained then and most travelled only when necessary. I'm sure there are many of our readers that remember walking to a nearby farm house, and hoping someone was home and the dog didn't get the seat of your britches, for help. The farmer was generally a neighborly sort and would go to his machine shed and grab a log chain, hop on his tractor and take you back to your vehicle and pull you from the drift. Seldom would he take any sort of compensation for your interuption into his day or evening. In the midst of it all there is still one group of individuals that just couldn't wait for the storm to hit. They eagerly jumped out of bed in the morning and tuned in the radio waiting to hear their favorite announcement "SCHOOL HAS BEEN CANCELLED TODAY". "It ain't over til it's over" so since we can't change it why not enjoy it. Lets take some tips from our children and work on our special projects that we never have enough time for when the weather is good. Bake a batch of cookies, scrapbook, light up the heater in the machine shed and work on the antique tractor you have been wanting to restore. Maybe you can't get out yet to locate parts but you can sure work on the cleaning and sanding, there is always plenty of that to do.