It is the last day of January and the last of a series of winter storms for January made its swirling, windy, white debut about 3:00 A.M. The wind began to whip through the trees sounding like waves breaking on the beach. The house creaked and it felt good to just creep deep down in the blankets and breathe a sigh of relief to not have to go outside.
Those of us who work at home, feel lucky to not have to brave the ice and snow. But a good many residents look glumly out the window and hope they make it safely to work. We all look at the traffic cameras on the cal trans website to see if there is black pavement somewhere out there. Meanwhile, the state and local road crews are working hard to keep the roads clear and safe. But this storm was too furious and unrelenting. So Interstate 5 was closed from Redding to Ashland Oregon.
Driving becomes tricky and hazardous. Local people have seen too many accidents from careless driving on slippery roads. We can almost always tell when a “flatlander” is traveling through our county at break neck speed on an icy road. They seem to think that ice doesn’t matter and braking is not an issue. I have seen them fly by me as I am inching along with white knuckles behind the snow plow. But I catch up to them. They are cooling their heels in a ditch frantically calling for help on their cell phones. When I pass them I am thinking, now maybe you will learn.
The snow is beautiful, the ski park is prospering and we are really lucky that these winter storms will bring much needed water to the lakes. So we put up with the storms even if they are irritating and annoying to our every day life.
1 comment:
I know what you mean about some of those drivers. But truckers also are bad. And not all locals drive safely. Let's hope for spring.
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