Snow Watch '08

We're on an official Snow Watch here around the ATL. For those of you in the northern climate, for whom snow is a regular occurrance, I'm sure this is quite odd. But for those of us born and raised in the south, snow is a Big Thing. We just completely lose our minds over it, because we so rarely see it. Grown people get positively giddy at the thought of a couple of inches of snowfall.

For those of you who don't know, we've got a few rules here for handling potential snowstorms. (Let me define a southern snowstorm for you: it snows a couple of inches -- 4 if it's a blizzard -- and it's generally gone by the next day). First, you have to make a run to your nearest grocery store and buy enough milk and bread to do for at least a couple of weeks. I don't know why you have to stock up that much, but you just do.

Because here in the south, we generally stay home for the day it snows. And lest you Northerners (note my extreme restraint in not using the term "Yankee" -- I'm married to a Yankee, by the way) snerk at our reasoning for staying home, I'll list the next few rules of southern snowstorms:

a. There's always a layer of ice under the snow.
b. You can't drive on ice.
c. See a and b once again if you don't believe me
d. The entire state of Georgia probably has one snowplow and it's in "the mountains"
e. Go back to a and b.

So, we all stay home, watch the anchors on tv become completely ridiculous with the snow coverage ("We'll go to Jim up in Gwinnett County who says there's at least two flakes up there now!"), and we watch all the transplanted northerners who haven't learned these rules and think we're just scared of a little snow get out and try to drive in it. By the way, my client who is an auto body shop just *loves* these people. Business is always up for him after a snowstorm.

I don't want to make light of everything -- there are some dangers inherent in this too. Our neighborhoods are covered with pine trees that just love to snap when they're covered with ice and snow (they sound just like shotguns when they do that), and quite often they take power lines with them, so you have to be sure to have plenty of battery operated lights available. And logs for the fireplace aren't a bad idea either. Plus, I sure wouldn't want to be one of the people like my friend Vicky, a nurse, who *has* to get to work through the ice and the crazies.

We had a little taste of snow yesterday -- covered the grass but didn't get on the roads. Tomorrow night it's supposed to come down again, so we'll see what happens. Forecasting a southern snowstorm is about as easy as predicting what a dachshund will decide to do when you call him. We all know that's a bit of an iffy proposition. :) But just to be on the safe side, we went to the store tonight and bought bread and milk.....