Then and Now...

[crestofwaves]

Remember when a snow storm meant no electricity and the whole family bundled up and sat around in candlelight playing Monopoly and eating whatever was around and no one panicked anticipating it because it just always happened all winter long? How things have changed.

 

Why?  What happened to us?

[Lifesighs]

I lived in the same house from when I was born until I was 18, in all that time I don't remember the electricity going out not even once. That was in Michigan, thinking back I realize that must have been a miracle. We had snow, big snow and ice storms.

We didn't make a big deal out of storms there, they were part of what happens in life. No snow days that I remember either. That didn't start until my son was in school.

[Karin M Fichtner]

We got soft, that's what!  When I was little, I lived in Minnesota and Wisconsin.  Snow was just a part of life.  It snowed from early December through March.  We'd get a couple days off school, and Mom would haul out the cookbook and we'd make cookies, to have with hot chocolate.  We'd play cards or Uncle Wiggly, or bundle up and go out to build a snowman.  I had a big old wooden sled, and my dad would put my brother and I on it and we'd all go for a long walk in the snow...Daddy pulling us on the sled. 

I think the news make a big deal out of it.  They scare people. Snow has always fallen in some parts of the country, and will conceivably continue to do so for at least a while longer.  You can't fight Nature.  So stock up some food, batteries, candles, and warm sweaters, and tough it out.  The good thing about snow is....it melts.  It's not going to last forever.  The plows will come out, the salt will be spread, and life will go on. 

Illinois and Wisconsin haven't had snow this year.  Wisconsin got a little around Christmas; not much since.  My son-in-law is extremely upset; last year and this.....only one snowmobile trip.  And this was the year my 5-yr-old great granddaughters were supposed to learn how to drive the KiddieKat.  And I bought my two great grandsons snowboards for Christmas.  They are still in the closet.  Someone on the web was saying the other day that Montana isn't even getting the blizzards they have in the past.  We aren't getting the snow we used to. 

But now they name the storms.  How silly is that?  But it gets people watching the Weather Channel.....listening to every gruesome detail of NEMO.  Oh, pullllleeeeez! 

[Lucinda Stone]

for those of us experiencing Nemo...altho i will admit, we didnt have work on friday, and i sat glued to the weather channel when really all i had to do was open the door to the 2+feet of snow out there.  i do realize the weather folks do get all excited but that's their job... and have we gotten soft? for sure!! i could manage w/o lights for a while, and have gas stove, but i really can't drive and refuse to learn how to drive in snow!  they put a ban on driving in the storm, smart move.. but i read a blog that someone was all upset--they pay taxes so why do they have to stay off the road(in a blizzard, seriously what was so important? )  well, those taxes you pay can be used to you pull out of the snowbank...  there are so many many folks dependent on others and the 'system', whether justifiably or not, that i think we have have forgotten how to survive....

 

[blithe spirit]

When I lived in Waukegan IL in the mid 60's and we had something called an ice storm...it was pretty exciting. No electricity, no school for a few days...we were kind of used to it from living in Germany. We played board games and cards and had a couple of oil lanterns from the hurricanes in FL. There were some elderly folks that lived in the neighborhood and we shoveled their sidewalks and drives.

We also have 24/7 news broadcasts now that need to fill up time...and after you hear something over and over for days and days it tends to wear folks down. Gee, maybe I should be concerned...I've only heard it on 15 different channels so it must be important enough to panic.....So much news is so overblown anymore just from hearing about it so much.

[Karin M Fichtner]

We lost power in a storm that came through northern Indiana in the late 90s.  We went without electricity for about 4 days.  I had to stay home from work, because we had to keep the burners on our gas stove on to break the chill, and keep the water running so the pipes wouldn't freeze.  Since I worked for my husband, it worked out ok.  We had tropical birds at the time, and I was worried about them, so we moved them closer to the kitchen to get the warmth.  The real problem was ....living in the country as we did.....we had a well and septic system.  So the transfer pump on our toilet didn't work; hence...no flushing.  We had to run next door to the gas station to use the bathroom after the first day.  And of course, no showers.  We were packing up to go to his brother's house in town to take showers and wash some clothes the next day, but as we played "Candlelight Scrabble" in the kitchen, we started seeing lights coming on in the area behind us.  By the time we were ready for bed, we were back in business.  I lost some meat from the freezer, though.  I tried to keep it outside in the snow, but the sun was too warm, and it spoiled.  I have to say, though......those days (and nights!) alone with no distractions......were kinda fun.  I see now why so many babies are born 9 months after major blackouts. ;-)