Polar Vortex

Whooo hoo is it ever cold here! We’ve been down here for almost ten years and I’ve never seen it this cold, with this much snow and for this long!

I grew up in Texas, but in Fort Worth, which is up in north Texas, near Oklahoma. Even then, we never got snow like this. I tell you what, this is definitely different!

I was in Texas in ’89 (the last time we got a winter like this one.) and I remember we hooked up our dog to a sled and he pulled us around. Unfortunately, you had to run beside the dog to get him to pull the sled, so my brother and I got as worn out, as quickly, as our dog did!

When this cold snap started they said it would be super cold for a couple of days. Kinda like “let’s flatten the curve for 14 days” that is now coming up on a year of lock downs. This is ridiculous.

My bushes and trees are not made for this weather. I will lose much of my yard. Under freezing for 7 days, -16 for the low. Every 10-30, years we freeze like this. Wipes out all of the marginal crops like citrus and olives (which I have a few of).

Nasty note to TV weathercasters: Please don’t tell me you understand global weather, if you can’t even figure out the local forecast. 2 days or 7 days? They had to have had some idea that this was going to happen, right? Maybe not. Maybe they just get drunk and throw darts at a map and that’s where our forecasts come from.

Anyway it’s been stressful. Our neighbors, and the 4 houses down from them, lost their water for a couple of days. Subdivisions near us have lost power. There has been a run on the grocery stores, again. Honestly, I wish people would have some self governance and realize if they don’t absolutely need it, then leave it at the store for someone who does. I can’t imagine what is happening at homes with a baby on formula, or if they run out of diapers. Our local grocer had an hour long wait to get in, and cars snaking through the lot waiting for a parking spot. I had hoped we all learned our lessons last year about keeping a deep pantry.

I’ve been lucky. We haven’t had anything happen (outside of the power company throttling down our heat at certain parts of the day.) We are also prepared. We have food and water. My kids are boyscouts, so we have camping gear if we lose power. We have a gas stove and a gas fireplace, so even if the power goes we’ll be fine, at least for a while. We are waiting it out until Saturday. Then I can do laundry again and turn the heat up as high as I’d like to pay for!

Pretty sure most of my yard will be dead. So. Even if I haven’t moved, I am starting from scratch, yet again. So, Saturday (our last freeze day in the forecast… of course that drunken dart match may not be as accurate as I hope) won’t come soon enough. But as long as things don’t grind to an absolute halt, I’ll enjoy watching my kids build snowmen, sled and have snowball fights. I’m trying to push the anxiety out of the way, to allow for some unique moments and memories.

Wish us luck! We definitely need it! And put some prayers in for people down here that are without power, or water, or diapers or formula. It is affecting us all differently, and some of my fellow Texans will need a lot of help getting back to normal.