Weather extremes--

I see online the devastation that the huge snowstorm has wrought. My elderly aunt is in Rhode Island, not far from the airport. I'm glad she's where she is instead of where she was just months ago; she and my uncle (who is in a VA facility now) sold their huge home in the woods of Exeter and she bought a far more manageable house in a populated area. But still-- I texted her yesterday, and she already had about three feet of snow. I'll check in on her later, too-- what a thing to have to deal with. She is disabled as well, so she won't be shoveling or anything, but I hope she didn't lose power. Likely, she did. The whole state seems devastated. This storm beat the Blizzard of 1978 by a mile. 

That blizzard was the precursor to my family moving from Rhode Island to the middle of nowhere in Vermont; I guess it was basic training. We moved in June of 1978 to a hayfield, living in a four-man tent with a camping portable toilet (four of us) and an Econoline van until at least the 16x16 cabin was habitable. Then, the cellar hole was dug for the house that was going to be built at the end of June. We moved into essentially the shell of the house the day before school started that fall. It was a long, hot, sweaty summer with the only running water being me -- a family of four can exist on 13 gallons of water hand-pumped from a dug well 200 feet downhill from the dwelling if they must. And I was not about to pump more, and there were other chores to do anyhow, like filling gallons of brook water to leave in the sun, hoping they'd warm enough to dump over your head behind the cabin in a little lean-to for a "shower" of sorts. The rare rainy day was a blessing: we could go to the laundromat instead of tossing essentials into a washtub of boiling water on the Coleman camp stove. I earned the first indoor bath the night before school started. I spent an hour soaking in that tub. 

(People wonder why I don't like camping...)

But about the blizzard. We learned about snow, that's for sure. What we did not learn about was extreme cold. Christmas Day of 1978 dawned cold as it could be. It was 47 below zero. So, snow up to our backsides and then that cold. There were other days that winter that I spent trying to shovel in driving wind, biting cold, and then wishing I could crawl into the woodstove. My parents were still "homesteaders" at the time-- heating with wood (another fun chore, hauling in firewood through snowdrifts), with oil backup heat set at 55 degrees. Yes, there was ice on the inside of the bedroom windows every night. 

 

(I hate the cold, too...)

I remember just staring out at the expanse of white, the ice crystals forming in the air, glittering in the sunshine-- it was too cold to snow. 

I feel for those who are woefully unprepared for this kind of cruel weather. And those who deny climate science should take a step back. Those extra strong storms will become the norm, as science has explained. We'll all have to figure out how to navigate a future marked by drought, then huge rain/wind events, and snowstorms that are like frozen hurricanes. But please, "beautiful coal" and "drill, baby drill" already. 

The planet will not keep us around if we are bad tenants. 

I hope you are warm and safe. Take good care of those you love. 

C