EMERGENCY REPRISE

This past week we had our second weather-generated emergency in six months...since the winds of Hurricane Ike blew through in September. I was off work for two straight days again. These two events are the first times our business has been closed because of weather since the tornado of 1999 relocated our building.

We were blessed with four inches of snow early Tuesday morning and then, an inch of ice on Tuesday night followed by four more inches of snow on Wednesday morning. It made for quite a parfait. Some areas got more. At about noon on Wednesday, the sun came out like a spotlight on the overhead ball above a prom dance floor. The world glistened while chimneys smoked and limbs bowed and wires sagged and birds huddled and children played.

A level 3 emergency was invoked by the politicians which meant no one was allowed on the road. Many streets were closed, many more were impassable. Over 50,000 homes were without power by noon on Wednesday. We hung in there. The temperature was going down to 15 on Wednesday night. I had no idea how long it would take to dig out. Our cars are barely visible.