Fear of Snow
January 29th, 2007 by John Mixon
Why do the good people of Delmarva fear snow?
What is it about the white puffy moisture that causes so many people to fear for their lives? Why does normal life come to a complete end on this peninsula every time a stupid weatherman mentions that unmentionable,….”Chance of Snow”?
Like a flock of screaming children at recess, you run to the supermarkets, mini-markets and roadside stands to purchase Milk, Eggs, Bread and Toilet Paper. OK, so this leaves me to believe that the fear of snow brings about the massive hankering for French Toast which you apparently don’t have the digestive tract to properly handle, hence the toilet paper.
Question: When was the last time people in this area were literally ’snowed-in’ so bad that they were unable to leave their home because of the high snow? When was the last time the roads were so un-navigable that nobody, and I mean nobody, was able to drive including Police, EMS and newspaper delivery people? How many of you live so far from civilization that if you were snowed in and ran out of toilet paper, you would be too far away to walk to a neighbor’s house and borrow some? And finally, why are the elements to make French Toast so important to you in the event of snow?
I was transferred to North Carolina some years ago by the retail company I worked for at the time. My store was in Hanes Mall in Winston Salem, we lived in a tiny town called Advance. Our first winter there was the worst in anyone’s memory. The snow wasn’t so bad, it measured almost 12 inches, but the following ice storm took out power lines all over the area. We were without power for 5 days. Since the state had very little snow in this area, local municipalities never felt the need to purchase snow plows or even road salt. Being from Pennsylvania, I was accustomed to driving in heavy snow and easily drove to and from work while many stayed home to wait it out. In our home, no electricity meant no cooking, we had an electric oven. We did have a fireplace and actually made some stew in it as well as heated up leftovers and such. Mostly, we ate out during the outage. The locals, who were not used to driving in snow made the most of it by working together. Farmers drove their big tractors around to neighbor’s homes, seeking lists of needed supplies before driving to the local filling station/mini-market. Folks with 4-wheel drive or who were brave ventured to Mocksville, to the supermarkets, armed with many shopping lists, especially for the elderly.
People just automatically came together to help one another in the ‘crisis’ as I believe they would here as well! They also used the time to play. A neighbor with a four-wheeler stopped by our home to let the kids grab their sleds and hold a rope as he pulled them through the neighborhood. He told us of a plan to gather at the top of a local road which had a nice hill for sledding that night. We drove (much to their astonishment) instead of walking the 3 miles with our sleds. They had a huge bonfire and a large farm tractor which would drive down the hill with a huge tow-rope, pulling the kids back up the hill so they could have more fun without getting so tired of the reverse trek.
But here, well, that’s a different story. As some of you may know, I run nearly 2 dozen weekly trivia gameshows at local (and not-so-local) restaurants and other venues. One such venue is a new game inside the private gated community, The Peninsula. For our premiere event last Sunday the staff had acquired reservations for more than 50 people to sit in a nice restaurant inside their community, with a warm fire, protected by a back-up generator, where their was plenty of eggs, bread and milk as well as a supply closet full of toilet paper, and enjoy a trivia game with a house-cash prize. Slowly but surely these reservations cancelled one-by-one until we had but one team left for the game. Why? “Chance of snow.”
By the end of the game that first massive snowfall of 2007 had grown to nearly an inch with ‘bitter’ temps in the upper 20’s and virtually no wind. Why should such a minor meteorological event prevent people from going out to have a good time? Why do we scare so easily? I don’t let such occurrences prevent me from events. When I was young I didn’t let blizzards prevent me from honoring my commitment to a girlfriend for a date to the movies. Why should I start fearing the white fluff now?
My final point is to encourage you folks to stop being so scared of your own shadows! You have to live your life to enjoy it. Your end will come, but here on Delmarva it is very unlikely it will be caused by hunger due to a snowstorm. Get out and live!
January 29th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Scared? Nah!! Perfect opportunity to hole up with a stack of books by the couch, wrapped in a cozy blanket, shared by six dogs…now THAT’s my “Perfect Storm”…
Must admit though, John, I’ve often wondered the same as you.
January 29th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
John, I’m sure you know well that the worst driving conditions are those when the streets are hardly covered with snow. This is often the case at the outset of a snow fall. Moreover, salting operations are still in progress early on in a storm. On the contrary, driving on packed snow is much easier and safer, as I, a Pennsylvanian as well, experienced often when we lived in upstate NY. Therefore, I can fully understand people being overly cautious when a snow storm is expected.
One caller to Dan’s program the other day, driving in the Harrington area I believe, reported that he encountered the worst snow storm he had ever witnessed. He said his wife, the passenger, had to put her head out of the window to observe the road to make sure that they stayed on it.
No offense, but I suspect your motivation to keep the date with your girlfriend was a bit greater than to keep a reservation to play a game.
Regarding your experience without power, my wife’s sister and husband lived through that ice storm in Durham, NC; they were without power for 10 days! Your story of struggle and neighborliness reminds me a lot of the stories they tell. The struggle part was one of a few reasons that prompted be to purchase and have installed an emergency generator last year from Powerback, one of WGMD’s sponsers, to take care of ourselves and any neighbors in need should we be so unlucky with an ice storm or some such.
January 29th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
I don’t know how anyone else prepares French Toast, John, but the “Chance of Snow” recipe I have calls for, in addition to the 18 wheeler of eggs and milk,… 5 gals of vanilla extract, 50 lbs of cinnamon, 30 lbs of confectionary sugar and a tanker of Vermont Maple Syrup. Figure 30 cases of Toilet Paper per tanker of syrup to be safe.
January 30th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
I think a trivia game isn’t worth the risk of driving down Rt.24 during a snow storm however small the snow.
January 30th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
I don’t think they had that far to go…gated community (read that tightly guarded!) only residents would participate, no?
January 30th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Come experience lake effect. Then we’ll talk…
January 30th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
You tell ‘em Nancy! Yes, everyone had only about 20 feet to travel. They were not part of a gambling junket flying in from Vegas.
February 1st, 2007 at 11:40 am
I guess you weren’t here in ‘94/’95 when we had the fabulous ice storm that knocked out power for a couple of weeks. When everything in your house is electric (because gas pipelines don’t exist) and the blower on your oil heater is electric and you have a well and no water for 14 days give me a call, k? Not everyone lives in a subdivision - heck, were there even really subdivisions here back then? I was on a farm 1/2 a mile from the nearest neighbor with trees coming down and the sound of cracking wood that never stopped. Many, many people had similar experiences - roads never touched by DOT/county/municipalities, going out and chipping ice off cars and the ground to melt water to simply flush, roofs damaged from the ice and no way to deal with it without power - and in some cases (including ours) no phone for several days. Cell phones weren’t nearly as prevalent then and in many cases the towers were out anyway.
I live in a city now and even though I have gas heat and water heater as well as municipal water I still feel the draw to fill the washer and bathtubs with water (finally broke myself of that one). I lived in High Point, NC - a few miles from W-S, during the snow in 2000 (about 18″ of snow) and it took us about 5 days to get out from that because of a lack of preparedness by everyone involved.
Personally, I’d rather have my French Toast Fixings - they do the supermarket raid here in NC, too - because it’s all part of the anticipation and preparation for something potentially going wrong (like in 2000). I drive and walk in snow maybe once a year - I’d rather not have an accident or fall and break something even going 20 feet. Maybe your neighbors felt the same way…
February 1st, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Wonder1 - that’s exactly when I was there! That’s the exact storm I was referring to!
Small world.
Perry and Amish Electrician - The drive inside the gated community would have been very short and much safer than public roads. Back up and take a look at the big picture. I am speaking of the fear that ‘chance of snow’ brings out in folks and I am using (attempting) humor to convey my points.
Nancy and RonR understood that this was a PRIVATE event inside a PRIVATE community. Obviously I was not putting the call out for folks from Dewey to travel to the Peninsula,… they couldn’t even get in!
February 2nd, 2007 at 10:37 am
i was thinking of taking my trivia team on the road and just following you around collecting the prizes wherever you went.
February 2nd, 2007 at 3:59 pm
It’s been done before. I know of a few teams who have spent every day of their vacations at one of our events. They didn’t win them all but they sure had fun trying!
Do you currently play at any of our locations?
February 3rd, 2007 at 6:06 pm
i may, or may not. you never know…{ADMIN EDIT}.
February 3rd, 2007 at 9:51 pm
hey! don’t edit my posts without acknowledging that you edited them. A simple {admin edit} would suffice.
February 5th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Did you call me a name, you {ADMIN EDIT} and the horse you {ADMIN EDIT}.