10:09 p.m. - 2003-01-16
Snow
It's so boring here. The most exciting thing that's going on is that the rabbits are chewing their food so loudly I can hear it from a room away. They must be going after the bok choi I gave them. It always makes for loud eating.
It was supposed to be a very exciting day, because we were supposed to have snow. This happens about once a year, and it always causes a complete hysterical freak-out amongst the locals. They hear the word "snow" and the immediate reaction is along the lines of "Aaaaahhhh!!!Head for the hills!! We're doomed!!".
Then they rush out to the local supermarkets and buy tons of bread and milk. They are so inexperienced with this that they don't even think along the lines of buying flashlights and batteries in case the power goes out, or making sure they have blankets and a bucket of water to flush the toilet, or, I don't know, getting something useful like a pair of socks or some hot chocolate. Nope, they just load up on the bread and milk.
It doesn't make any difference because after the big, hysterical week-long tantalizing build-up from the weather forecasters, there is almost never any actual snow. Needless to say, today we didn't have a single flake.In my three and a half years here I have only seen maybe three inches of snow. One snow storm our first year left two inches and the other, two years ago, left one.
It never stays on the ground more than 24 hours, either.
The sad thing is that Alabamans really want it, too. Even though they act all freaked out, if you catch them in a reflective mood they will admit that, yes, they do wish that we would have a real snowstorm. They look at me with a sort of lusting envy when I tell them I grew up in the snowdrifts of New Hampshire, and my snowshoes in our living room are always objects of awestruck wonder. It's especially pronounced with children. The Huntsville Times publishes children's letters to Santa every Christmas, and at least half of those letters ask Santa if he could bring a snowstorm with him from the North Pole.
A number of people have taken me aside to ask my expert opinion, as a New Englander, as to where they could take a vacation and be sure of seeing several feet of the stuff. "I'd like to be snowed in, just once," an elderly lady down the street confessed. "You know, as long as I was in a hotel that had room service."
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