On Wednesday, I drove from Gibsland to Arcadia. My excuse was to buy gas for the generator. How thirty gallons of gas could evaporate is a mystery understood by science and my yard guy. This will be a petroleum assumption illustration from this time forth. Bottom line, always check your fuel. As you say, “Don’t assume.”
What I really wanted were the ingredients for cabbage soup. Have you noticed that you are craving food in this cold weather? Have you also noticed that you eat with impunity as long as you can wear your sweatpants? It was an interesting trip. Highway 80 was the chosen route. I saw only one car, both ways. The roads were slick but not treacherous. Today they are treacherous.
The grocery store was opened. Many of the shelves revealed the needs and desires of the snowbound. There was no milk. The ice cream was running low. There was no ground beef and very little chicken. I managed to purchase the last two cabbages in the produce section and the other ingredients for the soup. Two things caught my eye. I was the only person in the parking lot not driving a truck. Our SUV is AWD, that is partial credit. For probably the only time in the lifetime of the vehicle I used the snow traction setting. The other thing, I must give kudos to the folks shopping. Everyone was masked up. One could not tell if it was Covid or Cold related.
This winter storm has been enlightening.
It is possible for a Louisiana snow to last beyond noon. This snow is now hard as concrete. I’m a big guy and I can walk and leave no footprints in the snow. It is beautiful. It is now dangerous too. I made a discovery in my thirties that one should not fall down. I am twice that now and one should still not fall down. Getting up, with dignity, on the slippery stuff is not easy.
The silence has been soothing. I enjoy solitude and silence. It seems that even KCS has changed the train schedule. Train whistles in the distance are comforting, but in this weather they are absent. The only sound heard consistently is the sound of children playing in the snow.
I continue to enjoy your social media posts and pictures about your snow experiences. I’m glad that most of you have power and at least have a trickle of water. At one point I found myself under the house looking at the pipes. As I was laying there, I wondered why people back when this house was built were so much smaller than today. It must be evolution or all that comfort food I’ve been eating. I wondered who would pull me out if I got stuck.
What have you done with this snow time off? Did you relax or nap? Did you use it to post and comment? Did you play with your children or grandchildren? Did you read a book? Did you interrupt your habits?
Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, was snowed out. Lent is a time when we look at ourselves honestly in the light of Jesus. We journey with Him to Jerusalem. We try to figure out what it means to “deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him.” Lent is a time of reflection and honest assessment of where we are compared to where Jesus created us to be.
Lent is like these past days, a time when you get out of your habits and do something different.