Hey, Seattle: It sucks to be you.
November 29th, 2006 by Jim Clark
So I hear the weather up in the Pacific Northwest is really awful right now.
My mom writes to tell me they now have 3’ of snow and have been without power for 2 days twice in the past week. When they lose power on her ranch, their water pumps stop working and they have to fill pots, buckets and bathtubs full of water for flushing, washing and watering the animals. And when the power does come back on, all the pipes are frozen anyway. Ouch. They’d go drive to somewhere warmer if their car wasn’t buried in the driveway. At least the food in the refrigerator doesn’t rot because it’s so cold in the house, right?
The Seahawks were practically skiing against the Packers on Monday night as the turf was covered and groundskeepers were coming onto the field during timeouts to sweep snow off the 5-yard lines.
Part of me wants to point and laugh at you, Seattle. I look out the window from my office in downtown Santa Barbara right now and I see this:
While I imagine you look out your windows and see this:
Don’t get me wrong, though… I love the snow as much as the next guy who doesn’t have to live in it. In fact, I grew up in Carnation, Washington (population: a whopping 1,850 if you count the wild bears) on a ranch that bordered miles and miles of Weyerhauser tree growing property. Nestled in the middle of nowhere on top of a mountain, we saw plenty of snow in the winter. I remember mornings gathered around the radio, listening for school closure announcements. I loved making snowmen on the front lawn and sledding down the hill and all that fun kid stuff. My memories of dreadful winters are very fond.
But then again, I never had to try to go to work in the stuff as an adult. So in that respect I do feel a little bit of sympathy for the people up there who have to deal with trying not to get their extremities frozen and snapped off as they trundle off to Starbucks.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go take my laptop outside and work under a palm tree. They have the air conditioning turned on in my office and it’s a chilly 71 degrees in here. I’m freezing.