Good morning, Netizens...

The news wires are having a feeding frenzy over the snow in Spokane, ranging from the stories of schools being cancelled (again!), traffic snarled and mail and garbage collection not running as expected, if at all. Roofs are collapsing, streets are clogged with snow berms, ice and slush and locals are starting to refer to this as Sno-maggon. Granted, despite an overnight warming trend that is forecast to last another 24 hours, the streets are still in a shambles, schools are still closed and people are struggling simply to survive this winter.

The only positive spin the news wires seemed to be able to put on our plight is that at the Chocolate Apothecary at The Flour Mill (free plug courtesy of the AP news wire) is that the owner and employees are surrounded with chocolate, and hence everything is good there.

What is unfortunate is that the news wire spent a lot of time discussing the man who took a shot at a private plow operator, never mentioning the frustration and sense of abandonment by the government that so many of our citizens feel.

On the lighter side, I hear the children laughing as they take turns sliding down the hills, I notice the old-timers still holding forth at Franky Doodles, a nearby restaurant and gathering-place, and I have heard the sounds of laughter floating across the snow berms that are taller than Michael Jordan in some places. In the words of one of these frequent gatherers, the only thing that has truly changed is that we have substituted one of the worst snow emergencies in Spokane history for a flood warning, as the huge snow pack begins melting down.

We have all been stuck at one time or another, have lived with the fear for our roofs caving in, have shoveled and shoveled until we truly hate snow as never before, and yet, here and there, occasionally if you listen to the voices, you will hear levity, laughter and a sense that the worst is over. Maybe.

Say, do any of you have a fishing pole? As the melt down begins, there is a major pond that has formed up in front of my house. Trying desperately to maintain a sense of levity about all this, I am considering seeding the pond with trout and charging admission for people to come fish the Pond d'Laird.

Got any good tales to tell? Whisper them in my ear. Nobody else will hear.

Dave

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