The Briar Philosopher - Weather or Not

I’m sitting here this morning at home due to the snow and ice and rain. Just walked out to check on the critters and everyone is dry and warm. My willow tree limbs are bowed down somewhat and one young pine tree is bowed to the ground with the weight of the ice still covering it. It is young and supple so I expect it will stand right back up once the weight is off. 

Yesterday morning’s snow was so pretty. Probably about five inches fell before the shift to ice and then to a thunderstorm and a lot of rain through the night. Our power went off about 9:00 p.m. last night but was back on by 2:30 this morning. I breathed a sigh of thanksgiving to the line workers who were out there in the mess of ice and snow and lightning getting power restored. It’s a nasty mess out there. I just checked the Jackson Energy Outage map and there are still over 4,000 people out in their service area with over 500 still out in Jackson County so they’re still out in the weather. They are most definitely heroes and we are grateful to them, as well as the support staff behind them. They are on the job, weather or not. 

We are also on the job, weather or not, but we certainly do not have it anywhere near as hard as they do. Modern technology allows us to get the job done, for the most part, without braving the weather. Our office phones are forwarded to our mobile phones so we can still communicate with those who might need us and the internet allows us to still get the paper out. One way or another we will get the papers to the post office this week to keep you updated on the happenings in Jackson County. 

There are a lot of other people who are on the job, weather or not. Our emergency management teams are on the job and county government is making a plan for warming stations and emergency shelter space should those without power and back up heat need a place to stay warm. 

The Boy and are were/are well prepared for weather contingencies here at home. I always stock up on food  before winter gets here. It’s an old habit from childhood that has served me well throughout my life. We have a gas cook stove so even in outages hot meals can be made as well as the coffee that gets my old brain in gear. We have backup heat and light sources. Last nights power outage was hardly a blip. No television didn’t bother us and we were warm and cozy and well fed. That’s really about as good as it gets anytime, we just tend to appreciate it more during trying circumstances. We made sure we had a full tank of gas in the truck in case we should need to charge our phones during an outage. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say, so the weather didn’t catch us off guard. 

There are, without doubt, folks out there who were not so well prepared and for some of them there wasn’t much choice. We have elderly and shut ins and just plain old poor folks like I was growing up who didn’t have the wherewithal to get ready or who don’t have backup heat or a source to cook food when the power goes out. I hope that all of you will check on your neighbors as, even after the printing of this article, will have to face more days of frigid temperatures. Check on them and,if they need more help than you yourself can give, contact emergency management or Judge Gabbard or the Sheriff’s office so that more help can be dispatched to them. 

We are all better off when we come together during a crisis, or even in the absence of a crisis. 

Right now what we all need most is one another and the mindfulness to think outside our own walls to reach those neighbors we were commanded to love with help and hope. Even those who might be ok otherwise will feel a sense of isolation when they look out the window so even a phone call or a quick visit, if you can get to them, would brighten their day and make them feel loved and connected.  

The gift of love and compassion, the kind with feet and hands,  is the greatest thing we can give each other, weather or not.