Sometimes Being Literal is Better

Our recent winter storm reminded me of the time when I was living in Pinehurst North Carolina. Because snow is a rarity there is/was no means in which to remove the white stuff in place.

I was baby sitting an infant in her own home while her parents went to a medical conference. The first night Pinehurst got 22 inches of snow. The area was paralyzed. The power and water went out that night. Luckily they had a gas fireplace and a gas stove/oven. I was able to keep the bay warm and fed for 2 days. By the third day I knew if the parents were not able to return to the home, Emma and I would have to head out on foot to one of the many shelters being set up in the area. Emma’s parents made it back and headed out to a relative’s home for shelter.

I was able to book a room in a hotel with a functional generator. By then the roads were passable for SUV type vehicles. Once comfortably ensconced in my hotel room I was listening to the radio. Many calls were being made requesting assistance. The best call was one from a woman who was desperate to have her street cleared. Although her terminology was very different; she stated that her street was in dire need of being scraped.

Scraped indeed; we call it plowing. As I look out my office window to the rather poor job done clearing our parking lot, I think to myself the person in charge of street scraping did not do the best job.