Guys Who Remove Snow From Roofs

Here's a tough job for you, anyone who has the business of removing snow from roofs.

Everything's against them. Like this, you haven't called them unless it's bad up there, deep, icy, crazy. Anything less, like with a normal year, you don't even think of it. Then it's cold out, of course. Then the snow and ice, all that, is very heavy. Because it's been up there for a while, getting whatever warmth a warm day gives, then going cold and frozen again.

Add to all that that it's up on a roof. So they have to tie cables to trees and around themselves in case they might slip and fall off.

One other thing. If it's bad enough for one person to get their roof cleaned, it's bad for everyone. And that means they have many appointments. So they have to work to all hours so they'll be free tomorrow for someone else.

The guy on TV who does the "Dirty Jobs" ought to try snow removal from roofs!

Nature -- The Real Terrorist

I have a few snowdrifts in the yard I'd love to see sitting in jail. For trespassing. They're trespassing all over town, actually. And numerous 300 pound icicles are pulling the eaves down all over town, clogging up all our well designed waterways.

That's just me and my little town. Nationally, they're saying the snowstorm on the east coast is Snowocalypse and Snowmageddon. To which we might add Snowzilla, Snowkong, Snowqaeda, and Snowpublican. If we settle on Snowpublican, then we will have probably the best idea of the amount of damage, suffering, and misery the snow is able to bring.

Now, what's behind all this misery? Nature. The so-called benevolent force that makes up our environment and our very being. Meaning, if you really think about it, we have the seeds of the greatest terrorism in our very blood and being, because we're made of this terrible force called Nature. There really is nothing more insidious than Nature. Just think, you can't talk or even think about Nature without Nature itself, because it's what we are. If I try to peer around a corner to peek at Nature, Nature's right there over my shoulder looking with me! It's like trying to outrun your shadow. It can be done, if the sun's in the right place. But every time you look down, you notice it's caught up with you.

Now I read that New York has been shut down, essentially. And Washington, D.C. And they're not letting people into that field in Pennsylvania. The terrorist is laughing with glee, the terrorist called Nature.

Think about Al Qaeda. They're pipsqueaks compared to dreaded Nature. Yet if they put a firecracker in their underpants we think the world's coming to an end. Then Nature can cause untold death, misery, and expense -- running in the 100s of millions of dollars just to close down the government for a couple days -- and we take it in stride, saying "We can't do anything about it." Ho hum.

Somehow, someway, we need to retaliate. Like the Tea Party people say, I don't remember any attacks by Nature while Bush was president. Just sunshine and an occasional gentle rain.

Crackling, Weird Night

It's a crackling, weird night in the land that I live. Following a crackling, weird day.

What's all the crackling from? The trees were coated with ice in the last few days, then with slightly warmer temperatures today and some wind, the ice is crashing down. But when it's just swaying up there it's making a crackling noise, as it all breaks and snaps.

So there's twigs and some limbs everywhere. It's terrifying for a dog when I take the dog out, because she doesn't know about the source of the problem. It's kind of scary for me too, because a few of the ice nuggets, some of them good size, were landing close to me. One on the head would hurt!

I went somewhere in the car a while ago, and I went under some trees on one particular street, and I got a crash of a nice size ice piece hitting the windshield. Maybe it wasn't so huge, but when it hits you going 25 to 30 mph, it makes a noise.

I wish it would warm up and do some melting. Otherwise the ice (on the sidewalks and streets) is just going to stay. What a mess.