[Nfbmt] I'm Back

[Rik James]

Welcome back to Big Sky Country, Joy.
Where a few feet of snow is just not what it is for the cramped city folks 
for sure.
When they were talking so much on the news, it was interesting to reflect on 
years ago, and what life was like with a big storm.
Life just stopped, and we played hard in the snow. And lived off what we had 
stocked away in the pantry.

As a kid in Ohio in the late 1950s and 1960s, I remember some real big 
storms. Yes, the roads were closed, schools were closed. But it was not 
panic. It was weather.

Our neighbors did things together. Helped each other getting a roadway 
cleared. Fixed the old fuel oil furnace that went kah flooey. And those 
frozen pipes? Yikes.
Second thought, maybe it was kind of rough. But I can remember the fun 
parts. And not all this panic talk on the radio and TV.

And from the early 1970s to the present in Montana, same deal.

But little by little, expectations have changed.
As a society we have evolved a consciousness that wants to maintain an 
illusion of control, and to be able to do and go where we want regardless of 
inclement circumstances.

The peaceful feeling of a good hard winter freeze, and the winter blanket of 
snow.
Why, it's a wonder to behold. Why can't we just, just you know, just chill?

One winter, I think it was 1993 in February. In Montana, and here in 
Bozeman, there was this big storm that came through. Temperatures just 
plunged. With a  50 mph North by Northeast wind. From forty above to 20 
below sort of deal. I remember being out walking in town around 10 in the 
morning. By 1:00 it was bitter cold. Peeled big chunks off paint right off 
of our house. And no primer or paint would stick on it for years.

Anyhow. Talk about your panic.
We had some sort of friends here on a sky vacation.
It was the early days of having that thing called the Weather Channel on 
cable tv.
Their car's fuel line froze up. So they got all panicked and crazy. The 
described to their friends they felt like hostages in our house. They were 
addicted to that weather channel. I think it was like 4-5 days that cold 
snap lasted.

Well, we have never had them back.
I might have gently suggested they might want to look at some of those 
fancier places nearer the ski slopes. Where they could have the Weather 
Channel on all night in their room if they wanted!

Ha ha. Good stories.

How does your nose run in a snow drift?
Up?  Down? Sideways? Depends on which way you landed, I reckon.
Where does this road go?  It don't go nowhere, it stays right where it 
always has been.

I have been getting lost a bit in Bozeman, trying to figure out where the 
heck I am.
Which corner is this one?  The sounds are a bit different, too.  Trying not 
to hit a panic button. Trying not to break my fool hip on this ice!

GPS?
What does that stand for again?
Getting Pretty Strange?

Cheers, Joy. Thanks for going that extra mile.
We'll fuel up and help turn our attention to our legislative agenda here 
presently.
Bill numbers. Blurbs to spout about the why and how. And the urgency of now.

Rik