Differences: Preparing for Snow

It is striking, moving East from Minnesota because its February and there's no snow on the ground. It rains instead. The ground isn't frozen, so even when we get a few inches of snow its often gone by morning. Last night, I began overhearing my classmates conversations about the storm coming our way. Nine to twelve inches, they said. Increasingly panicked, they worried about how they would get to school and to work. On my way home, I heard train passengers echo the same conversations.

my old car that didn't survive this snow storm in MN

Snow in Minnesota is a totally different story. While I won't say that 9 -12 inches is common, it usually happens several times a winter. It isn't fun, but it happens, and we still go to work and school and continue on with our lives. Half of that is we have to. If the city shut down every time we got snow, well, we'd be in trouble. The other half is that we're prepared and know how to handle such situations. We choose vehicles that are able to drive in the snow. Our winter gear (coats, boots, gloves) are meant for snow and cold temperatures. Our cities have systems for clearing snow. I suppose that it all comes down to practice.

That all said, I do think there are some advantages to being here in the midst of a snow storm. If we need something (really just about anything), we can walk to a store or restaurant. We have plenty within a few blocks radius. Really, the worst thing about that much snow is driving -- and we have no need to do that.

Also, I joined Pinterest today. My username is Northstareast, feel free to add me here or peek at my page. I've updated the contact buttons in the upper right-hand corner of my blog to into a Pinterest button.