This morning it was minus three degrees. For those of you south of the equator, that’s cold. You see, it’s winter in Texas … and North Carolina … and really winter in Oklahoma where it has been about twenty below for several days. It has something to do with Global Warming and the Polar vortex. Somehow the warm air below the polar ice cap has allowed the cold air hovering over the ice cap to slip down into the more temperate zones. Are you impressed? I didn’t have to look any of this up and am probably not exactly right. I’m not even sure where to look it up … but if my internet was working, I would try. So, just take this with a grain of salt … rock salt that you probably need on your sidewalk to melt some of that ice.
I know that the people of this area know what’s happening outside. By Saturday when the paper comes out, it will have begun to warm up, and it may get into the upper 40s. I just want to get this down in writing, so the people who read about the winter of ’21 will have some facts. After the year of ’20, we really didn’t need an historic winter storm to make this year special. Most of us were looking for some normalcy, some mild weather, and a bit of sunshine in which to get outside and breathe … six feet apart.
Pandemic, history-making weather, and political upheaval. When it is going to get back to “normal.” Is there a “normal” anymore? I got to thinking maybe we have done something to make these problems for ourselves. Surely God has more to do than get even with us. We would be in a real mess without God being there to help us cope.
Back to the cold. I was so proud of our community and those in this country to have stepped up to help those who have no heat, frozen pipes, animals who need special attention. In our town, several churches have opened their warm rooms, clean bathrooms, and kitchens to those who can’t live in their own homes. The high school gym is open. One friend was able to take her dogs with her and they are bedded down for the night. The agriculture-complex has opened as a warm place to stay.
Tonight, on social media, the message went out that a water main had broken, and the city workers would be cutting off the water to parts of town. Those same homes have been without heat for over twenty-four hours in this below zero weather, so their water in their pipes is probably not running anyway. When it does warm up, we’ll have water running out of the walls, the ceilings, and out from under the houses. Plumbers in town will be planning their vacations on the Rivera … next summer. It will take them that long to get everyone plugged up, replaced, and back in order.
As I said, this is an historic storm, following an historic pandemic, following a political season that threatened to tear this country apart. The storm has come at an opportune time, bringing us together to help us through. We’ve opened our homes, our arms, and our pocketbooks to help those in need. That’s what we do in America. God Bless Us.
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