Journal of a Sabbatical

December 29, 2000

white bread and batteries

Dawn: 6:05 AM
Sunrise: 7:13 AM
Sunset: 4:20 PM
Dark: 5:27 PM

Weather Links:

FEMA's Winter Storm Update Center

NOAA

Today's Reading: The Worms of Kukumlima by Daniel Pinkwater, Reminiscences of a Nonagenarian by Sara Anna Emery

OK, now even the national media is getting into this weather hype thing. Even if we get a foot of snow (they're estimating 7 to 12 inches) it's just a foot of snow. They're not predicting ice, so any downed power lines will be from wind and/or heavy wet snow. And there probably won't be much of a storm surge on the beach either. According to my handy-dandy Tidelog: Northern New England Edition it's not time for the astronomically high tide. (Oh, Tidelog has a web site, cool - I haven't bought mine for 2001 yet.) This kind of storm used to happen several times a winter when I was kid. Heck, this kind of storm used to happen every Friday just 5 years ago. Well, OK it wasn't every Friday. It just seemed that way.

I did go to the grocery store. Wild Oats wasn't particularly crowded with people stocking up on storm supplies. I did buy some batteries for my book light but did not buy any white bread. I bought some tomatoes, an avocado, some paper towels and trash bags (I was clean out of both of those last two things). Nothing very exciting.

I went out again later to Staples to get a 2001 Week-at-a-Glance planner to write my appointments in. Again, not a storm driven purchase - a "New Year's just sneaked up on me" driven purchase. If they'd had Tidelog in Staples I would have bought that too. 2001 just sneaked up on me.

I am not getting nearly psyched up enough for this storm. I'm sure Busy Body is just waiting to ambush me the instant the first flake hits the ground tomorrow. Obviously my not being worried enough will increase the snowfall by at least 6 inches in addition to screwing up the snowplowing.