Be Prepared

It's the Boy Scout motto right?  It also happens to be a song in The Lion King.    Whichever you know better, it's a good thing.  We SHOULD be prepared.  (I know there are instances when we cannot be, but let's forgo that for now.)

This phrase; this motto is something here in NY tri-state area that our government/leaders ignored when it came to the first snow storm of the season.  Snow started falling on Thursday and they were NOT prepared.

If you live in NJ, you may blame the NJ Governor.  If you live in NY, you may blame the NY Governor or the NYC Mayor.  But let’s face it, it's NOT one person's error.  It's EVERYONE'S!

While our weather forecasters might not be perfect (who is?), they did tell us a storm was coming.  Only a couple of inches of snow, followed by some freezing rain and then just plain rain.  I'm sure everyone was just hoping that we'd get an inch or two and then it would all wash away.  That's what I imagined would happen.  

It didn't.  The snow lasted longer.  The freezing rain/sleet did come, but there was no plain old rain.  And I don't think the temperatures rose as predicted.  So it was WORSE than predicted, but there was a prediction of bad weather.

As a family, we try to be prepared.  We're not extraordinary or special.  What we do try to do is plan (if you've been reading my blogs, you know I'm a "little" obsessive when it comes to this at times), and BE PREPARED.  Knowing that bad weather was coming, we got prepared.  The night before the storm, and after a long day at work and other evening activities (taking the kid to a class and waiting for him, going to a choir rehearsal), my husband and I headed to the grocery store.  We usually do our shopping first thing in the morning before I head to work (and before I take kids to school), but we figured it might be more crowded than usual, so we headed out to Shoprite at 9:15 PM.  Did I want to do that?  Heck no!  By that time I almost always in bed (and maybe even asleep since I get up so early.)  We did our weekly shopping, stood in line to check out, came home and unloaded everything. We had a plan, we stuck to it and we were prepared.

The next day, I went to work just like any other day.  While I at work and the boy was at school, my husband filled up the snow blower (we had purchased a gallon of gas for it already knowing that we might need it with the predicted forecast).  He moved it to the front of our house and put a tarp over it.  He got out the snow shovels and ice melt.  He put this all on our front stoop so we would be ready to go IF we needed it.  He had planned and prepared.

Again, none of this was extraordinary.  Maybe we were being overly cautious?  If so, we'd just put everything away, unused.  No big deal, but we were prepared.

I am lucky enough to work for a company that values its employees.  Even before the snow started to fall I was told by the HR officer, that if the weather got bad, I could leave when I felt it was appropriate.  I am also lucky enough that I can do most of my work remotely.  When it started to snow around noon, I finished what I had to do and was able to make the decision to leave around two.  I realize that many people do NOT have that option.  I am extremely grateful that I do and that I had the forethought to leave before the snowfall got too heavy.  As a result, my commute home was "normal" (heavier than usual for that time of day, but slightly less heavy than rush hour).

While some local schools had a shortened school day (obvious when I passed by one middle school and there were only a few cars in the lot), ours had a regular dismissal, but cancelled all after school activities.  My son was able to walk home and he wasn't much later than usual, although he was coated in snow.

In the evening, when we expected the snow to start trying to sleet (we were tracking the storm and its predicted progress online), we all went out and cleaned up.  My husband used the snow blower to remove the several inches of snow (maybe 4 or so), which my son and I shoveled areas that he could not get it, like the stairs.  I also cleaned off my car somewhat.  In my mind, I could get the majority of snow off and then the rain would do the rest.  It only took us a half an hour or so and though it was still snowing/sleeting, I knew we were ahead of the game.  

While the snow had been falling for about 6 hours or so, I had never seen a plow or a salt truck on our street.  Nor had it been pre-treated as is sometimes done.  Now, I live on a cul-de-sac, so this is not so surprising.  What WAS surprising was seeing on social media people stuck; traffic at a standstill, not just in one place, but throughout the entire area.  (Which is why I don't think you can blame one particular government official...EVERYONE and ANYONE who is responsible for handling inclement weather preparation FAILED MISERABLY.)  It was not just one road, but ALL roads that were a mess.  Highways and bridges; local backroads...not treated and not plowed.  Since there had been no (or little) preparation, accidents only made things worse.  Stories of 3+ hours for a 2 mile drive were the norm.

It didn't have to be.  While this was a bad storm and an early one at that (who the heck wants snow BEFORE Thanksgiving?  What the heck happened to fall?  https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2018/11/autumn-what-happened.html) it SHOULDN'T have been this way.  Not all of this mess could have been avoided, but a good portion could have if there had been preparation.  The news story could have been about how well everything was handled instead of how students spent the night at school because they couldn't get home or school buses reaching their destinations after midnight!

Friday morning DID NOT dawn bright.  There was still rain and snow.  When it was finally all over (after 10 in the morning, which resulted in the first snow day of the school year), my family and I headed out again to clean up.  Our job was not that difficult since we had prepared the night before.  The most difficult part was cleaning out the apron of our driveway, where the plow (which came by in the night) and pushed snow and ice.  This is always the least fun job; especially when there is ice and/or the snow is wet and melty, which means you are shoveling/moving water.  But we were able to do it together and again it did not take that much time because we were prepared!  

I also realize that being prepared can be costly at times. (But much less costly than the mess if you AREN'T prepared...and let's not mention the cost of all the bad press.)  It can also make you the butt of a joke if predictions don't come to pass. (So they're laughing at you.  Let them laugh.  It's better than being the "bad guy!”) BUT isn't it worth it?  Shouldn't it be the norm?

Have we/they learned from this last debacle?  Probably not, but one CAN hope.  And at least "we" (that's us "common folk") can be prepared.  It's not difficult and it makes you smarter than "them."  (Not that you weren't already.)

Winter has not yet officially begun. Let's all be prepared.