Held: Adverse Weather Conditions

This is the phrase I have seen on the various package tracking websites for the past few weeks. Between the packages our business sends and the packages arriving from the online merchants we patronize, I do a good bit of package tracking. While it is annoying having these delays, all the snow and ice around the country have provided a very valid reason. So I decided to adopt this excuse as my own. I was supposed to have written a column a couple of weeks ago, but it was held due to adverse weather conditions. The complete truth is that the weather played only a contributing role in my absence.

The adverse weather conditions of this winter have really stirred our pot, have they not? In the South we completely shut down over a little snow and ice, but it makes sense to do so since we do not have the equipment and resources to deal with it the way Northern states do. Cold, snow, and ice are expected there so they have snowplows, mountains of salt and sand, snow tires and tire chains, better-insulated plumbing, reinforced roofs, and heating systems designed for heavy use. We Southerners rarely encounter massive amounts of snow and ice or long stretches of bitterly cold temperatures, so we are not prepared when it happens. This year, even the Northern states have been unprepared to deal with the sheer quantity and severity of winter weather heaped upon them.

I am so thankful that we have not had the deadly conditions here that people elsewhere have had this year. For most of us in this area, the weather has been an inconvenience and unexpected expense, at most. It has caused us to have school cancellations, delayed packages, altered travel plans, some power outages, and some broken plumbing. Hardware and home improvement stores are all out of PVC parts and apparently their warehouses are, too, since there is very little restocking going on. Since my husband travels to South Texas regularly, he has started "importing" plumbing parts from there.

Episodes like this winter’s weather always bring to light just how dependent we are on modern conveniences and how impatient we are. My mom and dad never had problems like this as kids because they had no indoor plumbing to freeze and break and most, if not all, of their lives and activities were centered in their immediate area. I LOVE our modern conveniences, entertainment, transportation, and especially dental and medical care, but sometimes I think that those conveniences are leading us too far away from reality. We seem to be less resilient, less resourceful in caring for our own basic needs. Basic needs, by the way, are things like food, water, and shelter—not entertainment, comfort, or convenience!

Let me be the first to stand up and say that I am guilty!! Living simply and sustainably is something I think about a lot but just cannot seem to make happen. Why, how can I get anything done when the telephone is ringing off the hook and the emails keep flooding in?

SpringCreekArtsGuild@gmail.com