Rant #2,263: Snoopy's Christmas (40 Days Ahead of Time)

"Merry Christmas, my friend!"

Yes, that is one line of the lyrics of the memorable Christmas song "Snoopy's Christmas," probably this Jewish boy's favorite Christmas song of all time.

This song by the Royal Guardsmen is also one of the first records I bought with my own money, and I still have that record, it still plays, and whenever I hear that record on the radio during this time of year, I get a nice, fuzzy feeling in my soul, bringing me back to the time when, like any little kid, I simply loved the snow, loved when it came down in droves, and felt that it set the scene for the holiday season.

Those days, my friend, are all gone.

I hate the snow as an adult, hate the havoc it causes on the roads, hate the chaos it delivers when forecasters get the outlook for snow wrong, and hate the aftermath of the snow, which is the cleanup.

Well, my friend, yesterday was a day to beat just about any day I can recall, because not only did the forecasters get what we ended up getting all wrong, but the havoc that was caused by the downpour we got--several inches where I live and work, and many, many more inches elsewhere--was memorable, but not in a good way.

In my neck of the woods, we were told that we would get nothing more than a dusting, at best, of the white stuff, and I remember the day before what turned out to be a disaster, one local official here jollily told reporters that his town wasn't going to bother with the usual snow preparation--including putting some salt on the roads to melt what was coming down--because, "It wasn't necessary this time around."

Well, by about 1 p.m., it became evident that the forecasters dropped the ball on this storm, and dropped it badly.

We were sent home from work at about 4 p.m., and seemingly, so was everybody else in the area where I work, because the roads were absolutely jam packed with cars. Nothing had been cleaned off the ground, the snow was coming down heavily, and drivers were generally being cautious as they tried to drive and maneuver in between the flakes on their way home.

However, many people did not have an easy drive, and there were accidents all over the place, and police also all over to make sure that traffic moved as quickly as it could--I personally rode the brake probably half the way home, so I was going about an average of five miles an hours the entire way back.

I take a major two-lane highway here to get home, and leave it to the snow gods to put me on edge during about 75 percent of the trip.

Some dummy behind me did not have his lights on--this is with a pitch black sky and snow coming down in droves--and he was tailgating me the entire time he was in back of me, because, well, he he either had no headlights or perhaps thought they were on, or forgot to put them on, or something, and he was using me as his headlights to move along.

A few times I opened up my side window to try to alert him that his lights were off, but he persisted in following along with me without lights, staying as close to me as possible.

Finally, a larger car literally cut this fool off, and I was done with him.

I got home after well more than an hour drive--it usually takes me something around 30 minutes to get home in the evening, and I know that it took some people two and three hours to get home--I parked in the driveway, and as I exited my car, found that the snow had seemingly just turned over to hail, which I thought was a good sign.

My wife's bank did not close at all during the storm, and she got home well after me, and reported that the snow had turned over to rain.

I looked out the window when I woke up today, and lo and behold, much of the snow is gone.

But this early season snow was something to behold, and with all the modern methods that forecasters use to chart these things, the ferocity of the storm demonstrates that Mother Nature is a cagey lady, and her movements sometimes cannot be charted.

Yesterday was one for the books for sure, and what of this mild winter that was predicted for us?

"Merry Christmas, my friend."

Have a great weekend and I will see you again on Monday.