Ice Screams

UPDATE: I wrote this post a week ago but forgot to publish it.

Yesterday we had an "ice storm" and school was cancelled. Dana's office opened 2 hours late and the entire city she works in was shut down until noon. To someone who lived in Wisconsin for almost a decade, this struck me as quite funny. Now, if you're keeping track, I was born and raised in Dallas, so I understand the rare cosmic event that freezing weather is for this neck of the woods. What I don't understand is the mass hysteria it creates and why the city can't prepare or react more efficiently. Now, I'm fully aware that our highway system is essentially a system of open-air bridges which are not commonly built in the North. So, our infrastructure presents a unique hazard in freezing weather. But they still can't seem to take care of the ground-level roads well. We use sand here instead of salt, and I've never been given a good explanation why. Perhaps sand is cheaper, but I've been unable to find numbers showing this. I'm told sand provides better traction, but it doesn't melt the ice. Because of this, the city won't lay sand until after the ice hits, so there's no road preparation for the storm they knew was coming for 2 days. Realizing the sand was doing little good at preventing the hundreds of ice-induced traffic accidents, the city switched to a chemical de-icer later in the day. Now, this has to be more costly than regular old salt. And quite honestly, the "storm" was really a thin sheet of ice covering the roads and making the grass crunchy. By noon, the ice had starting melting from the roof and by 4pm our driveway was no longer our own private skating rink, and the temperature was 45.


So, around noon I decided to go out b/c I figured the stores would be empty. That, and we desperately needed a refill on our asthma inhalers. So, to Target I went. It was fairly empty. People looked at me weirdly for going sans coat, despite the the sweats I was wearing. I mean, it was 45. I picked up the prescription and proceeded to wander the aisles of Target, making a mental list of wants and needs when I had some "disposable" income. When that will be exactly, I'm not quite sure. I really love Target. Anyways, we spent a decent amount of time in the toy car aisle, where Beckett and a man his late 20s looked at cool Hot Wheel cars. I guess I should get used to this vehicle fascination because it seems like it'll never end (if the 20-something guy was any indication). When we finally left the aisle, Beckett screamed that he wanted to go to the train aisle. Now, it was a simple request that would have been easily accommodated. But, the delivery of the request was less than ideal and was not to be rewarded. So, I said "no," which prompted a "cart tantrum" by Beckett. I let it continue as I wandered the aisels I wanted to look at it. Eventually, I mentioned to Beckett that if he just asked me nicely I would have said yes. This followed, "Mama, can we please look at the trains?" in the sweetest little voice you ever did hear. When I turned the corner, there was a woman standing there laughing. She said it was the funniest thing she'd heard all day. She had heard his entire tantrum (and, really, how couldn't you?) and the drastic change of voice. I'm glad she liked my little comedian. We'll see if she still finds it funny after listening to the same "joke" 10 times a day! Once, when Beckett threw a tantrum at the grocery store because I didn't select the "right" shopping cart, the nice old women pointed at that, even though he threw a knock-down, screaming fit up and down every aisle, he consistently said "please." He was loud and defiant, but he was still polite. I never thought of it that way. It gives me a silver lining!