Woke up at 4:30 to nearly a foot and it's not stopping until later afternoon.
It was only drizzling when we went to bed around ten last night. A lot of snow had been predicted; still, it was hard to conceptualize just how much fell in a few hours. Even my 15yo Beagle, who is immune to weather, turned tail after sticking his nose out the doggy door. The dogs had to wait until I'd shoveled a path for them before they could relieve themselves. I'll be shoveling every two or three hours, as it'll continue to fall until mid afternoon. Looking forward to a nice indoor day. Then shoveling the driveway and walks for probably the next two days -- thankfully, I don't need to go anywhere. Since I won't be walking the Beagle for a while, shoveling can be an exhausting but refreshing replacement exercise.
I stopped watching the news two months ago, but kept the CNN Breaking News in my Twitter feed, just so I'd know if, like, a nuclear bomb got dropped somewhere. Then, last night, there was "breaking news" post about a woman in Texas who was a attacked and killed by feral hogs. I didn't know there was such a thing as feral hogs in America. My knowing that doesn't help the woman who died so (presumably) horrifically or the -- according to the report -- serious problem of feral hogs in the region. Nor does it help me in any way. So, bye-bye breaking news feed. It has yet to add anything of value to my life. If a nuclear bomb gets dropped, hopefully a survivor will send out Emergency Alert texts to our phones. (Actually, I hope I die in the original blast, so I don't have to deal with the fallout.)
The biggest and oldest animal shelter in my region is the Denver Dumb Friends League. I've gotten most of my dogs from there. They now do horses and donkeys, at a huge equine facility a few miles from me. On my Facebook feed, they had an ad asking for donations. Since I'd only had a few sips of coffee this morning, as my eyes brushed past it I read, "Today your gift will be matched dollar for dollar" as "Today your guilt will be matched dollar for dollar". Which made me stop and read it. Really, I think that works just as well. I don't know about the rest of the world, but Americans love the idea of victimization and feeling guilty about anything and everything that somebody somewhere Declared is down-trodden. By the way, who will do the matching of donations? Interesting that the ad doesn't say. I know I'm picking on an organization I love very much, but my high school class in semantics was the best class I ever took. It prompted us to really examine what is being stated and the deliberate choice of words.
It really is amazing the venues that society has put in place to handle various situations. When I found my best friend dead in her home in 1993, after sitting outside her home with a cop while waiting for the coroner, a man from some sort of Victims Assistance program came and sat beside me. I didn't want to talk to him. I just wanted to absorb, in my own way, what I'd just experienced. He didn't stay long thankfully, but left his card. A couple of days later he called me. In an ultra, ultra syrupy tone, he asked, very slowly, about how I was doing and, "Are. You. Having. Trouble. Sleeping?" I knew he meant well and was just doing his job, but jeez. I wondered what I was supposed to be a victim of. Death is at least as natural as life. Sure, it's a Big Deal to find one's best friend dead in their home, but it also comes under the heading of Life Happens. I like the idea of Life Happening, even when the happenings are cruddy. If life was like heaven, so to speak, all the time, what would be the purpose of physical life?
That same summer a fan friend was living with me, primarily because she'd lost her sense of security after having her purse snatched away in her apartment parking lot, and then having the culprit call her and say he'd "found" her purse. She didn't fall for that and the obvious expectation that he should get a reward. It was chilling to know that he knew where she lived, since he had her wallet. Anyway, she also got a call from Victims Assistance and, despite her personal trauma, didn't feel that being treated with that ultra syrupy "you poor thing" tone was of any value. Though surely it helps some people. I'm glad those services exists for those who can benefit.
There are times in my life when I thought I wanted others to see me with great compassion and sympathy; and yet, the few occasions when that's happened, I find that I don't like it at all. I especially don't like it when I know a troublesome situation is a "my bad", and yet others are determined to "stand up for me". There's nothing empowering about being viewed as A Poor Thing who needs to be stood up for.
The word "create" has now officially become an overused word. I found it this morning in my new-and-improved accounting software. Accounting. Really. Want to create something new? Click the New button at the left to create an invoice or check or other transaction. Whoever imagined that accounting could be so... er, creative.