Winter weirdness syndrome - of snowmen and Christmas lights

It's snow joke (excuse the pun) that Europe is struggling with an unusually brutal early winter with copious amounts of snow resulting in closed schools, traffic snarls and people generally experiencing difficulties dealing with an unusual situation. Perhaps it's the white-ness of the snow or something that can cause a temporary brain freeze.

As if the police don't have enough problems dealing with emergency phone calls, a woman living in Kent, England, called the local police to report - wait for it - a missing snowman. According to the caller who appears to be the snowman creator, she hadn't checked on the snowman for five hours. Just thinking...why is it always a snowMAN and not a snowWOMAN? Perhaps the term snow-person is an option but I digress. In her absence, the snowman disappeared she claimed. This leads one to question whether this was a crank phone call but the police certainly were not amused. I mean when you think about it - really - who would steal and snowman and why? There's enough snow to go around for everyone to make their own snowperson.

"This call could have cost someone's life if there was a genuine emergency and they couldn't get through. It was completely irresponsible,' said Chief Inspector Simon Black.

Had to be some type of brain freeze that caused temporary shut down of her brain.

Then there are the people who use the holiday of Christmas to explore their inner decorator. Take Mike Babick for example - neighbors would add - somebody please - who each year goes all out and then some, decorating the exterior of his home with lots of lights and holiday figures that draws people from near and far to gawk. His home located in Kansas City displays in excess of a thousand figures housed in display cases on his roof top, no less. The display, which takes a month to set up, draws 250,000 visitors and he knows since he installed a vehicle-counter on his street.

So imagine 250,000 visitors arriving on a regular basis to stare at the display, including limos and busses(!).

In response to complaints from thirty residents, police made Babick's block temporarily a one-way street, posting no-parking signs, but the multitudes still come, some of whom park in private driveways.

Here's a sample of Mike's artistry for the world to see, captured on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyKlEYuTklE

Did someone say there's an energy shortage? Clark Griswold would be proud.

Snow joke - grandfather trucks snow to grandkids

At this point in the winter, most people living in the snow belt I'm sure, would gladly help out and make personal donations to help this man.

An Indiana man filled his pickup truck with snow and drove more than 700 miles to metro Atlanta just so his grandchildren could make a snowman.

Randi Dyer of Lawrenceville, Georgia, said her father loaded up his Chevy long-bed pickup with the white stuff and made the nine-hour trip to surprise his two granddaughters. But it wasn’t just the kids who got a kick out of seeing snow.

“I’ve been complaining all winter about not having snow,” said Dyer. She said her daughters, Bradleigh and Rileigh Graham, spent all morning building a snowman.

“My neighbors have been stopping to take pictures and wondering how we got snow in our yard,” said Dyer.

Initially, Dyer said her father, who was headed to Florida on a business trip, thought about filling up a cooler with snow.

“But Dad decided to take the truck and fill it completely with snow,” said Dyer. “Still, there’s nothing better than Indiana snow,” she said.

As a Canadian, may I state for the record that our snow is quality stuff, which unfortunately is available five months of the year. Perhaps this would be an interesting alternative or at least an addition to clearing the snow: offering residents living in the south the opportunity to come fill their trucks or whatever with snow. Free!

No mention of which state(s) he passed through but it's amazing that the snow didn't melt along the way.

So just where do Santa's reindeers live in off-season?

We all know where Santa lives in a comfy warm house along with Mrs. Claus, some elves and other assorted helpers, in the North Pole all year round. However, ever wonder where Santa's reindeer live? Also, just what specie of reindeer are these magical creatures, anyway?

The Alaska Fish and Game have the answers to this question in addition and other Santa related issues.

For example, in the "General Description and Differences Between Subspecies category, "among the common subspecies of reindeer, the largest bulls shed their antlers in late October and the small bulls and non-pregnant cows shed their antlers in April.

It is not known when or if Santa’s reindeer shed their antlers. We do know, from a few furtive sightings, that their antlers appear to be extremely velvety and robust in late December prior to their Christmas run. Santa’s reindeer also have the unique and remarkable ability to fly. The Claus’ have helped to further develop and condition this ability enabling them to fly great distances in a very short time period, provided they receive frequent carrot snacks."

Bet you didn't know that!

Anyway, there's a beautiful photographic image of Rudolph - the Rudoph:

http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/pubs/notebook/biggame/santasreindeer.php

MORE SNOW TODAY. IT'S SNOW JOKE!

Forgive this indulgence of posting my frustration, ire and angst here but I'm frustrated. There's nothing I can do about it but we're expecting as is the case in many geographical locations in the U.S. up to 15" of snow tonight and tomorrow. You read it right: fifteen inches of new, cold white stuff! I mean - how's a gardener to garden?

Many of my perennials are starting to poke through the earth because it's (supposed to be) Spring. The earth is finally de-frosting and the grass is beginning to grow in addition to turning green and in as far as the birds are concerned, it's Spring. The rats with fluffy tails a.k.a. squirrels are also out in abundance digging up the garden searching for food items buried last autumn and a member of the neighborhood skunk family has been spotted. 'Mr. A' our sidewalk and driveway cleaner has finished his yearly contract, which means we're on our own when it comes to clearing the snow.

Actually, when it comes to clearing sidewalks 'Mr. A' prefers or opts to wait until the snow stops falling completely before he and his hench men...helpers show up. When contacted to remind him that we are his clients, he inevitably responds: "the storm not over yet. It gonna snow some more and then we gotta come back." My response to him is "well Mr. A, why wash my face every day if it's going to get dirty again?"

Why we retain his services year after year is a mystery. Probably because feedback from other neighbors indicates that the other snowclearers are worse.

So I'm waiting and worrying. What else can I do? Perhaps an anti-snow dance would be in order but then what would the neighbors think?