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Ayup. Here it comes again.
I hope everyone is well prepared. The last time it did something like this was 2021. It was really starting to feel a lot like home, (Colorado +10,000ft AMSL) … right up to the point the power went out, and the water lines froze. At that very same moment … it lost any and all of its charm.
It was not, however without inspiration. Thence, this, from then, for your enjoyment.
An Ode to A Polar Vortex
From the heart of the cold in the land of gold the massive thing started to grow.
Crackling with chill it spun like a drill driving powdered ice too cold to be snow.
It whirled and churned like a lost lover spurned by the wise and judicious among men.
A thing to elude, wholly void of good, by those with wits and glimmer of ken.
It danced in the night with wicked delight, hissing with shiversome glee.
What a time it would know as it sank down below, then t’would turn to plunder the lee.
Whistling around it did scour the ground of anything left warm and alive,
The only creatures be spared, were those well prepared, otherwise did not survive.
For it never came slow, as the Inuits know, neither subtle nor creeping in low.
With consummate rage, jumped the Arctic range and blasted south in furious row.
It dropped like a hammer, leaving weathermen to stammer and took the border by storm.
Montana fell first, to the hideous burst, even though snow and cold is the norm.
Then it struck again south, a great roar in its mouth, leaving calamity loose in its wake.
No pause nor relent in the energy spent, caring not for the lives it did take.
Without breaking stride, it brushed Wyoming aside, leaving at thirty below.
It still had its edge, and the smite of a sledge, but its progress was beginning to slow.
With more malice and anger it paralyzed Denver, down the front range it went.
Now ahead of the thing, t’would telephones ring, as warnings to Texas were sent.
The Okies would suffer just like the others, but the prize was the Lone Star State.
Had been a decade or two, and the bones to be chewed were complacent and unwary of late.
Forewarning be damned it rolled cross the land, and the temperature fell like a stone.
With ground duly frozen, it battered the chosen with howling winds and dry drifting moan.
And the onslaught raged on, twixt dusk and the dawn, man and beast took the brunt of the thing.
Neither domestic nor wild, neither mother nor child were spared the bitterest sting.
Power lines fell in the wind driven hell, and then it started to snow.
No surcease and no quarter, a week it would loiter, driving ice in deep with the blow.
Those who could holed up, to get away from the stuff, those who couldn’t – just tried to cope.
Busted pipes and wrecked cars, and other new scars, littered an unprepared folk.
Six days it did plunder and tear life asunder, but then caught a stitch in its side.
Much damage was done, and it thought it had won, and the spirit of Texas had died.
Then Texas shook her head, frosted and red, with an unpleasant gleam in her eye,
“That was a helluva hit, didn’t like it a bit, and I’ll say it was a mighty good try,”
“Yeah, there’s snow on the ground, and you’ve won this round with ice hanging low in the trees’,”
“And you’ve made people shiver, south the Red River, with your nasty and unwelcome freeze.”
“But just like in the past, you know you can’t last. My people are the durable sort.”
“Once they get it untied, they’ll hit their stride, and they’ll take it all on like a sport.”
The answer was swift, and came as a drift, but the gale was losing its glee.
Folks venturing out, began moving about, and clearing away the debris.
There were holes in the sky, letting sunlight slip by, and the blanket of snow not so thick.
The trough had dug deep, the cost had been steep, but drivers were learning the trick.
For more than ten days, the beast had its ways, then the Texas sun busted the hold.
Then, “I’ll be back,” the beast cried, all hollow inside, but it sounded more fearful than bold.
“I’ll be back again soon, by a cold winter moon,” but it had already turned North to depart.
And Texas replied, clearly narrow eyed … “well, bless your lil’ ol’ heart.”
-30-
©The Paper Radio, Dan Beard, 2021
Great ode! I can totally relate to the “beginning to feel a lot like Colorado” The worst I recall was 21 below air temperature with 3 feet of snow back in the 80’s. No thanks!
Everyone stay safe and warm, don’t forget the pets (how do y’all keep the chickens warm)? Don’t forget the plumbing!!! ❄️ 🥶 ❄️
Yeah, still snowing in Woodland and my Generac has been on for 10 minutes. Best buy I ever DID !! If u are interested there are 4 of these in Clarksville as of a week ago at a Dealer/Distributor who is Generac Certified. I’m also enjoying my 12″ of insulation in my attic !!.
Oh by the way some guy this am on the radio said it was a bit chilly in Alaska MINUS 60 Degrees of windchill and 4500 folks w/o power. BRRR
RickMornin’ Kathy!
Back in the ’70s, we had several events up on the ranch in Western CO which took the temps below -30F. That’s low enough we had to build fires under the propane tanks to keep them vaporizing enough to feed gas to the house. Nope. Don’t miss that. Don’t much care for the cold. No siree! Done with it! And yet … here we are.
About the chickens, we tarped their roost cages (2), set up a 250W roosting lamp, sealed the opening, and prayed for the best. I won’t be checking in on them until closer to 0730, so until then … dunno how it went.
However, just in case there was any ambiguity about it … this can be considered my official opinion.
The snow quit after a scant flurry here around 1500hrs. We never lost power, and that’s a good thing. If we do, we’ll lose the chickens. As I mentioned to Kathy, we may lose ’em anyway. The wind kept up all night, and even with both propane heaters running solid since 1600 yesterday, the electric furnace ran most of the night, too. I assembled a short tank (5 gal) radiant 10000BTU propane heater on a roller cart to keep the office/shack reasonable.
Even with that, my RF output may be a bit sketchy this morning. It’s gonna have to use a chisel and extra watts to get through my RF feed-through out to frozen antennas. Might have to do short transmissions, then run out and smack the waves out of the antennas with a stick.
This was the inside of my pass-through this morning.
Danial I intended to follow up and ask how the chickens did, then of course the holidays hit. Hopefully that will be our one and only Southern Snallygaster of 2023!!!
I’m in total agreement Rick on the Generac being the best purchase ever made, we get so much peace of mind. 🙏🏼
Gee, whiz, it took me a long time to check on this. Sorry Kathy!
The chikens survived. The rooster had a few spots of frost bite on the points of his comb, but that was a function of him being a little too dense in the tissues between his eyes. He didn’t have enough sense to keep his head tucked under one wing. The hens. however, did just fine.
Speaking of that … need some eggs?
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