Today the lion roars!

“In like a lion” is how I titled my weekend post. Yesterday morning I got my comeuppance when the Channel Six weatherman Kevin Mannix said that although we may get a little snow during the day yesterday, it didn’t fit the description of “In like a lion.” Kevin doesn’t read my posts so I know he wasn’t directing the message at me but rather was trying to make a case that March had really entered like a lamb.

It didn’t take him long, of course, to tell us that the “lion” storm wouldn’t arrive until after midnight last night so technically we had a calm start. He did say there was a chance we’d get an inch or so yesterday, but that was only the first of two storms, and the light snow wouldn’t meet the “lion” description.

He also said we’d get a whole bunch of snow after midnight and it would continue through much of today. In fact, more than a foot of snow was predicted. By last night’s news that depth had changed to 8 to 14 inches around here. And we are right in the middle of it right now. I’m not sure just how much fell during the dark hours this morning, but it was a bunch.

Thanks to our neighbor Ed, the man with the big plow, Gator Wife was able to negotiate the long driveway to the street to head off to her part time job which began at 6. She called to let me know there’s a lot of snow out there, but she arrived safely. Now we have to worry about her getting home when she heads back shortly after 11 this morning. Her trip is about a mile and a half each way.

Gator Golden just looks around for a place to play.

Gator Daughter has a lot longer trip each day to her full time job. She’s a supervisor so she feels she must get there, weather or no. She has hills, part of an Interstate, and narrow roads to navigate. She said Portland should be embarrassed by the condition of Congress Street. But, I’m very happy that she thinks of her old dad and has given me a call to let me know she’s safely at work. She won’t be heading home until 3:30 this afternoon.

The storm cancellations have been abundant. Schools just about everywhere around here are closed for the day, and many businesses have altered their day’s schedule, too.

My biggest personal concern won’t come until tomorrow morning. I’m scheduled to return to my senior fitness class after a month “vacation” to recuperate from the implanting of a cardio pacemaker/defibrillator device. Believe it or not, I’ve been looking forward to returning. I even went in one day last week to take care of all the paperwork necessary to return, including a note from my doctor with the permission.

“Note from my doctor.” Sort of brings back memories from over a half century ago when we had to have such notes after certain illnesses to get back into school. Seems to me in those days many of us silently asked that the doctor not give them to us. Those silents never worked.

I haven’t decided not to go to the session yet, and I won’t make that decision until tomorrow morning. But you’ve read here many times of my fear of falling on ice covered walkways. Due to one of my conditions, I’d probably break something. So I may have to put off my return until Thursday, but that all depends on how well crews get the clean up accomplished.


This certainly wasn’t the content I had thought about for today. Probably if you’re anything but a conservative Republican, you really don’t care about many of my thoughts. However, conditions willing and the thoughts are still in the old head, I might get to them tomorrow. On the other hand, there’s this weather event.

Hmmmmm. In spite of the lion roaring so close to the beginning, and since Mr. Mannix said yesterday didn’t qualify as an “in like a lion” day, if that means March will go out with a roar. I should add that Mr. Mannix qualified his argument somewhat this morning. He said his first and last day to determine the saying was the way he was taught as a kid and so wasn’t anything official.

GiM