A question for those whom have never known snow...

...and we're back to sunny and highs in the upper 60s. it's beautiful outside, which belies how deeply traumatized people are.

only a 60 degree shift in less than a week, no biggie. It is very strange how it's just gone, but there's a lot left to do to get back to fully functioning.

I think the rapid shifts increase the psychological weight - it happens every lesser winter storm, everyone is dazed for a few days because it so quickly ramps back into being nice. This time I'm seeing so many people with a thousand yard stare.

Yeah, and after a year of COVID a lot of people went into this with not much left in the tank. And having your own home turn into hostile territory after months of being your sole refuge just breaks your brain.

I checked my receipts, and it looks like I started planning for this on the 7th, I bought a bunch of firewood and placed a big HEB curbside order for the 10th. At the time it seemed like overkill, now I'm glad I did it since I ended up hosting a guest for four days. My hands are still all torn to shit from digging in the ice for water shutoff valves.

And this was a statewide disaster event, unlike a hurricane, which just pounds the coastal areas but generally falls apart into rain and minor wind incidents by the time they get to Austin or DFW.