5141

I was driving to Portland (the city doesn’t have anything to do with this, just coincidence) a few winters ago when a snowstorm hit pretty hard. I was still on the eastern flats heading towards the mountains when this SUV just flew past us. It’s not like we were in a sports car or anything, it was a F150, but this nutjob just blasted by us. Have to imagine they were going 70, on roads covered by snow. Roads that just recently were covered by water before it turned cold enough to start snowing.I think I said something along those lines, “I hope that asshole ends up in a ditch before he kills someone”.

15 minutes later, guess who I saw in a ditch? Unfortunately, the lesson didn’t seem to stick because about an hour later the idiot flew past me again. Ya can’t fix stupid, I guess.

5142

I have one particularly memorable drive. We were coming back home from Indiana for Christmas, and a bad snow storm had come in. We got on I-80 and it was brutal, I was going about 20. And all the way from Hammond to Harlem (approximately 30 miles) there was a string of cars in the ditch. Probably no more than half a mile at any point between cars that had slid off the road.

5143

Supposed to snow up here north of Seattle tonight. I better make my weekend grocery run this evening. I expect every grocery store will be a mad house too. Bread, bananas, and milk will be gone.

Edit: Yep, it was a mad house.

5144

Wow that must have been the same day, that sky was amazing! I’m guessing you’re in the North East also?

5145

I was at the Fred Meyer in Mill Creek last night and there was a woman with like 30 bananas in her cart.

There was another person with about 20 bags of popcorn.

5146

So bananas really are now part of the strip the shelves and panic list?

5147

I’m surprised kale didn’t sell out in Portland yesterday. That’s usually the harbinger of snowpocalypse.

5148

Yup. Been that way for a while. They were all yellow bananas, too. I guess the green ones were all gone, but still… those are going to go bad, fast.

Plus, in Seattle, it’s all about broccoli.

Also

At the Fremont PCC today, the most Seattle thing I’ve seen yet: all the milk substitutes were wiped out, with plenty of cow milk still left.

5149

Some people have priorities. My cart would be full of vodka and frozen dinners. To each their own. :)

5150

Truth.

Also true for most other green or leafy things really.

5151

Bananas are the big seller in supermarkets. They are so popular that there are hubs that keep really green ones in special rooms that they fill with ethylene gas to force them to ripen. If a store runs out it actually messes with the total profit for the day.

When I worked at Red Apple (a supermarket in NYC) the produce manage spent a good portion of the day talking to banana guys to get more. Ne was really stressed about it.

5152

I mean I eat a banana almost every day, and I generally don’t even like them. They’re just convenient. I just don’t see it as a food that I would stock up on if I thought I would be stuck in the house for a handful of days. Broccoli?

Oregon Northern folks are an odd bunch.

5153

Yep! Westchestah county, NY.

5154

Ha ha. Yes, enough hooch can make me forget the other things I’m out of. I run out of milk, whatever. I run out of beer, where are those showshoes? I need to hike three miles in the foot deep snow.

5155

Hard alcohol is prohibitively expensive here. The tax adds up to something like 50% a bottle. (I have no idea what it actually is, but the first time I bought a bottle here in WA, it was so expensive I thought the clerk had rung it up wrong.)

They didn’t seem to be out of anything at my local place (Whole Foods type place called Central Market), except eggs were really low. People running around in all directions just made getting around the store a complete PITA.

I am set, making some chili and bread, and just going to veg all weekend. Don’t have to go anywhere.

5156

Current conditions
luke-tauntaun-973x443

5157

Finally getting real, actual, snow

image
image1512×2016 1.15 MB

5158

This coincides with me genuinely running out of staples. Might have to do a late night Kroger run, see if I can catch some restocks.

5159

Do you not have a paperclip?

5160

Ok, I now regret my earlier “woo snow” post.

Edit: just spent the last hour or so helping our mailman get his truck up the hill in front of our house. He had chains on but they slipped off one of his tires, and in the process of getting them on and back up he kept slipping sideways, nearly bumping into cars parked in the side of the road. I need a nap.