When will the other shoe drop?

Who all has been waiting for the second shoe to drop, along with a ton of rain and dump trucks full of snow?

I have. I watch the weather app for my area and see the “Storm Warning, Flurries” show up daily. I watch several areas around Clear Lake. There's not much happening there that's not happening here on the North Shore. I've also tagged the weather in my old home, Sri Lanka, and in Michigan where my granddaughter's family lives and an obscure town in Oregon where my daughter lives. Beyond that I've tagged Kyiv, Ukraine.

I have often wondered how the Ukrainian people are dealing with the weather what with all the destruction of their towns and cities. This week their weather is pretty much like here in Lake County; hovering around freezing with rain and snow. We have a homeless population dealing with the weather, but we do have warming centers around the lake and no Russians have bombarded our hospitals, schools, nursing homes and apartments along with many other structures. They certainly are dealing with lack of power.

I feel our weather is schizophrenic. One minute the sky is dark, it's raining. The next minute it's snowing light fluffy snowflakes, and then the sun comes out for a minute and the snow melts. Only to start up again, and again. My cats have given up going outside. I am still bundled up with lap robes, a heavy sweater and sweatpants and tube socks. I don't have on the giant fleece-lined poncho because I've ratcheted up the furnace to 68F, now that I have power.

When I FaceTime with friends in Sri Lanka, I get jealous because they are wearing tank tops, sarongs and flip flops. My friend in Isla Mujeres, Mexico is wearing the same outfit, switching out a sarong with shorts. Her U.S. home is in Rochester, MN and the weather there has been below freezing the witches'' brooms. No wonder she stays on the little island paradise of Isla Mujeres.

I'm not the only Laker (Lake County resident) watching the weather, Olga Martin Steele has posted plenty of snow photos on Facebook, from the comfort of her living room. Editor Ariel Carmona, after getting stuck driving down icy/freezing roads during last week's snowfall, bought chains and new tires. It took him several days to get out from under all the snow. How did he make it back up to his property? Again…with the help of a neighbor.

Rick Harbeck, assistant general manager at Stromeier's told me that sales of allwheel drives have increased during the time of our weather crisis. That's good for the local economy. Also many people have bought chains, but then had to figure out how to put them on.

My friends Mabel and Bart bought a previously owned Prius from Sacramento and had to delay picking it up twice until the sun paved their way. I could list a dozen more stories of people who have been inconvenienced to the breaking point, but I'm determined to stay positive.

What's a girl to do?…watch cartoons rather than national news, continue to concentrate on healing from back surgery. The good news; I washed two loads of laundry yesterday — a first since before Thanksgiving. Hallelujah!