A Windy Tale

Yesterday, has to be one of the worst days I have experienced since moving here several years ago. I learned right away that the weathermen here were usually wrong. What they forecast for the southern part of the state (where most people live) means very little to me. In fact it could rain or snow on my mountain and when I drive to my mailbox a mile away it could be sunny. This time the weatherman said that we would only get a frigid Artic air-mass with strong winds. While we did get that we also got snow. I shoveled the snow during the night and then again in the morning. While outside it was pretty cold, but only a little windy (not the 30-40 mph they said.) My family and I went out to do our errands (since the weathermen said there would be a major storm Tuesday and Wednesday and we wanted to make sure we had everything for Thanksgiving. We had no issues for the most part until we were a few streets from our house. We found a large tree had fallen on the road blocking the way (you couldn't even drive around it on the shoulder.) There were also several electric and telephone wires all over. I had to go to the local kennel - since cell service in the town is very spotty. I called the town police and told them of the problem. They told me that a fire truck was already on its way. A few minutes later the fire and police did come. Since it was so cold we decided to let them fix the problem while we drove to the next town and had something to at the only place open at 5 pm on a Sunday. Two hours later we decided to drive back and see if everything was all-set. Rather than seeing people still working all we saw were three, small cones blocking the road - no signs, etc. My dad got out of the car and walked past the cones to see what was going on. Apparently, everyone left right after we did without doing a thing. It looked exactly as it did when we first saw it. This is the one and only way to our house (and to about 10 other houses) and yet the "professionals" decided to give up and go home without fixing the problem. We managed to get signal on our cell phone and first called the town's non-emergency number, but as usual it went to voicemail so we called 9-1-1. When we were dispatched to the town they didn't seem to care. We asked them what we were supposed to do as we had someone with us who needs medicine (that was at the house) and dogs at home that needed to be taken care of. We also asked them what plans they had to shelter us. In the end, they did nothing for us. These so-called professionals - the people whose sole job is to help others in their time of need - did not care what happened to us or the other families affected. They were probably too "busy" watching their TV shows and making Thanksgiving plans. Eventually, some local people drove from the opposite side of the tree from us and used a chainsaw to cut the tree and move part of it from the road. The wires were still on one side, but you could drive around them. So we did. We drove home. We were so thankful to these neighbors - that we don't really know - for their help and concern (especially after the officials had given-up before they even had tried.) I know that these neighbors could have had a selfish motive - they too need to get in and out and that is the only road - but they didn't have to do it so fast to make sure we could get back home. This experience has really shown me the truth. You can not and should not expect the "professionals" (the police, fire, medics, doctors, etc) to do their job and help you because they will only disappoint you. I'm sure most of them (especially those around here) only took the jobs for the paycheck and the uniform and not out of the desire to help others. When we got home we found out electricity out (no surprise as the power lines were on the road) but our generator is working as is our Internet and TV satellites. I am not sure when or if the town will come and finish the job (clear the rest of the tree and get the electric company to restore the power.) Hopefully, it will be early today so we can go back out, but I won't be holding my breath.