Cold work deserves warm praise -- and lots of it

Just about everything that can be said about this miserable winter has been said.

But why should that stop me?

While many words of thanks have been directed at those who work outdoors in cold weather, not nearly enough has been said on that account. It quite possibly might be impossible to thank everyone adequately.

But let me try anyway.

First off, let's recall the recent freezing rain-sleet-ice-snow weather event. The National Weather Service even gave the storm a name, like a hurricane. I don't want to repeat that name. I don't like that name. It has a terrible reputation now that it has been used to identify an awful storm. Imagine the poor child who winds up with that name down the road. What will we think? We will think that child has the name of a storm that created misery for hundreds of thousands of people. That child will have a tough time in the real world.

That weather event -- we don't call them simple storms anymore -- is, to my way of thinking, the worst kind possible. I'd rather have a foot of snow than an inch or two of ice. I can shovel snow, even if it takes my aging muscles longer and longer to clear our driveway.

And there's the rub. Our driveway, slanted the way it is and as long as it is and being shaded by a huge magnolia tree, has to be cleared before driving any cars up and down from the street to the garage. Let's just say chopping ice on concrete isn't my favorite thing to do.

On the Sunday afternoon -- Super Bowl Sunday -- when this storm started, the city snow plow went up and down our street five times in about two hours. I was starting to wonder what was going on, since it had hardly snowed or sleeted. I'm guessing, based on later developments, that the truck was laying down a good coating of ice melter in advance of the storm. When I got up the next morning, my driveway had the dreaded layer of ice, but the streets -- nearly all of them, as far as I can tell -- were clear.

Take that, Atlanta.

Other crews, of course, were clearing highways and county roads. To anyone working to keep our streets and roads passable: Thank you.

When you think about all the folks whose responsibilities and duties require being out in cold weather, it makes you feel a little guilty about your warm La-Z-Boy and the cozy afghan and the furnace you take for granted most of the time.

Let's see. There are police officers and firefighters and rescue personnel, utility (electricity, gas, water, cable TV, telephone) workers, newspaper carriers, delivery (pizza, prescriptions, groceries) drivers, florists, warehouse workers, furnace repairers, parking lot clearers, mail carriers, parcel-delivery drivers, crosswalk monitors and the guy who delivers ice cream to your home even when it's near zero on the thermometer.

And tree trimmers. As I write this, the tree trimmers I contracted with before the latest storm have shown up to do the job. It is 6 degrees. They said they would rather work when my yard is frozen solid than when it turns to gumbo when it thaws. Makes sense -- to a polar bear, maybe. But the tree trimmers show no ill effects of working outdoors in such extreme conditions. They are friendly. They smile. They talk without chattering teeth. One of them didn't even have a jacket on when he came to the door. Ouch.

The problem with making lists of people to thank for their efforts during this extremely cold winter is that someone is sure to be left off. Let me say thank you.

Thank you.

Meanwhile, the rest of us will snuggle up indoors. Our worst encounter with the cold will be starting the car in the garage and waiting for the seat warmer to kick in. Yeah, some of us have it really tough: no steering wheel warmer.

Hats off to anyone and everyone who makes our lives a bit easier when weather events -- maybe you still call them storms -- occur. Thank you.

Joe Sullivan is the retired editor of the Southeast Missourian.