Cooking with gas...

I've always said that Augusta, Georgia is in some kind of odd "weather pocket". We tend to get the opposite of whatever weather is predicted -- or it's better/worse than anticipated. There's only one thing that's guaranteed -- it will be hot in the summer. The rest of the year? Well, you never really know until you're in the middle of it.

At the moment, according to local authorities -- but not weather.com -- we might have some snowfall during the night. Notice the word might. In other words, maybe we will and maybe we won't. What it really means is that nobody knows for sure.

Snow is rare here. Every few years, we might (there's that word again) get just enough snow to stick but, most of the time, if it snows at all, it's just pretty while it's falling and that's about it. The real problem is that even the threat of snow can cause otherwise sane (debatable) people to flip out. For the most part, people here don't know how to deal with snow. Which makes sense because it doesn't seem very wise to spend a lot of time and money preparing for something unlikely. However, when it does happen, on that rare occasion, the city almost comes to a standstill. Schools close before it happens (and then sometimes it doesn't happen) and, sometimes the kids have to make up snow days for nothing.

The biggest problem is not so much snow but ice. While a little snow is really not that onerous, even a little ice can be -- especially for drivers who are not used to it (and that includes me). A few years ago, we had a pretty big ice storm -- we ended up without electricity for three days -- Georgia Power was overwhelmed, I think, because, again, who would have thought? At any rate, it was no fun -- but it made me grateful for having a gas range and two gas fireplaces -- and a crank-up radio.

So, we shall see. When we wake up in the morning, we'll either have a beautiful, if light, blanket of snow. Or nothing. I'm betting on nothing. But who knows? Perhaps our little pocket will surprise us once again.

So, if I disappear for an appreciable length of time, it's probably because the electricity went off.

Hey -- can somebody invent a gas computer?!!