Ah, February. Or, as we call it here, “snowy season.” And, as the folks down there in Punxsutawney, PA prepare a syringe full of woodchuck sedative and clean out Phil’s hole (so to speak), it appears that a little weather event is getting ready to head our way. And, my goodness, the national media sure are making a big deal out of this one, calling it perhaps the “worst” of the season. Although we were able to sit by and watch as the last couple of storms dumped a bunch of snow on other places, it looks like there’ll be no such luck this time around, though hopefully we’ll be spared the ice that’s supposed to hit south of us (ice sucks).

Anyhow, today shouldn’t be too bad, with, they say, about four inches, as the warm air ahead of the storm gets pushed into our area and hits the cold that’s been around for the past couple of days. That should start, oh, any time now by the look of things. Tomorrow, though, will be the big pain in the ass, as the storm proper moves out of the midwest and over us. Right now, they’re talking about a major mess for the ride in to work tomorrow, and another 15″-20″ or so on top of whatever we get today (on top of the 115 inches – which is actually about half a foot short of our average annual snowfall – we have already).

Should be fun, though, as Sue mentioned the other day, it’s getting tough to find a place to put all this stuff. It’s a lot easier for me up here in God’s country, of course, where I don’t have sidewalks to worry about, but still, the snow piled along my driveway in most places is as high as my tractor bucket will reach – taller than I am. This storm looks like it’ll be the wet heavy stuff, too, so it’ll be harder to deal with. I just hope the roof can hold it all (there’s already an awful lot piled up there). Maybe it won’t be as bad as they say (they tend to exaggerate sometimes). Just in case, I reckon I’d better fill up my gas tank today. Maybe even get some diesel.

Also coming today is Hurricane Andrew. Not weather, of course, but the budget proposal from our Governor. Among other things, he’s expected to call for 10,000 layoffs of State workers, and “true” cuts (in the past, cuts were calculated as reductions in increases, whereas he wants to reduce existing funding) of 2-3% in school aid and medicaid. This, combined with legislation that passed the NYS Senate yesterday and will now head to the Assembly, limited property tax increases to 2% or the rate of inflation (whichever is less), means tough times ahead for schools and hospitals.

Andy has pledged not to raise taxes on Wall Street millionaires, though, so that’s good. Rich people have had it awfully tough lately, and we want NY to continue to be the kind of place where a man can open a chain of dry cleaners and then move on up to a deluxe apartment on the East Side.

Speaking of which, it’s Sherman Hemsley’s 73rd birthday today. It’s also Elvis’ little girl’s 43rd birthday (or was it his wife – it’s hard to keep track, and he did like ’em young, but since he’s been “dead” for over 33 years now, I’m guessing she was his kid – and now that I think of it, wasn’t she “married” to Michael Jackson for a while?). Well, whatever, happy b’day to Lisa Marie Presley. And it also the birthday of the Frank Buckles, who, according to Wikipedia, is one of the last three World War I veterans in the world, the last living American veteran of World War I, the oldest verified World War I veteran in the world, and the second-oldest male military veteran in the world. In other words, he’s old. 110, to be exact.

Yep, that’s old.