Preparing for Mock Hibernation

New York City is expecting its first real snow of the city this weekend. Highs are only going to be in the upper 30s and the wind chill is going to be ridiculously low compared to that. This morning when I stepped out of my apartment building, I was amazed and woken up by the beautiful blue skies, slight breeze, and crisp morning air. I picked up my Metro and walked to work, thinking that it wasn't really going to snow. How could it in such beautiful weather?

Which takes me back to my senior year of high school, where temperatures in North Carolina went into the 70s in January, breaking records for warmth. Then, a couple of weeks later, we got between 25 and 28 inches of snow. I had never seen anything like it, stepping out into the "yard" only to be encompassed by drifts that went above my head. Our puppy Coco didn't know what to do- the first time she went out she leapt into her yard the way she normally would and promptly disappeared into the snow, coming up gasping and literally swimming back towards us. i think I ended up on the ground laughing so hard.

But I feel like that now, waiting and anticipating the snow in the city, and accepting that it will take at least two feet of steady snow to give me a day off and shut down stores. Guess people won't be desperately running around buying Whole Foods out of milk and bread. No, here life will go on as normal, with longer walking times and more crowded subways and probably a lot more confused and cold tourists in mid-town. I'm not ready. Currently I feel like a tourist, timidly staring at the sky every time I leave my building, waiting for sign from God that the heavens are about to fall. I have one closet full of coats and boots and scarves now, so in that sense I'm prepared. No one tells you about the wardrobe changes you'll have to make just moving north a few hundred miles, but I feel better after considering what those poor people in Boston are up too. My friend E went to BU for her masters and told me all kinds of stories about the winter there, making me never want to live on the edge of the Atlantic. At least New York City is a little protected.

The Farmer's Almanac is predicting the coldest winter in 118 years, and I've been keeping a careful watch on trees and squirrel activity ever since, which is difficult considering there aren't a whole lot of either in the city, except up around Central Park. But the ones i have seen do seem to be running quite a few errands, I'm assuming preparing for the worst winter in 118 years. People often don't realize that the animals know long before we do what is going to happen to us and get ready for it. Eating a lot, hoarding a lot, and making a nice warm bed to curl up in. It makes me wonder why we don't do the same? I could handle lying in bed, watching Sex and the City and eating popcorn and peanuts for a few months. Maybe I would mix it up a little with cashews and almonds but the general idea would remain the same. I like that idea and don't understand why hours aren't at least shorter in the winter, say being at work at 10 and leaving at 3:30 or 4. Would the world really be a much worse place if we did that? I think not. I think it would actually make for happier people. Parents could take their children to school and be there afterwards to be with them, thus cutting back on daycare expenses, people could get more much needed sleep and not have to worry about staying up and watching Dave or Conan. You would have more time in daylight which would cut back on depression. There would be more time for family and for cooking real dinners, which would cut back on obesity and nutritional deficits in the human body. People would be able to avoid long lines at the bank and grocery store because the hours would be stretched in which they could be in either.

Yes, I can think of plenty of good reasons not to have 9-5 schedules during the winters. Maybe we should observe what nature is doing around us and think of why that's worked for the last several billion years. It's certainly not because we're leading the way.