It's cold and raining in N. Texas and the local news joints [View All]

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are dutifully freaking out over the possibility of up to maybe a couple of inches of snow in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex as we brace ourselves against the "bitter" cold arctic blast enveloping us.

The local Wal-Marts and home products warehouses scrambled for spigot covers and other winterizing products as area residents wait for school and institutional closing announcements on the local news channels. School children across the Metroplex anticipate an unexpected day off of school as they rise this morning and run to the windows in the hopes of seeing the 1/2 inch of snow/ice it would take to shut the entire joint down.

Speaking of the morning news, camera crews are dutifully positioned on bridges and overpasses pontificating the as-yet-unfrozen world around us as they incite panic among the people about the morning rush hour and persuade more timid residents that it's just too dangerous to venture out.

Meanwhile, in my former place of residence in Star Valley, Wyoming, residents will wake this morning to 30 inches of freshly fallen snow, dutifully pull on there workboots and head out into the daily sub-freezing temperatures to join the steady train of traffic as they drive through the snow in Snake River Canyon on their way to retail, office and construction jobs in Jackson, slowing down not one bit. Granted, Jackson is not Dallas, but Denver seems to do OK under a couple of feet of snow.

I always used to laugh about how crazy North Texans get when word of a cold snap accompanied by precipitation is enough to give the area a coronary. Now that I've seen how folks living in real winter conditions continue on as if it were a spring day, my laughter at Metroplexians is replaced by a shaking of my head in wonderment.