Catastrophes Averted!

Yesterday, we -as I wrote in an earlier post -got hit with a nice little snow storm here!

The forecast for yesterday (from the highly reputable weather forecasting organization where I used to work) had predicted a bit of snow -1 to 2 inches only, for this region of the state whereas the northeastern part of PA and the country too, was slated for probably five inches accumulation.

I don't know what happened -other than the forecast went "bust" (as the forecasters at the former workplace would say) -but we ended up with about six inches of the lovely cold white fluffy stuff!

Watching the snow fall all afternoon yesterday, the more it kept snowing, the more anxious I became, doing something I try to avoid doing and that is worrying about things over which I have absolutely No Control!

But worry I did!

The kids -Maya and Kurt -were up at their Dad's apartment in Philipsburg and as the snow kept piling up, I was then worried that maybe Mandy should leave earlier than she had planned to go pick them up and bring them home -before the roads got too treacherous.

Then there was my son who was supposed to go out on the road with the big truck he drives and was to leave around 6 p.m. The past two weeks, he has had his old but treasured yellow pickup truck out and using it to drive to his workplace starting point rather than taking my jeep and leaving it parked there then all week and also, leaving me without a vehicle all week then too but the snow yesterday was such that I knew he would no way be able to make the 40-mile drive up to his starting point in that truck! So I was worrying then about how the heck he was going to get to work, ya know.

Finally, about 5 p.m., Mandy came home from spending the afternoon (her usual Sunday afternoon routine) at her friend, Ken's house and she said then the road conditions were really lousy. Just cemented the worry in my mind there, big time, she did, with that announcement.

I suggested to her that perhaps Ken could take my jeep -or his pickup (which has 4-wheel drive too) and take Clate up to his workplace so I would have to worry about him trying to drive that old pickup of his on those bad roads. She was also thinking then too about going into town and picking the kids up earlier than had originally been planned as well so she called their Dad and they changed the pickup plans to delivery whereby their Dad would bring them home and would leave there in a few minutes then to do that too. That was around 5:30 p.m.

They left to pick up my son and Ken drove his pickup with the lovely 4-wheel drive to take him to his workplace. However, that didn't go quite as planned because they got as far as Madera and couldn't get through any further from there up to Irvona -the starting spot -so my son called his boss and learned then that the boss had decided not to send any of his drivers out last night after all. Nice. Well, it was a relief to hear that but also a bit irritating that the boss had not contacted my son earlier -before they left to try to drive the 40 miles, roughly, - to the "terminal" ya know!

So I was here, waiting patiently then for the former son-in-law to arrive bringing my little sweethearts back, safe and sound and that didn't happen in the time span I thought it should take place.

Finally, about 7:30 p.m., I called him to see if they were on the road, stranded, had been in an accident, or still at the apartment -whatever -and learned from him that oh, they hadn't left his place yet! Brother! I was pissed, big time when I heard that. Since Mandy didn't know exactly what time they would be able to be back from taking Clate to work, they had decided he would bring the kids home and here I was, waiting from 5:30 till 7:30, getting more and more nervous all the time too, when they didn't show up here.

Then he also told me that he also had to take his middle daughter home too so, rather than make two trips to transport the kids, he was going to travel with all of them in the cab of his truck. Not a bright move in my opinion cause his truck is just a regular pickup truck, not one with a club cab in which four-five people could fit!

I also knew too that he had run out of gas Sunday a.m. on his way down here to pick up the kids after church and Sunday school so was worrying if he had managed to get enough gas then to even make the drive in the first place.

All kinds of scenarios were busy playing out in my mind by that time, as you can imagine!

I called Mandy on her cellphone to tell her what was going on and of course, by that time, she and Ken had already passed through Philipsburg, had encountered traffic delays in Morrisdale on the hill and curve just above my Dad's former family homestead and yet more delays when they got down to the Interstate at Kylertown, due to an accident on the eastbound side of the interstate that had traffic backed up for miles and miles and miles too.

Mandy and Ken finally got home a little after 8 p.m. and after having deposited my son at his house, she called her ex-husband's older daughter -who is living with him now -and learned a few more details that didn't exactly sit too well here either!

Problems on his end with having no water -all this past week at least -at his apartment was something we didn't want to hear nor did either of us like hearing that he had with him not just his middle daughter, plus Maya and Kurt, but also that daughter's boyfriend too! Turns out that her other grandmother could have picked her up on her way home from work, but that daughter, being the selfish little teenage brat she can be, had decided she would much rather stay later at her dad's place to spend that much more time with her BOYFRIEND there so she told her grandmother that her Dad would bring her home -and her boyfriend, too!

Now that really ticked Mandy and me off, big time! The risk involved in driving a pickup truck on the roads as horrid as they were last night, with four passengers in the cab -just incredibly stupid to take such a chance! And, his reason for doing it that way -because he didn't have enough gas to make two trips and had no money, of course, to get more gas then either!

All I could think of was what if they ran out of gas somewhere along the route? If that happened and he had all four kids, at least then, the older daughter (she's 15) and the boyfriend could stay in the truck while he went for help. But suppose he ran out of gas and only had Maya and Kurt with him? How would he then be able to go for help? Sure as heck couldn't take those two little kids out and expect them to walk who knows how far to get help and you sure as hell couldn't go off and leave them alone in the truck either now, could you?

Sheesh! The lunacy that exists at times is just something I think you'd have to see, to experience it first hand, to know how upset all this had me by the time they finally got home here -close to 9 p.m.!

Thankfully, there were no problems -other than my worry episodes! I just knew all along that with things taking as long as they were that the good old Blue Cross Blue Shield was going to have to be put in action surely before the night was over and boy, am I ever relieved that nothing that drastic happened!

Before the kids' Dad left, Mandy gave him some cash with instructions to PLEASE stop and get some gas in the truck! At least eliminate the possibility of his getting stranded then someplace along the road back to Philipsburg!

And you better believe, those two little kids got extra hugs last night when they went to bed too.

Just so thankful that the worst case scenarios I had running in my mind never took place!