Shoveling Out from Under...

The South generally isn't very adept at dealing with snow (...or in some cases the threat of snow*). Usually, six inches of snow is enough to shut the world down. Well, truth be told, an inch or two can have the same effect. But I just thought this applied to the world of economics. It just isn't cost-feasible for state and local governments here in Georgia or across the South to purchase the necessary equipment to deal with snow, especially if you only get significant accumulation once a decade (or so).

I can buy that. But I just didn't know that this applied to natural world as well. Most of the problem with this storm, and the reason FHQ has been unusually quiet the last couple of days, had to do with trees not being at their fittest.

What!?! [Bear with me; I'm hypothesizing here!]

If snow doesn't fall in any given year (or decade), weak trees and especially weak limbs never get tested, much less "weeded out". So when an unbelievably heavy/wet snow hits, chaos, in the form of down trees/limbs and inevitably power outages, is never far behind. And that was the case here on Sunday and Monday.

Maybe, then, just maybe, everyone was wrong to have mocked the Bush administration's Healthy Forests Initiative. Sure, that was meant for forest fire prevention, but it could have proven beneficial in the South in winter as well. Oh fine, it was a measure that only served the logging industry. You got me.

Anyway, I shoveled out from under snow yesterday and today I'm doing the same with email and FHQ-related business. I'll try to make up for lost time as quickly as possible.

*Often the threat of snow is enough to send seemingly 90% of the public out to the nearest grocery store to stock up on bread, milk, batteries, etc.


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