Be careful what you pray for in these parts

It snowed all day last Saturday in Sierra La Sal. By bedtime, there was three or four inches of snow. It’s hard to tell when the wind blows the snow around and drifts it.

I dragged myself out of bed at 7:30 the next morning trying to make it to church on time (I’m not an early riser in my retirement).

I glanced out the window and then did a double take. There was over a foot of snow on the front deck. A second check told me my eyes were not deceiving me.

“Oh,” thinks I. “Lots of folks aren’t going to make it out of their driveways this day.” Some weren’t even able to open their doors to get out of the house. 

As I exited the shower, my spouse, who had been out since the butt- crack of dawn plowing snow, came in to inform me church was cancelled.

That came as no surprise. I was just disappointed not to have received the news earlier. I could still have been ensconced warm and snuggly in my bed on this first day of Daylight Saving Time 2021. Dang! 

A later measurement of the snow by the official NOAA reporter in our village showed we had over 18 inches of snow on the level.

Well, that’s if you could find a level. Again, Ma Nature likes to blow the snow around and pile it deeper in spots. She spent the day doing just that. 

Big thanks to the County road folks who were out on the Sabbath blading the roads around and about. The State guy had been out very early opening their roads. I’m sure the folks up on the Hill (Pine Ridge) got even more snow than we did down in the valley. 

Some folks had put away their winter snow plowing gear. In this part of the world, I think you need to leave it on ’til, like, oh, the Fourth of July, then put it back on maybe Labor Day!

Other events for Sunday were also cancelled. Let me explain this one by making a short story long.

Do you know the value of π (pi)? It’s been a long time since high school for me, and I’ve long since forgotten it’s value. Well, I know it now.

We have a citizen of our village who, a little birdie told me, once had it memorized out to 50 decimals. Why?! I now know it to two decimals and probably won’t forget it.

Sunday was March 14. That is 3/14. The value of pi, why it is 3.14. Ergo, Kristl Johnson and her gang had planned a y’all come pi/pie party at the community center for Sunday evening. Get it?

As you can imagine, the party was cancelled. Too bad – I like pie. Don’t really have much call for the use of pi.

Kristl has announced that another party will be scheduled at a later date when “spwintering figures out how to be sprummer.” 

Last Wednesday was the monthly Utah Food Bank delivery to La Sal. Currently, over 80 households are served by these donations.

During the COVID pandemic, pick-up has been honk and deliver (Honky Tonkin’ as the Senior center folks call it).

The volunteers inside the La Sal Community Center box up the items to be given each time and deliver them to waiting vehicles. Most of the volunteers are not spring chickens, but they manage to muscle boxes of items to each vehicle.

Recently, the Moab Rotary Club acquired several wagons to aid in the delivery of heavy boxes. Wade Reynolds, who heads the La Sal Food Bank, heard about this donation while talking to a Moab Rotarian who was able to secure funding for two wagons for the La Sal Food Bank.

Donated funds came from individuals as well as the Rotary Club. This will aid in the distribution of food items each month. It will save the backs of the older folks who regularly volunteer at the Food Bank each month.

A big thank you to the Rotary Club of Moab. The Moab paper published a nice photo of the wagons and some of the volunteers. 

Well, as Porky Pig used to say: “That’s all folks.” I’ll add, welcome to the last week of winter, and it really looked like winter in our town a few days ago. I’m ready for spring!