No more weather misery, please

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

There well might be a snicker or two coming from places north of this part of Texas. That’s fine. They can giggle, chortle and snort all they want, given that they know a thing or three about heavy snow and plunging temperatures.

I just am delighted to know that we are powering through the misery that visited us a week ago when that Arctic blast swooped down on us. A week ago, we awoke to zero-degree temperature. Our home was dark. The water wasn’t running.

But … we soldiered on. We got through it.

Now, to be sure many Texans are still struggling with water quality issues. The lights are on, but they still have to boil water before drinking it. We managed to wiggle our way out of that particular issue in Princeton, Texas. Yes, the city issued a boil-water advisory when it restarted its treatment plant, which had failed when it lost its power. The city then rescinded the advisory a couple of days later.

Were we prepared for this event? Hah! Hardly. That might be source of the snickering up yonder.

Here is my hope for the Texas Legislature, which is one month into its planned five-month legislative session: Lawmakers need to find solutions to the crisis that unfolded here; they need them on the books this session and sent to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk, where Abbott needs to sign them into law.

I’ll be candid. The cost of those remedies don’t give me much pause. I mean, we went through hell around here. If we can get our energy grid better suited to handle this kind of freeze, then I am willing to pay the price. OK, spare me the lecture about whether I would pay “any price.” I have my limits, just like everyone else.

We are products of our surroundings. I have never lived in a place that gets buried by snow every year, or has to endure sub-zero temperatures each winter. I have a cousin who lives in St. Paul, Minn.; we have two nieces who were born in Alaska; another cousin of mine once lived in the Land of the Midnight Sun (and Perpetual Darkness) as well.

Today is a new day for us here in North Texas. The sun will come out later. The temperature will rise to a seemingly “balmy” 60 degrees.

Few of us will forget the nightmare … and while we’re at it, let’s send good thoughts to those who still are battling water quality issues.