Skip to main content

You Know What’s Wrong With This Snow?

 


Stubborn. Yep, that must be it. Why didn’t I think of that?

Crews still working to move stubborn snow 11 days after storm, Snow mounds pile up in neighborhoods amid frigid temps, Jack Watson, WMAR 2 News

If you are wondering why all that snow is still in your way, friends, the answer is clear: it’s just stubborn.

I’ve seen stubborn used for mules, schoolchildren that aren’t compliant, and, of course, laundry stains. (I grew up in an era where advertisers thought that all women wanted was “to get rid of stubborn stains.”)

Snow? Stubborn? It has just as much agency as laundry stains.

If you’ve been trying to shovel this stuff, that was your first mistake. You need a tool that eradicates stubbornness. 

What would that be exactly?

This sentence from the WMAR 2 News piece is both hilarious and cringe-worthy somehow:

Tim Gibson broke out the shovel yet again, hoping the sun would do him a solid and get all the snow to liquid.

But it does give a hint to our current situation and it has nothing to do with anthropomorphic white stuff. It’s just plain science.

That stuff that’s in our way is ice. If you expect that it can be removed like ordinary snow then you’re the one who’s stubborn. 

Strictly speaking, one can use the word stubborn for inanimate objects although it’s far down the list of uses. 


But calling this stuff “stubborn snow” is rather like calling a student stubborn for calling out in class (instead of raising their hand) when they actually have a broken arm. It’s sheer disregard for the facts. One might even say “stubborn disregard.”

It’s ice. It’s in the way. It’s making many activities less safe. It made it extremely difficult to get schools reopened. It’s blocking all kinds of things. I get that. I hate it already.

But acting as though local governments’ response* to this storm was a poor response to a manageable problem is, well, a stubborn refusal to get up close and personal with the evidence. 

You can’t blow it, shovel it, Hoover it up, or even push it around all that well. Got a pickaxe? Maybe your stubborn determination could be put to good use. 

A Village Green/Town² shout out (otherwise known as a HoCo Holler!) to local entrepreneur Antonio Artis and his team at Dream Auto Detailing who have been digging people out while the weather has put their auto detailing jobs on hold. 

You might want to give them a call once this is all over. I bet they are looking forward to warmer days and making cars look beautiful. 


Village Green/Town² Comments


*It’s not just a HoCo thing. Counties all around us are struggling with this, too. 

Comments

  1. Julia A. McCreadyFebruary 10, 2026 at 5:39 AM

    Please do not submit comments here. This function will be disabled shortly. Use the link above instead. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

Getting Fresh

One of my favorite days in the Spring comes when this year’s list of Farmer’s Markets is released. That happened this week. New this year are markets in Old Ellicott City and the “Merriweather Market” which, according to the address, will be located here . I mistakenly thought at first glance that it was in the new-construction part of the Merriweather District. I find the name confusing considering its actual location. I’m going to guess that this market is an initiative of the Howard Hughes Corporation because the name seems chosen more for branding purposes than anything else.  Alas, the market in Maple Lawn is gone. The thread on the markets on the County Executive’s FB page will provide you with quite the education in who actually runs the Farmers Markets vs what people often think is going on. Short answer: they are not  chosen nor run by the county. Each market is an independent entity, sometimes started by community volunteers, other times supported by local businesses...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more