First of all I feel another rant coming on – Us older folk remember the days of mom and pop stores which carried groceries and choice cuts of meats. We had five here in Otsego when I was growing up each conveniently located within a short walking distance from wherever one lived. When Walmart came into Plainwell most of these stores closed within a year or two. Those which remain feature mainly booze, pop, lottery tickets and snacks. The last straw came when Harding’s closed their doors earlier this year along with their pharmacy. Our longest survivors are Bob’s Hardware and Judy’s restaurant downtown. Bob’s has actually expanded this past year so they are doing very well.
Mom and pop stores were once the back bone of the towns which supported out little league baseball teams. Each team bore the logo of the store we represented. Back in those days nearly all the boys including myself played baseball, were members of the Boy Scouts and participated in various church activities. At Harding’s back in those days they kept the animal carcasses in view of the public and you could ask for any cut of meat you desired.
When I moved to Maine in the early 70s it was like stepping backwards into time. A town had everything it would need contained within the city limits due to the fact that the towns were quite far apart from each other. Many of the houses still burned wood for heat especially those outside the city limits. This remains true today for the same reasons.
Since Harding’s closed in Otsego we now have to go the Plainwell for most of our shopping and to get our medications. Big box stores have been the downfall of many small businesses in small cities such as ours – the past couple generations haven’t been able to experience the charm and expediency of shopping local, local being within the city you live.
…end of rant….
Meteorological winter begins tomorrow. There are winter storm warnings over much of Nebraska and South Dakota for 9 to 14 inches of wet snow. By the time it gets here we will see a rain event rather than snow due to temps rising to the 40s. The weekend will feature rain, melting snow and dense fog due to the above fore mentioned. We could see rain totals between half to an inch. No major snow storms are in the forecast at this point in time though we could see the lake effect machine fire up for the lakeshore counties come Tuesday. We will look at this in my Sunday post.
We will be getting hammered this winter and we have just had back to back below normal temp months! The cpc forecast for December will end up wrong! We will have near to below normal temps and at least 2 major snow events! Who would have thought?
According to the latest updated CPC’s long range guess so much for a cold and snowy December. In fact one has to wonder if maybe, just maybe November ends up being the only below average month this winter season (and winter has not started yet)
http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/predictions/30day/
Slim
Huh. Imagine that!
The melt is on! Snow pack has shrunk a lot even since this morning. Bring on the melt !!
Beautiful day. The warm sun has cleared the streets of all the ice leftover from the storm.
I’m jealous! We are constantly stuck under the lake clouds here, no sun, no stars at night.
November’s definition is quite simply, “the dead of winter”. “Mild” does not occur again until late July…and that is a maybe, at best. 12 months of record cold/below average temps are in Michigan’s future. Get yourselves, and your family out of the southern Arctic, as soon as possible.
WOW what a month of November! Well below normal temps and well above normal snowfall! The monthly snowfall is over 200% above normal! What till December because more below normal temps are coming and at least two major SNOWSTORMS! Bring it! Get ready to ROCK!
All my little league teams were sponsored by local businesses – Family Barber Shop, Vets Hardware, Tommy’s (pizza joint), and Howe’s Greenhouse. Such a simpler time.
What a cold and snowy Fall in west Michigan can’t wait to see what old man Winter brings especially the end of next week with even a heavier snowy and cold pattern setting up around here. Let’s keep adding up the inches of snow on a already above Winter season, Seems like October 14th was forever ago the last time we put up a 60* degree spot on the map!!! I’m dreaming of a white Christmas have a great weekend …INDYSNOW!!
Not going it say it will happen this year, but do not be too surprised if it does. But in several past winters when it was cold and snowy in late November into early December it became warm around Christmas time. That said do not be too surprised if we end up with a warm green Christmas and New Year. We shall see. It is now up to 30 here at my house.
Slim
Does seem to be the trend we’ve had the past few years. I’ve mentioned it before, but in rcent Winters, most of our snow fell before the end of the year. And then once we hit the new year, it’s mild with big thunder storms. It would be great to continue this trend!
Yes, Growing up in Bay City and Alpena I too remember walking to the stores we had. In Bay City we lived within walking distance of 5 small stores and two hardware stores as well. (Of course we could even walk downtown as it was only about 3 miles away) Even as late as 1967 the stores were within walking distance and that helped during the big snow storm of 1967 when took 5 days to plow the street in front of our house, As I just waked to the store.
Slim