Today was another weird day. It deleted, actually raining ice pellets, this morning. It was, as most Arkansas weather, unexpected. It was, after all, merely 70 degrees on Saturday when we got back in town. Go figure.

People freaked out, as usual. The schools in Little Rock actually decided to close early, at noon, to allow people to come get their kids. This, of course, provided a great snarl in traffic all around the city right at lunch. I had an outside lunch meeting that I had to skip, because the roads were jammed, there was still ice on the ground that was very slick, and I was unsure whether I wold have to leave work early to go pick up oh daughter from school. They ended up having a full school day, so I didn’t have  to leave early, but I did leave early enough to avoid the crazies on the freeway. Apparently west Little Rock got the brunt of it, as it was apparently a parking lot around noon. Joy. Oh the joys of living in a state where you truly do not know what the weather  Will be like from 8am to 8:15am.

When I got home, I took our daughter to work, and the streets were totally clear, save a few side streets that had a bit of icy slush. I took Moxie with us, so that she could get out of the house for  a little bit. She was fine, but of course she wanted me to roll down the windows so that she could sniff. The heater was on, and I was wearing my coat ans gloves, so it wasn’t unbearable. We rod  home like that, soaking up the grey skies and neat scents along our journey.

The other thing that happened today was that I got a letter from my local electric company saying that some idiots in my suburban “town” wanted the city to possible vote to change from our current, local, low-cost electricity provider to the big bad out of state corporate giant electric company, higher rates and all. I called  both of my ward representatives to express my great dismay at this proposal, as in my own opinion, it is the stupidest thing I have ever heard then try to do in my 13 years of unfortunately living in this town. Last year, they thought it would be a good idea to make us more “world class” by requiring developers and homebuilders to put sidewalks on both sides of the street. I thought it was stupid because, not only would I  cost more money, but it is the wrong thing on which to focus. They should instead focus on cleaning up the end of town that is becoming less desirable because of the low quality housing they let be built there about 12 years ago, and regaining our own school district instead of being part of the “special” school district. Let me tell you, there is nothing special about it other that higher taxes.

I simply cannot believe that anyone would want to change to the higher cost, out of state electric company. The only reason I can think of is either someone has a financial interest in it or they are delusional. It is the worst idea this town has ever had. It ranks right up there with their refusal to do recycling, even when the county was offering it ans willing  to help with start up costs.

Like many small towns in America, when the city council or other influential people make a short-sighted decision, they tend to waiver when they are called on the carpet. They decided that the sidewalk proposal was a bad idea only after vicious opposition from citizens who felt it would increase the cost of housing and increase administrative costs for the city through easement dedications and such. They decided to finally pursue recycling after every other city in the county went forward with it.

Tonight, I called both my representatives. One was totally against this latest not well thought out proposal. The other claimed not to be, but I didn’t really believe the rep, honestly. When you start blaming someone else, you usually aren’t telling the whole truth.

I just hope the people speak up. I do not want to lose my current electric provider, who I consider to be one of the best in the state. I have lived in 14 places in the state and have had many providers, so unlike some of these people, I actually have experience with others. If they do change over, it won’t be on my dime. I think that would just about be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. There have been a lot of straws, but this one is one of those gigantic milkshake straws from Coldstone Creamery.

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