Spring In Colorado

There is only one word that describes springs in Colorado:

Unpredictable.

You could face any one or all of the following conditions within a limited period of time:

- thunder,
- rain,
- snow,
- sleet,
- hail,
- bluster you right over,
- range in temperature from 12 degrees to 72,
- flood,
- freeze,
- cause power outages, surges or black outs;
- etc....
- oh...don't forget tornado's...

Currently, it is thundering, raining, blowing, snowing and sleeting....er something like that. I went out at lunch for a quick break and to make a few phone calls only to find one half of 120th flooding and the other getting pretty slick from all the sleet and rapidly cooling temperature.

I am personally a fan of weather, I think it is very interesting to have a first hand account from the Earth about where she's at and what she has to say. So none of this bothers me, but what does bother me is this sort of apocalyptic feeling to this day and really, recent weather here has been extreme. Everyone is talking about Global Warming now that it is no longer some tree hugging, long haired hippy environut idea. It's main stream now baby and it's about flipping time....maybe people will get off their keesters and start facing the facts that our planet is dying and we are responsible and we are the only ones who can make an effort to make change.

I've lived in Colorado more than half of my life, in the 20 odd years I've lived here....I've never seen a cycle like this one starting from the end of last summer and those crazy record heats to the snow this winter and an even more far ranging spring time. This will all melt tomorrow and that is normal and keep in mind that Colorado spans a cross section of the Rockies, so it's blizzarding about 20 miles from me at this moment while it's mostly just sleeting and raining here right now...

My point is that while I'd like to join the local masses and pretend like this is normal, some sort of cycle, there is no doubt something to be concerned about. Whether this is a normal weather cycle or not (which I am SO not buying that, sorry) decisions do need to be made about what to do when the public is facing severely adverse weather conditions in a climate culture that has not historically been required to be prepared for such things on a regular basis.

For example, due to the over 5 business days of weather that was not save to be traveled in within a 10 day period around the holidays this past year, my company has implemented a policy about snow days. If the office is closed, we are still required to make up the time or take it as PTO. That means, if the general regional manager who lives less than a mile from here cannot get into work and decides to close the office, it is our responsibility to compensate for that. On the flip side, if Max's school is closed due to snow I am expected to either leave him home and come to work or bring him with me...or if I am very very lucky, I might have a laptop already with me for such situations.

Huh? If they close the office...it's my responsibility to huh...what? Okkkaaay.

Work has to still get done, I get that. Trust me I do, I've only been allowed to take 2 PTO days without being harangued by my clients...so I get it. But I'm sorry, I'm not going to risk it...it's not worth it to me to risk my life to get to work. Which I can tell you, that storm we had before Christmas...that was probably the most terrifying drive I've ever had. It took me close to one and half hours to get here and that was BEFORE it was even bad. So because the weather is really bad and I don't have a laptop at home I have to take PTO or come in on a Saturday before Christmas? Hrmmm.

Guess I just see the potential for some abuse because of these issues...I vote if this sort of thing continues, it's going to have to go to the state level and have some decisions made about protecting employee rights.

I wonder how employers handle it in states that have tornados rip through them? Thing is with that, those states have been facing that for years...Colorado DOES have crazy weather, but it generally keeps it's distance from Denver and the Metro area. Now, it's creeping in for real and not all of us are going to drive SUV's. Sorry.