Boo, you're terrible!

Two thoughts:

1. As if it wasn't enough that we're already digging out from more than 2 feet of snow, the latest Winter Storm Warning at weather.com predicts another 10-20 inches starting tomorrow. I love snow, but this is a bit much even for me. You can see pics of what our area looks like here;

2. This past week revealed to me the failure of big box retailers to move nimbly in response to local and regional phenomena. It's been no surprise for the last few weeks that the Mid-Atlantic is in an "active" pattern of winter weather destined to continue dumping snow on the DC-MD-VA area (and PA, NJ, NY, NC, etc.). Yet no big box store/national retailer I entered (Target, Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, EMS, REI, etc.) in the past week stocked sleds -- in fact, they had already transitioned their sporting goods departments to spring/summer items. Really, who's thinking of buying softball and baseball bats when you've had snow twice in a week and are staring down the Great Blizzard of 2010?

Anyway, at the last moment on Friday morning, when I'd nearly given up hope, my brother said, "Have you tried the hardware store?" Sure enough, local institution Fischer Hardware was stocked to the gills with sleds, snow shovels, and other winter necessities. I'll be patronizing them more often in the future.