Spreading some love and less whine

A Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County worker, who declined to identify himself, prepares this morning to shut off the water to a house that is collapsing under the weight of snow and ice along Route 136 in Monongahela RD 3, Allegheny County, Pa.

By Scott Beveridge

WEBSTER, Pa. – Catherine Piscitelli is one example of someone having enough smarts to leave her home when the utilities go dead during a hellish snowstorm.

Without cable television and electricity, she was staying with relatives yesterday when heavy snow and ice in the wake of Stormageddon caused her house to begin to collapse along Route 136 in Forward Township, Pa.

So maybe there are people who can be thankful that the utilities have been a little slow in finding enough help to return these expensive modern conveniences to the thousands of houses that became cold and dark amid this natural disaster.

While others still whine about their more-insignificant problems, I have been witnessing recent acts of kindness that have become few and far behind in the years preceding these nasty storm fronts that began Friday and continue to terrorize the Northeast.

Strangers actually are smiling and talking to each other in convenience stores because they don’t have televisions and the Internet at home to separate themselves from socializing.

My terrific neighbor and his son surprised me with the gift of shoveling out the foot of my snowplowed-in driveway the morning after the first storm left behind as many as 2 feet of snow. Another friend tonight told me the story of how a guy we know rescued some folks in his truck, only to have it break down, and now he is sick with a cold or flu from spending so much time outside.

Thankfully, my power was restored yesterday afternoon. And, Comcast has a crew imported from Ohio working right now in my tiny village in the frigid cold to rewire this community.

Meanwhile, fellow blogger Amanda Gillooly has a post to this blog ready for tomorrow with colorful musings about love and Valentine’s Day that falls on Sunday. That will be a welcomed relief from this nightmare at a time when we, here, can all use a little more loving and a lot less bitching.