SNOWSTORM 2026: MY THOUGHTS, SO FAR

The Poowe Brothers, Hubble and Kirby, patrolling historic Peace Landing in happier times. [Photo, Mel Dyer collection.]

by Edgar Miraculous Dyer

SNOWSTORM...this one, forecast to be one of the worst our region has ever seen. The following shares some thoughts I recently shared on Facebook:

Thinking about it coming here, to Washington, D.C. and the foot and a half of snow, local news says it will dump on us, ..depresses me, greatly.

Our cottage in Penn Branch has been a difficult place to be in storms, like this, ..because we are on the backstreet of a side street, off of Pennsylvania Avenue and a good hike from Capitol Hill. DC Government has historically been slow in servicing/clearing our streets, which, in spite of our BEST individual efforts to prepare to be ready for the WORST outcomes, ..leaves us trapped on our hill and cut off from speedy response by emergency services and resources.

I cannot watch the local TV news coverage of the storm, anymore. It's simply too much to keep in mind, but I understand that I must prepare. Just tired of it. I've already got too much on my mind, right now...much of it, already shared here on FB.

Being a man, I don't like disclosing worry over situations, like this. Men are raised to lend strength to our households, families and communities, and dwell too long on despair. That said, I can't change where I live...where we will be in this storm, and I certainly cannot change how I feel about it. I don't think I am obsessing over it, but I am tired of dreading its coming and how I'm probably going to feel about it.

Perhaps, my preparation for this impending crisis should be to scatter a thick crust of salt in front of our home, shut the house down and get the hell out of here...go to an affordable hotel, if any rooms are left, nearby. It's as much my responsibility as a man...as a brother, friend, human being, ..to keep my head clear and focused, as it is to get stuck on a hill, in a storm that I can't do anything about and knowing fully well how bad it might be. It's my responsibility to be give myself to being buried under the snow and ice here, ..and to the assuredness that the municipal government of the great city of Washington, D.C. will fail my hill in the bleak days to come, as it has so many times before.

Don't feel like a rugged, fatally optimistic Brancher, right now, either.

I've got nothing hopeful or reassuring to say about this snowstorm. If you're in DC and feeling similarly, feel free to share your thoughts, here in this FB community. Please share your thoughts here.

Safe travels, my friend. God go with you and yours.

Edgar Miraculous (Mel) Dyer, Capicostia's publisher, without his fine, coyote-hatin' Goldiweiller, Kirby (now moved on to that big, coyote-hatin' hate group in the Sky) continues a somewhat bleaker, dogless existence in the Capitol Hill area of Washington, DC. He has been an active member of the Latino Culture Council of the Capitol Area (El Consejo de Cultura Latina – La Zona del Capitolio), the Kiwanis Club of Capitol Hill and the Board of Directors for both Total Care Services, Inc. and YMCA Capital View.