Dealing with Snow

[CantStandTheHeat]

Originally Posted by AztoORegon

I like that you call it Hysteria haha. I just read online somewhere that work closes down ect. I was thinking back up day care and the worst situation possible. But you make it seem as though it rarely happens. in arizona its hard for kids to get more than 2 colds a year but I wasnt sure about the colder weathers if its more common to get sick. maybe i am scaring my self huh

Ok, I have to weigh in on this statement. Where I live, in Southern Az., it is just as easy for kids to catch a cold as kids in other places! No offense intended, but it is a myth that cold weather will make you sick. The fact that most people tend to stay indoors more and breathe the same air as those who are sick when it is cold outside is what raises the odds of catching a cold. If your children truly are only getting sick a couple of times a year it has nothing to do with the weather. A high-nutrient diet with no processed foods and plenty of fresh air are what will help fend off the common cold in addition to diligent hand-washing and other good hygienic practices. You must be doing quite a few things right if a couple of colds are all your children are getting! Keep up the good work! My own 3 kids don't often get sick, but when they do it is typically during the summer and fall when we are condemned to life indoors with 24 hour recirculated air. Along with that come frequent nose bleeds, cracked lips, and an almost constant stuffy nose from the dry, poor quality indoor air. In our house, which has 2 story high ceilings and a very open floor plan, a humidifier does very little to alleviate the dry air. I hate the summer and fall here. We are moving to Wilsonville just after Christmas and I can hardly wait!

So, don't worry about it!! Keep doing whatever you are already doing to have so few colds and you should be fine!

[AztoORegon]

Yes! I actually keep them clean as I can..I'm not a germ buster but I try to keep them clear of Germs and watch what they eat. We don't drink regular milk we drink soy milk which has helped my toddler NOT have dirahea like normal toddler do constantly. My kids love fresh fruit and veggies and never comlplain. I take pride in what I feed them becuase I know what goes in their food when I make it. Now with day care thats another story kids there get sick all the time and I have to try and avoid it. But just like NOT having your children in day care and when they attend regular school they get sick becuase their immune system is not use to the germs. Its a win win, but I noticed with the economy so bad our work took away alot of our rights for time off request incase of a sickness. It puts a damper on the whole sickness thing. So we changed our ways of getting them away from Germs and eating the right things and it has worked!

[SyraBrian]

I recall two snow events that happened during the the winter of 1994-95. The first was two inches that put the city in a standstill. Being from a town in which I slogged through 192.1 inches of snow two winters earlier, I kind of chuckled at the city-wide shutdown.

The second snow event was a more impressive eight inch downfall. Fortunately, the snow was all but disappeared two days later.

[Daisy32673]

If your kids are in any kind of daycare they will get sick and you inevitably will get sick too. It just happens. As far as the snow goes, PP are right - it snows an inch or so but because there are so many hills it causes a lot of place to "shut down" and then the buses cant run. It may last a day or two but its not a big deal. We're not talking Minnesota weather here by any means

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by davemess10

And most other places use salt and plow their roads. (Not saying that plowing is really that necessary here, but I am a proponent of salt).

Salt in Oregon was outlawed due to the number of critical fish habitats it poisoned. There was something like a 300% rebound in fish stock the first year salt was outlawed in several endangered streams. This is part of why several creeks and streams are still devoid of native fish these days - Johnson Creek and Beaver Creek (in Beaverton) are two of the best examples.


It's also not recyclable like gravel is. All the gravel laid down is swept back up, cleaned and reused for about 1/3rd the price of salt.

[Bluesmama]

Snow here is not like snow in other places. Instead of powdery, ours tends to be more dense and "heavier" which causes many nuisances ~ tree branches break a LOT, power outages, and forms thick sheets of ice on the roads. Until the last couple of years plowing was nearly unheard of outside of the freeways (definitely getting better). So, no, I don't agree that peoples' fears of driving are unjustified. I, for one, hate leaving the house.

And, considering that we may get two ice storms in a winter (at the most), I think it's absolutely stupid to worry about using salt ~ especially on sidewalks.

[timfountain]

Originally Posted by davemess10

And most other places use salt and plow their roads. (Not saying that plowing is really that necessary here, but I am a proponent of salt).

Not me, cars last out here because of the lack of salt. Also the environmental pollution from salt runoff is a very real problem. I would be very much against salting. Sand, grit and common sense, yes, salt and rusty cars, no way!

[hose111]

Originally Posted by Bluesmama

Snow here is not like snow in other places. Instead of powdery, ours tends to be more dense and "heavier" which causes many nuisances ~ tree branches break a LOT, power outages, and forms thick sheets of ice on the roads. Until the last couple of years plowing was nearly unheard of outside of the freeways (definitely getting better). So, no, I don't agree that peoples' fears of driving are unjustified. I, for one, hate leaving the house.

And, considering that we may get two ice storms in a winter (at the most), I think it's absolutely stupid to worry about using salt ~ especially on sidewalks.

thankfully in Portland, you can get away with not driving! Take the bus or train! or the trolley!