March - ready or not

March is the month I dread the most: I'm ready for spring, and sometimes there is a hint that it will arrive, but then things turn and we're back to winter. Today is gorgeous and the snow is melting. Tomorrow? We could have snow again. But I keep reminding myself it won't last...

We had a blizzard March 5 - if I could have found a reason to take the day off, I would have. Instead, I braved the highway at 7:30 in the morning (not as treacherous as I'd feared - people have perfected their winter driving at last!). I had the thought that we should consider a weather delay for library hours on days like this - 2 hours later to arrive at work, and open 2 hours later (noon instead of 10 a.m.). The weather turned out to be a good thing: at 8:12 downtown Bozeman had an incredible explosion. (the link is to the TV station story - I don't know how long it will be good). The library shook and rattled, and power went off. We finally learned what it was: Boodles, a favorite restaurant, had blown up. There is a gaping hole in that block now, and 5 businesses are gone. The weather kept most people away - one fatality, unfortunately, but much less than what could have happened if it had been a normal day. James-Philip has a close friend who works as the pastry chef there - she is usually in by that time.

A gas leak was the cause. After the fact lots of people claim to have smelled gas but no one reported it. That's disturbing: do people think leaks report themselves? I thought that was something everyone knew, like don't touch downed power lines - call the gas company if you smell gas!