Bread, Milk and Circus Peanuts

Here in the south, we don’t get a lot of snow and ice. We’re not prepared for too much wintry weather. So when the weather forecast suggests icy and snowy conditions, the first thing we do is go buy bread and milk and then we wait for school closings. It’s just what we do. Sometimes it turns out the weather isn’t such a big deal and it’s a case of “better safe than sorry.” But sometimes it is a big deal and we’re trapped at home with our bread and milk.

When I was 11, we had such an occasion when we needed to go buy our bread, milk and other supplies. My Dad, Nana and Papa, (they were staying with us at that time,) divided up the shopping. When they got home and unpacked the groceries, they discovered that each of them had bought Circus Peanuts. We’re not talking just 3 bags of candy, they had each bought a few bags. Nobody knows why they each bought circus peanuts, but that weekend we had 20 inches of snow! Yes, it was the Blizzard of ‘93. Some say it was the Circus Peanuts that brought us the Storm of the Century. We’ll never know. But any time snow is in the forecast, we buy our bread, milk and never forget the Circus Peanuts.

You should probably know that my Dad bought 5 bags this week and gave us some. Right now there isn’t much left, but what we do have is this:

8 INCHES OF SNOW!!!

You can thank my Dad and the Circus Peanuts.

You can read more about Chattanooga and the Blizzard of ‘93 here.