Getting ahead of the storm

      Loftis

My dislike for the cold is well-documented. So it looks as if I’m in for a rough week. By the time this newspaper hits our subscribers’ mailboxes on Tuesday (yes, our goal is to be a day early this week), we’ll already be in the middle of what portends to be at least a fairly significant snowstorm.

The forecast calls for the snow to begin falling Tuesday morning and not let up until Tuesday night. That’s the reason that your paper, hopefully, arrives early this week. Normally the Carroll County News is due at the press — located at the Branson Tri-Lakes News in Hollister, Mo. — at 6 a.m. each Tuesday. The fine folks there print it and our driver Mary Kay picks up the papers and delivers them to our local post offices in time for you to receive yours on Wednesday.

(By the way, for any of you Facebook experts out there who want to chastise us for not having our paper printed “locally,” — yes, that’s happened before — there is not a press anywhere closer than Hollister that is capable of printing us. We used to be printed in Harrison but that press shut down years ago.)

Back on topic, it looks as if we can expect 5 inches or more of snow. Even more worrisome is the predicted cold, with temperatures likely to fall not just below freezing but below zero.

I don’t like it when it’s 40 degrees, much less minus- zero. I’ll be keeping myself inside, except when I have to venture out to walk the Labrador retriever, who has an annoying habit of jumping the 6-foot privacy fence and playing keepaway for an hour or more while occasionally darting onto the state highway in front of our house. She’ll be going outside on a leash for the foreseeable future.

Because of the forecast, which looks about as certain as a forecast can in winter in Arkansas, we made the decision to move our deadline up by 24 hours. Thanks to the Hollister crew for accommodating us. We did that for two reasons — first and foremost, safety. We don’t want Mary Kay driving on snow and ice. Second, we didn’t want subscribers to get their papers a day late because we couldn’t get them to the post office safely on Tuesday.

So, I’m in the office on Sunday, doing work that typically gets done on a Monday. I’m not upset about it. It’s quiet and there are no distractions, and it will give me a chance to sleep a little later than normal tomorrow and then time to catch up a bit once I do get to the office.

So, if you’re reading this paper on Tuesday, know that we succeeded in getting ahead of the storm. As for me, I plan to spend Tuesday and Wednesday working from home with the faux fireplace on, a bottomless cup of coffee and a pot of vegetable soup on the stove.

Stay warm, everybody, and we’ll see you after the thaw.

•••

Scott Loftis is editor and publisher of the Carroll County News. His email address is SLoftis@CarrollCoNews.com.