Postponed

The sign said it all: All Birthday Celebrations Postponed Until Further Notice

There is a community gathering hall in a neighboring town that is frequently rented out for large gatherings and celebrations. It is commonplace for the sign to bear announcements of birthdays and weddings.

Today the sign was barely visible about four foot high piles of once-snow that that had become solid ice. The drive to the gathering hall lay on the far side of that ice barrier. Obviously no one wanted to undertake the task of chiseling through the barrier.

Yet another indication of the near ghost town atmosphere hanging over the community.

Supermarket shelves have as many empty slots as full, inventories reduced from economic necessity and panic buying now depleted by postponed shipments of replacement goods.

Tilted trash cans and toppled trash bags line the roadways - trash collection postponed until roads were safely passable now postponed still longer by the President's Day holiday.

Yes, the nearly buried sign said it all.... postponed.