With 5+ inches of very blowy snow already on the ground and very low temps & windy weather promised for tomorrow, our superintendent (wisely, IMO) has already closed school for tomorrow. So yay, I can sleep in tomorrow!
Those of you (mom, this means you) having to go out in such weather, drive safe!
Although we’ve had some ice storms so far this winter, our snow has been relatively little. But today, we’re finally getting some of the white stuff. Although we had 2 hour delays yesterday and Monday, today school started on time. It was very cold, but the roads and sidewalks were pretty clear. It wasn’t snowing yet, either. Apparently already tired of the teachers and students asking if we were getting out early, the superintendent had made a sign and stuck it on his chest saying “2:36” and pointed to it when people would get ready to ask a question. (That’s the regular dismissal time for school.) He popped into my room and asked if anyone had any questions. And if so, the answer was… and he’d point to his sign. Heh. Poor guy.
Within an hour of school starting, however, the snow had begun. And continued. And every time administrators went by my classroom (which is right next to the superintendent’s office, so this happened often in a regular day) the kids would mutter and get all excited. When physics class started (my 4th period class) one of the girls assured us that we were getting out at 11:30am. Sure enough, a few minutes into 4th period, the principal got on the announcements and told us the same thing. Wow – never got out that early for an early dismissal. They canceled lunch as well.
Before 11:30 came, they dismissed the high school students who drive to school to let them get out of the parking lot before the buses and walkers headed out. Then at 11:28 the bell rang and students headed out. Once all of the kids were out, I walked home and enjoyed the lovely view. The kitties were nonplussed about my early arrival. And they’ve been loving the snow, especially if the birds get to flying about in the trees.
The snow is still falling and it’s pretty to look at. And I’m glad I don’t have to go anywhere. I wouldn’t want to have to drive in this. (Alas, mother works tomorrow. But of course there’d be subzero temps and lots of snow – I think the weather keeps trying to remind her that she’s retired.)
It didn’t look like much, but today we had ice, icy fog, icy rain, and icy mist. And that gave us icy sidewalks and icy streets. And also gave us closed school. So I had the day off and used the time to put my Christmas tree up. Yay!
I kept thinking I’d go out when things cleared up more in order to get stuff so I could bring something to the teacher’s Xmas luncheon tomorrow, but it never did look any better as the day wore on. So tomorrow, on my way in, I’ll pick up something at the gas station (Doritos or something). It’s not what I’d planned (home-made Chex Mix was what I’d planned) but at least I won’t be freeloading (like usual).
Here it is, second calamity day of the year, and it’s not even Winter. 🙂
Thankfully, I don’t live in an area that hurricanes visit. However, Ike sent some of its wind our way yesterday which has, apparently, made quite a mess of the country roads and caused power outages in places. So at 5:40am or so, our superintendent called to say we were on a two hour delay while they waited for enough light to assess the transportation issue. Within the hour, we received our second call – school is closed due to impassible roads and students & staff without power. (Most of the schools in the area are as well.) I’m grateful that I didn’t have any trees down and the power only fluctuated but never went off completely.
After the wind was done, we got a bit of rain too. But the rest of the day is supposed to be just cloudy. And the weather for the rest of the week looks perfect – sunny & in the lower 70s (°F). Mom and dad are heading to the Lake today – hopefully the nearly dead tree either survived the wind storm or fell towards the lake rather than on their cottage. They’ve promised to call if it’s the latter so I can share the burden of the worry & frustration.
So, Trina, what are you going to do with your unexpected day off? Work on college stuff, actually. And clean my kitchen. So my goal is to be productive today. Wish me luck on that! 🙂
Today is our 7th calamity day of the school year. OK, so we’ll have to make it up later, but for today, I’m going to stay inside and enjoy the view. (Maybe it’ll melt enough so that I can get to the post office before they close this afternoon.)
I went to bed last night knowing we were on a 2-hour delay already, which made me happy (I like to sleep in an hour on 2-hour delay days). I turned on the news at 11pm and it looked to me like the whole thing was going to miss us, so I was feeling sorry for our superintendent (and the dozens of others) who had already set the delay in place. But when I awoke, we had gotten plenty of freezing rain overnight and the roads weren’t all that good, nor were they looking to improve. So we had our 6th Snow Day today.
I spent the day fiddling about, mostly on a series of web pages for a friend of mine. But I also got some coursework done that was due today. And I called mom & dad during the sleeting time. It was so loud mom could hear it when I held the phone up to the window. Heh. The streets, which had been getting better, were back to worse again. After taking some photos of the sleet covered roads, I turned back and saw the kitties on the sofa.
Awwww, ain’t they cute?
We’re getting pretty fluffy snow. This is the scene from my kitchen just after we got the phone call that, due to poor road conditions, school is closed today. Yay! I get to stay home cuz of bootiful floofy snow rather than icky ice. It’s light out now, and more of the really fluffy stuff is coming down. Yay! (This uses up our last Snow Day, so hopefully we won’t get much more bad weather this season!)
To my major surprise, school was closed again today. Although we didn’t get as much snow as Wednesday, the roads were awfully bad and weren’t going to clear up soon enough to have school. Once again, I’m not complaining!
So I called the parental units and wondered if they wanted me to bring some ravioli for lunch and Shrek 3 for watching. They agreed. They provided the sauce and salad, I provided very yummy frozen ravioli from Market Day. It was an excellent lunch (and easy to prepare). Then we watched Shrek 3, the first time for all of us. (I somehow managed to miss it in the theaters, but I know I’d enjoy it since I loved the first two films.) For my second surprise of the day, I discovered that Eric Idle is in it. I used to be a much better fan and knew when, where, how, to what extent, etc for any of Eric’s film & TV roles. And as I suspected, I enjoyed the movie. We all got a good chuckle out of it.
The rest of my day has been finishing up the decorating and getting my pool table down in the basement until after the holidays (it was either it or the piano, and the pool table is a mini one with easily removable legs). BTW, does anyone want a piano? It’s free – all you have to do is come and get it! (It might smell of cat pee – that would be from Leo.)
The place isn’t overly decorated (heck, there’s only one thing I’ve added in the library – well, two if you include the balsam candle I’m burning) but I think it looks nice. I think I need a nice holiday rug for the spot where my pool table was. Even the blasted piano is decorated.
The kitties think it’s great that I put this huge Tree O’ Toys up for them. Once again, I’ve decided to go with home-made ornaments (from my purchase last year from Oriental Trading Co.) and that was a good idea. The bottom of the tree looks like a war zone. But I don’t mind – it’s fun to see ’em play.
Yay! Lucy’s decided to join us. Linus and I are sitting here & cramming for the Critical Thinking final exam. We have until next Thursday to get it done, but I’m going to cram tonight and maybe do it tomorrow morning. And then I can be done with college until mid-January. Yay!
Although we’ve had a couple of light snowfalls this season already (by light I mean “gone in sixty seconds), but today we’re getting a decent snow. I’d hazard a guess that we have 3 inches thus far and may get a 4th before the snow stops.
So what’s that mean for the schoolteacher in a state whose population is getting worse & worse at driving in the snow? NO SCHOOL! I know that judiang‘s probably rolling her eyes at our closure, but I ain’t complaining!
The one sad thing was that I had intended to go to the SOITA Technology Conference this afternoon (no sub, just going after I’m done with kids). But now I’m not sure I want to drive in this weather. Looking at the newscasts this morning – sheesh, people just seem to forget how to drive in bad weather. Wreck after wreck on the interstates. No mention of the surface streets (which is what I’d be driving to get to SOITA).
If I wind up going, it won’t be until 11:30am. I’ll see how the roads are later. (And I’d have to dig a passage for my car – the snow plow has blocked my driveway in.)
Until then, I’m goofing off and working on Christmas decorations. And watching the kitties try to kill each other. Playfully. (Well, they tell me it’s all in fun – sounds painful sometimes!)
I know that judiang will be jealous, but today school was closed. The reason wasn’t some new snow storm that rolled through, but rather some very dense fog that rolled through. That and the layer of ice which had covered the sidewalks and roads made for difficult travel this morning.
Despite the bad weather, dad and I carefully walked into work around 8am this morning. We slipped several times, but neither of us fell down, thankfully. And we worked all day with a nice hour home for lunch. And the fog? It’s only just now dissipating! This is the longest I remember fog hanging around. It was out when mother headed into work (she had to be there at 3am!!!!!) and now around 4pm it’s finally clearing. Visibility was only about 50 feet when dad and I headed into work and it hadn’t improved all that much when we left for lunch.
The good news about working with no one else in the building (OK, so there were a few folks, but not many!) is you can get a lot of stuff done. We managed to clear up quite a few work orders during the day and that’s a nice ease on my usual stress. Sure, we’re still behind, but not as behind as we were! 🙂
The big drawback to the day off today is that we’ve already had our 5 allotted Calamity Days. So today’s day off will have to be made up at the end of the school year. Currently I’m of the opinion that it was worth it. 😉 (I may feel differently on May 31st, heh.)
Oh, and regarding the title of this journal entry – one of the neatest things about today’s odd weather was on our walk back home. The trees were all covered in hoar frost and they looked beautiful. Alas, I had no camera on me, and when I was near my camera, the frost was already gone. Quite an interesting and (thankfully) productive day. 🙂
