snow day

Yesterday we had a whopper of a snow day. All the forecasts had predicted a light flurry in the morning, ending by noon. But it didn't happen. Instead, we got about 3 inches, and now they're saying there will be thawing, then freezing, for the rest of the week. Niiiiiice.

But on the "fun & adventure" front, we live on a hill, and Joe-Henry got to do some sledding for the first time ever. We hung out with neighbors we had not met and did a little socializing, and laughed and laughed in the cold, white wonderland. We watched the "boys" across the street - college kids who invited all their friends - start drinking beer at about 8:30 a.m. and do a little atv-ing up and down the street, as well as snowboarding. The mom in me stood there with arms crossed, tsking that they weren't even wearing helmets. Joe-Henry piped in with - "They're smoking cigarettes TOO?!" It was all a bit much for my law and order son, and he was ready to call the authorities. But they managed to stay in one piece, and were even kind enough to help JH onto a borrowed sled so he could slide down the hill while I waited at the bottom to block his crash.

The big event happened in the early evening though, when a sanding truck was trying to make it up the hill. I watched as the driver lost traction, and began his slide down the hill, taking out our recycling first, then our mailbox, then ramming into a parked truck, coming to rest against a power pole. All the wires above our house started to shake, but we didn't lose power. I was amazed at how quickly they came to take care of it, but I guess the would have to. The pole was missing the bottom part that stuck in the ground, the whole thing suspended by power lines. Yikes.

There's no school again today, and even though I feel crazy and housebound, I know how lucky we are. Hundreds of thousands of folks across the country are without power due to severe winter weather, and we're still warm and have enough supplies to keep us going for as long as this holds out. For us, it's just a blip, a chilly adventure that we'll enjoy while it lasts.