Snow day(s)

Views of the driveway, the valley, and the duck house

We awoke yesterday morning with no power, and we had almost a foot of snow on the ground. The phone jangled at 5:30 a.m. to announce that my husband's school district was calling off school for the day. SNOW DAY!!!

Rex on High ~~ No laundry hanging today ~~ Dad with mug

As excited as we were, the reality of home ownership had to be considered. Snow-covered limbs can fall on power lines, a more serious concern since my mother is on oxygen. So our high climber man-son went to the top of the trees and knocked as much snow as he could from the branches. It was nice to be the dad on the back patio, calling instructions with a warm cup of coffee in hand.

We are very prepared with propane heat in our house, and with propane cooking options, but we made a major error: no coffee grounds. The above-mentioned coffee was our desperate measures option: Medaglio d'Oro instant espresso powder. Our review: Yuck. But if you wake in the morning to a dark house and your husband saying, "Oh, no. We don't have coffee grounds. What is the point of getting out of bed if you can't grind coffee beans?", then yuck is a godsend and we were grateful to have it.

Snow play on a snow day

Those who are young and carefree were able to sled and make the required snow man (pipe courtesy of Sculpey and a creative young woman I know and love.)

Dinner

Before the darkness set in, we played Boggle and enjoyed having my mum (and her big dictionary) with us. She knew words I had never heard of, and since we are the "guess like crazy" kind of Bogglers, she was a true asset ("Yes, moll is a word. It's a gangster's girlfriend." I didn't believe her, but Mr. Webster proved her right.) Having her with us, having her share word finding strategies with the kids...well, it was a slice of heaven.

Morning view and icicles

The temperatures dropped during the night, but we found no burst pipes in the morning. Instead, we were greeted by long icicles on the Christmas lights, pink clouds on the horizon, and most importantly: power.

We had heard the night before that schools would be closed again, so we were able to enjoy another day together here on the hill. We were, in fact, snowed/iced in until this afternoon. The guys were finally able to get the two cars needed tomorrow for work and the junior college final down to the bottom of the hill. Our hill + morning ice = No Can Do, so they are prepared to hike down to the cars tomorrow.

The pond and the blogger

The pond down the hill froze, and the geese were walking around searching for breaks in the ice. I watched one goose land on the ice and slide across the pond; what a funny sight!

We are so grateful for minimal damage to trees on our property (our neighbors suffered much more) and we are incredibly appreciative of all that electricity brings us.

The indoor tree

Snow is the norm for many of you, but for us this is a storm for the memory books. We'll be telling tales of the Storm of '09 for years to come. And I will always remember that my mother was here with us to share the adventure, even if she does help my kids beat me at Boggle.