Snow Days in January 2014

We've had the coldest winter on record for our area.  We moved into a house almost 4x larger than our previous apartment right before the cold spell hit, so our utility bills will not be kind to us this month.  I do not like cold weather.  I would not be disappointed if I never saw sleet or snow again.  Give me warm weather any day.

We had a dusting of snow on Jan 22.

Then on January 29, the weather forecast called for up to 8 inches of snow beginning in the afternoon, but the first snowflake did not appear until around 6:30 pm.  The kids were wild with excitement all day when they could have just gone to school and been productive there instead of being destructive here.  

My Ode to Snow

I'm not all that excited about snow.
Waited all day for the first flake to show

Cold air bites our toes.
Frost bite nips each nose.

Excited kids emit ear piercing cries.
Forecasted timing of snowfall belies.

Walls shaking
Stuff breaking

Cracking skin
Patience thin

Bring on summer!

(But I did settle for a cozy fire with my family!)

We eventually got about one to two inches of powdery snow with schools closed for three days this week for that small dusting.   It was enough to sled in until noon.  I took pictures from the front and back doors but did not brave the cold temperatures very long.  I remember the excitement I had at my kids' ages in the snow, so I dutifully bundled them and made snow cream.  Of course, I also remember Mrs. Hildebran (the mother at the neighborhood safe/gathering house) trying to thaw me in a tub of cold water as I screamed my head off with each incremental addition of warmer water.  Cold weather bites. My doctor told me the only cure for my skin problems is to move somewhere tropical, and that's the best medical prescription I've ever received!

But who am I to be the party pooper for my kids, so I admired the pretty white fluff while it lasted...albeit from inside a heated home in front of the fire and beside my additional portable electric heater.


Schools ended up being cancelled for four days for this light dusting of one to two inches of powdery snow.  The first cancelled snow day was a bust, and the fourth was a joke since the snow had mostly melted by then.  On the fourth cancelled snow day, temperatures reached the 50s, so the kids donned short sleeved t-shirts and capris jeans while building snowmen which meant the snowmen could not possibly last very long.