snow day!

Maddie's having her first snow day since kindergarten with that March 2003 blizzard. It's very exciting b/c we just don't get snow days as a given every year like PA does -it's not planned into the school year, etc, and the conditions have to be darn severe here. I can probably count on two hands how many snow days Nikki had 3rd grade through 12th. And one of them was a "wind day" (75+ mph winds overnight)and one of them the pipes had frozen at her middle school and 3 or 4 of them were due to that '03 blizzard. So yeah, it's an exciting big deal today.

So far we have a few inches; Cody didn't really have to squat to pee, if that helps with the depth visualization. It's pretty to look at; the flakes are getting bigger and it's all powder. We'll be braving the cold here shortly to get some snow action. Remember the last "big" snow of the season was freaking wet. Not fun to play in.

I'd like to say that we're prepared for disaster, but we're not. We've got the faucets all dripping. We've filled all of our nalgenes & pitchers with water. The flashlight has batteries. We've a battery operated clock & my phone is charged. There's the makings of a first aid kit and some non-perishable food. Drat. It didn't even occur to me until this morning that we might have to contend with conditions like those folks in Oregon. Well, hopefully we won't. Oh yeah, we've got diapers & wipes & pet food -all pertinent to a shut in.

According to cotrip.org I25 is closed just a short 10 miles south of our home all the way to NM & then north of the city to WY. I70 is closed at the airport east to KS, as is I76 to NE. It's looking like maybe Maddie won't have school tomorrow either. Yay! An extra 2 days of vaca! Luckily I don't have to work tonight. I do tomorrow & Friday though. So much for getting any last minute xmas shopping done, huh? G tells me he may have to spend the night @ work. I may not be able to pick up Nikki from Boulder tomorrow morning as planned. Unfortunately, she has to be out of her dorm by Friday. On the upside, she does have a few friends that I'm sure she could hang with in the event that I can't get out of my street. You know my feelings about the plowing priorities in this city, so I won't even go there today.

So that's the exciting news. Don't you wish you were here now? Or rather, when there is no trace of today's blizzard left on the ground -probably a couple weeks max- won't you wish you were here?

update: You know when I said Cody didn't have to squat? Imagine the depth of the snow & what her tracks would look like in it. Now imagine that her tracks are completely -I mean COMPLETELY- covered. Like there's no trace that she even left the house a couple hours ago. Now I hear they're predicting another 9 inches tonight. Definitely going to be another snow day! I sure am missing my 4WD right about now.