Spring might be coming to other parts of the world, but a significant percentage of my country woke up to a giant pile of snow this morning! So far, I'm a little relieved by it (this ends the driest 15 months in our city's records, and that includes the Dustbowl Dirty Thirties). But parents around the city are scrambling to drive their kids to school, because the school buses aren't running. Our piano lessons were postponed, because between the teacher's need to drive her kids to school, and then to allow much more time to get across town for a later appointment, there's no time for piano today.
Li'l E is in heaven, of course. She's been disappointed by how little snow we've had this year, and with no preschool on Mondays, the only item on her agenda is to play in the yard for as long as possible.
Which means that I'm not getting a lot of indoor cozy time. Think of me, as you go about your warmer days, as I sit in a snowbank, drinking tea from my travel mug, watching a five year old make her thirtieth snow angel.
43 comments:
Cluesticks to the neighbour I saw snowblowing from the sidewalk onto the street (instead of onto his lawn). That's a fineable offence in this city! We have too much snow on the roads already, as we wait for the plows to come through.
I seem to be the only one of our neighbours who isn't currently digging out a car that is stuck on our nearby intersection. (The car skidded into the corner and then got stuck.) In my defence, I'm in charge of a five year old. But wow, do we ever have a lot of active retirees on this block! They all came running at once, with shovels.
Many hands might light work? It's better than shoveling their own sidewalk?
The kitchen ants appear to be history, but their cousins invaded MY OFFICE, where I was hiding the kibble. Drat. I think it's safe to put the cat stuff back in the kitchen now...
My beloved went off to the other city. He planned to come home tonight, go back in the a.m. -- but I noticed he took an overnight bag for just in case. He's got work there all week. Cue the dog sadz.
More ants? I'm sorry that they've been plaguing you everywhere, Kathy!
Continued cluesticks: I've now seen two different cars get stuck on the side of the street where neighbours snowblowed and shoveled onto the street. None stuck on our side. THIS IS NOT A COINCIDENCE.
(It's still snowing! And there's a heavy snowfall warning!)
Cluesticks to the stupid people who shovel snow into a snowy road, so as to make actual drivers crash! If I was any good with a snow shovel, I'd propose a special Posse to put all the snow on the entire street onto the driveway[s] of the offender[s].
AW: The name of a prominent hotel family just got pried off the front of a hotel in Panama.
Menu: Making pork posole in the crock pot!
AW: Dog Man! Homeward bound!
W: Daisy the puppy would like to whine that she has fire ant bites on her bottom
W: Mama would like to whine that it has not been a stellar potty training day.
Fire ants! Poor puppy! (Would that be connected to her hesitating to go outside?) And I'm passing the paper towels and enzyme cleaner.
QWP, cluesticks for your neighbours and their poor snowblowing technique! I'm puzzled as to why schools are still open when school buses aren't running. Around here, once the school buses are off the road, school is closed. Maybe because so much of the school population is coming in from the surrounding area. In any case, it seems unwise to have parents scrambling to drive in snow that is too treacherous for buses.
Ants are always whine-worthy. *shudder*
Poor pup!!
Sue, it's so frustrating that they keep schools open when the buses aren't running! They do it in the small town schools: call it a "weather day," and those who can't come to school can't, but staff still has to be there. Apparently, it's based on the fear that a kid will miss the notice of school cancellation, and dropped off. But there are other ways to handle that! (That sometimes cancelled school when I was a kid. I loved sbow days.)
Ugh. Yes, there are ways to deal with that situation - assign one person in the school who has to show up, if only to tell parents to turn around and go back home with the child. For every teacher to be forced to drive in dangerous conditions to be at the school is just not right.
I would think that there are any number of ways for parents to find out if school is open after [pick your disaster]. Email; texts; news reports; call your kid's friend's parents. Who drops their kid at an empty school in the middle of a snowstorm?? [I know not from snow days; but you know -- earthquakes, mudslides, etc.]
Oy, Esperanza! Fire ants! And potty issues....
So, the Dog Man got home early yesterday, and the Boyz went for a walk!!!! Which was great until they were almost home, and Clyde got jumped in an aggressive manner by a sizeable off-leash dog whose human was chatting on her cell phone. Clyde got a little cut by his eye, the eye itself is kind of red -- watching him, it was cleaned and so far so good. But my beloved? *Very* shaken -- he had to kick this other dog to get it off ours, and was really beside himself. (He is of the "dogs are all good; some just have really stupid owners who should keep their dogs under control" frame of mind.) There was reportedly some yelling involved. as well there should have been.
Poor Clyde and Dog Man! And what a irresponsible owner!
I suspect that this province doesn't consider a pile of snow to be a disaster (although that cancel the buses are the drop of a hat, and then vaguely say that parents can choose to keep their children at home), as they also don't consider extreme cold to be a natural disaster. (And people to go in to work, unless actually stranded, in both situations.) I experienced two university closures in my time there, and both were the worst blizzards of my life (both in the same winter), and elementary and high schools closed for those. Also, a power outage at my high school, during extreme cold, caused a half-day closure, while they restored power. But that's about it! (I gather from my friend who lives on Baffin Island that they also have to really pick their battles regarding school closures, or else they'd rarely have school! So many -50C days in the winter there.)
Clyde is set to go see the vet in the morning -- vet, yay! Which has calmed my beloved down, because even though it's not anything urgent, some antibiotic eye drops can't hurt.
I have talked to this receptionist before about trying to get the stupid dog license, and fortunately the vet who examined him was able to say in a certificate that Clyde was neutered, so no visit needed for that. (Yay.) But the receptionist who set up the appointment said, "So, I guess Clyde needs to come in this time, anyway."
Yeah, I know not from cold weather and snow, but if nobody including school buses can safely drive, that kind of sounds like a no-brainer about closing school....
They closed schools and federal government offices here last Friday due to wind. WIND. Granted, 70 mph gusts, but still!
Because of wind?! That's about the strength of wind we had when the neighbour's tree was uprooted, but they didn't cancel school for that. (Actually, Mr. Q's school didn't even consider canceling their retreat at a summer camp site!)
I guess that's prairie life? I remember being at camp with a bunch of girls from the American Midwest, and the rest of us were panicking because there was a severe storm and a tornado warning, and getting into the basement, and these girls looked out the window, saw that it wasn't as bad as the most of the summer storms back home, and went back to sleep!
(On the other extreme, the school where Mr. Q taught, in the Canadian part of the PNW, once cancelled school because the temperature dropped below freezing. Basically, the principal was sad that they hadn't had a snow day that year, and took the closest approximate opportunity.)
AW: our road was cleared this morning! Now, I can choose to go to our church meeting tonight, without worrying about our little car getting stuck.
Yay for having your road cleared!
Schools generally don't close for deep freeze temps. Once the temp dips below -25C, the kids don't go outdoors for recess or after-lunch play, but they still go to school. The local radio is really good on snowy mornings about announcing closures, but the general rule is, if there are no buses, there is no school.
You're right though, weather is relative...what seems unthinkable to some is just Wednesday to someone else. :)
One time in Charleston SC, it snowed a tiny bit -- no more than 1/2" -- and the entire town closed and sent everybody home! (Which makes sense, because there are no snow plows; no snow tires; nobody knows how to drive in snow...)
Oh, the vet says Clyde is fine -- bruised, tiny cut healing well. She put a little ointment in his eye for just in case.
I'm glad that Clyde is doing okay! What a scary day he had yesterday. (And I absolutely agree with shutting down a city that doesn't usually get snow. I used to refuse to drive when it snowed, in that coastal city: I trusted my own driving and tires, but knew that there were no plows, and anyone else could skid into us. And the one time I made an exception, someone did hit us, and I got whiplash! Better to stay off the roads.)
I'm so glad Clyde is okay!
So, fear of snow has cancelled Mr. Dog Man's obligations in the mountains tomorrow, and he'll get to see his pup tonight, after all! We set out early morning so he could rent a 4 wheel drive for this trip. Oh, well. This was a full week of "away" obligations, and so far 2 of the 5 days were cancelled by others.
I forgot the vet visit report! It was uneventful, he's fine -- but there was a really funny part when we got there. Clyde was all excited to go! in the car! And then I opened teh door to the vet waiting room -- and Clyde started doing a cartoon-dog attempt to Back Right Away From There. We got over it, but I had to work not to laugh.
Snow Day here!!!!! Yaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy!
I very much needed this day to gather tax materials!
:) Neighbor Lady
Aw, poor Clyde - a fun car ride turning into a visit to That Place. :) I'm glad he's okay.
Yay for a snow day, NL!!
Have a really fun snow day, NL! (Even though you have to gather tax materials.)
Kathy, the image of Clyde's cartoon reaction made me laugh (and I'm glad that you all got through the big trip to the vet successfully).
Old Skool: it's been eight whole days since we filed our taxes, and I'm getting impatient for our return! I just got my own Notice of Assessment in the predicted eight days (I freelanced so little that I didn't owe money, so it was fast for them to process), and so now I'm refreshing Mr. Q's account, and the bank account, willing the return to show up. (It's always in there by now! I really hope that they haven't flagged his for review or something.)
Wait -- they process refunds in mere days in Canada? That seems fast!
Hope everybody's surviving the snow and whatever! We're back to some rain -- still well below average for this season, so that's OK.
Clyde finally got his official dog tag yesterday! Cannot even believe how hard that was. Stupid county.
The same robo-voice that sometimes tells me that "the local cops" will come arrest me soon (unless I do something) just informed me that "your Windows has expired," and presumably wants me to do something. I never stick around long enough to find out what they want me to do, but a person only has so many minutes in life, and that isn't a good use of them. ;)
W- Internet out at work. I have a deadline tomorrow. I need to go home to work on this fireplacing document.
W- I took mass transit today and my bus doesn’t run from the last metro station until 3:00.
AW- Mr. Spock works from home and is picking me up from metro.
W- waiting at kiss and ride now and it is cold.
Liz on iPhone
Ugh, Liz. I hope you get home soon.
Yay for Clyde's dog tags. That has taken awhile, hasn't it??
I just sent in my tax return today. It's a bit complicated because of clergy housing deductions and such, but hubby does a great job. I'm hoping to have it back in a few weeks. Last year it was almost three weeks and I was thinking I was up for audit (LOTS of clergy friends I know have been audited) and then, voila! $$$
We're getting robocalls at the church from "Google" saying our membership has expired. Uh....nope. Jerks.
Oy, about internet out at work, and mass transit, and freezing. Yay about getting a ride and kiss from the stop!
Today, my daughter's law school is hosting oral arguments before that state's supreme court! I really *really* love it when courts reach out like this, so students can see what they do, and how these argument sessions go.
Sue, I definitely get nervous about being audited, because Mr. Q is a student again. When I had been a grad student for a while, we were regularly asked for documentation, or were "pre-audited" (I still have no idea what that one meant), I guess since we didn't fit the normal mould of the university student. After that happened so many years in a row, I'm jumpy when the refund doesn't hit immediately.
Liz, I hope you got home quickly!
Kathy, I'm glad Clyde's tags are finally there! What a long ordeal for you.
There are days I feel like I don't get anything done, and then there are days like today when I feel like I haven't been sitting down for more than 15 minutes total. Hospital visit, nursing home visits (which included a bonus! marriage counseling! with someone's son, multiple issue version), meeting with the other ministers in town, saving said other ministers in town from misuse of funds (if people gave money to the food bank, then it should be used for the food bank), then home for puppy and Baboo supervision, three loads of laundry, supper, cleaning here and there, and the usual round of emails and phone calls. Whew. Now to convince Daisy the puppy it's time for bed and that she needs to sleep all night.
Wow!! Super Esperanza!
Yes, a cape is in order, Esperanza!
Wow! That's quite a day, esperanza! A cape is indeed necessary.
That's so great about your daughter, kathy! How wonderful to have such hands-on experiences as a student!
Daughter is not as appreciative of the experience (yet), but she has a moot court oral argument to do soon, so seeing one happen is important!
I go to arguments when I'm interested in the case, or preparing for my own argument. What with one thing and another, the first appellate argument I did myself was at a high school auditorium. My long time colleague argued a case (one I've known forever) before our state supreme court and a lot of students at a civic auditorium in a smaller city. And, when I was preparing for another argument, I went to the nearby law school, where the state supremes were doing another "outreach" session. True story: a friend of mine was an adjunct professor at the local law school, and I ran into him in the hall, and he didn't even know about the arguments that day -- but he brought his class because he thought they should see.
OK, I know that info about oral arguments is a yawner! Except maybe to me, and a certain tribe to which I belong. ;)
I found both salmon and a bunch of fresh thin asparagus spears! Even my doctor couldn't argue with that lineup. Plus, yum.
I made up for yesterday with a day of almost total sloth.
Esperanza, you earned that day, after the previous one you had. (And I presume that your weekend will be very busy, and full of both work and children, and so I suspect that the sloth day was needed.)
Kathy, it's so neat that your daughter is following in your footsteps, and you get to watch her experience with law school.
AW: my sister needed to make some room, and offered us a chair, and then offered to haul a bunch of old monitors to electronics recycling, to make room for that chair! I went with her (the same place does bottle/can return) with all the bottles/cans/tetra paks/milk jugs that we have accumulated since the summer (!), and I ended up getting $25 back!
Confession: we then went shopping, and I spent all that money on tea.
But! Not to bad of a way to spend a Friday afternoon: we cleared out a shocking amount of clutter from my house and garage, Mr. Q now has a reading chair in his office, and I have a lot of tea.
Yay, recycling and a new chair!
My daughter had a mock job interview today, and it sounds like it went well. She told the guy that she does not want to do the kind of law that either parent does! Whatevs.
Esperanza, voting in favor a day of sloth after so very much lately.
Gah! The Dog Man is out of town for a day or 2. I have to sort the tax stuff, and also sort something for billing. And also, there is apparently a mess with Mr. Know-it-all in my support group for people affected by my SIL's unusual kind of dementia. I know! It sounds so fun!!
So, I'm going to netflix therapy.
Can we all agree that daylight savings time sucks? Yes?
Confession: one of the big deciding factors that led us to move back to our home province (which never changes clocks), before E was born, was the March time change. We decided we'd rather have snow until halfway through springtime (it almost never snows in the city where we used to live) than have to adjust a kid's schedule twice a year.
Because DST is the worst, and even farmers hate it, so I don't get why it's still a thing.
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