Snow Day

Winter weather is a fascinating thing in Iowa. It started snowing yesterday (maybe the day before? I don't remember now) -- not a heavy snowfall, just a light "drizzle" of snowflakes all day long and all night long. Only about seven inches or so of accumulation, we think. There may still be a little snow coming down; it's hard to tell because of the wind. 35-40 mph. It's whipping up the snow that has already fallen so much, I can't tell what's new and what's not.

And it's creating fascinating formations all around our house-on-the-hill. Keith went out right away when he got up to plow the snow away so he could get to work. The top of the driveway, right in front of the garage doors, was almost all blown clear by the wind. At the bottom of the driveway, however, the snow is drifted up to Keith's waist. He says as soon as he clears some of it away, it is immediately blown right back into place. He can't get out. No work for him today. (Luckily, his boss is in the same boat.)

The backyard is interesting, too. There are spots where you can see the grass peeping through. But the poor dog couldn't get to them when I took him out to pee this morning -- the drifts between the door and the grassy places were almost as tall as he is. He ended up just having to pee in the half-inch of snow on the patio. Ew.

The mutt freaked me out a little bit this morning. After he peed, I kept him out a little longer to see if he had more business to do. But soon, he started walking funny . . legs stiff and spread out. He stuck his nose in the deep snow and just kept it there. Weird. His legs started shaking.

I started taking him back in the house and had to practically drag him. He could hardly walk. Once in the door, he kept at it for about 30 more seconds, and then seemed to shake it off and be walking fine. So weird. He did the same thing the other day when he was walking with Eastin and I to the bus stop. I sent her on ahead and started back home with him, but by the time we reached our next-door neighbor's yard, he was back to normal again. I kind of assumed he was just trying to get out of walking in the snow so far -- he's quite the manipulator. But maybe something's wrong with him . . hmm....

The girls were thrilled last night to hear school was cancelled today. But I have to figure out what to do about Leslie. There's no reason she can't do her homeschool stuff today. And if she doesn't, she'll be behind and have to catch up in the next few days (which she won't like). But I hate to make her stay home and do school if every other kid in the neighborhood (including her sister) is out playing in the snow. When we were ONLY doing homeschool, it wasn't as much of a problem -- our schedule was easier to adjust for an occasional snowday. I'm still frustrated having to accommodate our lives around the school's schedule. I'm spoiled, I guess.

I suppose I'll let her have her snowday. She may as well enjoy the white stuff today. If this year is anything like last year, she'll be sick of it soon enough.