I thought I would give a somewhat detailed account of snow days around here. We never lived in an area that cancelled school. In Utah, it took so much snow to cancel school, I can only recall one day during the time I taught in Utah. I'm sure there were more. I had left early to make the 31 mile drive (it only took 1 1/2 hours), and got there about 10 minutes AFTER the district had cancelled! Then I got to drive back home through the continuing snow. THAT was fun!
Here in Arkansas, where snow frequently comes with its friends Ice, Sleet, and Freezing Rain, we have a few days each year. This year has been particularly strange. Concord cancels easier than Conway, becaue we draw from a rural region, and these back roads may be impassable, even if the highways are good. So what does a snow day look like for us?
Most frequently, a snow day starts with Dad (Scott) getting up at least one hour early, to assess, and usually make the drive to Conway. I hate leaving my classes to a substitute, and if the roads are at least passable, I have driven in some very nasty conditions, and I am always careful.
On those days that I can't make it to Conway, the routine varies greatly, with some common threads. First, we thank our Heavenly Father that we did not receive severe storm damage, and especially if we don't lose power. We have been in ice storms where we spent a week without electricity. I believe one of my first posts last year was about the ice storm.
If we have chickens, which is usual, we start the day by taking care of the farm. If the driveway, which is steep and long, is too slick, we sometimes tromp up the hill through the woods. Usually we can get Bob's old red truck up the driveway. It is a beast! Once or twice we have had to take the 4-wheeler, and years ago it was so slick that Bob and I ran screws into the bottom of our boots to make the trek up to the houses. These last few storms were not so bad. The dry powdery snow doesn't really slow down the red truck when it is in 4-wheel drive.
On the rare snow days where chickens aren't a factor ( like the snow event of Jan 29th-31st) we have a much more relaxed approach. We sleep til the kids start moving, or until Michelle and I start showing our "OLDNESS" by getting sore from laying still too long. Yes! Young people, it IS possible to get sore from being in bed too long! Trust me, you will believe me someday:) This time, we weren't rushing to work in the chickenhouses, because we had just sold on Tuesday, and had not heard when new chicks were coming. It usually takes about 14 days. So we had a slow, leisurely breakfast of biscuits and gravy. Liz made a really scrumptious chocolate gravy, and Michelle made her best milk gravy, and we made a triple batch of Mom's sky-high biscuits!
Needless to say, we didn't move much for awhile after breakfast. We shovelled off the walk-way, then the kids and I went and shovelled Bob and Phyllis' walks. Bob asked us to go build a fire in the dog-kennel. Then the kids wanted to try out some sledding. Well, we don't have sleds, so we improvised. we searched out some pieces of old panelling in the old house, and ran some rope through the corners. They didn't work well on the driveways, but behind the chicken houses are steep enough the kids could get some sled runs going. Just not very long. we played in the snow for a good 2 hours.
Well, this time around, Bob informed us that we get chickens on Tuesday Feb. 2, but we have to wait for a special spray to come. So we waited, and waited. I can't do anything to get the houses ready, even though we had Friday and Saturday, because we are waiting on this spray outfit. He finally came Sunday afternoon, just before dark. I had to wait til Monday night to get houses ready for birds.
The rest of the day revolves around movies, video games, cooking chili, scones, or some other warm comfort food. We work (or play) on the computer, and read, sometimes a lot!!
These 3 days (Feb 8-10), we have had small birds to tend. Saturday, I had dealt with some damage from the last snow storm, which had displaced fan shrouds, and jammed the big exhaust fans on these 3 houses. We only have birds in the 3 houses up the hill, so I haven't even been to house 1 since last Monday night, when I needed some PVC to repair a waterline in house 4. The fans are running fine, and I have checked each morning after snow, to make sure the snow drifts did not drop the fan shrouds again.
That means we have a free morning, once the chicken houses have been tended to.
We have improved our home-made sledding options with some plastic sheeting and some slick packaging material, but we still have to stick to the short, really-steep runs behind the chicken houses. Next year, I will be prepared, with either some home-made sleds that can ZIP, or some store bought options. They are hard to find around here, because sledding is not usually an option. But next year, we will be READY for some snow days and some awesome sledding! The chicken house driveway is nearly 300 feet long! If we can get anything sliding, it will be a great run!
This year, we have spent the days sledding, building either snowmen or snow forts, drinking cocoa, making stew, baking cookies, and the obligatory computers, video games, and movie marathons.
It sometimes makes me wonder how easy it was to get cabin fever and go completely stir crazy back in the day before all this technology made distractions so available. I think the kids would have killed each other, or Michelle would have buried us ALL in the snow:)
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Snow Days!
Well, all I can say is that January and February have proven the statement made by many that if you don't like the weather in Arkansas, stick around a few hours.
We started off the year with some very cold, and then very snowy weather. I had to miss a teacher training on Jan 4th, because the roads were treacherous. I had hauled myself out of bed very early, knowing that Conway rarely cancels school events for weather. One station had run the banners for cancellations, and it had said Conway schools were closed. Since classes were not even scheduled for that day, I assumed it meant the teacher training was cancelled. Well I turned off the alarm and went back to bed. I woke up at 7:45 and checked the TV again. OUCH!
The previous banner was changed, and it said Conway teacher training delayed. Well, even if the roads HAD been passable, I could not have made it on time, so I ended up having to sacrifice a personal day. I helped with the chicken houses, as if it were a weekend, mak8ing some minor repairs, and then spending most of the day inside with the family. School resumed with little trauma the next day, because things had thawed enough to make the roads OK, if not great.
January was slightly cooler than averages, but generally "nice" until the end. Significant rain, not unusual for this time of year, some wintry mix events with marginal accumulation in parts of the state. Pretty normal. Almost.
The middle of the month got cold. Really cold! we had a week of temps reaching down into single digits! During one 3 day stretch, we had daytime highs in the teens or low 20's, and night-time lows in single digits. One day read 7 F, with a wind-chill of -2 degrees!! I have a picture I wish I could post. It shows two blocks of ice. One, very dirty, came a puddle left from all the rain in December and earlier in January. It had been broken up by a feed truck down at house 1. We had been driving over it in the van and pick-up, but the feed trucks come in around 36 tons of feed, plus the truck weight. It was nearly 4 inches thick.
I decided to test the ice on the pond! I walked out about 10-15 feet from the shore, where the water is still only about knee deep, maybe hip deep. I broke out a chunk that was over 3 inches thick. The next 2 days stayed well below freezing, but I never got a chance to go back out and test again.
Jan. 28th became the next snow event. Actually, this is early, but the weather reports were calling for a storm to move in that night. Concord sent students home early. Many of my students at Conway were anticipating a snow day. Well, it happened. We got another storm during the night, which dumped nearly 8 inches of snow in my front yard. Conway got hit too, so I didn't have to worry about anything, except the fact that we were missing a quiz. My students were heartbroken, I'm sure.
Our Stake conference (a regional church conference, for readers unfamiliar with the term) was a very lightly attended event. None of our congregation from Batesville made it, and I'm sure most of the outer reaches of the stake could not make it. The roads were BAD!! Liz was upset, because she had been asked to speak, and was well prepared. Oh well, as Elder Packer said, when we called our Stake President, he did not want anyone risking life and limb to attend the conference, and we should be at peace, and spend a safe, calm, spiritual day at home with our families.
Conway made it to school that week, as the roads had cleared some on Sunday afternoon. Concord did not go back to school til Wednesday, so I got a chance to take Ian with me to school in Conway. It had been a pretty strange month. Tuesday-Friday of that week, the temps reached up into the 50's, with night lows in the 40's!! Nearly all of the snow that had been plowed in our region had melted. Nearly!
Then we got to Sunday night, Feb. 7th. The forecasts had been building to the possibility of heavy accumulation in most of the northern half of the state. They missed a bit. Most of the state got some snow or wintry mix. The northern half (including Drasco) got 8-15 inches. Most hovered around 8-10, but I had heard some reports of 12-15 from extended family of some friends in regions further north.
we have been home from school since, and I just read that Conway is cancelled for tomorrow as well. 3 Days in a row!!?! I will start a new post to talk about our fun 3 days!
We started off the year with some very cold, and then very snowy weather. I had to miss a teacher training on Jan 4th, because the roads were treacherous. I had hauled myself out of bed very early, knowing that Conway rarely cancels school events for weather. One station had run the banners for cancellations, and it had said Conway schools were closed. Since classes were not even scheduled for that day, I assumed it meant the teacher training was cancelled. Well I turned off the alarm and went back to bed. I woke up at 7:45 and checked the TV again. OUCH!
The previous banner was changed, and it said Conway teacher training delayed. Well, even if the roads HAD been passable, I could not have made it on time, so I ended up having to sacrifice a personal day. I helped with the chicken houses, as if it were a weekend, mak8ing some minor repairs, and then spending most of the day inside with the family. School resumed with little trauma the next day, because things had thawed enough to make the roads OK, if not great.
January was slightly cooler than averages, but generally "nice" until the end. Significant rain, not unusual for this time of year, some wintry mix events with marginal accumulation in parts of the state. Pretty normal. Almost.
The middle of the month got cold. Really cold! we had a week of temps reaching down into single digits! During one 3 day stretch, we had daytime highs in the teens or low 20's, and night-time lows in single digits. One day read 7 F, with a wind-chill of -2 degrees!! I have a picture I wish I could post. It shows two blocks of ice. One, very dirty, came a puddle left from all the rain in December and earlier in January. It had been broken up by a feed truck down at house 1. We had been driving over it in the van and pick-up, but the feed trucks come in around 36 tons of feed, plus the truck weight. It was nearly 4 inches thick.
I decided to test the ice on the pond! I walked out about 10-15 feet from the shore, where the water is still only about knee deep, maybe hip deep. I broke out a chunk that was over 3 inches thick. The next 2 days stayed well below freezing, but I never got a chance to go back out and test again.
Jan. 28th became the next snow event. Actually, this is early, but the weather reports were calling for a storm to move in that night. Concord sent students home early. Many of my students at Conway were anticipating a snow day. Well, it happened. We got another storm during the night, which dumped nearly 8 inches of snow in my front yard. Conway got hit too, so I didn't have to worry about anything, except the fact that we were missing a quiz. My students were heartbroken, I'm sure.
Our Stake conference (a regional church conference, for readers unfamiliar with the term) was a very lightly attended event. None of our congregation from Batesville made it, and I'm sure most of the outer reaches of the stake could not make it. The roads were BAD!! Liz was upset, because she had been asked to speak, and was well prepared. Oh well, as Elder Packer said, when we called our Stake President, he did not want anyone risking life and limb to attend the conference, and we should be at peace, and spend a safe, calm, spiritual day at home with our families.
Conway made it to school that week, as the roads had cleared some on Sunday afternoon. Concord did not go back to school til Wednesday, so I got a chance to take Ian with me to school in Conway. It had been a pretty strange month. Tuesday-Friday of that week, the temps reached up into the 50's, with night lows in the 40's!! Nearly all of the snow that had been plowed in our region had melted. Nearly!
Then we got to Sunday night, Feb. 7th. The forecasts had been building to the possibility of heavy accumulation in most of the northern half of the state. They missed a bit. Most of the state got some snow or wintry mix. The northern half (including Drasco) got 8-15 inches. Most hovered around 8-10, but I had heard some reports of 12-15 from extended family of some friends in regions further north.
we have been home from school since, and I just read that Conway is cancelled for tomorrow as well. 3 Days in a row!!?! I will start a new post to talk about our fun 3 days!
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