I was just downriver from you and remember all the same! I can remember the yummy tomato soup mom often had for us when we came home for lunch. I also remember some bullies throwing ice balls at me walking home from school (it seemed far but was only probably 1/2 mile) and my big brother chasing after them!
This amount of snow would have definitely become a snow fort!
My kids had more snow days than I did. But I was in elementary school during the blizzard of 1978 (had 2 ft of snow before the blizzard hit, another foot or so during it along with 50-70 mph winds that created huge snow drifts and one of the lowest barametric pressures recorded in the US outside a hurricane). Missed a fair number of days that school year (including the entire week of the blizzard).
We never walked home for lunch. My dad did though. Every day no matter the weather (refused rides during snow, rain, etc). We did walk to school though. Grade school through high school.
I walked home for lunch (and back, of course) every day of fifth and sixth grade - before girls could wear pants to school and in gloomy Seattle weather, because I had braces and had to brush my teeth after eating. Could I have done that at school? Of course, but I was too embarrassed. So I walked an extra mile every day (and with steep hills) to avoid the abject humiliation of being seen with toothpaste foam in my mouth….
Yes, I was a strange child.
But back o the storm: we had the predicted ice, then wind and snow. Fortunately not ice to damage trees in my neighborhood, so we seem good unless the power goes out.
I didn’t sleep well last night. I could hear the freezing rain all night long.
Crossing fingers here in Dallas. My neighborhood has tons of trees and I worried about this. So far so good as far as I know (but honestly haven’t been out and about to see), but we have a couple more really cold nights to go in terms of protecting our pipes and other issues.
I used to love snow days, but after what happened last year, it just makes me anxious.
No doubt. That was a terrible terrible situation last year. You won’t ever forget it! And it certainly creates stress to think of it happening even lesser again!
Are you Ralphie’s little brother?!?!? (That was a reference to A Christmas Story, if it’s not obvious to some.)
I went to school in Wisconsin. We had 2 snow days. Not two per year, two in the time I was in 2nd thru 11th grade.
Have to say that they did not do a late start here today and it was -6 when I left for the bus stop. Really, it wasn’t that bad (sun out, no wind).
Growing up in north Texas, we usually had 1 or 2 snow days most years, or at least every other year. Texans get all ruffled when we have 2 inches of snow or we get sleet/freezing rain, so everything shuts down. We LOVED them! My mom would bake cookies and some kind of yummy hot meal like chili or chicken pot pies. We’d sleep late, watch movies, etc. I used to watch the weather reports hopefully whenever they predicted possible snow.
What we didn’t do, and what I didn’t observe my parents doing, was have serious concern about losing power for a week straight or having floods in our house due to bursting pipes. I’m guessing because we had a lower population, stressing the grid wasn’t an issue. Power outages would mostly have occurred due to falling trees or ice on power lines.
Maybe things have really changed for the (much) worse here due to increase in population and inattention to infrastructure, or maybe my parents were just really good at shielding us from bad news. All I know is that now I dread the thought of bad weather and potential for losing electricity.
Storm is finally done for us. Hard to tell our total accumulation because of so much blowing and drifting which we will do our LAST round of this storm clean up today. We def didn’t get the 20 inches they talked about - but whatever is out there, it’s MORE than enough!
Sugarloaf Ski Resort, Maine. It’s packed! We aren’t the only idiots to drive here in the snowstorm. We’re abandoning ship because it would be too hard to park the car with the snowmobile behind it. On to our hotel.
Pic didn’t show!
My kid is in the snow for their first winter ever, training part-time in another state at a sports facility. Spouse is currently there, working remote. I am chilling in the sun, and am not mentioning that much.
No car where they are (we rent to run errands). Kid walks from where we stay in town, to the facility, then back, as needed. Big change from the coast and the beach. (I grew up in the Northeast and consider this character-building.)
I do fly on Tuesday overnight to see them next week.
Does a snowshoe/walking stick combo need to be checked luggage or can that be considered for carry-on? I found a set for the kid second-hand and would like to bring that to them.
My mother has trek poles (with a point, but covered with a rubber stopper) and she was allowed to take them on the airplane with her. She does take a wheelchair from the front, thru security, and then to the gate and she’s 86 so I don’t think they felt she was a danger. She didn’t tell me she was taking them until she was about to go to the airport at 3 am so I didn’t have a chance to look it up on the TSA or airline site before she left.
My brother who traveled with her uses a cane sometimes but he didn’t this trip. Did get stopped for his new hip and new knee.
Are snowshoes too big for the overhead? Are the longer or wider than a carry on bag? (22" by 14"?)
