The Snow of 2015

Snow is beautiful!

A LONG OVERDUE SNOW. Our local weather started predicting some serious snow as we went into the weekend, calling for it to hit Sunday night or early Monday morning. They said this would be a snow event the likes of which Middle Tennessee hasn’t seen since 2003. According to several forecasters Robertson County was due to get 6-10 inches. Everyone was stocking up at the grocery store on Sunday.

We do have snow, but the storm shifted north a bit so things didn’t turn out quite like all the computer models predicted. The sleet began sometime in the wee hours of Monday morning and continued all morning. By lunchtime we only had about an inch and a half accumulation of sleet on the ground, however, it changed over to snow at noon and snowed for several hours that afternoon bringing our total accumulation to about four inches.

The roads are a mess, and the odd thing about it was that we didn’t see a TDOT truck out scraping the highway at all yesterday. (They were all assigned to the interstate on Monday.) School has been canceled for the week. Even central office employees were told to stay home. Woo-hoo! A week off!

Snow like this is such a novelty for us (granted it is a hardship for some) that it brings life almost to a stop. Not only are schools closed but many other activities are canceled. It really brings life to a standstill and allows time for things you don’t normally get to do. For example, we took supper over to Mom’s house Monday night and last night and had the time to stay and play a game of Spades both evenings. It was a lot of fun.

The boys have enjoyed the snow. The last two days the boys invited the boy next door to go sledding with them back on the farm. We don’t have much of a hill, but they had fun anyway. This afternoon we went to Kilgore Park to do some sledding on the hill there. We were having a lot of fun until Nate sprained his wrist.

As I mentioned above, this snow will stick around a bit. Our temps are expected to take a drop down to 0°F in the morning. Another wave of precipitation is due over the weekend with a brief bounce into the 40s before plunging back down again.

WARM, SUNNY HAITI. Even though Jenna hates to be missing the snow here she sounds like she’s having a great time in Haiti. She has spotty Internet service at the compound where she is staying so we only get to text with her every evening. Due to connectivity issues we’ve only seen a handful of pictures from the trip.

I will wait until she gets back to share the details, but we know they’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with the kids at Emmanuel Orphanage there in Jeremie. They’ve also worked on several small construction projects (a swing set, a basketball goal, and a chicken coop) for the orphanage. Yesterday and today have been devoted to hosting a medical clinic for the community and from what we gather they were very busy both days.

The team is due to return Friday. If the weather forecast holds true they may have an overnight delay in Miami. Either way, coming home will be a tough reminder that it’s still winter here in Tennessee.

TWELVE YEARS. Nate celebrated his birthday Saturday. Actually, he got his cake (strawberry with strawberry icing) Thursday so Jenna could enjoy it before she left. Then Saturday night after the game we came back to Mom’s house with a pizza and threw him a little party. Not quite the same as celebrating your birthday at Disney World like last year but fun none the less.

RAISING MY BOYS RIGHT. What I am about to say is no great revelation if you know me at all, but I say this to own my own geekiness. I have always been a fan of Star Trek, and yes, I’ve even been to a couple of conventions (I got to shake hands with James “Scotty” Doohan once). Whether you want to call me a Trekkie or a Trekker the fact is that I have simply enjoyed the show and it’s spinoffs, and naturally I’ve shared that with my kids.

The boys and I completed watching all the Original Series episodes on Netflix the other day. It has taken us about a year. We’ve moving on to the Next Generation now, which Nate says is a bit of an adjustment (he’s not taken with the bald captain). I’ve always been partial to the Original Series, but I think what I will miss most is how Ben always attempted to sing along with the soprano during the opening credits, especially trying to hit the high note at the end. We’ve laughed more at that than at the campiness of some of the stories.

Joe