Snowcation!

We had an unplanned vacation last week. Snow will do that for you when you work in education. According to our local weathermen we had the biggest snow since 2003. Vicki was in her last month of pregnancy with Nate back then and remembers being a bit worried about getting to the hospital in the event he came early.

Monday before last (the 18th) was already a holiday with Martin Luther King Day and the forecast showed two snow events looming on the horizon. We are never sure how much stock to put into these predictions because so many times we hear that the upcoming snow will pack an inch or two and we only get a dusting. That was sort of the case for the first system that came through Wednesday morning. We got something like a half inch of sleet/snow with that but it made everything slick enough that we got out of school.

Ben has really wanted to get the driving experience so as soon as he got up he wanted to go for a spin. We went over to check on Mom. He did pretty well for his first slick road driving.

While there Ben made a quick snowman by stacking three snowballs. I squatted down and took a low angle shot of it with Mom standing at her door in the background and texted it off for family to see. Funny thing was that the perspective really threw Vicki off. We took supper over there that night and when she got there she was shocked to see he snowman was only 14" high.

We wound up missing school last Thursday due to icy back roads. The main roads were pretty clear. What had everyone's attention was the timing of the next snow. It was predicted to get here late Friday afternoon starting with rain before converting to snow. When Vicki got home from work and grocery shopping that night she declared, "I don't care if it snows or not we have to eat at home for the next week."

It was snowing here by 6:00 am last Friday morning and it snowed all day. Our best guess is that we got 6"-7", but it's sort of hard to tell because the wind (which gusted to 20 mph) caused a lot of drifting. Many of our friends from church were reporting deeper snow on Facebook. There were places in our yard that were up to my knees while others were very shallow. This shut everything down. TDOT was simply overwhelmed. They had to concentrate on the interstates and we didn't see them scrape the highway in front of the house until Sunday. As a result there was no mail or newspaper until Monday. It was a good thing Vicki stocked up because several stuck trailer trucks had the highway closed. We could get to Mom's and back but from what we understand the bridge to Cross Plains was one of several places along 25 that were closed.

The boys got out Saturday and headed back to where the big pond used to be to do some sledding. They said the snow was really deep along the trees. We all got out Saturday to play. We built a snowman. He turned out to be about 3' tall because the snow wasn't packing. Then we decided to go exploring across the road a bit. We took supper over to Mom's almost every night and played Spades with her before returning home.

Sunday brought some warmer temps but not enough for anyone to have church. That's when we starting seeing our friends complain of cabin fever on Facebook (which Ben mistakenly called hay fever). I can't say that I have cabin fever yet. I've enjoyed being off and having some time to get things done at home. And I enjoy stepping back into the routine of life once again--except for the getting up at 4:30 part. I miss sleeping in.

The boys and I went back to school Tuesday but the icy back roads kept Robertson County (and thus Jenna) home another day. We still have bits of lingering snow here and there as a reminder of last week. Our 3’ tall snowman we built is now a lump of snow that’s about the size of my shoe. There’s something sad to me about watching a good snowman suffer a slow death.

Joe

Jenna’s Final Stretch

There was a skiff of snow on the ground when we woke up this morning—just enough to be pretty. We had new gravel put on our driveway while we were away. It’s so white right now the joke has been that we have snow outside. When Ben got up this morning he was so used to seeing the new gravel out the window that he was surprised to see it actually had snowed.

VISITING THE JONESES

We headed out to Georgia right after I sent out the last edition (the 30th) for our annual family visit with the cousins. It’s always fun just to go hang out at the Jones house.

The Jones family had just retuned from a ten day trip to Italy the day before. They scheduled their trip at this time so that they could celebrate mass at the Vatican on Christmas. From their stories and pictures that experience itself was amazing as was the rest of their trip. They flew in and out of Switzerland and took a high speed train to Italy where they also visited Assisi, Pisa, and Florence. We have a group text running between our families (which Jenna named “The Eatingest Bunch” because that’s what Pauline always called us) so we had a great time following their travels with the occasional picture while they were away. Still, it was good to hear more of the details when we saw them in person.

We had a good time laughing, cutting up, and playing together, though they were all suffering from a bit of jet lag so the schedule was a bit off. For example, no one stayed up for late night Scrabble the first night and I think most everyone had clocked in before the New Year rolled in the next night. This is saying something because I’m usually the only one who can’t stay awake to see in the new year. Emily was also a bit under the weather which put a damper on things for her.

We did get out a couple of times. The boys and I went to see Star Wars and then we all went out to eat Mexican last Saturday night. By last Sunday morning it was time to load up the van and head home. We were all sad to see our break come to an end, Nate most of all.

JENNA’S LAST SEMESTER

It is so hard to believe Jenna’s last term of high school has begun. We drove through Trevecca’s campus on the way home last Sunday. It’s beautiful, though I’d like to see it bustling with activity rather than closed for the holidays. I jealously guard this time, though I know we are already caught up in the routine of life and the time will pass before we’re ready. Enough of that.

Jenna went back to school on Wednesday. East Robertson being on a block schedule means she has a completely new slate of classes: College Algebra (another dual enrollment course), Economics and Government (two half semester courses), Advanced Computer Applications, and Service Learning.

THE BUS ROUTE

The boys and I returned to school on Monday. Davidson Academy is not on a block schedule but all my classes are semester courses so I have a brand new batch of students. This also means I do not have Ben or Nate in class any longer. One class, the 7th grade Intro to Technology, is a repeat from last semester and I have two sections of that. The other, Exploring Computer Science II, is a second part of the one I taught last semester, and I have students from that class who have chosen to continue along with me. The good thing is that I can focus on improving the 7th grade class this time around and I can teach website development to my ECS 2 class which I’ve always wanted to do. The only changes to the boys’ schedules are that they have Bible classes in the periods where they had my classes.

My bus route began Monday. If all I can think of to complain about is dodging a ladder in the middle of the interstate (at least this nasty surprise was laying parallel with the flow of traffic) than I have nothing to complain about. This past week I’ve had anywhere from seven to fifteen students on board, all of them nice, well behaved kids. All seems good here, though any prayers while I’m on the road with these students would be appreciated.

BRACE YOURSELF!

Jenna and Nate wear contacts and glasses (respectively) and deal with allergies. Ben has always cruised along without any of that. This is not to say Ben never gets sick and needs medicine, just nothing long term or expensive, until now. The last trip to the dentist we were advised that Ben would need braces. Thursday was his first trip to the orthodontist. He came home with spacers and a plan for 22 months in braces followed by a lifetime of wearing a retainer. He says he’s already noticed his teeth have shifted. Pretty soon the tin grin will be in. So will a mouth guard when he’s playing ball making it hard to communicate with his teammates on the court. Necessary, but no fun.

PERSISTENCE DOESN’T ALWAYS PAY OFF

I do not startle easily. In fact, I almost never get startled at all. This is not to say that I am never surprise or scared, I just almost never react with an involuntary jump neither do I make any noise. Aunt Mar was always easily startled and as a boy I loved to jump out of hiding and scare her.

Nate has decided it his his goal to scare me. For the past several weeks he has jumped out from the most unexpected places and yelled “BOO!” at me. I NEVER flinch. And I must admit he is good at hiding and even better and stealthily slipping up behind me to give me a start. All I can say is get used to disappointment kid because the reaction you’re looking for just ain’t gonna happen. He sure is giving it an admirable effort though.

Joe