All the weather forecasters were predicting it – a whole bunch of snow late Sunday night into Monday with significant accumulations. It was certainly cold enough. Laura and I did our regular trek to the grocery store on Sunday, and, of course, certain sections were seriously depleted in anticipation of the storm.
It stayed sunny for most of Sunday. I was a bit surprised when our district called off school so early, but I guess they were taking the forecasts seriously. They turned out to be correct. Monday morning we awoke to a blanket of snow covering everything.
This was the real stuff. We had about eight inches of light fluffy snow. A few smaller flakes continued to fall throughout the day, but the main event was Sunday night, early Monday morning.
Monday I didn’t do much of anything. I was still sore from Saturday’s hike in Congaree Swamp, and I had apparently pulled something in my back during the dog rescue adventure on Sunday. While I would normally have hiked on around to our favorite sledding hill, this time I stayed put.
I could tell from the depth of the snow and the fact that temperatures didn’t rise above freezing that we wouldn’t have school again Tuesday. That was definitely the case. Light sleet and freezing drizzle and put a slick glaze on the snow, so the roads were even more treacherous.
Still a bit sore, I spent the morning doing some school work and working on music for the Chorale. After lunch I felt like venturing out. I tromped through the crunchy ice and snow down to our swamp/wetlands area at the cul-du-sac. It looked like some of the neighborhood kids had gotten there before me.
I continued on around to our favorite sledding hill – Dead Man’s Hill. I had heard the squeals of delight floating across the lake yesterday and this morning. When I arrived there were a few teenagers still sledding, but it looked like the crowds had thinned.
With the glaze of ice the hill had become almost dangerous. At the bottom of the hill the road swerves to the left, and there is a stand of trees. On wood and metal sleds you can steer to avoid the trees. Not so and the little plastic sliders. One parent stood in front of the trees to catch kids, and spared a couple of them from collisions.
The traditional sleds were gaining incredible speeds coming down the hill. Any wipeout had the potential to be very dangerous.
I wandered on back toward the warmth of the house. A couple of our neighbors decided that Dead Man’s Hill was a bit much, and were riding their sleds down the smaller hill on our street down to the cul-du-sac. It was still a significant hill.
So, here it is Tuesday morning, and our third day out of school. A friend on Facebook had heard some traffic report describing the roads as “ice with a few patches of pavement.” Our street is still iced over, and we haven’t ventured out. However, there were no clouds, and the sun rose through a spectacular web of icy branches.
Will we be out of school for a fourth day? I hope not. I actually do have reports due and work to get done. Also, being a twelve-month employee, I don’t get to make up snow days. I have to either work extra hours or take vacation days. However, for the time being we’ll enjoy relaxing one more day, and maybe try to get out of the house to calm the cabin fever.
