It's raining!  At last.  The weather report has been claiming we'd have rain any day now for three weeks, but we never got any.  Everything was dry and dusty.  We're finally getting some water.

The boys' school had scheduled an end-of-year trip to the local water park for today.  Unfortunately, a front of thunderstorms has moved itno the area, so the trip has been postponed to Wednesday, when the weather is supposed to be better.  The boys took it well.

Kala's phone rang early this morning--Ann Arbor schools were closed.  Outside we had a lovely coating of slippery snow on the ground.  A fine way to start spring break for me and the boys.

One of the reasons I did the yard work when I did is that we were under a winter weather watch.  Much snow potentially on the way.  Partway through the day, it turned into a winter weather warning.  Six inches of snow expected overnight, more in the morning, et cetera, et ceter-fucking-a.  Spring break and we get the crud.  Kala, who doesn't have spring break right now, is sleeping with the phone in case they cancel school tomorrow.

It's currently snowing like hell out there.  I'm hoping it'll be six inches of snow that won't stick, since the ground is so warm.  We're supposed to hit 50 by Wednesday, so I definitely ain't shoveling.

I'm on spring break now.  So why does that mean the weather has turned crappy?

From the backyard I heard spring peepers this evening. It's the first true sign of spring.

It's 40 degrees out!  I shut off the furnace and opened all the windows to air out the house for the first time in weeks and weeks.  I'm going to take Sam the Dog for a walk in the abandoned meadow, too.  And the sun is shining.

Amazing how nice 40 degrees feels after weeks of sub-zero weather, innit?

The deep freeze continues.  It's been below zero, into double digits below with wind chill.  Yesterday (Thursday) was absolutely horrible outside, and I think the only reason school wasn't canceled at Wherever is that we're in final exam week.  Kala said rumor had it in Ann Arbor that the superintendent there regretted not canceling school.  "You try explaining to eight cognitively impaired students for the third day in a row that they can't go outside to play," she growled.

Thursday was the last day of finals, and Friday (today) was a staff development day at Wherever.  Ann Arbor was scheduled to have school, but they did cancel it for cold, and when AA cancels school, AALC (the boys' school) cancels.  This meant that I had to get up and go to school in the bone-cracking cold while everyone else in my family slept in and stayed home.

It's awful outside.  Just dreadful.  It's been like this for days now, and it's very wearing and difficult on everyone.

Now there's even MORE snow coming!  With wind and nasty wind chill factors.  (They're talking -25 F.)

"I like winter," said a fellow English teacher, "and even I'm getting tired . . . "

We're also in exam week right now.  Not a good time for a snow day.  Yeesh!

Friday evening it snowed and snowed.  Then it stopped.  Saturday morning it started again.  It snowed and snowed and snowed.  And snowed.  Many, many inches fell.  We shoveled the driveway three times.

Up north, where snow in Michigan traditionally falls, they got not a flake.

The weather service predicted a storm for today.  At first it was supposed to start in the evening.  Then it was in the late afternoon, then early afternoon.  At twelve sharp, the snow began.  It snowed and snowed and snowed.

The roads were getting iffy by the time I left school.  Usually I stop at home for a while before picking the boys up from school, but the highway was so slow, I had to go straight to their school.  On the way, I passed two accidents.  The second one was a Total Destruction.  The pickup truck involved was smashed up so badly, the driver's side of the truck bed was folded down and the cab was thoroughly crushed.  Two fire trucks, three cop cars, two ambulances.

Got the boys, and then we edged slowly back home.  I left school at 2:20 and arrived home at 4:15.  But everyone arrived safely.

There are wind chill warnings out all over the place.  The "normal" temperature is about 9 degrees, and with the wind, it's about -10 or -20.  This winter is really turning harsh!

So glad I can stay inside today.

Phone rang at 5:10.  It was the school's new "call everyone at once" system with a recorded announcement that school was canceled for the day.  Just after I hung up, I got a call from the phone tree to tell me the same thing.  I called the next person on my list, and she =hadn't= gotten a robo-call (probably because her number wasn't in the computer or something).

I checked the early news.  Ypsilanti and Willow Run Schools: canceled.  But not Ann Arbor.  Huh.  I got on-line and checked there.  Yep--Ann Arbor and AALC both canceled.  I told the boys and Kala and went back to bed.  Just as I was falling asleep, my phone rang again.  It was a second robo-call from the school.  What the heck?

Went back to bed again, was just falling asleep, and RING!  This time I ignored it and went back to sleep.  When I finally got up some time later, I checked the caller ID.  The third call was the robo-caller.  They better fix that glitch!

By breakfast time, the snow was knee-deep in the back yard.  =So= not going anywhere!

We're supposed to get just oodles and oodles of snow starting some time around 4 a.m.  "Oodles" meaning up to 12 inches at the rate of 1 to 2 inches per hour.

It was the main topic of conversation among both students and teachers at school all across Michigan.  Will winter break be extended by a day?  The principal at Kala's school came over the PA and warned the elementary kids to take home their boots and snow pants and anything else they might want over break just in case.

I'm remaining hopeful but not highly optimistic.  The last TWO times we had winter storm warnings and talk of canceling school, we got a measley inch or less of snow.  This forecast is more dire, but you know how it goes.

I do have to say that it's nice having a job that gets canceled for extremely bad weather (and in which I still get paid).  So many jobs require people to show up (or use a sick day) in such cases.  My mother was a nurse, for example, and the hospital =has= to be staffed, no matter what.  I remember times when she and other hospital staff got trapped at work by blizzards, and they pulled double shifts to replace people who couldn't come in, then slept on cots.  I'm glad in the extreme I don't have to do that.

Sleepin' with the phone again . . .

It snowed icy, nasty snow just before my writers group meeting tonight.  The roads were unexpectedly slick and treacherous.  I arrived at group safely, as did everyone else, and we conducted business as usual.

When I left Sarah's house, I saw the snow was continuing.  Her road was iffy, but the main road was just wet.  Well, good!  Then I got a little further north and all that changed.  The main road leading to my suburb was extremely slippery.  A large pickup truck in front of me crawled along, and I went carefully as well.  There was a white car behind me.

And then the big truck, for no reason I could see, started to slide.  It went into a slow, graceful spin in front of me, turning sideways to block both lanes.  I didn't brake, but I immediately popped into neutral.  The truck continued the spin, sliding across the road like a dinosaur on roller skates.  It finally fetched up on the opposite shoulder, facing the way it had come.  It had done a perfect, slow-motion 180.  Fortunately for everyone involved, there was no oncoming traffic.

I coasted by on momentum, now afraid to do more than five or six miles an hour.  (The truck--and the rest of us--had been doing maybe 20.)  I felt perfectly calm.  I had been giving the truck quite a lot of room, and the whole thing happened so slowly, there was plenty of time to deal, even on ice.

But here's the weird thing--the white car behind me STARTED TAILGATING ME.  The idiot had just seen this huge truck do an icy 180, so he had to know the road was extremely dangerous, but that didn't put him off in the slightest.  He was so close that my rear bumper shielded his headlights.  I couldn't believe it!

I tapped my brake lights a couple of times to warn him.  He backed off, but only about five feet.  Incredible!  My turn was coming up, and I put my signal on way in advance: "WARNING!  I'M GOING TO TURN!  AND YOU KNOW THE ROAD IS SLIPPERY!  DON'T GET TOO CLOSE, YOU BOOB!"

He slowed with me, but continued to tailgate.  I turned.  The new road was even worse.  Unfortunately, Tailgater turned as well.  I crawled along with him on my bumper.  I tapped again to get him to back up, but he wouldn't.  If I started to spin or slide, we'd both get crunched, but this jerk didn't seem to get that.  I thought about pulling over and letting him pass me, but my next turn was only half a block ahead.

I made the next turn, and yet again, Tailgater followed.  I made one more turn, which he didn't make.  He gunned his motor once he was clear of me and immediately went into a skid.  He regained control before he hit anything and went on his way.

I drove the final block home and arrived safely.  Thank heavens for that!

And some people shouldn't be allowed to drive.

We have another winter storm bearing down on us.

I shall go into the corner and whimper for a while now.

If you live in the upper midwest, then you certainly know about the five-to-eight inch blowing snowfall we got last night and this morning.  I slept with the phone on my nightstand.  At 5:20, I was awake, but no call came.  At 5:25, I got up and looked outside.  Shin-deep snow in the yard and driveway.  No call.  I turned on the news and watched the school closings scroll by.

Ann Arbor, closed.  Ypsilanti, closed.  Van Buren, closed.  Willow Run, closed.  West Bloomfield, closed.  Novi, closed.  Bloomfield Hills, closed.

Wherever wasn't listed.

The newscasters, meanwhile, were going on about how awful the roads were, how slippery the highways were, how terrible the side roads were.

My standards about this sort of thing are that if all the districts around me close, I don't drive to work.  I called in and e-mailed lesson plans.  I hate burning sick days like this, but I'm not going to risk my life or my car to get work on one day.

I have the feeling attendance will be low today among students and teachers both.