Can't Stop. Won't Stop. Snowing.

In case you were unaware, Washington state has been experiencing the most snow since 1923.  Puget Sound is not accustomed to large amounts of snow.  This problematic snow situation is exacerbated by the 2nd hilliest metropolitan area in the country, lack of infrastructure (severe lack of plows, sand, salt), and wet snow with lots of layers of compact snow and ice on the road.  Basically, Puget Sound has shut down.

My hats off to the meteorologists who have been uncannily accurate in the predictions.  The snow started a week ago Sunday.  Monday was a snow day.  Hooray!  Tuesday was a snow day weird but cool.  Wednesday was late start for school.  Thursday was normal.  Friday was early dismissal due to snow.  The forecast predicted a 2 pm storm start.  Instead snow began falling right at noon as students left.  I jammed as much instruction as I could into those few days, giving all my students everything they could possibly want to study for tests and hoped for the best. 

The snow never really melted from that first snow storm.  It's usually rare for it to snow during the day in the lowlands.  Normally, it snows at night.  You wake up to snow and then it rains and everything goes away.  Nope.  Not this time.  It was cold and the snow stayed around.  Thursday I went grocery shopping with the rest of the population.  Store shelves were cleared.  No milk, no bread, no eggs.  Lines all the way to the back of the store. Then Friday it started snowing and didn't stop.  It snowed all Friday and through midday Saturday.  There was more Sunday, a lot more.  It just kept coming.  It snowed so much that even Dave's work closed!  Monday it snowed all.day.long. 

Linus took the opportunity to relax.

Dave and the kids spent a lot of time building/engineering in his workshop.  Eileen came up with the idea of making her own snow boots.  She saw where the weather was headed early on.  Eileen drilled her own holes, but Dave helped with securing the ropes.

 This pic is obviously before the Friday storm hit.

During the first storm, the kids and Dave built a fort. The miracle of snow is that it has the ability to turn siblings into playmates.

As the snow fell in earnest, I couldn't help but think of that song, "It's a marshmallow road."  Eventually all evidence of play disappeared, bushes and trees collapsed.   There was well over a foot of snow on the ground in places.  You can seem that the porch no longer looks multi-leveled and the snow is almost up to the bench. 

With everyone home due to snow on Monday, we decided to make the best of it and go sledding at an old school nearby (Aldercrest). I snagged the last three sleds at Big 5.  It wasn't too crowded and was great sledding.

One sled did not survive the experience.  I still consider it $7.50 well spent. Eileen and I decided to walk home (a little over a mile).

Yes, the snow has been magical.  Yes, we've watched movies, played board games, drunk hot cocoa in front of the fire while our clothes dried.  Today alone we did five 100 piece puzzles, one 200 piece, and a ridiculously hard 500 piece is on the kitchen table now.  We've baked cookies, made a dump cake, and read books.  I finally organized my binder of recipes.  I've updated my classroom website, sent emails to parents, and worked on my next unit for science.  The laundry is folded.  The bedding is washed.  The kids have built forts of all kinds.

But to be clear.  I AM OVER IT!!!!!

The fighting, the making annoying sounds until someone screams, the whining, the begging for more screens, the whining, the refusal to follow directions, the whining, and did I mention the fighting? 

It's not like summer break, where I can at least leave the house.  No.  First I have to dig the car out.  Then I have to hope the roads are clear (lots of fallen trees).  Everyone I would want to visit lives on hills that are in no way safe to attempt.  It's not like the kids want to go anywhere.  That might interfere with getting additional screentime.

Our garbage has now missed two weeks of pickups.  Our snow shovel is broken (but technically usable) and all stores are sold out of shovels.  I have now shoveled the driveway twice.  Dave has done it once.  The driveway is made worse by the fact that our road gets plowed so all the snow from the street is sent flying onto our driveway.  My body aches so badly from all the shoveling.

Today is Tuesday.  There is no school tomorrow due to snow.  Thursday is Valentine's Day and was already scheduled to be a half day.  I just want normalcy.  I want give my students their math and science tests and move on.  I have things to teach!  I feel bad for the teacher tasked with putting on the school musical in a week when there has been no school....

Snow is fun.  A snow day, singular, as in one snow day is cool.  Snow weeks are not. I'm sure the kids will look back on this time fondly.  Dave has been awesome at helping them engineer different things.  Even Robin has been busy building.  I no longer have to feel guilty for not taking the kids sledding in the mountains. I haven't even gotten the kids chocolates or anything for Valentines Day.  Whoops. 

I have faith that someday the snow will melt.  The pile of snow in front of my house is several feet deep so it may be with us for a while as a testament to our survival of the Seattle Snowpocalypse 2019.  Tomorrow I will wear cozy clothes, drink coffee, read a book, take lots of ibuprofen for my aching body, finish the owl puzzle, and hide from my children.  Because tomorrow is a snow day.