Good Old Fashioned Winter

Yes, I know I post too frequently about weather, but this must be written about. We had snow squalls and blowing snow yesterday, which meant white-outs (for those of you who do not experience winter, that means the snow is blowing across the road so much that you lose visibility and you just creep along (because you dare not stop on the road in case someone is behind you) and wait until the wind dies down enough so that you can see the road again and figure out if you are on the correct side or not). Schools were open, as they always are, and teachers take turns supervising the 50 or so children who get brought in by their parents because buses are cancelled.

As the day proceeded, a lot of nervous staff members were watching the weather out the windows, looking at their phones, checking for road closures... which did happen. When school let out at 3:10 and parents came to retrieve their children, some teachers drove home and some teachers went to other teacher's homes. I managed to get home, and we had our daughter's boyfriend come to our house because the road that he lives on had been closed. He spent the night (she's in the city at university, he's now done and employed in a town relatively close to us). The storm raged on through the night.

When I woke at 6:00 a.m. and started checking emails and the Board website, it said buses were cancelled but school was open. However, within moments, I received an email put out by our principal that the school was now closed. This NEVER happens. It was because the road the school is on was declared closed.

We live on the boarder between two counties. The county to the east of us has declared all roads closed. The county to the west of us has closed most main roads. Now at 9:30, the sun is shining and it looks beautiful. If you travel 30 minutes to the west, there are whiteouts and the same mess as yesterday. When you get a guilt free day like today, where you don't feel obligated to try to get to work, it is a gift!

Here are some pictures of what it looks like right now.

This is a spider web on my back porch.

My forsythia shrub!!  The branches look like big fat pipe cleaners.

Snow drifted up against a back door.

My footprints (wearing hubby's big boots) slogging my way back to the chicken coop. It was thigh deep.

Everything is coated. It makes me think of spray foam insulation.

Beautiful drifts in the chicken run. They will not be going outside anytime soon!

The plough just went past our house. I wonder if roads will be opening up? We have a visitation to go to for a dear woman in our little village. I need to check if it will even happen today or be postponed. Otherwise, it's a good day to curl up and read.