Three Hour Dismissal cancelled due to weather!

Here I am. In school with kids and plans for a three hour early dismissal.

Sunday night

If it is NIGHT, how may one call it SUNday?

It's raining.

Raining.

Raining.

The bright spot was the arrival of The Strother Family. Delia has straight A's and a very fashionable hair cut. She is still recovering from her bronchitis, but is almost well - she went back to school Friday. I wish I had a picture, but she is shy.

We had a quiet time.

What a BE-U-Tiful Day

Can Spring be far behind?

Windy came.
I washed the outside of the car. I went grocery shopping.
Daddy stayed inside and suffered through more cop shows on TV.
The daylight didn't leave until 6Pm.
Can Spring be far behind?

How to spend a Saturday in the altered Universe.

Greetings Earthlings,

I overslept again this morning. I awakened twice during the night, but I said to myself (who else would be listening?) I'll just crawl back into this bed for one more hour of sweet sleep - cause I was dreaming....

On my present planet, nothing is started, continued or completed unless I command it to be so. It's a peculiar feeling.

All the choices I have.

I decided to wash laundry, take out the garbage to the truck for later disposal, get the newspaper (the temperature was so warm that I didn't even wear a coat) and take a shower before I got dressed. [not necessarily in that order - but who cares - on my planet, I see no one unless I decide to see ...]

Windy came. We did our caregiving and I set out in the truck for my supershopping extravaganza at the fabulous Wally-world and the magnificent Krogers, with a side stop at the boulevard and the drugstore.

I could stand up [hanging on to the shopping cart] approximately two and one half hours, then I had to pop open a Guava juice from the groceries in the front seat, and grab some fries at the nearest drivethru and steer the truck toward the valley.

Besides the cost of groceries @100 bucks and supplies -also @ 100 bucks- the time away from the valley cost the lump sum of $60.00 - but I did get help with caregiving and carrying in the groceries and taking down the Christmas lights and folding some laundry... everyday chores I am constantly doing [just like everyone else in this altered universe of mine, I imagine.]

I am fighting this computer to get to print [the mouse is the problem, I hope.] Also to access blogs and regular stuff - it must be cleaned up, or else i should by a new one ;) but I digress.

I got a card from Joey -from SanDiego. He's back in NYC getting ready to leave again.

I got a letter from Susie, written when it was bitterly cold in FLA. I heard from Leah - she's living in her new digs: the hot water froze in the wall, but the thaw had not come when she talked to me last week.

All this is grist for my altered universe - one where I can read about the outside world but can not participate in it. ...sorta like being stranded on a planet with one-way communications but no teleporter. Oh yeah, the car's odometer just turned over 140 thousand miles (2001) and the truck has had a birthday: it's 6 years old. Dr. Sickles is out of jail [he was sentenced to 3 years] He fixed Stanley's hip in November - December 2005. In my altered universe, time stands still until something hiccups and a calendar page flops down from the wall. But my hair keeps growing and so do my fingernails - creepy, huh!

Well, I'm signing off this communication for now. I'll take off the tinfoil cap and return it to the table near the tv set until the next time.

Na Nu Na Nu

Tuesday...er isn't it?

Robert Wagner is Tony Dinozo's father!

Haiti has a 7.0 earthquake.

Public Debt checks take 12 days to clear. Go figure...

Excuse the interruption - we are again snowed in [in the valley]

Someone called last night around 8:45pm to say "School is closed tomorrow - Friday 1-8-10", so I rolled over and went back to sleep.

I had forgotten how exhausting dealing with HA* students who are not EVEN diagnosed ADHD, but just acting out after a two week hiatus can be. And I was sleeping in the chair in Dad's room while he finished the big meal of some Mexican beef roll-ups (which I brought back from the store earlier last night.)

Taylor County made the right decision: we had school on Thursday. All DAY! No early dismissal. The roads were clear when I left (and if I had not stopped to get food I would not have been in trouble.) However, I did stop at Kroger's on the hill.

When I started the trek home at 15 til 5, the snow had begun in earnest roads were beginning to get slick. By the time I reached the driveway, it was covered - about 3 inches of wet snow - and Linda's truck was warming up at the top of the drive with lights glaring toward me.

I tried. I backed down and checked to see if I was in danger of hitting the light pole. I was a foot from the "protection barrier" so I backed into the road to drive around and try again. No harm, no foul.

Linda and Sandy shoveled and swept while I was trying again. Then I drove to Adamston to turn around and by the time I got back, 15 til 6, they cheered me as I drove up the drive. What a success. I couldn't have done it with out help. They brought the mail up too.

Linda said I should wear the "life alert" necklace so she wouldn't worry about me falling down the step or into a snowbank.

Getting older is not what I thought it would be. Maybe I can reverse ageing if I get new glasses and better footwear. I'll shop for that. Now, what can I do about losing my mind?

Do they have a pet monkey I can train as a slave to help me with that?

Extended Winter Break - yippee!

It's Wednesday, January 6, 2010 - a.k.a. Twelfth Night. Another Snow Day for Mon, Marion, Harrison, Taylor, Doddridge, Lewis... you get the picture.

A present from "the Powers that Be" to all -I'm sure there are many thankful recipients.

And if this picture of my life were truly accurate, I would have no stress; however, this is my wishful ideal. I'm out the door to sweep the driveway a little... maybe today I'll shower and fix my hair ;) -otherwise visitors will have to wear a mask to enter-if anyone can get here today.

Sandy says there is more snow on her driveway in Marshville. She fell last night cleaning the drive for Sam, who has one hip replaced already. (I'll be careful.) And, the weatherman says there is more snow on the way Thursday afternoon [tomorrow]. Go Figure! Sunny for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I see a pattern here - back to school next week, I guess.

Well, I plan to take care of Daddy, and pay bills today. What are you all doing?

What's up, Doc?

Another Snow Day. And predictions for more icy, cold, lake-effect snow. January 5 - Tuesday...

I've been outside, sweeping - twice now. The wind is sharp. The sun has allowed the driveway to darken, momentarily, until the next wave of fluffy 1/2 inch flakes alights on top the icy black road to the mailbox. And now, the path matches the surrounding hillside - white, crisp, cold, unmarked.

Icicles hanging from the front porch gutter attest to the power of the sun (or maybe the heat of the furnace escaping through the roof.)

I'm tired. [But not from snow sweeping effort.]

All I want to do is sleep.

But since I'm not the only one here, I got to keep upright. And so I will.

There were only bills in the mailbox. There was nothing in the paper to interest me. And so, I'll close this until I get something unusual to write about...

Happy Snow Day, Delia!

January 4, 2010 The First School Day of the new year -- It's official - Harrison is in school - 2 hour delay, poor suckers! but...
Taylor and Monongahela have the day off.
Yippee

SnowBird Report for January 4, 2010

Two postings in one day. Whew! I really don't want to do school work (or any other work...) tonight.

I figured out how to get rid of the thing that wouldn't go away... No, that's not a 7th grader hanging around my desk - it is the flashing gif file that was in my blog header. Pretty cool change, don't ya think. That picture is "Christmas Storm of 2009" - Today's January Lake Effect Snow is not nearly this deep and pretty.

Gotta go back and clean up the kitchen - I cooked today - what an experience!

And as to the title of this posting:

Too bad Taylor County is not posting a delay like Harrison County at 6PM tonight - and I wonder when Mon. and Marion will wake up to the fact that it's COLD at 9 degrees at 7:30 am.

Sunny Sunday - January 3, 2010 - BRRRRRRRRR

Happy SunnyDay.

All the work I did yesterday to clear the driveway paid off. Lake-effect snow; bah humbug!

The sun has cleaned the path.

I can access the newspaperbox and the mail box with no "fear of falling" ;) there were some letters in the box (that I neglected to pick up after I trekked to Kroger's yesterday) The Sunday paper is full of nothing. It's too friggin cold to stay out when the wind blows - those deer with lighted bodies will just have to wait til Spring to get put away.

Susie Wrote. Her letter had a hand-drawn frog. She's just the person to light up my day.

Joey's handwritten card came, too. What a wonderful guy. I'm glad he's my nephew. Must have been the day for nieces and nephews...

It's nearly noon - I'd better get crackin' [the dreaded school starts again tomorrow]

Oh, yeah - the cat is shedding bunches from her belly/side. She sleeps in dark corners of the closet (and the occasional living room chair) and prowls the night with me - it's just TOO cold to be outside and hunt for man or beast.

It's either nap time or get to work time... what do you think?

L8tr.