Doesn't everyone remember their school snow days? The joy of waking up and not having to get out of bed, not immediately anyway, because there is this great big snowfall and now school is closed?
Madison doesn't often shut down for reasons of snow, but the storm that dumped snow on us came later than expected and stayed later than you'd want if you had to drive your kids to school (or have them stand outside waiting for the bus).
Closed schools aren't necessarily good news for working parents, who then have to come up with clever solutions for childcare. Over at the farmhouse, in the middle of the night, while the snow was quietly but steadily falling, I realized that I had whacked my back out once more. Too much lugging and shoveling. Or, as Ed will point out -- these things happen, sometimes out of the blue and for no good reason. Eventually the back will snap back into its normal functional mode and life will go on. But it takes time. Certainly this morning was a throw away for me. I was stuck. And lifting anything at all was not possible.
In the end, the young parents juggled the kids while I stayed home and did stretches and all those other things you do to get yourself out of a back spasm. By afternoon, I am 90% back on track. Hoping for 99% by tomorrow. It pays to have a cooperative back.
So what pictures can I offer you? Well, of snow, of course! Farmette snow!
(Ed, returning from feeding the cheepers)
(The farmhouse, under siege...)
Cold, windy, slippery.
I left the shoveling to Ed who claims he takes better care of his back than I do.
You don't stretch yours nearly enough! -- he'll tell me somewhat regularly. And he's right. But I will! Going forward!
Breakfast.
By the afternoon, I get bolder. I even manage to get in the car (thanks, Ed, for clearing it of snow for me!) and head out to pick up my new glasses (I can see you now!) and our supply of CSA spinach!
And here's where I really grow bold (and perhaps just a bit too untethered and disoriented without the kids to anchor my day for me): my spinach pickup is right next door to the zoo. Maybe I could take an easy stroll and see a few animals braving the sudden onset of winter? Snowdrop has been on me to tell her stories about zoo trips (of her favorite pretend characters) during our car rides. I could pick up fodder for those tales!
So I walk over to a well plowed (if slippery) space. There is maybe one other visitor. And a zoo person. And that's it. I ask the zoo person -- where are the penguins? It's their best season!
No, our penguins are the African ones. They wouldn't be out in this weather.
African penguins? There are African penguins??
Well who's out then?
He thinks awhile: Bison. And the tiger!
I looked over at the bison. They seem a little out of their element. Dazed by the absence of a vast expanse of the prairie.
But the tiger! Oh, the tiger is not going to give up his daily constitutional merely because of the snow and cold. So oddly enough, on this cold and snowy day, you get this addition to my Ocean post:
A handsome fellow, if a bit frightening in his assuredness, as if telling me by his deliberate stride -- I will prevail! I may be in a zoo today, but we aren't done with that discussion yet. (I assured him that his captivity was not my fault and spring would come and things would look better again and then I skedaddled out of there in case he really started to assert himself more forcefully. That fencing didn't look that sturdy to me!)
At home again, all is calm.
Well, mostly calm. I come upon two cats eating out of the cat dish and honestly, I don't think either is Stop Sign, though perhaps they are her closest kin.
Oh, winter in Wisconsin! So full of challenges! But when it snows -- so very beautiful!
Madison doesn't often shut down for reasons of snow, but the storm that dumped snow on us came later than expected and stayed later than you'd want if you had to drive your kids to school (or have them stand outside waiting for the bus).
Closed schools aren't necessarily good news for working parents, who then have to come up with clever solutions for childcare. Over at the farmhouse, in the middle of the night, while the snow was quietly but steadily falling, I realized that I had whacked my back out once more. Too much lugging and shoveling. Or, as Ed will point out -- these things happen, sometimes out of the blue and for no good reason. Eventually the back will snap back into its normal functional mode and life will go on. But it takes time. Certainly this morning was a throw away for me. I was stuck. And lifting anything at all was not possible.
In the end, the young parents juggled the kids while I stayed home and did stretches and all those other things you do to get yourself out of a back spasm. By afternoon, I am 90% back on track. Hoping for 99% by tomorrow. It pays to have a cooperative back.
So what pictures can I offer you? Well, of snow, of course! Farmette snow!
(Ed, returning from feeding the cheepers)
(The farmhouse, under siege...)
Cold, windy, slippery.
I left the shoveling to Ed who claims he takes better care of his back than I do.
You don't stretch yours nearly enough! -- he'll tell me somewhat regularly. And he's right. But I will! Going forward!
Breakfast.
By the afternoon, I get bolder. I even manage to get in the car (thanks, Ed, for clearing it of snow for me!) and head out to pick up my new glasses (I can see you now!) and our supply of CSA spinach!
And here's where I really grow bold (and perhaps just a bit too untethered and disoriented without the kids to anchor my day for me): my spinach pickup is right next door to the zoo. Maybe I could take an easy stroll and see a few animals braving the sudden onset of winter? Snowdrop has been on me to tell her stories about zoo trips (of her favorite pretend characters) during our car rides. I could pick up fodder for those tales!
So I walk over to a well plowed (if slippery) space. There is maybe one other visitor. And a zoo person. And that's it. I ask the zoo person -- where are the penguins? It's their best season!
No, our penguins are the African ones. They wouldn't be out in this weather.
African penguins? There are African penguins??
Well who's out then?
He thinks awhile: Bison. And the tiger!
I looked over at the bison. They seem a little out of their element. Dazed by the absence of a vast expanse of the prairie.
But the tiger! Oh, the tiger is not going to give up his daily constitutional merely because of the snow and cold. So oddly enough, on this cold and snowy day, you get this addition to my Ocean post:
A handsome fellow, if a bit frightening in his assuredness, as if telling me by his deliberate stride -- I will prevail! I may be in a zoo today, but we aren't done with that discussion yet. (I assured him that his captivity was not my fault and spring would come and things would look better again and then I skedaddled out of there in case he really started to assert himself more forcefully. That fencing didn't look that sturdy to me!)
At home again, all is calm.
Well, mostly calm. I come upon two cats eating out of the cat dish and honestly, I don't think either is Stop Sign, though perhaps they are her closest kin.
Oh, winter in Wisconsin! So full of challenges! But when it snows -- so very beautiful!
