Falling On Our Bums

Well, I think we have most likely covered most of the harsh winter conditions this month. We thought the massive blizzard two weeks ago was bad. We were not prepared for freezing rain. In Utah, either the lake effect dumps massive amounts of snow on us, or it is just too freezing for any moisture to dump from the sky. Yesterday, the inversion allowed the elements to align just perfectly so as to cause a frozen mist to cascade from the sky consistently throughout the day.

This caused a perfect layer of ice to coat any and all outdoor surfaces. It was quite a sight to see. I stayed bundled up in my warm house all day, but when it came time to retrieve the children from their various schools, I caught a glimpse of just how crazy this freezing rain had been. My driveway was a sheet of ice. I tried to sprinkle ice melt across the surface. It was futile. 

Picking Sabrina up from school, I watched about six giggling teenagers fall on their bums. Fortunately, Sabrina was not one of those teenagers. I have a feeling that she would not have been giggling.

I couldn't make it up my driveway. Sabrina would have to brave the ice sheet to get into the house. I then proceeded to the elementary school. Apparently, they had let school out ten minutes early. I didn't get the memo. I now got to watch little children fall on their bums. Spencer had been one of those children, but he said he was fine. They had cancelled recess since the entire blacktop looked like an ice rink. The boys made it into the vehicle without an incident.

The only child to retrieve was Jessica. I had called her and told her not to attempt to go to her car. The roads were perfectly fine due to consistent traffic and lots of ice melt, but I was worried about her making it through the ice sheet of a parking lot with her cello in hand. I had horrid visions of broken bones and a broken cello. Neither one seemed worth the risk. So I told her to stay put and Neil and I would come get her. Jessica sat at school and watched various teenagers and adults fall on their bums.

She had a cello lesson after school. I wanted to cancel, but Neil is a little braver than I. He tracted in this kind of weather on a consistent basis in Finland. Here is a picture of Neil helping Jessica skate to her teacher's front doorstep. 

And here is a picture of him shuffling across the ice with Jessica's precious cello. You can see the look of concern on Jessica's face. It's quite possible that she would break a bone before she would allow her cello to experience so much as a scratch. Which is why Neil is carrying the cello. Despite being 15 minutes late, Jessica got a full lesson, because, here's a shocker, the next student didn't show up. 

After the lesson, we went back to the high school to retrieve Jessica's car. It took some serious scraping to chip the ice away from the windows, but Neil was able to get it out of the parking lot and home without a problem.

Upon getting home, we noticed that the driveway cement was still warm enough that the ice was just sitting loosely on the top. Neil was able to scrape the ice off in shattered sheets. He shoveled the pieces onto the snow, and they would just glide smoothly across the snow. You see, all of the snow had a nice layer of ice over the top. To touch the snow was like touching an iceberg. 

I had Neil drive me to Bunko last night. And after a delightful night with the ladies, we said a short prayer in our vehicles and somehow made it home safely, despite the phone call that everyone received from the police department to avoid driving on the roads at all costs. As we drove past the park, the lights were reflecting off the sheen layer of ice that covered the snow. It literally looked like a frozen lake. We understood how treacherous the ice was, but we could't help but admire its beauty. 

Jessica woke us up at 6:00 a.m. to inform us that school would be starting two hours later due to the icy conditions. A nice happy medium between having an "Ice Day", when we haven't even made up our "Snow Day" yet,  and just turning a blind eye to the conditions and hoping that everyone somehow made it to school in one piece. The kids were thrilled, and quite frankly, so was I. I drove the kids to school in the fog. Yep, that about covers it, crazy blizzard, record breaking freezing temperatures, freezing rain, and now fog. I think it's time for some blue skies and temperatures above freezing. Wouldn't you agree?