I have come to the conclusion that soon I will have more time for 'blogging. You may wonder why... "Is Don quitting his job?" "I thought that his semester didn't end until early in May."
The actual reason is I WON'T BE ABLE TO LEAVE THE HOUSE!
The meteorological types have been referring to this winter as an "old-fashioned" one. I guess this is one area where "the old-fashioned way ISN'T good enough for me!" I'm really tired of it. In addition, although I usually get some benefit from snow days, this year I haven't, and it seems that all of the storms have come for a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday morning - my teaching days when I have to be in Potsdam for 7:30 a.m.
This past Wednesday was yet another example. We got hammered with a combination storm: snow, sleet, freezing rain (probably mostly sleet). I got up early Wednesday morning (a little before 5), knowing that it would be a mess. All schools were closed. SUNY Potsdam (the college from which I'm ON LEAVE) was closed. SUNY Canton had canceled all classes until 11 a.m. Clarkson? Nothing... I cleared a path, shoveling sand-like, mealy, granular snow out of my way. I took "Wendy's" Avalanche to work, otherwise I wouldn't be able to get out of the driveway. SHE DIDN'T NEED IT ANYWAY. I left at 6:30 to get there in a timely manner. Surprise, surprise, I didn't have to deal with much traffic!
So, I teach all of my classes Wednesday, listening to my students gripe about having classes when everything else was closed down. Of course, they had to walk from their dorms to the lecture hall, with a few exceptions. I pitied them.
Wednesday evening, I get home and pull in the driveway. The trip home had seemed a little tough, even for the truck. On a couple of occasions, I felt like I was going to lose control. Why? I HAD DRIVEN FROM POTSDAM ON A FLAT TIRE! I pumped it up, and fortunately it held air so I could plow. However, the truck was unsafe to drive. Our new Wal-Mart Supercenter had opened Wednesday morning, and they had cheap tires! Thursday morning, I had all four replaced (they needed it anyway), and it ONLY cost about $500.
Thursday I heard that another major storm event is approaching for the weekend. Oh, joy! We had already planned to go to my aunt's in Saranac Lake to spend Friday night, and we were going regardless. I fastened the plow to the truck, and we headed (slightly) south with our new tires digging in deep.
Friday night - a couple of inches, with some sleet and freezing rain mixed in. We went out for breakfast with my aunt and some friends. We went to the store, then back to my aunt's apartment. We played Scrabble. Outside, the weather worsened, with rain picking up more steadily and sleet making itself known against the windows. We finally left Saranac Lake around 3 p.m., heading home. We drove through constant sleet, although the new tires were making their value evident. We stopped in Malone for some KMart shopping, and finally arrived home around 5:30. After a quick trip into town to get a few essentials, we logged onto http://www.stlawu.edu/ and watched the playoff hockey game stream as the pinging from outside continued.
Fast forward (or slow-forward if this is seeming too long) to this morning. Church is canceled, a decision that had been made last night when it was obvious the parking lot would not be cleared. We've lost an hour of potential sleep until fall. We have an additional 8 inches of snow overnight, on top of the 6 (?) inches of junk underneath. What fun....
Anyway, it's now 2:00 p.m. (new time). I'm done plowing. I've even cleaned up the edges using the snowblower, something that's been necessary this winter and wasn't the other winters we've lived here, since 2001. I'm tired. We have an access tunnel that the vehicles will fit through. There's no more room to put snow. The white flag of surrender is out, ALL OVER OUR YARD.
If I start posting daily soon, it will be because I've had to cancel my classes for the rest of the semester, and just hole up here until spring makes its appearance. How I long for that day (the appearance of spring, that is; I'd really HATE to have to cancel classes, really...).
