the snow has continued here all day, in spite of reports that said there would be two, one ending early and the other starting tonight. it's already tonight, and the snow never stopped. they canceled school tomorrow, which made me very happy, because i'm already tired of the driving. the conditions are wretched; it's dangerous; and half the time i have kids and feel totally pressured.

i took them to school this morning, and the snow was falling steadily. it was snowing hard. the roads weren't totally icy; in fact, they were dry before the snow and the snow hadn't quite turned to ice yet except in a few spots. but going toward cloudcroft itself, which is another 1600 feet up, it got icy again as it's never really been above freezing up there. and the cloud had settled over the village; you couldn't see a thing. blinding snow, totally white roads, and thick fog. i turned around and came home.

but then around nine in the morning we got an offer from one of the teachers: if you want to get your kids, feel free. we have three in the elementary/middle school, and one in the high school. the one in high school said two thirds of kids didn't show up probably due to weather conditions. we looked at the steadily falling snow, decided it wasn't going to get better, and i went and got them, all four.

that trip was in some ways worse, if only because it had snowed more by then. snow packed to become ice, and never stopped falling, though plows were out there in both directions and on the mountain we cross to get to the highway. it was treacherous and i drove carefully. back at home after the second trip, i settled in for a couple of cups of coffee and to read about the iowa caucuses which stirred me up a little (see below).

and it snowed, and snowed, and snowed. the general pattern is that if they say it'll be two to four inches, it's more likely to be eight. it's just snowing more and heavier than they think, every time, and it's making for a rough winter in that it's always twice as dangerous as they thought too. in our present situation, we have power, we have internet, we have food, so we're going to make it. back when the power was out for a couple of days, i wasn't sure, but now, wind doesn't seem to be a factor anymore. so i'm feeling like kicking back, writing on the blog, enjoying the snow. the sun just set, and it kept snowing: we're at about five inches now, and it's supposed to continue until morning.

where is this enormous storm coming from? well it's worse in colorado, and wyoming, of course, and it comes from the west, like they all do, and it sucks up the moisture from the pacific, and especially the ocean near mexico, where there is way too much water in general anyway, and things are just going to get wetter, most likely. this could mean that our mountain pass will become more impassable, or, miami will go under water, or, some places will experience floods. that's my take on it. but what do i know? i'm glad there's no school tomorrow.

kids had mixed feelings about that. they are so social, they'll actually miss their friends. they'll also have to make it up when the weather gets better. but, they're home. they're safe. they've got electricity, and internet. life is good.