Snow Days

When I was little, I can only remember getting a snow day once. That day the pipes at my elementary school had frozen and burst.

When I was in high school there was a rumor going around among the students that the superintendent at the school district refused to call for snow days, even when it was extremely dangerous for school buses to make their rounds, because he had a precedent of not doing so. This is probably not true, but I say it to make the point that I have not had many snow days.

Even though Utah is a desert, it still gets a fair amount of snow. I always feel kind of cheated by winter when it's mostly brown and dead-looking instead of snowy white.

Fast forward to my move to Indiana. That's when I met the bane of the MidWesterner's existence: the Wintry Mix. Half snow, half rain, the wintry mix is deadly because what may look like a happy, fluffy little pile of snow fit for throwing snowballs is actually a layer of snow on top of a thick sheet of ice. Think black ice, but thick enough for you to see it. And it's everywhere, not just on the roads. Although last winter was a pretty mild one (as far as I hear), I did spend a lot of it trying to chop enough ice off my car so I could a) get inside, out of the cold and b) see enough to drive.

Then there was this year. Besides the time about two weeks ago when the warmest it ever got outside was nine degrees Farenheit, this winter has been pretty boring. Snow has been sparse and skiffy. It's been really cold, and really brown. See the third paragraph to remind yourself how I feel about this kind of winter. Up until now, this is the best picture I have been able to get this winter. Meet the Jordan River:


This is on campus, people! Can I just say I love the woodsy nature of my campus? More on this later.

Yesterday morning my complaining about the ugly winter stopped. I woke up to find four or five inches of snow on the ground. I got to walk to work in real snow. Then, because I also work a late-night shift, I drove to campus last night in the beginning of a wintry mix. When my boss heard about this, she was worried about the road conditions and told me to go home two hours early! Snow Night! Cool! When I should have been at work last night, Ferskner and I spent some time walking in a winter wonderland. She's from Arizona, so it was fun to see her trying to make snowballs and such.

This morning, I woke up to my phone vibrating. I had received a text from the campus police: school was cancelled for the day. That's right, folks, I get a snow day! The first one in ages! Possibly the first one since that long ago day in elementary school! I ran to the window and looked outside. Here's what I found:


Pretty! Here's another picture. I'm including it to show you just how much it has snowed. My car was cleaned off as of 10:00 last night. Here it is as of this morning.


Of all the things I like best about winter, one of my favorites is looking outside at a snowy landscape, and knowing I only have to go out in it if I choose. Right now, I choose to go out in it. Stay tuned for fun pictures of Indiana's snowy landscape.