Snow Day!

One never loses the awe and excitement experienced in childhood when it comes to heavy snow and the much hoped for snow day. Did you notice the buzz in the air as early as Monday morning when the weather folks started using the b-word in the forecast? Blizzard. A phenomenon we haven't truly witnessed since January 2nd, 1999.

Yesterday at work we were ignited with the nervous energy that feeds off of others when considering severe weather. Frequent dashes to the windows to check conditions, fevered typing to get crucial documents done before leaving early, and fantasies of the County Executive calling for a snow day moved us along. We didn't dare indulge the fantasy of a paid snow day, as Waukesha County never shuts down. Never. So imagine our delight when the County wide email was issued at 4p.m.: Non-essential employees should not report to work on Wednesday 2/2/11. I was never so thrilled to be non-essential :) To have advanced warning of a snow day, to know it's a free day of pay for which I can sleep in and putter about, was too good to be true. I went to bed able to sleep soundly knowing I didn't have to brave the roads or get out of my jammies today.

We woke to snow drifts 5 feet deep surrounding the back of our house (that's me pictured above, tromping through the backyard). Our yards are full of bright white undulating dunes with sharp wind-kissed creases delineating one snow dune from another. Some dunes are soft and rounded, others are steep, standing higher than our windows. Our back doors are snowed in. There is a 3 ft. corniced wave of snow pointing like a prow towards the SW, thanks to the 30-60mph NE winds. As the clouds have thinned, and the sun has broken through, the wind is dying down. All is calm.