Yes, we have a SNOW DAY!
We also had another power outage emergency too, and I didn’t
end up getting much sleep before waking up at around five-thirty when I sensed
or heard Mom and Dad moving around. I
got up and dressed appropriately to work outdoors. Mom was in the kitchen when I got downstairs,
and Dad was outside already; shoveling his way out to the generator so he could
get it fired up. A fire was already
started in the living room fireplace; and Mom was getting things ready for
incoming while waiting for the generator to kick in.
Dad was going to need to get his truck going to help pick up
everyone in town needing someplace warm to go until the power was fixed, so
after I hugged Mom and got the update; I grabbed my coat, gloves, and boots;
and headed outside to start shoveling the driveway. We already had maybe five or six inches by
then – it was hard to tell with the blowing and drifting. It was also really heavy, and I was making
very slow progress when Dad joined me.
The work went a lot faster after that, and I mostly cleaned up behind
Dad as he dug in and threw shovels full of snow in a steady, unbroken
rhythm. We joked about easier ways we
might be able to do the work if only we could apply a little Magi power to the
job, but speed shoveling or auto-cleaning driveways and sidewalks would just be
too hard to explain; and the Magi council has apparently already ruled on those
kinds of requests several times over the last couple of centuries.
We concentrated on getting the driveway cleared from his
truck to the road first, and then he cleaned off his truck and headed out for
his first pickup while I started on the sidewalk to the front porch next. I had that done, and was taking a break in
the kitchen with Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana when he dropped off George and Madeline
Morris and their two kids, Natalie and Mike.
Natalie will be two in March, and will be a future classmate of Ethan’s
and Ehlana’s; and Mikey is about five months old – and the main reason why they
were near the top of the transportation list this year.
Thanks to our incoming guests, I quickly had some snow
support after that. George Morris helped
me for a while, and then Philip Seager joined us outside after getting Liz and
Naomi into the house. We had Mom’s van,
and most of the rest of the driveway dug out by the time that Tammy Morris, her
brother, and parents were dropped off; and Jeff and his Dad relieved us so we
could rest up and get some breakfast. By
then, there was enough more snow for them to start the whole process over
again; with close to two more inches on the ground.
Being twelve now has definitely changed things for me since
my experience with ‘the storm’ my first winter here. The good news is that I had Tammy for
company, and once our last group of guests – Alicia Jennings, and her parents
and brother – joined us; we were mostly given the easiest outdoor jobs. We kept the sidewalks and porches cleared;
helped at the unloading end of the firewood delivery line; and took a couple of
turns babysitting Ethan, Ehlana, and the other toddlers.
Mom had lots of help with making meals, and that’s when we
had most of our guests in the house. The
snow started to taper off by mid-morning, and after that, most of the guys were
out and around town helping out with whatever work needed to be done. There was a giant pot of stew ready for
everyone by lunchtime, along with variety trays full of sandwiches; hot drinks;
snack sides; and Olde Bakery desserts.
Tammy and I helped out with the kids while we ate; stayed for the
clean-up; and then we were set free for the afternoon so we could go and play
with our friends.
We met up with Rowen first, and then invited Rebecca to join
us before heading for the toboggan hill.
The Stones had some guests too, so we ended up collecting extra kids,
and I stopped in at home again to help out with getting some extra sleds. Some of the guys, including Michael, started
a snowball fight while we were still in my yard, and that delayed us for quite
a while as we chased each other around the yard and tossed snowballs at each
other.
Once we finally made it to the hill, I expected to be wading
through deep snow after each run, but there’d already been a lot of kids
playing there already, and as long as we stayed on the beaten path, the slope
was in perfect condition for both the sliding and the return walk. With the extra kids and teens, we didn’t have
enough sleds for everyone; so we paired or tripled up with the bigger toboggans. Rowen and I used hers, and that was fine with
both of us until she decided to lose her mind for a few moments and pull an
Aunt Leanne.
Timing is everything too, and she couldn’t have picked a
worse time to prank me by getting Michael to sit on her sled behind me before
shoving both of us down the hill.
There’s even a chance that Mother Nature was in on the conspiracy
too. I knew what was happening the
moment Michael sat behind me; put his arms around my waist; and stretched his
legs out against mine. We were both
laughing, and our run was great – right up until the point where we blasted
past the well-packed area where most sleds had been stopping; and plowed into
the deep snow beyond. We didn’t crash,
but we were pretty much buried to our waists.
If you guessed that was when Lisa reached the hill with a
group of friends and other kids and teens; give yourself a pat on the
back. Michael still has his arms wrapped
around my waist; we’re laughing our heads off; buried in snow; and since his
hands were under the snow too, that probably didn’t look good at all to his
girlfriend. The whole scene turned into
a comedy sketch after that, though certain spectators were not at all
amused. Getting out of the snow wasn’t
easy. I needed to stand first; helped
Michael to get up too; and then he slipped on the sled and I ended up on my
back; buried in snow again; with Michael on top of me.
I know, but it was funny, and I couldn’t help but laugh
about it. That was also when I saw Lisa
at the top of the hill as I looked to see how many witnesses there’d been to
that little moment. Laughing harder
didn’t help my case with her, and advising Michael that his girlfriend was not
currently amused with us only helped to keep the comedy going. In his defense, he was only trying to help
after knocking me over, but putting his arms around me to help me up probably
looked a lot like hugging, and keeping an arm around my waist as we waded back
out of the deeper snow didn’t have gone over any better with Lisa.
Could we have been lucky enough for that to be the end of
it? Of course not!
By the time we were back on snowy-firma, Lisa was on her way
down the hill toward us. I’m sure she
didn’t intend to run into us, and definitely wasn’t happy when I ended up in
the snow again with Michael on top of me after he pulled us both out of the way
of her sled at the last moment. Again,
laughing about it didn’t help; but we both laughed anyway. Since I wasn’t buried this time, I was able
to get up easily enough, and though I didn’t really want to leave Michael to
take all of the heat; we both knew that staying to defend him would have only
made things worse. Instead, I grabbed
Rowen’s sled and headed up the hill.
I took a moment to bean my best friend with a snow ball
while she laughed at me unapologetically, and then we went back to our
sledding; and tried to stay out of Michael and Lisa’s way while we continued to
play and have fun with our friends.
Since we saw Lisa eventually laughing an having fun too, Michael must
have worked things out with her, but I still got icy glares whenever I made eye
contact with Lisa; and Michael looked like he was trying not to grin or laugh
whenever I looked at him.
By four o’clock, I was ready to go home and get warmed
up. It was almost four-thirty by the
time I made it into the house after walking home; putting sleds away and saying
goodbye to Rowen, Rebecca, and most of the other girls and boys who had come
back with us. Michael and Lisa were not
in that group for some reason. Tammy was
still hanging out with some friends, so I was on my own when I went inside.
Mom and Dad already had dinner cooking going on in the
kitchen, and lots of help, so I sat at the table after getting a cup of hot
chocolate; and gave them the afternoon update.
I spent a lot of the next couple of hours in the kitchen. Most of the ‘kids’ had dinner there while the
parents and older teens were in the dining room. The hour-long clean-up that followed kept all
of the teens and tweens busy, and that was mostly because the power started
coming back online again. That had the
Dads heading out to start checking on houses and making sure everything would
be fine at home before moving any of the younger kids again.
I would have loved doing a storm night sleepover, but within
a couple of hours, all of our guests were ready to go home again; and this
little snow emergency ended up feeling like a big family and friends party day
instead of a major bonding event.
Despite not having any overnight guests, there was still a fair bit of
clean-up work to do once Mom, Ethan, Ehlana, and I were on our own again; and
Dad was still out driving people around town.
I have no idea how many showers were taken, but there was a lot of
laundry just from that, plus some nap time bedding, and our usual laundry that
hadn’t gotten done during the day. I
helped with that; cleaned the guest bathrooms; and Mom and I tag-teamed taking
care of Ethan and Ehlana.
Dad didn’t have any work to do after finally getting home,
but by then, we only really had time to do the bedtime snack and story with
Ethan and Ehlana before they were tucked in for the night; and then Mom decided
that she and Dad needed to have an early bedtime. They didn’t go to sleep anytime soon after I
was sent up to my room for the night, but let’s not go there.
I was in need of some Jacuzzi time by then anyway, so that
was the first order of business; but I multi-tasked while in the tub too. Next up was a little computer chat with my
best friend. She still isn’t even
remotely sorry for setting me up for that little sledding incident with
Michael, and was happy to have another few laughs while reminding me of the
highlights – not that my photographic memory will let me forget anyway. Yes, I had fun with it, but could have done
without all of the tweeird that we ended up having too.
Let’s not think about Michael and I buried in snow with his
arms and legs wrapped around me either and move along. Rowen and I chatted for nearly an hour, but I
did some archive reading too, and decided to skip the language lessons
tonight. That only left this and my
nightly email, news, sports, and entertainment checks to deal with after I
finished doing my hair and climbed into bed with Mandy. There isn’t anything new to report from
around the family; and not really much email to deal with either. Though we could get another inch or more of
snow overnight, it looks like school will be back on again tomorrow, and most,
if not all, businesses will be open again too.
Rowen and I didn’t have our usual after-school work shifts
today, but we’re still having our usual play time tomorrow so we can take
advantage of the snow while we have it around to enjoy. I can always add some family business work to
my bedtime computing, or do a bit extra on the weekend. We’ll just play that by ear this week. I’m going to wrap this up now and try to get
some sleep; but I may need to not think of entire fields full of soft, cuddly
bunnies to get there from where I’m at now.
Make that snowy hills full of soft, cuddling – I mean cuddly
– bunnies.
This is all your fault, Rowen Emerson!
Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging
out!
