Snow Day – AGAIN!

So, although it started to rain a bit, rather than snow, yesterday afternoon which warmed things up a bit and thawed out some of our slush, it got cold again last night and has resumed the snow today. Actually, around 3am last night we had a wonderful thunderstorm too. This morning and afternoon there’s been hail and snow. We’re getting an amazing amount of moisture… and that’s always good for Jordan!

Last night, our back yard looked like this:

Full of water with ice floating. It is, no exaggerating, about 4” deep at the far end, if not more. A little more and we can stock this pond and go fishing!

This morning, it’s a bit deeper, but covered in white. This is even after we had rain to melt a bit of the layer on top!

Honor checks to see if we can ice skate yet… nope… not frozen, just really really cold!

Hey? Where’d she go??

I love how pretty the snow makes everything, and it’s really coming down today! We’re even having a bit of thunder-snow :)  and although this video shows a lot of snow coming down, we’ve actually had much heavier falls throughout the day. It’s nearly white out there right now as I write this.

 

Of course, snow must be played in!

Honor’s kitty.

Oh, and do you like our snow clothes?? Pj’s, robes and crocs! ;D Perfect for playing outside a bit, then coming back in to cuddle on the couch by the radiator and warm up (“George of the Jungle” is the video of the moment).

Of course, not everyone is enjoying this snowy fun. It makes Ninja very unhappy to have the kids on the WRONG side of the window. 

Do Something Different for Leap Year – aka Snow Day in Jordan

About 3pm yesterday, after a day of blowing dust and sand, the sky got dark. Really dark. A creepy, Mars-like yellow-orange dark. The wind and sand picked up, yowling down the chimney… I had to go out and tie the patio chairs together around the table to keep them in place… then this ‘plinking’ sound started up on the windows. Hail. The hail quickly turned to muddy rain. There was thunder too, and by the time the kids’ bus got here an hour or so later, and we were thinking about going to go pick up Brad at the Embassy, snowflakes had joined in to our weather show. By 5pm, the snow was coming down in quite an impressive manner. Big fluffy flakes blowing and drifting… at times gently wafting down, other times blowing completely sideways, making it look like, as Honor described it, we were ‘flying through space!’

We picked Brad up from the Embassy, and gathered up a lost visitor trying to get back to his hotel as well. We had to drive by his place anyway and no taxis were to be seen. It took us almost an hour to get home. No accidents on the roads, people were driving slow and carefully, but the snow was falling so fast that it was sticking and covering the road… despite the fact that we’d just had 60F temps the day before, and there were actually some slippery spots on the hills. I was glad we had dinner waiting for us in the crock pot back home. 

School was cancelled, throughout the Kingdom, for Thursday. Brad also had liberal leave in effect for the Embassy today. It’s been snowing pretty much all day. Still not much accumulation, it’s just not that cold, but it’s wet , windy and chilly outside. Our lawn is now a lake.

Honor had fun running through the snow and slush on the patio. (no, snow doesn’t show up in the photos well, but it was still fun to play in!)

Cold and wet, but fun!

Hope this doesn’t hurt Brian’s science fair plants.

Cold and wet is one way to get this boy to wear a heavy coat. Yes, his window is pretty much covered in snow there.




A bit hard to tell, but the snow was coming in sideways here.

Once the sun set, it was really pretty to watch the snow swirling in the street lights.

This morning we had a bit of accumulation.

Honor’s been out playing in it and now has a collection of wet shoes, coats and gloves lined up on our radiators!


Our yard is about 2/3rds under water right now. Let it freeze tonight and we can go ice skating in the morning.

The cats aren’t sure what to think of those white things floating down from the sky and they have been very concerned about Honor going out into it. (I sure hope our next place has nice big window sills for cats!)

Honor – wet and freezing – taking a break to warm up.

And this is how Brian prefers to enjoy his ‘snow day’ break from school… warm, inside, with a computer game and a cat!

It’s 1pm now and the snow is trying to turn to rain, but the sky is getting dark again – not sandstorm yellow-dark, just dark - and Friday has a forecast of more snow. I guess winter just wasn’t quite done with us yet!

(btw, credit for most of the photos, and both videos, above goes to Honor)

A Note to the Cats

Dear Kitties that I Adore,

I just wanted to let you know that this thing you are sitting on, it is my quilt… not a finished quilt, but the quilting project that I am working on. Or, you know, trying to. It is very difficult to sew neat stitches when you grab for my needle and pull on my thread.

Trust me when I say that you really do not want to catch this needle.

One thing to note – this big wooden hoop thing is for holding my project. It is NOT for biting, pouncing on, or hiding underneath.

Ok, maybe it can be for hiding underneath, if you promise to lay still on my lap and not grab at my hands with your pointy little paws! Especially, as the kids tell me how peaceful you look under there. The light coming through the cloth looks like a stained glass window up above.

(photo with no flash this time – kids thought the effect was neat..)

However, you may NOT use this hoop and cloth as a fort to defend. Calling your siblings to come attack, so you can defend from within, is not my idea of fun. It is not the kind of activity I want happening on my lap. I own no jeans of the sufficient armor level that can withstand this sort of play.

If you need some attention, you can hang out with me while I craft.

If you need ALL of the attention, let me know, I can manage that too.

I’m glad that you really, REAAALLY like this quilt project and with a little more cooperation on your part, I will get it done sooner so that you can enjoy it more freely, but you need to pay attention to the above guidelines, a little more strictly.

Oh… and quit eating my paper stencils… I sort of need those…

Love,

Mom