On Sunday we had a little snow and ice storm. It didn’t really amount to much, but the roads were covered enough that it wasn’t safe for the buses in the morning.
Do you remember how you found out about school closings as a kid? The radio? The news?
These days, the school superintendent texts, emails, and calls parents. This generation of children completely misses out on sitting with your eyes glued to the television watching the news for the scroll of closings. Even if you have to go to the bathroom or need a snack, you CANNOT look away. My county started with an “F” and waiting that far down in the alphabet was agonizing. KIDS THESE DAYS! They have no idea what that sort of anticipation was like. They wouldn’t survive a day in the 80s when children were sent out into the world without a coating of SPF 78 and portable yogurt.
There wasn’t much snow, but it was really the perfect amount for young kids. Deep snow can be overwhelming for them to walk in, and it’s so hard to maneuver in all the bulky snow clothes. There wasn’t enough for a snowman, but we also didn’t need snow pants or giant gloves.
It was just right for running around and discovering how magical everything looks under a bit of ice.
Mary loved looking at all the bushes — every twig and leaf perfectly coated.
…David loved mocking Mary.
“Mommy! Take a picture of me!”
When your three-year old tells you to take a picture, you take a hundred pictures.
He thought ice would shower down from the clothes line (I did too). It didn’t.
We played freeze tag in the snow. David’s getting fast, but ole Mama can still out run him. Plus, I got to learn some playground lingo. “No doggy guarding!” Mary yelled.
Doggy guarding, turns out, is guarding someone who’s frozen so other people can’t un-freeze them.
The basketball got stuck in the frozen net and David asked me to take a picture to text his teacher. KIDS THESE DAYS! WITH THEIR INSTANT PHOTOS AND TEXTING!
(We did, and she loved it.)
We went inside when Anna woke up from her nap. While we were taking off our snow boots I told the kids that I had a really good time playing with them.
“Me too, Mommy!” Mary said. “I never knew you had that much energy!”
Ouch. As if I needed more motivation for my New Year’s resolution…
This morning the trees are still covered in ice, but the roads are clear so the kids are back in school.
The superintendent texted me to let me know.
My county was an M, and 5:30am was the cutoff. The high school started first, at 7:30, so the alert had to go out by that time to reach the bus drivers. And, we had a superintendent who prided himself when the announcer announced our county, with “all closed, except….” And, as a community that was on the borders of a Great Lake, I know about lake effect snow.
There are times I wonder how we ever survived. We didn’t have helmets for riding bikes, or horses. We had a set of those lawn darts. We were allowed to ride in the front seat, in carseats, and without them when older. My father drove a station wagon with a bench front seat. We had dessert every night, and my mother bought 8 16 oz. GLASS bottles of Pepsi for 99 cents, though, I liked Royal Crown better. My mother put COOKIES in our lunch, and a teacher didn’t call and complain. I don’t think a teacher ever looked at my lunch, ever. The Cookie Monster actually ate cookies, and I was smart enough to know that one didn’t eat cookies to the exclusion of everything else. And, McDonald’s had a program for A’s… one was a drink, 2 a drink and fries, and 3 was a hamburger, fries, and drink. I think one could also get an apple or cherry pie.
I have to say though, I love storms, thunder and snow. We hare to get one Thursday, and another one Sunday. I can’t wait. I love when everything shuts down, and we can all take a pause in life. Everything is canceled, and social obligations forgiven, with no hard feelings. We make popcorn, play in the snow, drink hot chocolate, and watch movies, or reach for the book we haven’t had time to read. It is a VERY peaceful time.
I thought your son might like this video. We watched it today. Other sections were removed by hand, but in the fall, during the opening speeches for the new bridge, popping sounds were heard, and this section was deemed too dangerous to remove any other way. They actually left construction equipment on it because it was decided the bridge was too unstable to remove the equipment. So, a steel net was placed in the water, with the booms, and, with well placed explosive devices, it fell into the net. PS. There is the expected 30 seconds of an advert prior to the actual collapse.
https://abc7ny.com/traffic/old-tappan-zee-bridge-comes-down-in-demolition/5036679/
My kids get cookies in lunch, too. It’s all about moderation.
When people roll their eyes at new safety rules, I like to remind them that it’s not that kids were tougher “back then,” you just got lucky. You didn’t get a head injury on your bike or horse or get injured in a car accident, but lots of other kids did, and that’s why the safety measures were put in place.
He’ll love that video! All my kids will!
I know that many kids were hurt, and there are good reasons for the new measures, but at times, it seems as though some of the rules are designed to save people from their own stupidity. Remember pop tabs? We’d hook them together into “jewelry,” and never once did we think of putting the tab in the can. But, apparently many people did, because they are now attached. We break them off and save them for Ronald McDonald House. They recycle them and use the money to pay for parents who can’t afford their $10/night fee. It annoys me when people won’t save them. It’s garbage, literally, but I digress.
I think part of it is also because everyone is quick to sue. Always looking for a quick payday.
These demolitions are always interesting, in the science of knowing where to place the charges, the strength, etc. It was supposed to be last Saturday, but weather forced a change, and this week-end is another storm. The newscaster also said that they wanted to do it in the winter, because there are fewer fish. This is still a part of the river that is affected by the high/low tide cycles. Apparently, in the winter, many of the fish species migrate south. Divers will recover debris from the bottom of the river. A couple of parts of it were sunk off the Long Island coast to encourage reef formation. I have to say that it was a bit unnerving to hear how unstable it was, given the number of times we’ve driven across it. I hope they enjoy the video. It does add a new point of view to the London Bridge song.