It turned out to be an amazing Day Off for the vast majority of folks in Racine and Kenosha- and for that matter, for most of the folks in this part of the country who were hit in the solar plexus by the worst blizzard around these parts in twenty years. And in the kind of contest that no one wants to win, Racine scored the highest snowfall totals in southeastern Wisconsin with 23.5 inches. (One calls this a dubious honor.)
It was a complete day off for both Kathy and me. . . since I was essentially excused from WGTD – and Carthage, incredibly, closed and canceled all classes for what feels like the first time since the dawn of creation. Evidently, there was so much snow on campus that a nine-foot drift was formed in front of the library and Campus Drive was impassable- as was also the stretch of Sheridan Road which is the only way to access the campus. (And one of my colleagues in the music department, Dimitri Shapovalov, found that one couldn’t even walk on to campus – let alone drive to it – without taking your life in your hands.) True, the vast majority of students were already on campus- but we have hundreds of commuters….. plus a faculty that has to get there, and many of them actually live as far away as Milwaukee or the northern suburbs of Chicago….. and when the whole region is frozen solid as happened with this blizzard, with officials essentially banning all unnecessary travel on area roads, it’s time to say Uncle.
For a while today, I was still entertaining thoughts of us having our previously scheduled Beggar’s Opera rehearsal at 5, which would have been five hours after the blizzard warning was canceled. (Come to think of it, it was canceled even earlier than that.) But the powers-that-be strongly that the rehearsal remain canceled, for a number of reasons, and stage director Matt Boresi and I were certainly willing to acquiesce. So that meant an entire day and night at home- just Kathy and me and the two dogs – relaxing, playing boggle on her iPad (she whips my butt almost every time), tidying up a bit, indulging in her fabulous chili, and eventually snowblowing our driveway- which proved to be incredibly difficult….. but at least we weren’t doing it with two shovels. We got the job done, and were grateful that our street (a dead end, after all) was plowed as soon as it was… since there are side streets in both Kenosha and Racine that have still not seen a plow.
The saddest part of the day? I spent part of the late morning watching the end of the classic film “Nicholas and Alexandra,” which tells the heartbreaking story of Czar nicholas II of Russia- the last Czar – and his family, and how he was forced to abdicate and he and his family eventually assassinated. They spend the first part of their ‘exile’ in Siberia, and in watching their sad plight in that incredibly bleak landscape, the Blizzard of 2011 didn’t seem like quite such a bad disaster.
The scariest part of the day? One of our Facebook friends, who’s also a friend from Holy Communion, dashed off a very short post very early this morning saying that she and the baby and the beagle were having to leave their house because of a gas leak. This was just as the blizzard had delivered its worst, and it was hard to believe how anyone could have gone anywhere at that hour, with the storm still so horrible. It was some hours before we finally heard that Jill and family were safe and sound. . . and it was only when we got that news that we could truly enjoy this Snow Day.
The biggest surprise of the day? That had to be when the phone rang and it was my Aunt Marcia from Grand Rapids, Minnesota…. which for once had escaped the fury of this storm and was actually enjoying a relatively balmy and sunny day! She was calling to say hi and to get my brother Nathan’s mailing address (she, like us, still needs to get her Christmas letter in the mail) and it was such great fun to speak with her and just to hear that warm voice that I hadn’t heard literally for years.
The sweetest moment of the day? That was when our neighbor on the corner swung by our house with his big truck and its plow blade and kindly offered to finish off the clearing of our driveway. We had done 95% of it, but the highest mounds right on the street were yet to be done, and would have taken us quite a long time. But he swept in with his He-Man truck and his good deed for the day was a glorious Godsend for us. That meant we got to go inside and indulge in the special reward I’d bought at the store precisely for this moment. ……. a giant-sized Kit Kat.
The most fun of the day? That had to be when Kathy and I watched Bobbi and Ellie dog-paddling their way through the mountains of snow in our backyard. At least I would call it dog-paddling. It wasn’t exactly walking or running or dancing or jumping. . . but whatever it was, you could tell it was incredibly taxing, but also great fun. And tonight, because it has been so fun to be together, Kathy says that the dogs can sleep with us. (It helps that Racine Unified is off again tomorrow, so she doesn’t have to worry about getting up early tomorrow. Just me.) So we will be snuggling together, the four of us. . . glad to be together, warm, and safe on this incredible Snow Day.
pictured above: Ellie, trying to make her way through the snow in our backyard. There were times when she pretty much disappeared from view, and I was relieved when we got her and Bobbi back to the house safe and sound.
