What can you do on a Snow Day besides hang out on PF?

[Moonbear]

Yeesh, I just got an email sent from the provost to all the faculty basically telling us we DON'T have a snow day, but please be understanding of absences, because one of the roads to campus from an area where a large number of students live was closed, there's no bus service from that area, and the van service for students with disabilities wasn't running. This was quickly followed by another note that evening classes weren't cancelled, and they wouldn't be closing early...because the town has told them the sudden traffic on the roads if they close would hinder the plowing and salting efforts. Perhaps if they cancel the classes, people won't have to GET on the roads? I just went out and cleared my driveway and walked down to get my mail, and it is SLICK.

If I had to teach today, I'd have emailed all my students and told them don't bother trying to get in, because I won't be there either. It's only going to get worse as night falls, and it's not worth risking people's necks over the one or two days a year we get snowfall that's heavy enough to hinder driving.

If they're worried about too many people on the roads at once, they should cancel all evening classes and evening shifts for maintenance/custodial staff (they arrive at 3 PM, so if they announced it now, it would keep those folks from having to get on the road). I can guarantee that any faculty who don't have to teach have already left for the day, if they even came in.

Just keep the grounds crews on who need to keep parking lots and walkways cleared. They'll have an easier job if they don't have to maneuver around parked cars.

 

[Astronuc]

Yeesh, I just got an email sent from the provost to all the faculty basically telling us we DON'T have a snow day, . . .

Time to find a new provost. No sense in risking peoples safety.

 

[Cyrus]

I think I just broke my back shoveling that "snow"- which was more like ice. The snow was so solid that I was able to walk on it without sinking in.

 

[russ_watters]

You poor folks.

Our here in Colorado, we got the kind of snow we usually get. Around an inch of incredibly light snow. Just enough to make for a beautiful, sunny winter day.

I only had 3-4 inches on my driveway, but it must have been 5x the normal density for us, which would make it 10x the normal density for you. Crunchy, but not quite as solid as cyrus's.

 

[turbo]

I just got in from clearing the driveway for the first time. The snow is over a foot deep - in 7 hours worth of accumulation. The blizzard warning is in effect until 14 hours from now, so we'll easily beat the 2 feet that were forecast.

 

[Moonbear]

Aww...I have a new visitor helping herself to some of the birdseed I put out.
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/9417/visitorbb3.jpg

Yes, she's a rat, and yes, I think she's cute. This development is on land that used to be a cattle pasture, and there's still cattle adjacent to us, so it's not surprising there are rats around. I had suspected for a while that there was one under the deck (ever since the tomatoes kept disappearing this summer). Some of the neighbors had seen her by their place and freaked out and put out rat poison, so I guess she moved in at my place. And here I thought Ember was just bird watching while sitting at that window.

 

[turbo]

My friend's son had a pet rat when he was a kid - named "Al" after his grandfather. He loved to be held when he was snoozy and he liked climbing up on your shoulder, licking your neck and ears. You could barely feel his tongue, though his whiskers tickled some. After getting to know Al, I learned to appreciate rats a bit better. I always liked squirrels, so what's the deal with a lack of tail hair?

 

[Moonbear]

The idiots around here! The kids have had all these days off from school because it was...cold. So, I guess now they've used up too many days off, so when we have such horrid weather like today, the dingbats in the county had a full day of school for them. And, sure enough, the evening news is reporting a school bus accident that was a result of the weather. There's no way buses should have been out in today's weather!

 

[Astronuc]

I just took a break from shoveling the driveway - all the end where the municipal plows have put a 1 foot burm of ice and ice. Otherwise I removed a block of several inches of packed sleet which was under several inches of snow. I'll to the rest later.

 

[G01]

Well, I was off all today and now for some reason I have a snow day tomorrow...and my university NEVER closes(thats Never with a big NEVER)...Yahoo! another day off!.........I'm bored...

 

[Dr Transport]

Do you live in DC too!?

No, west of there. To me anyone who didn't grow up driving in the snow can't drive very well. The day I got my learners permit Mom made me do donuts in the 6 inches of snow in the school parking lot, then she made me the rest of the way home. I didn't really drive on clear roads for the first 5 months I was learning.

 

[turbo]

The idiots around here! The kids have had all these days off from school because it was...cold. So, I guess now they've used up too many days off, so when we have such horrid weather like today, the dingbats in the county had a full day of school for them. And, sure enough, the evening news is reporting a school bus accident that was a result of the weather. There's no way buses should have been out in today's weather!

That happens here, too. The administrators act like the snow days are perks for the teachers and staff and use them frivolously, but then when the snow days are all used up and some REAL storms show up, they get really brave about making the buses run because they don't want to have to tack on extra days to the school year and work a little extra during the nice weather in June. It's quite predictable.