Dudley Happenings: Blizzard of '09

Well, we have finally recovered from the blizzard we had at the start of this week. I had to actually go back to work today after being off for three days--it was not easy!! I felt sort of out it all day-but at least it's Thursday and tomorrow is Friday! My students said they missed being at school so they were ready to back in the swing of things. I missed being there, too, actually. Spending time with Rylan and Shaun was a blast-but I would rather do it in June when the weather is nice! I think we will be in now until June 4th. Boo hoo.

So, our three days weren't terribly exciting but that's how snow days are supposed to be, right? The school district has a phone system that calls us now-only I have yet to get a phone call and no one is sure why. My friend Lindsay from school called at the same time I heard the radio announce the cancellation Monday morning. We lounged around the house for the morning and dealt with a cranky Rylan. She started running a fever on Sunday and kept it until Wednesday. Hopefully it was just teeth, as she never had any other symptoms. As long as she had Tylenol or Ibuprofen in her system she seemed to be fine, but when it wore off, watch out! Shaun made breakfast (steak and eggs-mmmm) for us and Tucker, who had just returned from being out on his snowmobile. He claims that riding his Harley on Saturday when it was in the 70s and then being on the snowmobile on Monday in the middle of a blizzard was heaven. I strongly disagree, but to each his own.

Tucker and Rylan-and her dog-taking a morning nap

The deck starting to get drifts

View from our front office window down the street

View across the street

Titus after being outside for ten minutes!

That afternoon we took a long nap which, of course, was great! I also did some reading of the third book in the Twilight series which I'm addicted to right now. After our naps we trekked across the street to Tucker's house for the evening. My snow boots were in a great place-school-so I had to wear a pair of Shaun's. That, along with the uh, fairly obvious drifts and Rylan on my hip, made for an adventurous walk across the street! Tucker and I worked on a song we are going to do at church someday and then he and Shaun played with the electric guitars. Rylan entertained herself by chasing the cat all over the house. She still thinks Foxy says "woof" like her dog Titus! After dinner and visiting we came back home, knowing that there would be no school or work for anyone again on Tuesday.

Oh, wait, Rylan didn't know that school was cancelled and she got up at 6:30 Tuesday morning! Way too early even for a normal school day. We had a good breakfast again and then got to work on the house. I actually got all of the laundry done! That hasn't happened for a while. About noon Shaun made his way outside to start shoveling us out. The sun was out and lots of the neighborhood guys were out and about getting stuff done. Shaun was aided in his quest to dig out our driveway using Tucker's snowblower, but a good chunk of it he did by himself. He was pretty sore that evening! I took Ry out to see daddy while he shoveled and she was pretty ticked the entire time. She truly is a girl after my own heart. We will not be doing any snow activities in this family if I can help it! After naps that afternoon we ventured out in the truck. I did not enjoy this little trip. The roads had barely been touched by plows and the drifts were higher than the truck in many areas. We went by school and then looped back around to visit mom and dad. Rylan had a great time in the truck and visiting her Mema and Papa. While we were there Lindsay called to say they had cancelled school for Wednesday. I was ticked at first, but I had just seen how bad school was still covered so it made sense. They wanted to give the city and county workers time to unearth life again.

Across the street Tuesday morning-Tucker's car is buried!

Down the street

Five of the guys from the neighborhood chatting it up in the middle of the street

Rylan-sitting on the deck where the snow had not piled up. Rockers barely visible in the background

Ry and daddy sitting on a drift in front of the house

Not thrilled to be on her own!

So Wednesday morning all of the roads were opened and we decided to head to town for a Walmart and Starbucks trip. Town wasn't too busy and produce was cheap! The rest of the day we worked on more home projects-Shaun started packing for our Tennessee trip (he is REALLY ready for the trip after the snow we experienced this week) and I cleaned out my closet. Our new bedroom furniture will supposedly be here next week so we are getting rid of junk and old clothes. It's been nice to downsize a bit. I finished my book and then made some yummy chocolate chip cookies. I needed to give those to mom and dad since they barely beat us in Biggest Loser this week. I heard the bag I gave them has already been polished off, so hopefully that works in our favor on Monday!

And now Shaun is waiting for me to watch The Office. He can't play it while I'm typing because I need to concentrate on laughing! These last pics were taken by one of our secretaries who lives right across the street from school. My classroom has already sprung leaks from the snow that melted yesterday-so when spring shows up again we will have a real mess on our hands!

The front of the building