Killer Snow

            Shortly after we moved to West Valley, Jenna started hanging at Alley’s house.  Every once in a while Alley and her brother came over to our house, but usually Jenna went to theirs.  I don’t know why they stopped playing together.  But they haven’t been hanging around together for at least a couple of years.

 

Jenna and I were waiting for the bus on Tuesday morning when Alley’s mom offered to drive us to school. Her oldest attends the same junior high that Jenna will be attending.  She had already dropped him off but seemed willing to make another trip.  She said she was also willing to pick her up from school – and the junior high gets out at least an hour before the elementary school does.

So yesterday she picked Jenna up and took her to school and we picked her up last night.  Today brought the killer snow, and she was still willing to drive us. But as her children get out of school only five minutes after Jenna and the weather was awful I told her we would find another way for coming home.

Jenna had a pair of jelly shoes that she wanted to wear to the school performance today – one that I had planned to attend.  I told her to put her jelly shoes in her backpack and she could wear them to the concert but that she needed her boots on to wear to school and that she could change.   

I didn’t know whether I should just hang out at the school all day or return home for an hour and a half and attempt to catch a bus back to the school. But when Jenna got out of the car I realized she still had her jellys on and that I would have to return home for her boots (as the falling snow STILL hasn’t stopped)

The distance between Jenna’s school and our house is 10 min by car, 20 min by bus – except for snow days, which are more than an hour.  I waited for an early bus for nearly half an hour.  When I checked the time 20 minutes before her program started, I realized I would not get there on time, as it was some distance between the bus stop and the front of the school.  So I turned around and went home and figured I would return to catch a bus that would get me to the school hopefully between 12:30 and 1:00.

 

As I waited, I watched the news.  Top stories and breaking news were all weather related.  Airport closed.  Power poles snapped and caught on fire.  Many many many without power currently.

I boarded a bus that arrived on time.  Traffic was slow getting to the intersection.  After that the bus seemed to speed up and actually had to wait at two stops as he had arrived ahead of schedule.  I was the only passenger on the bus between my house and the school.

I was able to climb the street to her school in less than 15 minutes.  I was surprised when I walked through the school doors and noticed the clock.  School wouldn’t be out for another hour.  But she didn’t wish for me to check her out early.

 

As we were waiting for the bus, Jenna had to play in the snow banks, of course.  She lost a boot in the process.  I told her the bus was about to turn and she worked at tugging her foot free.  After she got to the bus stop she realized that her boots didn’t match (one was just lining) and her boot was still in the snow.  She managed to rescue it before the bus arrived – just in the nick of time.

 

We usually take the main road to/from school but on the return today we tried something different.  After school we took a route that required 3 transfers.  Outrageous, right?  And yet that route took less than 30 minutes.  Unbelievable!  It took the same amount of time to walk (or should I say trudge rather) as it did to ride.  We were home only an hour after school let out – instead of the 2 ½ it took with the last snowfall that lasted all day.

I actually saw more plows out on the roads last time.  I don’t think the weather issues were as severe on the 3^rd of December as they are today.  Perhaps the closed roads had delayed the bus I’d been waiting for this morning.  

I shoveled the sidewalks and driveway upon my return.  A neighbor assisted with the endless task.  I hope it’s still low enough as to where Roland can get in the driveway.