White Lightning Axiom: Redux

Last night was ... calm. Well, I'm actually not sure if it was REALLY calm seeing that I busied myself with various activities to keep my mind off of what was to be a grueling morning the next day. No, I refilled one wood bracket, did the kids laundry, disassembled some of their older toys so I could put them back in the boxes and pretty much just diddled about. I learned from the kids that if I keep moving, sleep will not pounce and lay me low. I had to keep busy so that when I got to bed early, I could sleep. It was supposed to start snowing you see, and the repercussions are much to terrible to consider if I should sleep in.

I had set the alarm for 0500 and as alarm clocks (usually) do, it went off. As I typically do, I paddled the snooze bar for an extra 15 min of bliss under the warm covers. Eventually, I came to my senses and peeked outside to see what the wrathful fury of winter had lain on our doorstep. About a half inch of fluffy white powder. Good, good. I can shower up, take care of the hounds, light a fire and hit the road before things really get started. The forecast predicted an inch in the early hours then 4-7 inches after 0600. It was off a bit. I lingered in the shower a little too long and had to empty out the sooty ash from the wood stove and did not get underway till 0545. By this time, that little veil of tender snow had become a thick wet quilt of slippery cruelty. This is the first really big snowfall of the year so I fully expected anyone on the road to either be a trucker (professional driver, knows what the hell he is doing) on his way through, a Northern Son like myself (who knows how to drive in snow) or a blathering idiot waiting to either be struck down or to ram his/her SUV into some poor unsuspecting soul. I label every driver on the road and do my best to stay clear of that last category. We get the whole gamut of precipitation except hail along the way: snow, rain, sleet, hail ... and of course freezing rain. That last variety is the worst since it preserves your vehicle in a thin yet impenetrable layer of ice. Your locks wont work, your windshield wipers are frozen in place, all sorts of bad things. I manage to get to the client site by 0645 and find that there are a few people with the same thought on their minds. Get here ASAP and wait it out. Within minutes of sitting down, the Mrs calls to tell me that the Day Care/Interment Facility is closed. Good thing she had scheduled today as a vacation day months ago. Somebody was smiling on us since I KNOW the kids will certainly want to go out and play in the snow. Dogs too. I think the Mrs is going to have a pretty good day. Let's hope the predictions of this clearing up by noon are as accurate as the other ones.

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