Random Bits

So, we got a "big snow" here in Georgia... about six inches on the ground, and our local schools were closed for the entire week (a bit over-reactive keeping them closed on Thursday and Friday if you ask me! ;). The last time I remember snow this deep was in 1986, I think, in Atlanta... the "Blizzard of '93" wasn't really that bad in Atlanta. Our snow this time got coated in a thin layer of ice, making it very crunchy to walk on. Yesterday, I looked out our front window and noticed that somebody - don't know who - had walked in the edge of our front yard, right by the street, to form some letters. "F", I could make out... "U... Uh, oh, what did somebody write in four-foot tall letters in our yard where everybody who drives right past can read???" But my alarm was quickly subdued as I realized the U was followed by an N. "Fun," it said. Okay... Cecilia didn't think so, but Caroline might agree to that word!

***Update: The day after I typed this, we drove past our next door neighbor's yard. There is a not-so-nice word beginning with "Fu" written in her yard with footprints... ugh. Wonder what made the person spare us and write "fun" but then be mean to our 86 year old neighbor??? I am tempted to go stomp it out in the night, because the snow on our side of the street is very slow to melt since we get mostly shade at this time of year.

Something has been baffling me for weeks now. Our library has an entryway in which you go through the automatic doors into a lobby-type area, and then about 15 feet further is another set of automatic doors leading into the library. You know the little stands that have retractable fabric "caution tape" - the old-fashioned ones were the swag-style things that were always in banks, you know that block off an area so you can form a line where they want you to, or to keep you from getting too close to the teller's desk before it is your turn. They have this blocking the way into the library for some reason... once you go through the first door, right in the middle of the lobby are three stands with the tape pulled out to block the direct path to the second set of doors. You have to walk around this contraption (do those things have a name????) to get in and out of the building. Perhaps they are trying to trip up would-be library book thieves who are trying to make a quick escape?

The dead squirrel on the road in front of our house is still there - it survived the snow and was visible again once the snow and ice were gone from the road. How a dead squirrel can remain in the same spot on the road for at least two months is beyond me, especially when it has been gone over by both a street sweeper and a snowplow. There's not much left of it now... but it is still very much there. At this point it's a science experiment to see how long it will last!

And another thing noticed in our neighborhood: apparently, the gas company came out and marked some gas lines one day this past week, when there was still lots of snow and ice in everyone's yards. I noticed tome flags up and some yellow spray paint in different places along the curb... and then I noticed that they had sprayed something (I couldn't tell what it said) on the ground at the edge of somebody's yard... on top of the snow. Wow. It is a true case of Southern ignorance - apparently they don't realize that the snow will eventually melt, even if it seems like it has been here "forever" since a whole week of school was cancelled. People really were acting like being "snowed in" for part of a week was totally unbearable. I guess people take it for granted that we usually don't have that issue here in the South - to Northerners, a couple feet of snow is no uncommon thing, and they just bundle up and get out in it (or maybe stay inside for the week with books and hot chocolate? that's what I would do!).

I was telling Chris that giving Cecilia some play-doh "got her engaged" and made her forget about being upset ... Caroline responded with, "But she can't marry play-doh!!!"

Cecilia was going to hear Make Way for Ducklings as her bedtime story. She pointed to the image of the gold award on the cover and said, "It has a Candacorn Medal." The funniest thing is, she doesn't know what candy corn is...

Cecilia, looking in her bowl at breakfast: "I have a lot of some oat bran!"

Update on the dead squirrel: The street sweeper came by again, and this time it got it! Apparently it was finally lightweight and small enough to be picked up by the street sweeper truck!

Cecilia came into the kitchen tonight and asked me, "Mommy, what are we having for dinner?" I answered, "Pasta primavera." She ran back into the den, announcing to Chris and Caroline, "We're having pasta pweemavawa for dinner!" Then she returned to the kitchen and said to me, with a very serious facial expression, "That's a silly word... I think you just made that up."