On the 12th we started getting our second snow storm of the year. In the morning I went to class as usual, met with my advisor after class, and then did some work on some of my samples. I went to check and see when the next bus was coming and found out that classes for the rest of the day had been cancelled. Then as I walked out of the building I saw a professor walking into the building alongside a student and he said, "Esta nevando, ¿no?" Then I looked up and, sure enough, tiny flakes were starting to come down. By the time I had gotten to my bus stop it was falling much faster and in fluffy puffs of snow. There was a group of girls on the bus who were talking about whether to go home or proceed with plans to work on some school projects. By the time we had gotten to my bus stop the snow was sticking and one of the girls said, "I'm just going to go home. The snow's already sticking and I have to go all the way to Cary." What went through my head was, "You're not going to make it to Cary." Honestly they probably should have cancelled classes about an hour earlier than they did.
The rest of the day my news feed on Facebook was full of pictures and status updates from friends who had gotten stuck in the snow and had to walk home, friends who barely made it home and had seen lots of abandoned cars, and friends whose husbands had taken five hours to drive three miles home. The roads were really slippery and there were tons of accidents and abandoned cars. As much as I'd like to take some credit for us already being safe at home, a lot of it has to do with living so close to campus. I'm certainly glad I wasn't stuck somewhere facing the possibility of walking home with two kids.
Classes were cancelled on the 13th and 14th as well and the university told everyone except emergency personnel not to report for work. Usually they tell teachers and such to continue to hold office hours, so this was quite the snow. Overnight the snow melted slightly and refroze, so the bottom layers of snow were still powdery while the top layers of snow had turned icy. Ryan took Kevin outside to play in the snow for a while, and when you stepped on the snow it was hard on top and then your foot would break through to the soft layers underneath. There was also a lot of ice frozen on all the plants.
Apparently Kevin found this toy guitar at the playground and spent the entire time walking around strumming the guitar and slipping sometimes because of the icy snow, but he still wouldn't let go of the guitar so he could keep his footing better. It made some cute pictures, though.
Yes, these are flowers with ice frozen on them.
After the kids were down for naps, Ryan went back out to get some more pictures and then walked to his office to get some homework to grade. The snow was very good for making snowballs. He threw some at our bedroom window, but I opened it and told him I couldn't sneak out because my dad would probably find out and I would get in trouble.
Some people got creative on campus and made some sea creatures out of snow.
In the evening the snow had melted quite a bit on the roads and we decided to venture out and get some milk before the roads got frozen overnight. It was amazing to see all the abandoned cars still on the road. Some were stopped in the middle of the lane where they had gotten stuck. Most of them probably stayed there another day or two since all the slush on the roads froze again overnight and the roads were probably pretty treacherous. I wished I had a nice big snow shovel, because looking at some of the cars it seemed like a few scrapes from a snow shovel would be enough to be able to get the car out.
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