Today is the 10th Snow Day for Fairfax County schools. Yesterday was the 9th. The Wife and I like to call these days "Middle is a Caged Animal" Days. Middle is like a barely controlled nuclear reaction. He has an unlimited amount of energy, and no idea what to do with it. On cold days off from school, he often paces back and forth throughout much of the day, much like a caged tiger. Pacing is not exactly the right word. He runs. Back and forth. Along a line that is anywhere from 10 feet to 60 feet. Non-stop. Often pretending to do a lay-up or slam dunk at the end of each run. It is one of the most annoying things to experience. Middle needs an end to snow days.
Today is the 10th Snow Day for Fairfax County schools. Yesterday was the 9th. The Wife and I like to call these days "Youngest is a Unabomber" Days. Youngest is in Kindergarten and loves school. When school is cancelled, he literally has no idea what to do with himself. He doesn't like to play in snow that much. He doesn't like to be cold. So he huddles up in a corner with a Kindle, or meanders to the basement with the X-Box, and disappears. Yes, I know, we are terrible parents for letting him do this. On a small scale, we let it happen because he rarely gets free time. When schools aren't cancelled, between school and sports and homework and other activities, all three rarely get time to just be boys. Youngest really gets the short end of the stick, because he often isn't doing the activity. He is just being dragged to the activity for his brothers. Youngest needs an end to snow days.
Today is the 10th Snow Day for Fairfax County schools. Yesterday was the 9th. We have no nickname for these days as they relate to Eldest. He spends too much time on his computer playing games and Skyping with friends. But at least he is being social.
This is the second big winter for school in a row. When Eldest was in 2nd grade, I think he had 2 snow days. When Eldest was in 3rd grade, they had one rain day. Not kidding. The first Friday of school it rained really hard and school was cancelled. After that, nothing. At the end of the school year, Fairfax County cancelled the last 2 days of school, because they hadn't used all their snow days. I wrote a blog post, begging Mother Nature for snow. The last 2 years, Mother Nature bitch slapped me for that post.
Last winter, the boys loved the snow. They went out side and played while it was snowing. They played while I shoveled. They played when it stopped snowing. This winter, they seem less interested. Middle does help he shovel a little, but I think he just needs to be around someone. His older brother is on the computer, so he's boring. His younger brother is on the Kindle or X-Box, so he's boring. If Middle goes outside with me while I am shoveling, he knows he has a trapped audience to listen to his theories on LeBron's life, Bosh's future and the NBA playoffs. He also gets to ask me questions like, "When was Ray Allen drafted?" I have more than my share of obscure sports facts in my head. For example, I can tell you, off the top of my head, who won the Super Bowl XVIII MVP and what school he went to, who won the 1993 NCAA Men's Basketball champion and the MOP, and who won the Heisman Trophy in 1981. Just for fun, the person described in the first and third examples is the same person. I do not, however, have the detailed information Middle requires on a regular basis.
Yesterday, they at least went outside and played for a while. All three boys and two friends from the neighborhood went and played. Yesterday was good playing snow. It was light and fluffy, and there was a lot of it. It was not great for snowballs or snowmen, but good to just play. It would have been great for skiing, but I don't live on a mountain. I'm just glad they enjoyed it, rather than spending all day on some electronic device, or driving me up the wall running back and forth...back and forth...back and forth.
As for me, I tried something new. For the first time in my life, I tried to keep up with the snow. I shoveled about every two hours, on the theory that shoveling 1-2 inches of snow 3-4 times would be easier than shoveling 6-8 inches once. The first time I remember seeing this theory in use was during the blizzard of 1996. I lived with three friends that winter and we got blasted in early January. After about 4 inches had fallen, one of my roommates, who shares a personality trait with Middle, decided to shovel. He was already suffering from cabin fever and decided that shoveling early would make it easier when the storm ended because we would have less to do then. The next morning, due to a ton more snow and a lot of wind, you could see absolutely no evidence that he had done anything. Our sidewalk looked exactly like everyone else's and the snow was perfectly even everywhere.
Despite this failure nearly 20 years ago (good God, it was 20 YEARS AGO!!), I tried it yesterday. By 5 pm, I had shoveled three times and was exhausted. However, I went out at 5 pm, did a 10 minute touch up, and all was clear. I was pleased, because 5 pm was a lot colder than 10 am yesterday. While many of my neighbors were just starting, I was done. I am sure I spent more time than most of my neighbors throughout the day, but I think I spent less effort, and I didn't have to do anything when the sun was going down. I'm not sure I will ever do this again, but it did work. Sort of. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Hopefully winter is done for us. At least they don't have to make up any school days. (Yet?) Since I was a kid, Fairfax County built three snow days into the school year. Last year, they used about 10, so they had several make up days. I think school ended around July 4th. Because of this problem, the county changed the schedule and built in 11 snow days. The did not add any days. Winter and spring breaks are exactly the same duration. They have the same number of teacher workdays, or about the same number, and no major holidays were changed. Somehow, though, they built in 11 snow days. This was quite a magic trick. I'm trying to figure out how they did it, because I would like to take a 6 week vacation this summer, and if I can figure out hoe Fairfax turned 3 snow days into 11, without changing anything, I should be allowed off from July 4th to Labor Day.
I know the people in Boston are laughing at us poor southerners who can't handle 6-8 inches of snow (or to be honest 1-4). Even my loyal readers in Philly probably mock us. They have a point. But none of it matters. I need to unleash the aged animal and get Youngest to realize that Skylanders Trap Team and Marvel are not, actually, the real world. We've had winter. In one week I am supposed to play 72 holes of golf in two days, in Delaware. We've had enough of winter. Snow Days have come. Now go away.
***I know it has been a while. Apparently I need to take a little break from time to time. Next week, I will write of one, and hopefully two, historic sports achievements. That I promise, for whatever a promise from me is worth these days.
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