Winter

Wow!! We got snow here in Albuquerque!!! Where I am living, there was about an inch on the ground. The weathermen (women) actually got this one right! They said it's going to be brutally cold and they're right on that too!! Brrrrrrr is all you hear from anyone in town. February 1, 2011 was the day it snowed!
They closed the schools after putting them on 2 hour delay. The roads were icy that morning and there were thousands of accidents throughout the city. So that was the reason for them closing the schools that day. Rio Rancho kept their schools open, though but parents there weren't too happy about that. Seems that they had to take their kids to school!! What happened to the buses? Then February 2nd came along and the weather people were saying that we should wake up to more white stuff as the 2nd part of this brutal winter storm was passing through our neck of the woods. Tuesday night they decided that they will keep the schools closed because of that storm. Woke up Wednesday morning and no white stuff on the ground. In fact, the skies were clear and the sun was popping up over the mountains! It was freezing cold, though. I think the wind chill was -14 that morning. It warmed up to 7 degrees that day!! Last night they were talking about black outs in southern New Mexico and urged people to lower their thermostats to keep the gas going throughout the state. This morning we heard that they closed the schools again. People are crying WHY? WHY? Seems the school buses wouldn't start! Then they were concerned about the heating in the schools. They didn't want to risk losing heat and causing the kids to freeze. I learned that diesel fuel turns to gel at 15 degrees!! That's what happened to the buses. It was 2 degrees this morning at 7. Now most of the schools across the state are closed tomorrow because of the gas shortage. They're not sure if the schools can handle things if the heat goes out. I remember back in 1971 we had about 8 inches of snow and it was COLD, COLD, like freezing. We even went to Peter McDonald's inaugeration in Window Rock, AZ on a Tuesday. They had closed the schools on Monday and opened on Tuesday. We were in Window Rock and freezing like crazy as the event was outdoors and snow on the ground. My brother was very cold and when he cried his tears froze!!! We heard it was -17 that day!! We were glad to get home that evening and thawed out by the next morning!! We learned how some schools closed on Tuesday due to no heat. One of them was my school. So I didn't miss anything. The schools were closed the rest of the week because of the heating problem. So what's going on today is something that comes around every so often. We should be grateful that we don't encounter this every year. A lot of people of taking this as a lesson in life.
We will be thankful when we get the temperature back to the 30's and 40's next week!!
I hope those across the country get by with this vicious storm going their way. I saw on the news about the people stuck in Chicago for several hours. I am sure there are people without heat, electricity and things like that. Hopefully they will find a way to get through this storm. I have been praying for everyone that is affected by the storm. I believe it's just about everyone in the USA.
(I didn't check for spelling, forgive me if I made mistakes. Tired!!)