Attention GA DOT: Salt Truck Needed on 316.

There are at least 20 other things that I should be doing right now. Primarily sleeping. Even my [wilder than the average] dog just went and stood in front of my bedroom door and looked at me with those sad puppy dog eyes until I opened it for him so he could go lay down. If not sleeping, I should be reading for class because I certainly am behind even though I've devoted far too many hours to the cause already this week in my opinion. Instead I'm blogging at midnight because tomorrow is a Snow Day! And it's hard-wired into my being that snow days equate to staying up late and doing nothing related to school or work. As I was driving to my parents' house on Friday evening for the first leg of HP's Journey around Georgia 2009, I had a phone conversation with my mom about how I was probably going to have to head back to Athens either late Saturday or early Sunday to prevent getting trapped at their house in the looming snow storm that had the weather people all abuzz. Because like I told mom "it never snows in Athens so I'll have to get back there to be at work on Monday" [I was seriously doubting the likelihood of a snowstorm anyway because at the time of the conversation I was wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt and jeans.] Guess what...

It snows in Athens. Technically the picture above wasn't taken in Athens. It was taken on my way home when I was stopped at a traffic light somewhere on 316. To be specific, the part of 316 that was easier to drive on than the part closer to home. Driving at an average rate of 25 mph for approximately 30 miles provided me with plenty of time to draft a new piece of legislation. I propose that all Georgia drivers must take their driving test in Minnesota during the winter months before being given a license. I don't understand why we get all sorts of crazy on the road as soon as the first flake hits our windshields. I passed 4 wrecks in a 10 mile stretch this afternoon. A Ford Windstar almost plowed into the side of me because apparently Bobby LaBonte (sorry Nascar fans, he's the first driver I thought of and I have no idea the quality of his driving skills or what kind of car he drives) was behind the wheel and he had a hankering for a biscuit from Bojangles. [Side note: I discovered Bojangles biscuits this week and the experience literally changed my life.] I'm not saying that my 18 hours of private driving lessons nearly 15 years ago [aghhh...age crisis] was the only preparation I needed to learn how to drive in the snow and ice, but doesn't it just make sense to stay in the tracks of the cars that are just ahead of you? Instead of trying to blaze your own trail in a minivan? I'm pretty sure you can't flip the hubs (um, I could be a little off on my 4WD lingo here) and cruise on by. Fortunately the rest of the trip was uneventful because I was going to need a lot of energy to keep up with this beast...

To say that Cash loves the snow is a bit of an understatement. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to move to a cold climate now or else he'll sink into a deep depression. We spent a lot of time outside this afternoon which is fine by me because have you ever spent much time in a 1 bedroom apartment with a 10 month old Lab who hasn't been exercised all day? It's not pretty...The snow, however, was very pretty.

It snowed...
and snowed...
Unfortunately many of the trees have been slacking in the exercise department [it happens to the best of us] so they were not up to the task of hosting all of this wintertime goodness...A few of the extra wimpy ones enlisted additional assistance...The only thing that could have made the afternoon better was if I had collected some nice clean snow to make up a batch of snow cream...but I don't keep sweetened condensed milk on hand which is a key ingredient in the deliciousness that is snow cream. And of course, I would have needed some folks around to share the snow cream with, but it kind of goes without saying that the snow is much more fun when shared in the company of others. Maybe I should make some friends in my apartment complex before the next time it snows. Something tells me I'll have plenty of time since "it never snows in Athens".