March Blizzard 09

So we're in another blizzard right now. I almost wrote Spring Blizzard for the title, but then I thought better of it since we're just as likely than not to have one more blizzard before summer sets in. Funny thing, this one. Yesterday, we cracked a record high of 77 degrees! Today as part of our blizzard we've been in the 30s and 20s. But it's not so much the cold this time as the wind. RC recorded one wind gust at a hurricane strength of 74 mph. I don't know how much snow we've gotten. It's so difficult to tell with this wind. I can report that we sure have received quite an interesting looking landscape in our front yard, anyway, due to the continuing snow and the blowing snow. And just within the past few hours. I'll be interested to see what it all looks like when I wake up in the morning. It's a long storm. The blizzard warning has been on all day and will continue to be in effect until 6 p.m. Tuesday. Thankfully, we've received no power outages as of yet.

Interstate 90 is closed for a few hundred miles. The whole city was closed today (and will be again tomorrow), including the children's school and my own night art class. I was supposed to "teach" an art lesson to my classmates as if they were elementary students. I have a really cool lesson, too. As a relief from cabin fever, I let Anna and Alexander be my guinea pigs today, even though they're much younger than the intended student for this particular lesson. The art project ties in the Lakota (Sioux) Indian studies, which is this whole area's history. One of my classes this semester, in fact, is on Native American Indian studies, and I can't believe how much I have learned and have enjoyed my studies. The Sioux literally lived off the Bison, not just for food but for tipi coverings, bags, clothing, utensils, etc. They respected the animal and let no part of a kill go to waste. So, in a nutshell my art project is to take a brown paper bag and crumple, crumple, crumple it to the point that it looks like a cured buffalo hide and have students paint Indian symbols, like hieroglyphics. I have a couple of sheets of symbols for them to pick from. I thought it was fun to do it myself.

Anyway, I'll try to post blizzard pictures tomorrow.