Animal Cannibalism

Okay, you've seen the pictures of the snow.  And more pictures of the snow.  And, finally, MORE pictures of MORE snow!  What you haven't seen are the pictures of me pulling my hair out.  Pictures of Max (the 16 year old) red-faced growling at Jake (the 5 year old) and threatening to dismember him.  Pictures of the cat sliding around the corner of the kitchen with his rear claws scratch-scratch-scratching to gain footing as he careens out of Jake's path.  Pictures of Carter (the 12 year old middle child) burrowing down in his bed (a lofty upper bunk) to play hand-held games in peace hoping that if he's quiet no one will come looking for him and force him to interact with the rest of the inmates. Pictures of the vein on (husband) Addison's neck pulsing.

What I haven't shown anyone are the pictures of CRAZY that happen when Mother Nature collides with a Wednesday.  The first snow storm happened on a Friday night through Saturday.  No problem.  Sunday was a gorgeous day for digging out and playing in the white stuff.  The kids had a two hour delay Monday morning and life went back to "normal" on Tuesday.  Apparently, we were a little cocky with that first storm.  

"Eighteen inches of snow?  Why, when I was a kid we had a blizzard that lasted for a week!  Snow drifts made it all but impossible to tell where one house ended and the next one started.  Ha!  This is nothing."

Yea, I know.  It's not nice to mess with Mother Nature.  

So everyone was home for round two on Wednesday.  The Governor shut down all the highways and declared a state of emergency for Thursday so everyone was home for that too.  School is closed today for an already scheduled In-Service Day for the teachers.  Then, we're back to the weekend--no school.  And, if that wasn't enough time for family togetherness, Monday is President's Day.  Ugh!  No school AGAIN.

If you've done the math, you know that this succession of days of no school now equals SIX.  That's six days of not dyeing anything.  Six days of not knitting anything more complex than a ribbed sock.  Six days using the computer only after threatening bodily harm or when they go outside to shovel/play.  Six days of watching Nickelodeon.  Six days of the fighting, yelling, threatening, bribing that is three boys of widely differing ages in a very small house.

Addison went to work today.

Now, I know why some animals eat their young.  They got snowed in with them.