Ramblings of a rural(ish) geek

More snow. Lots more, even. Enough that J and I went out (before breakfast!) and spent an hour digging out the driveway. And I dug a path to the backyard. I think J had the easier job - the straight part of the driveway that he did doesn't require one to actually carry the snow to the edge, but this much snow in the wider upper part of the driveway needs to be scooped and carried to the edge where the snowpiles are. And with all the snow we've been getting, the snowpiles are getting kind of tall - the one on the southwest corner of the driveway is taller than me! (The space it's in is confined, and I can't really do a neighbor pile. I guess I'll have to stop using that one. Which means walking further, and/or around a car. :( )

Hard to tell how much fell, as it's the light grainy stuff that drifts in the slightest breeze and it was windy all night, which not only pushed the snow around, it packed it down, but I'd say 6-10" in this round. We may get more this weekend.

But it's sunny now, so it's at least pretty. The sun does mean that it's cold, and they're telling us that overnight temps will drop below 0F.

In pandemic-ish natter, my hair is now long enough that I have to be careful not to catch it in the zipper of my jacket. That hasn't happened in a couple of decades.... (it's been over a year since my last haircut.)

State One Act Finals was Friday and Saturday. There were 13 teams competing, with Chelsea hosting. Eight shows on Friday, six (counting the Black Box demo) on Saturday and the awards ceremony. Two very long days, with "strike the school" on tap for the Chelsea team afterwards.

Chelsea did their show as the entertainment between the last show and the awards ceremony (while the judges were tabulating all the scores and ranking the teams and making decisions on individual awards). They were On. They got a standing ovation from a full house. (hah! so much for that III at Regionals!) The tournament director did a bit of a spiel before they started, about how MIFA was contemplating changing their categories to make it easier for new programs to be competitive, and doing Mainstage (traditional theater, with elaborate costumes and props and sets and sound) and Black Box (no scenery, minimal costuming and props and sound) tracks. He went on to say that it was a difference much easier to see than to explain, and here's a fine example of a Black Box show from this year's competition.

[There were, of course, complications, mostly due to CHS not actually running the entire show at any time last week because they were setting up for hosting the festival. The weapons had gone back to whichever of the props rooms (there are at least six in town, between CHS, CAP, & the Purple Rose all having multiple spaces) they'd been borrowed from, and nobody realised it until CHS went to warmup. Fortunately, somebody knew which space they were in and who had access to it, so it was a matter of 20 minutes to get them to the HS. DB's jacket was hanging in the front closet, so he borrowed a leather jacket from somebody (it may have been from the costume room). One of the girls spaced on the warmup time and had to be tracked down.]

I ran the volunteer room and fed 35-40 kids and adults second breakfast-lunch-dinner for two days. We had a kettle, a toaster, and multiple stoves and refrigerators (we were in the Home Ec room). I was very nearly the last person out of the building.

In other news, we did not quite get drifted in -- I did plow a little snow with the van on my way out Saturday morning, and the driveway will probably need to be shoveled before J gets home in my lower car, but the wind changed Saturday evening so it's blowing down the driveway, not across. It is, however, currently -12F in the backyard before the windchill, so I will wait for it to warm up a bit before shoveling.

Two weeks ago, I posted about the birdbath being engulfed in a snowdrift. This is what it looks like this morning:

There's still melting to go, but there's clear spots in the yard (and not just over the septic tanks). We've not had an appreciable melt since the snow first fell in January, and there's a solid coating of birdseed hulls on the snow -- I don't know if it's slowing or accelerating the melt. I do know that the path to the birdfeeders is treacherous -- the packed snow is slippery, and the unpacked snow just off the path is crusty and granular.

Of course, they're telling us we're going to get snow tonight. Lots of it. And tomorrow is supposed to be the first day of already-rescheduled-once finals at the high school. That should be amusing.