"Why did we have school today?" 

(Asked by a boy who has recently moved to the Lake Tahoe area and has never lived in snow before.")

Short answer: we have four wheel drive buses.

Every year about this time, the magical arrival of the white stuff seems to occur during the already-deadly last week of school before break.  We all eagerly read the snow predictions the night before a storm and rise early and sleepily grapple with the phone to call the "snow line" to see if we are cancelled, or, a poor second choice, have a delayed start.  Today, neither. 

The kids are nearly radioactive with excitement as it is and the snow just adds to the general pandemonium.  Whenever the weather map looks like a child's color-by-number picture gone mad, we know we are in for some action.  Over the years, I've decided that school children are actually barometers; their behavior can be directly calibrated to the fall of barometric pressure.  And despite the general lack of focus on the students' part, deadlines wait for no man (or snow-frenzied child).  The first yearbook proof page submissions are due...yep...you guessed it: today!  And, oh, did I mention that I am the newspaper advisor?  And guess when it's due? 

The first major snowfall also marks the start of my annual windmill tilting with the snowplow driver who clears the parking lot of my condo complex.  Despite bribery (hot chocolate, fudge, soda), whining, and outright hysteria, he persists in making one pass and leaving a giant berm in front of my garage door. In Tahoe, we measure snow in feet, not in inches making said berm truly awesome and extremely annoying.  However, we're all Subaru driving maniacs (yes, I hear you Colorado residents - O kindred spirits) and it's usually a pretty simple matter to just blast through it.

Oh.  And the tourists.  Did I mention we get tourists here?  They are a subject for a post/rant all their own!  Note: if you're a tourist planning on heading to beautiful Lake Tahoe, PLEASE do not let me dissuade you.  (I may mutter under my breath and look daggers at you as you pass me at a high rate of speed, only to find yourself sideways and blocking my way to work...but, hey!  Welcome to snow country!)

The worst part.

The head snow shoveler in my household has gone to college.  Here in Tahoe we measure snow in feet instead of inches and that means all those feet belong to me at 6:30 AM. 

But he'll be home soon!  I can hardly wait!