Colorado Spring Snow Storm

It's a snow day today. There's about 9 inches of snow on the ground in Broomfield (10 in Boulder), and we're expected to get another 2 or so by the end of the day. Our road is deemed a "low priority residential road," which means that it doesn't get plowed until 8 inches are accumulated (yes, that means that when there's "only" 7 inches of snow, we just have to deal with it). The last time that happened was in the big storm back in October.

Most of the snow fell yesterday afternoon and evening. Yesterday it started raining around noon, and continued until 2:30 or 3:00, when it turned into a heavy snow. Between 3:00 and 5:00 (when I left the office), we got roughly 4 inches. As you can probably guess, that means that most of the commuters got caught in the worst of it. By the time I left, traffic was backed up all the way into Boulder. It was stop-and-go, bumper-to-bumper, for about 2 miles. Those 2 miles took 2 hours! What I finally discovered is that about 20 cars and 4 or 5 semis had gotten themselves stuck in the snow, strewn about over probably a half-mile of the highway. I spent the next hour literally weaving my way through all the stuck cars, with several close fits. There were a few police cars around helping guide traffic and push the stuck cars. Several times I had to stop for 5 or 10 minutes while they got a stuck car moving again in front of me. I finally got passed the minefield and got up to 20 MPH. It's good thing, too, because there are several big hills between here and Boulder. Without the extra speed, I might not have made it up some of them. I did almost got stuck on the biggest hill. I somehow got out of the track of the cars in front of me and almost didn't make it back. As I got into Broomfield, I got of the freeway several exits early to avoid the last two hills and took the longer, flatter, way around. All told, my drive home yesterday took almost 4 hours.

To top it all off, tomorrow and Friday it's supposed to be sunny and get into the 50's. Welcome to Colorado!

Oh, Dad...

Dad has been uploading pictures to Picassa and otherwise working on pictures for a few weeks now. Part of his project has been to label all the faces in the pictures - and he's gone back a few years. Apparently he's had to go back and fix a lot of his work. Lizzy is not Grace and Shelly is not Emily... He's done at least several dozen this way and probably something closer to over 100. It's been kinda funny to watch him look at the pictures, guess who he thinks it is, check the date and then find out he was way off... We have, however, finally established that Grace did not exist in 2006. It took some doing to convince him of that. It was also a bit of work to convince him that pictures with two baby girls about the same age were not Grace and Emily.

So, you'd think that after 2 weeks without the two older kids that I would have more to report. You'd be wrong. Sorry. :)

I, Katie Gardner...

...went on a date tonight. And not only did I go on a date, I asked him. Just wanted to share that with the world. Over and out.

All Quiet on the Western Front

And I think that needs to change... I have a magic trick of Shelly's that I was going to put on here, but the video file is too big, and I've been too lazy to figure out how to make it smaller. I'll put up the kids' 'school pictures' instead. These were taken on the day that Shelly burned her hand on the stove, and I had french braided her hair just before the drama - so her hair is a mess (it always looks messy when it's up, but even worse when it's in a braid - I could get into the gel thing, but that's too much work) and she's holding her hand rather funny so she doesn't have to touch her burnt fingers. Jason tried for all his worth to get his hands in his pockets! It worked better with the second shot, which was a close-up...

It's a Race!

So, I think it's time for the 'Older Generation' to update their blogs... Lets see who wins! :)

Amy's Blog

Hey Gardners!!!
I am posting here to say that I am actually posting on my blog. However it doesn't do anyone any good at all... because I need your email addresses so that I can add you to the list of people that can read it.
So that was the point of my midnight raid to the family Blog...
Thanks!

SEND ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESSES!!!
jargon_de@hotmail.com or just comment here!

A little excitement for ya'll....

So in response to Nate's last post, concerning the lack of excitement, we have some to add. Rob had a little biking accident (bicycle this time) this morning (don't worry, he's fine), but he has ruptured his AC joint in his shoulder, resulting in a shoulder separation. The ER doctor who saw him put his right arm in a sling (would have to be the right arm, wouldn't it), and told him to ice it every few hours. What I think is really funny is that he gave him a prescription for tylenol, for a painkiller! Yeah, that's not doing much for him. But he says it's not bad. He'll see an orthopedic surgeon next Tuesday, although it's highly unlikely that this will need surgery. We're told he should be pain free within a week. He wants to go back to work in a couple days, but I have my doubts he'll be up to it. I'm planning on him being home all week. Fun, fun, if it could be a vacation, but not quite. I'll bascially be playing the role of single parent to 3 kids this week, (can someone please get out the violin for me?) =). I think it will help me to appreciate how much Rob helps out here though, he's a good hubby. I'm sure we'll survive it.

How's that for excitement? I'm sure I could have done much better if I had made it all high drama and said that he was still in the hospital and it was touch and go...but I figured that wouldn't be appreciated. BTW, this is Jenny posting, even though I'm signed in as Rob. For some reason I don't have the option to post on this site when I'm signed in as me.