January 27: World is Closed, Wind Chills, "Web" Dip

My entire world closed today.  Every school.  The university where I teach.  My daughter's dance classes.  My son's religious education class.  My Monday night poetry workshop.  With wind chills approaching 40 below zero, nobody wanted to step outside, let alone wait at a bus stop or walk across a college campus.

I actually got to spend most of the day with my wife and children.  I watched a couple episodes of The Big Bang Theory.  Even took a nap.  I have reached the age where one of the greatest pleasures in my life is 40 or 50 winks in the middle of the day.  I'm not sure if that officially makes me old.

The weather isn't going to be much better tomorrow, either.  My kids' school has already canceled again.  So has every other school in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  When I drove home this evening, the temperature gauge on my car read -15 degrees.  I also heard the alarm going off at the fire station.  That means there's a house burning somewhere in town.  Not a good situation.  I once saw a house that caught fire on a night like this.  In the morning, the entire structure was encased in ice.

Of course, the university hasn't called off classes for tomorrow.  Yet.  I'm skeptical that I will get another day of leisure.  At best, the school will postpone opening until ten or eleven o'clock in the morning.  I teach at 4 p.m.  I will be in the classroom tomorrow.

But let's leave it up to Charlotte:

Will the university cancel classes again tomorrow?

And the answer from the Zuckerman barn is:

"Hurray!" cried everybody.

"Thank you very much," said Charlotte...

Well, Wilbur and friends seem to think that I will be getting another day of vacation.


Of course, Saint Marty doesn't really trust the opinions of animals who live and sleep in manure.

As Dean Martin says, "Baby, it's cold outside."