More nuisance snow

Another bad blog post title, but these bothersome little snows just won't stop! We got a few more inches last weekend, another inch last night, and right now we are getting what is supposed to be 2-4 more inches tonight. Little dribby drabby snows, but they keep coming. I don't think you can see in this photo that the snow is actually coming down, but it is, and it's 25 degrees Fahrenheit. Now, if we end up getting huge dumps of snow in March, I will be really sorry I complained about the little snows, but there have been so many! Where is our Colorado sunshine?

So today is February 22nd, and a Friday -- a fact which makes me very happy. The first two weeks of February went by quickly, what with parent/teacher conferences, various meetings, and Valentine's Day, which was pleasantly low-key. The kids celebrated at school (their last time), Rocket Boy and I had cards for each other (his loud, mine subtle, but both on kind of the same theme), he also produced two boxes of chocolate which were gone in a few days, and we had Chinese takeout for dinner with lots of leftovers. The kids had both February 15th (Friday) and February 18th (Monday) off, so I took those days off too. And on February 17th, Rocket Boy flew to Tucson for a job interview with Raytheon. He flew back late on February 20th, but before he left he'd already received an email saying they weren't going to hire him. Honestly, so rude. However, he got to visit Tucson, eat at his favorite restaurant there (Caruso's), and drive up Mt Lemmon, all on Raytheon's dime (which of course is my dime and yours, since Raytheon is basically entirely government-funded). Oh, whatever. He has another interview (in south Denver) on Tuesday.

Anyway, it was stressful having him gone, though I keep reminding myself that he may end up getting one of these jobs -- we still can't figure out what's going on with the job in St Louis -- and then he'll be gone all the time and I'll have to cope. It would be easier if I didn't have to (a) work, (b) drive Kid A back and forth to his special school, AND (c) keep the household running (OK, it would be even easier if I didn't have to do ANY of those things, but...). Next year Kid A will just go to regular school, so I might be able to handle (a) and (c) if there's no (b).

Whine, kvetch, complain. What else is going on? I am still reading happily, though not at the frantic pace of January. I've decided to take part in the Back to the Classics Challenge, and try to read 12 "classics," loosely defined, over the course of the year. I used to read classic novels, but don't do it much anymore, so I thought a little push would be good. I'm not actually registered in the challenge (because I don't want to fill my blog up with book reviews), so I won't win the prize, but I'm following all the rules. My January "classic" was The Time Machine by H. G. Wells, which I actually read to the kids (Rocket Boy's choice). That fits into category #8: Classic Novella (Any work of narrative fiction shorter than 250 pages).

In February I like to re-read books by Barbara Pym, which would in fact count as classics according to this site's definition, but I decided that my "classic" would instead be The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe, which fits into category #1: 19th Century Classic (Any classic book originally published between 1800 and 1899). In fact, both books are novellas and both were published in the 19th century, but it doesn't matter. I enjoyed the experience of reading Pym, which is not to say that I really enjoyed the book itself, but it was memorable -- and surprisingly hard to get through (The Time Machine was easier). Both books, though, were thought-provoking, and have stayed in my mind more than most modern books I read. This is perhaps why they are considered classics. In fact, The Time Machine really bothered me -- the idea that we are not going to keep progressing, but rather that society will gradually degenerate and collapse. There are so many examples of it happening now, such as the demise of the free press, and the increasingly poor quality of manufactured items.

I don't know what March's classic is going to be. Possibly something from category #2: 20th Century Classic (Any classic book originally published between 1900 and 1969). I'm also planning to read a Presidential biography, so must allow time for that too. March is a long month, though, plenty of time for reading. Especially if we have a lot more snow.