
Our winters are short in Tennessee, but the small amount of harsh weather that we get causes everything to shut down. Readers from colder areas probably think it’s ridiculous when the Southeastern United States closes schools and businesses for an inch of snow, and we used to think that, too. But it makes sense when you realize that cities and towns have very few snow plows and salt trucks. In fact, some of the less traveled roads are never plowed or salted.
Ice storms are infrequent in the North. But here, with our temperatures going well above freezing on most winter days, rain can turn into sleet and eventually ice when temperatures drop overnight, causing treacherous road conditions. Then it all gets covered in a thin layer of snow, and you can imagine what happens.

With multiple rounds of icing and sleeting over the past three days, we have spent a lot of time indoors, only venturing out when the temperatures go above freezing. Schools have been closed for three days, and Mr. Handsome’s office has had late starts. It actually isn’t anywhere near as bad as the winter storm two years ago that prevented us from leaving our driveway for six days. We kept getting hammered with ice and snow, and the temperatures stayed in the 20s for a week.
To keep our kids from going stir crazy, we have been painting, doing sticker books, and pretending to howl like wolves. Here is a picture that Little Buddy painted yesterday called “The Cow.”

Is anyone else having a snowy/icy week? What have you been doing to fill your time?