"Hibernation", in which Heather Whines and Snuffles
<p><span style="float:left; margin:5px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hpatey/375566196/" title="The view from inside"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/154/375566196_5dff530204_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="The view from inside" /></a></span>It's not fair to have sick days and snow days at the same time.  Last Wednesday's storm filled up the city a fair bit, and gave us a pleasant day off.  I was hoping to get some stuff-chucking done, but with Bob working at home these days, he was doing his best to have a normal day and so I kept the kids out of trouble, for the most part at least.  (The day was going well until we figured homework and practice couldn't be put off any longer, and then things got nasty.)  The rest of the week proceeded according to normal, as did Saturday morning violin, despite the threat of another storm Friday night.  I walked home with the kids through an increasingly nasty Saturday afternoon, and started to feel rotten later on that day.  By Sunday morning, my head weighed about a hundred pounds from all the gunk that had built up in my sinuses, so I left it in bed for the day, not even interested in reading or listening to audio.  Uuuuuurrrrgh.</p>

<p>Monday was a snow day for the schools, and I made it to the recliner for a while... primarily occupied with emptying out my head and drinking tea.  And on that day, just to make things exciting, we ran out of oil!  Our last fillup was December 5th, and it seems that our usual monthly top-up didn't happen over the holiday period.  So the repair guy came within the half-hour to check and prime the furnace, and the truck filled us up shortly thereafter: six-hundred-odd dollars for eight-hundred-odd litres, which we apparently go through in eight weeks.  Mind you, I expect that'll last longer than the next eight weeks, us not being home in the daytime nearly as much as during Christmas (Bob doesn't use the heat when home alone during the day - he's one of these strange people that doesn't get cold).  We'll be eating from the freezer until payday, that's what.</p>

<p>Tuesday continued stormy. I really didn't care if my office was open, but it was too nasty to take my kids out nor me either.  By the time the sun came out in the afternoon, I was feeling more human, and managed to go to a <a href="http://www.kidsinsafeseats.ca/">Kids In Safe Seats</a> meeting that evening, although Bob had to take Jean to her violin lesson - walking for half an hour on unfit streets was not in my wellness plan.  We've all had it at one point or other: Jean was too sick to go to school from Tuesday to Thursday last week, Bob was unfit for regular duty for three days, Eleanor had snottiness throughout and fever on Monday. Today, we're all back to normal (functioning, if perhaps not feeling the best) so Eleanor's violin and my orchestra will fill up our Wednesday.</p>

<p>The city is now at snow capacity (hear that, weather gods?) and there's nowhere to walk anywhere.  The annoyance of winter now applies to those with and without cars.  If we get a break before the next storm, I expect the blowers will eventually be out to truck it away, but in the meantime there's hardly any point in shoveling more than a path - nowhere to put it.  And just to make sure the landscape has completely concreteized, it's going to thaw on Saturday.  I daresay we'll get some more storm days in February and/or March, and I hope to be well enough to enjoy them properly.  Maybe even get some indoor shovelling done.</p>