Dec 07
16
Storm Warning
Posted by Stephen16
Tags: challenge, children, community, Joel, problems, Sunday, winter
Nothing could have prepared us for a day like today. We thought we were going to get a lot of snow, but that was the least of it.
The day started off a lot earlier than we expected, with Micah, the baby, crying and screaming at about 6am. That went on for an hour, and we were at a loss as to why and what to do about it. You’d think we’d have it all figured out by our third child. Mind you, our mental processes aren’t too swift at that time of the morning. He (and we) went back to sleep around 7.
We woke shortly after 8 and looked out the window to see whether the snow they’d threatened was here yet. From Saturday night’s forecast:
A near-crippling snow storm with heavy snow and blowing snow as well as some ice pellets tonight and Sunday. This is a warning that dangerous winter weather conditions are imminent or occurring in these regions.
Yes, it was snowing, but not heavily. Yet. Thus the priority was breakfast first, shoveling second.
I made myself breakfast and then got cereal for Daniel. Joel showed up and asked for his ritual bite off my plate. Every morning the boys must have a bite of my breakfast. They insist. Actually, I count myself fortunate that it’s only one bite per boy. It used to be a race to see who could eat the most of Daddy’s breakfast. I’d be lucky if I got to eat half my food. So now it’s only one bite, strictly enforced.
Meanwhile, Debbie was busy changing all Joel’s sheets. He’d soaked them during the night, and she wasn’t too happy about the unexpected laundry. She arrived at the breakfast table in time to toast a hot cross bun for Joel (his request). He had about three nibbles, declared he was done, and wandered off into the living room. A short while later I went in and found him curled up on the couch. Did he want a blanket to keep warm? Yes please! But one of the baby’s blankets wouldn’t do. So I got his quilt instead, and tucked him in with two of his favourite stuffed toys.
He looked poorly, so I sat down at the end of the couch to keep him company while I drank my coffee. About halfway through my cup, Joel threw up. Copiously and violently. All over his clothes. All over the quilt. All over his stuffed toys. All over the pillow. All over the couch. There was plenty to go around. He missed me and he missed the rug beyond the couch, but he got everything else. It was a comprehensive chuck.
There’s that frozen moment when you just can’t believe this is happening, and what on earth are you going to do? I made a loud exclamation of dismay and poor Joel started crying. Daniel ran in. There’s nothing like a disaster to attract onlookers. Debbie ran in too, and for a minute chaos ensued. “Get me a bowl!” cried Debbie. I dashed into the kitchen for a bowl, ran back and held it under Joel’s head. Vomit dripped into the bowl. “I didn’t want it to be that bowl.” said Debbie sadly. I looked. I’d brought her favourite mixing bowl she uses when baking. We paused for a moment to reflect on the folly of husbands under pressure.
But no time to waste. I undressed Joel and stood him in the bathtub to wash off the muck. Chunky bits floated into the tub and down the drain. I dried off the miserable, shivering boy, and dressed him in warm clothes. He just wanted to be held, so I did that while I watched Debbie pull the seat covers off the couch and gingerly dump everything in a laundry basket. She wasn’t shy at letting us know of her disgust. There went another load of laundry to add to the morning’s tally.
I sat with Joel for a while, trying to gauge how sick he felt. Eventually he hinted that he’d like to go to bed. So we went to ask Debbie if his bed was usable yet. It wasn’t, and along the way Joel threw up again, all over the dining room floor. The splatter had quite a reach. Add jeans and slippers to the laundry list.
By now I’d learned my lesson. I sat Joel on his bedroom floor with the bowl between his knees, while Debbie made his bed. I put him to bed, where he promptly fell asleep. I then went back to the dining room to clean up the new mess. I got out bucket and mop and gave the room a thorough cleaning. I did the kitchen too, while I was at it. Then I put a new load of laundry in to wash. Debbie still hadn’t had her breakfast yet, Daniel had been banished to a small corner of the living room for safety’s sake, but the panic was over. We could slow down.
I noticed my neighbour outside with his snowblower, and so I put on coat and boots and rushed out to ask if I could borrow it. Sure, no problem. That was a relief. The snow was a foot deep, and heavy. I cleared our driveway and sidewalk in twenty minutes instead of the hour and a half it would have taken to shovel. No effort, and actually quite fun, blasting a torrent of snow out to one side. I got back in at lunchtime. We’d missed church altogether by then, but I was pleased that the driveway was clear.
After lunch Debbie and Daniel went out to shovel snow from parts the snowblower couldn’t reach, still a considerable job. By the time those parts were done, the driveway had to be cleared again. It was snowing heavily. She finished shoveling at about 4pm, just as the snow stopped falling.
The afternoon passed uneventfully for those of us warm and dry inside. I sat Micah on the rug to play, and he fell asleep in place. Joel woke up, was grumpy and miserable for a couple of hours, and then brightened up. Our other neighbour stopped by with an awesome toy she’d won, but that her kids didn’t want. Daniel and Joel were in heaven. Jesus asks us to love our neighbour, but in our case our neighbours love us.
By dinnertime Joel had recovered. And he was starving. We gave him toast and apple sauce, rationed out in small doses throughout the evening.
What a day.
My friend Pat had mentioned that his computer was dead, and could I help him fix it. Things on the home front were more or less back to normal, so after dinner I set out to his place. It’s a few miles. Not far. It had stopped snowing a couple of hours ago, and the plows would have had a chance to clear the roads by now.
Ha!
After pushing my car out of a snowdrift for the second time, I gave up and went home. I’ll have to fix that computer another, less snowy, day. I should have paid attention to yesterday’s forecast:
This massive snow storm has the potential to cause near-paralyzing conditions as road travel on any unplowed streets may become next to impossible on Sunday. All motorists who must travel are urgently advised to use extreme caution and plan for much extra time to reach their destination.
