Cold Weather, the Soo, & Snow Stick Fairies

It was cold last night. So cold that when I got home from class, my Mom had a fire going in the wood burner. Yep, that cold. Bring it on.

Today was the usual Thursday trip to the Soo. Speech was first on the agenda. Brendan has shown a great deal of improvement with his s and z sounds and also slowing down how fast he speaks.


After that we ran many errands. Many. We left the house at 9:15am and got home at 4pm. My poor boys were in and out of that van many times in those hours. (And were well behaved!) One thing I had to get done was a passport photo. I had been putting it off for about 6 months and finally had it done today. Sure the photo was crappy, but aren't they all? I was so careful with that photo. And yet, somehow, to my horror, one of the photos is ruined. How? The holder they were in got a huge drop of liquid of some sort on it and it soaked thru to ruin the picture. I noticed it once I got home and almost cried. Yah, I'm pissed about the $10 I paid to get it done, but moreover, its the fact that it took me 6 months to get it done, and I have to get it done AGAIN! I still am sitting here and can't figure out how the damn thing got wet in the first place.



The Snow Stick Fairies were here! On M-123 this morning I saw that the snow sticks were up. Now, they were not up last night on my way home from class, yet by 9:15am miles of road were done. How fast do those fairies work????? Well, get this.................I SAW THEM ! I was so excited that I turned the van around and went to talk to them! The guy showed me how they did it and I even took a photo of the snow sticks in waiting:
Now I am sure the guys thought I was a lunatic, but I'm okay with that. For many years I have wanted to see them actually do this and years I have not seen a trace of them but for the sticks appearing on the sides of the roads. So I can check this off my list of "things to see"........give me a break, there's not much for entertainment up here, I've got to look forward to something, don't I? But I had another thought I'd like to share with you. Can you imagine the hassle this would be downstate? This type of work would require 2 big ass work trucks and at least 4-6 guys, not including the ones who would hold the "Slow Down" signs. It would take them probably weeks to get a good stretch of road done and even then it would require overtime. Now here, it takes 2 guys, 2 poker-tools (yah, I'm pretty sure that is the technical term), and an old pick-up truck. I love the UP.

*******Ryan was upset that my investigative reporting was not good enough. He wants to know who picks out the sticks, how many sticks do they use a year, how long do the sticks have to be, where do the sticks come from and how are they so straight, and so on. So now I feel I must try to get all this information for him. My gosh, am I actually thinking about calling our local MDOT for this info?? You bet. After all, what have I got to do besides take care of 3 boys, study for an exam, write a research paper, and start on 2 seperate presentations.......I've got the time.