Five on Friday: February Break Updates

UESF Strike

We got an email last Friday morning that the UESF union and district had reached a tentative agreement. After a week out of school, our kids were back this Wednesday (they had Tuesday off for Lunar New Year). I’m so relieved that the strike is over, and that the union is happy with their new contract. I really hope the district doesn’t have to make cuts in the future because of funding deficits.

Honestly, the strike was really hard for us. It felt like the district was being painted as the big corporate bad guy, like they were Amazon trying to screw all their workers for profit. But the reality is so much more complicated than that. My husband eventually was able to articulate that it felt so bad because the problems are so complicated and systemic (at both the state and federal level) and yet we’re left to fight over them in hyper localized, unwinnable conflicts. The strike may be over, but the crisis of public education funding is not.

Snow

Our trip to the snow was fun, but abbreviated. We knew a storm was coming through, and that we’d probably not be able to make it to the Sno Parks on Monday, so we left earlier on Saturday, and went all the way up to the snow that afternoon. We didn’t blow up the sled or tube, but we hiked around, checking out the Sno Park. As I said in my last post, there was very little snow in the Sierras until recently, and I was worried the Sno Parks would be bare. But Iron Mountain, one of our favorite Sno Parks, had plenty of snow and that was a big relief.

Sunday ended up being our only full day in the snow, and we made the most of it. We packed lunch, and were up at our favorite sledding spot near Kirkwood by noon. We spent some time there sledding and tubing, then headed back down to Iron Mountain for some more general playing in the snow.

Monday morning it was raining at the cabin. We went up the mountain a bit to see the snow fall but we didn’t have to go very far. Chain control was much lower than we anticipated and it was clear the storm was moving faster than predicted. We visited Black Chasm Cavern to give us something to do. The tour was great, both entertaining and educational. We were very pleased that we went.

Back at the cabin the rain turned to snow around 3:00pm. The cabin we stay at is below the snow line by about 1500 feet, and while we knew it might snow there early the next morning, we were concerned by how fast it was coming down that afternoon. By 3:30pm we decided to bail and by 4:45 the car was packed.

Storm

In the hour it took us to pack the car, about two inches of snow had fallen. We needed to put on chains to get out of the neighborhood. It rained for much of the drive home. Tuesday morning there was thunder and lightening and then it hailed, both rare occurrences here. It stormed all day Tuesday, most of Wednesday and the first half of Thursday. On Tuesday, 100 miles of I-80 were closed at Donner Pass because of blizzard conditions. My dad sent me tons of videos of cars and trucks spinning in circles. It was crazy, and I’m so glad we left when we did. I don’t think we would have been able to get out if we’d stayed the night.

Highs this week have been in the 40s. I know that is balmy for most folks right now but for us it’s quite chilly. Our heater is running constantly but our house is still so cold. The downstairs especially is frigid. It’s not a super pleasant week to be at home, honestly.

February Break

Getting home early was much appreciated, especially since the kids had dentist appointments on Tuesday afternoon. We all appreciated sleeping in that morning and then lazing around. I did some work around the house. The husband filed our taxes. I cleaned out my dad’s car and drove it down to their house to get mine. The kids got their teeth cleaned and the 12yo went to swimming. They both got ready to rerun to school after a week and a half away.

My three days off have been… meh. I have been getting up to get the 15yo up and out the door. Should she be able to manage that herself? Maybe. Probably. But it felt like a lot to ask after the unexpected, extended break. I also offered to drive the 12yo to school on the two days I didn’t have an early morning dentist appointment (Thursday I got a cavity filled).

The nice part about waking up early is I’ve had a lot of time to get stuff done. I dried and repacked the snow clothes, and got them out to the shed during a break in the weather. I washed our bedding. Including all the myriad pillow casings (our pillows have zip up covers, which are encased in anti-allergy protectors). I got some work done.

Today I met the husband for lunch. Before heading home I walked to a Peet’s to get coffee (I have two gift cards and Peet’s is not long for this world) and lingered at a book store for a while. I didn’t buy anything, but I put a couple ideas on my TBR list. This afternoon I plan to do more work, a Peloton Pilates class and some clean up.

Coming up

It’s that time of year where summer is far away but we have to think about it incessantly for planning purposes. I think we’ve finally settled on St. Louis dates and I plan to buy those tickets today. The husband has been looking into summer camps for the 12yo and internship opportunities for the 15yo. As always, opportunities are scarce and impacted.

There are some fun things coming up between now and my summer break. The husband and I plan to visit friends in LA during my spring break (the kids are off the week before me). We’re going to a day of the La Onda music festival in Napa over Memorial Day weekend, where Ivan Cornejo and J. Balvin are both headlining. There are other smaller highlights, but those are definitely the biggest things I’m looking forward to. It’s nice to have some anticipated bright spots between now and summer break.