wheeee!

i am delighted to say that i actually spoke with my italy-roaming son today! it was so great to hear his voice from half-way around the world! he's enjoying himself and tomorrow is headed for zurich. i'm so glad he's having fun and can't wait to hear all about it and see those pictures -- 500+ and counting!!!

the husband and i were talking today about all the school the kids around here have missed. not that they actually miss it, but they've been absent because of snow for somewhere between 5 and 8 days. i don't know whether they'll have to make it up or if it will just be forgiven, but these people could never make it in nebraska!

our talk eventually turned to seattle and the trouble they've had with cars in the ditches, etc. and hubby said that there's not a lot of snow-removal equipment or expertise down there which ends up with people in ditches, stranded away from home, etc. and the city's mandate is to tow every vehicle which isn't where it should be! then it occurred to us that people could avoid those problems by skiing to work. but some people commute quite far, so then we decided they needed motorized skis, kinda like a segway on slats, and then i had to laugh 'cause i could just picture the 5 or 6 lane interstate clogged with skiers, all motoring along vying to get ahead, and however would you define the hov lane? it was quite a picture, then we thought about when everyone got to the tunnels and how they'd have to stop or fall over and go boink! can't you just see it...