Update: Everything is cool

So in the end, they cancelled school for today, and thus my wife was not forced to figure out how to get the little guy to and from the bus stop without complications from hypothermia (for him, herself, or the two other little ones). On the other hand, work was open for business on the regular schedule. The e-mail from the schools came at about 3 p.m. on Monday, whereas I stayed up as late as I could refreshing the Office of Personnel Management page looking for some sign of news, but ultimately fell asleep and then checked this morning when I woke up and discovered there was no news after all. I layered and bundled up, drove to the train station, waited in my car right up until the VRE was pulling up to the platform, hurried onboard, and once the train arrived in my work neighborhood I hurried off and across the street to the underground. I survived.

The house survived, too, despite some heavy wind last night rattling the rafters. I didn't mention it in yesterday's post but one of the facets of my distraction was a paranoid certainty that somehow the cold would cause some kind of property damage. I drained/winterized the outdoor water fixtures a month ago or more, but I've failed to do so in years past and paid the icy burst-pipe price for it, so it will probably haunt me forevermore. And on an even more insane level I was convinced that the panes of glass in my house's windows would just spontaneously crack if not shatter overnight, like so many hot coffee pots tossed into sinkfuls of cold dishwater. None of those dread premonitions came to pass, though, nor even so much as a power outage due to downed limbs.

So, quite possibly a whole lot of fuss over nothing, and certainly over nothing long-lasting, since I see now that by the weekend it could very well be up in the 50's or 60's around here. As you were, then.