Winter Comes To Washington, DC

So... after unseasonably warm temperatures over the last couple of months, the Washington, DC area finally gets some winter weather. We got said winter weather in the form of about 2 inches of snow, which began falling just as we were getting out of church (@ noon).

As you might imagine, Olivia (and all of her Sunday school chums) were ecstatic at the idea of snow. They all instantly started badgering their parents about sledding, snowmen, and did we think that school would be cancelled today. Susan and I didn't get too excited because predictions were only for an inch or so, and who would cancel school for that?

As the afternoon went on, Olivia got so antsy that I took her out side for a little while to frolic in the snow with two of her friends (who were apparently raised by wolves, the little heathens!) a few houses up our street. We didn't stay out too long, but I figured that the snow would be mostly melted by the time school got out, so she ought to be able to play in it at least once.

The snow ended at around 5 P.M. and, as predicted, there were only about two inches of snow on the ground. Well, so much for that.

Fast forward to about 10:30 last night, while I was sitting in my new rocking chair (from IKEA, don'thca know!) half-watching "The L Word" and writing notes for a few different posts, Mrs Gunfighter comes into the basement and tells me that Prince William County (Virginia) schools have been closed for tomorrow (today)!

Closed!?! Are you effing kidding me? Closed for what? THAT tiny bit of snow? You must be kidding me!

Now, I'm not going to launch into a tirade about how it was when I was a boy, and had to trudge 23 miles to school in waist-deep snow... uphill both ways. I won't do it, but I have to ask what they could have been thinking about. I mean, there were more than twelve hours before school was supposed to begin from the time the snow stopped! There was plenty of time to get primary and secondary roads clear of a wee bit of slush on the ground... so there shouldn't have been much of a safety issue.

I don't get it.