I was scheduled to take care of our daughter Kalissa’s kiddos on Sunday. Kalissa had to work and her husband Craig, who farms, was likely going to be in the field. We had amazing weather last week and they got so much done on the farm. No corn in the ground yet but much of the prep work happened.
It turns out we had rain overnight on Saturday and Sunday they were calling from snow. Craig ended up getting the day off…that meant I had the day off too. YAHOO!! I started to plan what I was going to do with my unexpected day off. Hmm.
I was out taking Caessar, my foster dog, outside and noticed that my hyacinths were blooming. I was so excited. If you remember, last fall I bought a whole bunch of bulbs and planted them. I’m finally getting to see how my work paid off.

I headed to the sewing room. It’s been some time since I had an entire day to do whatever I wanted. I was quickly caught up in my scraps.

Just a short time had passed when I had a phone call from Craig. I was sure he was calling to see if I could help with the boys…but no. He had called to…
invite me to lunch. My son Karl and I both were invited and we went to join Craig and the boys.

The food was absolutely AMAZING. Craig is great with the smoker. He watches a lot of videos and seeks out recipes. The brisket he made was so good…I was WAY impressed.
Karl and Craig along with the boys had an afternoon of board games planned so I snuck back home and headed back to the sewing room.
It started snowing and continued to snow all day. The snow would fall and immediately melt but by 4 pm the snow started to stick. At 7:30 pm I got a message from my daughter Kelli. She had to work overnight as a nurse and she had driven to work. She had left early to go but she still arrived late to work. She messaged our family messenger group and wrote “Stay home. The roads are crap. Worst roads I’ve ever driven to work.”
By the time I let the dogs out for the night, all of their previous tracks were gone and they went out and made new tracks.

Caesar, my foster dog who was previously only puppy pad trained and didn’t go to the bathroom outdoors, went on strike. He has been trained to go outside and rarely has an accident.
The poor guy had never seen snow before and didn’t like it. At first, I couldn’t get him out the door and then after I finally did, he wouldn’t go. He hopped around like a rabbit trying to keep his feet out of the snow. It was actually funny to watch. He never did go in the snow that night.
Here is the picture I took looking out my front door as I headed to bed.
My momma’s heart was still a little worried. Remember my daughter Kalissa was a work? Well, she would be driving home about the time I took the picture. Yes, she is 27…almost 28 but I still worry a bit. Just as I was putting on my pjs, my phone dinged. It was Kalissa. She knows I’m up late and knows I’m likely worrying. So she left a message to let me know she’d be late at work because she had a crazy day.

I went to sleep but apparently, I was in that weird “mom” sleep mode. I heard my phone ding in the night. I picked it up and looked. It was a message from Kalissa.
“Finally made it home. Holy WOW. The WORST conditions I’ve ever driven on. Drifts, white out, slush. Insane.”
That was after 1 am. She included these pictures.


I talked to her the next morning. She said she got to her car only to find out that she had moved the ice scraper to the back end. Then the hatch wouldn’t open because the bike rack was frozen so she had to crawl through the van into the back and then reach WAY to the floorboards in the back end to get the ice scraper. She said the roads were TERRIBLE. The slush would suck the vehicle…the winds would blow up and create whiteout conditions. Her comment was that she know why Carrie Underwood would sing the song “Jesus take the Wheel.”
I was up the next morning with vet appointments for the foster pups. One good thing came from the bad weather, people canceled their vet appointments and my two new pups were able to get in and get fixed. YAHOO!!
On the way to the vet, I saw 2 cars in the ditch. It was on the same roads Kalissa had traveled on the way home. It reminded me again how thankful I am that both of my girls who were out on the roads Sunday night, made it home.
To add more weirdness to the whole weather situation here is what it looked like at my house at noon on Monday.

Unless I had pictures no one would believe that school was two hours late because of the weather. All the schools east of us and to the Mississippi River were closed.
That’s Iowa weather for you!! I sure did have a good day on Sunday despite the odd weather.
Oh my word! You guys have had the weirdest weather this year. You don’t know if you’re coming or going. Lol. Glad everyone got home safe and glad you got some quality Jo time. Take care
I was at a quilt retreat in Sturgis, Michigan and we had shorts weather on Friday and snow on Monday morning. Crazy.
I agree, the roads were terrible. For me it was Monday morning in SW WI. I don’t know how I made it to work. Glad the girls made it too! I will take the first Winter snow storm over a Spring snow storm any day. It was bad! But will be 70 here today.
SW MN had 90 degrees on Thursday and snowstorm on Sunday. Crazy for sure.
I need to thank you for sending the snow east! As the reader above wrote, woke to snow on Monday but roads clear. I traveled to Indiana (going through Sturgis) and the roads were clear but there was snow off and on most of the day, but all snow in yard was melted by the time I arrived home. Oh, that brisket looks wonderful! What a treat for you to have a son-in-law cook for you!
Your nighttime snow photo is so pretty. I love moments like that.
Happy all are home safe and that you had a good time with the guys!!
We got about 15″ of snow here in the wintery wilds of western Wisconsin early in the week! All winter long, I kept saying “It’s gonna snow come April” & while I didn’t wanna be, I was! Now we’re in a flood watch! It’s never boring around these parts!