snow days

I read this morning on Facebook.com that cousin Monica's boys are having a snow day today in Iowa City. Just the words "snow day" bring back so many wonderful South Dakota memories:

*Listening to WNAX radio station as the school closings were rattled off. Hoping to hear "Platte School District".
*Mom couln't get us out of bed for school on a normal day, but on a snow day when there was NO school, we'd launch out of bed at the crack of dawn.
*Eating hot Cream of Wheat with grape jelly toast. (We loved the lumps in the Cream of Wheat. We would demand that it not be stirred during the cooking process to insure the lumps).
*Running to the window for a look outside - making nose and hand prints; usually there was ice on the inside of the window.
*Cracking out the Monopoly game. We would play with several sets of money. The games lasted for hours. There was always a fight over who got the Scottie dog marker. We'd put the money collected from Chance, Community Chest and Get-Out-Of-Jail "in the middle" to be won for landing on "Free Parking". (Now that I live in California, I realize there is no free parking, but I digress). No one ever would put the game away when it was all over.
*Getting Dad to pull us on a sled tied to the back of his pick-up truck. (You know, people, this is not all that safe.) I remember cries of "faster faster" and then watching wide-eyed as we'd accelerate towards UNDER the truck when he had to slow down or stop. (No, not really that safe at all).
*Going to Platte Lake to sled down the lake hill on the West side of the lake.
*Watching the snow plow go by and marvelling at how wide the spray could be and how tall the snow mounds piled up.
*Going outside for a big chase game of tag on wheel-shaped circular paths we trudged out of the snow. The center was the "safe zone".
*Making snow forts.
*Snowball fights.
*Icicles sparkling in the sun and later, melting - dripping water onto the porch.
*Hearing the phone ring for Dad, the town veterinarian - some unlucky farmer usually had a calf or cow in some type of distress. Wondering how Dad was going to make it there.

I'd love to be there today for a snow day! Dibs on the Scottie dog.