If it had just been this cold, the day probably would have been more routine.
But Mother Nature decided to throw in a stiff breeze, which dropped the windchill to the -30 to -50 degree range, the coldest it's been here in six years. And like falling dominoes, one school after another throughout the region announced it would close.
Jeff and I quickly compared schedules. He stayed home in the morning. I took the afternoon shift, doing a little work from home by offering kids the promise of a trip to the Children's Museum if they played quietly while I did it.
I brought my laptop with to the Museum, and was able to get even more work done. But I have to admit I put it down for a while so I could watch the kids experiment using playdoh as part of a circuit.
A couple of wires, a small light bulb, two blobs of dough and a battery. The kids were fascinated. AJ of course subscribes to the theory of if some is good more is better, but he learned that's not necessarily the case here.
Two many wires diluted the amount of energy (I think that's what happened) so the light bulb wouldn't turn on.
Meanwhile, Sydney experimented to see if yarn (no) or pipe cleaners (yes) could work instead of the wire.
I'd like to say it was the experiment that put all that static in her hair, but no, that was the residual effect of taking her hat off 10 minutes earlier.
AJ eventually gave in and removed the excess wires. At last, success!
Victory was short lived, however. Shortly after this photo was taken, the Museum's education director learned he probably should warn kids not to directly touch the wires together. It burns out the light bulbs very quickly.
It's nice we could all learn a little something, even on a day off from school.
And now it's time to head back out into the cold. School's back in session, and back to work I go.
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