A Quiet Day at UAB

After last weeks traumatic snowpacalpse, I decided I needed some peace and quiet. I love my family and I'm so appreciatativr that they have welcomed me into their home. However, being stranded in under one roof with all of them for days was a little stressful. I mean, I'm used to the farm where I can roam my property and not stay in the house. I think my cousin could tell I was not feeling well. I explained that I just needed a little bit of quiet time out of the house. My cousin suggested the quietest place she knew: the library. At first, I did not love the idea. The library seemed dull and boring. I'm an action kind of guy, but my cousin reminded exactly what I had been complaining about. I said I wanted peace and quiet and that did not go with action.

So I agreed to make a trip to the UAB Sterne Library. My cousin had school work she needed to get done so I just traveled with her and sat through her first two classesss of day. After her classes were over with, we made the short walk to the library. The weather was pretty ugly so I did not feel too bad about sitting inside. When we first walked into the library, it was very loud. There were students talking everywhere and I could not believe that this was supposed to be the quietest place my cousin knew. However, my cousin walked us to the very back of the library to the "quiet zone" and it was like somebody turned the volume off on the tv. This was the most quiet I had experienced all week! My cousin got out her laptop to do her school . I got out my own book, kicked back and enjoyed the "quiet zone".

Alabama Snowpocalypse

Alabama sure has been a very interesting state. The one thing that I never expected to happen while I was visiting here happened this past week. It snowed! It snowed a lot. Or at least in southern standards it snowed a lot. The Birmingham and surrounding areas only got about an inch to two inches of snow, but because it was so unexpected, it caused a lot of trouble. The whole state basically shut down. There was a thing called a "gridlock" on the interstates. My cousin explained that this meant that the cars on the interstate were stuck and not moving. It caused a lot of people to not get home. It took hours for my family to get home and some of my family spent the night at work. However crazy the situation may have sounded, it was no laughing matter. There were many parents who could not get to their kids and I know that must have been scary. 

The south is never great with snow because we never get snow. With that in mind, I had to go out and try to enjoy some of this unexpected weather. 

It was bitter cold, but such a great experience. Apparently, Alabama has not seen this type of snow in many years. It was compact and it did not immediately melt. My family and I (the ones who made it home) spent the rest of the day having snow ball fights The snow even stuck around through the night which is also unusual. We even made a short video of what our front yard looked like the next morning. 

Luckily, the road outside our house was drivable. We were able to go get food and my cousin even made it to work that night. It was fun playing in the snow, but I can definitely do without all the mess it brings.