Glad to hear you're back up, Beane. UW didn't cancel? UW-Milwaukee will shut down in snow although only at the last minute. During a 12"-incher several years ago, I was in grad school and had to give the class lecture. I lived 45 minutes from campus and they wouldn't cancel classes. Well, not until I was about 10 minutes away from campus. Argggghh...it took me 5 hours to get home that night.

As for freezing rain vs. snow....you know, I'll take the rain right about now. I don't have to shovel rain We've been having bad ice after the storms, too--there just isn't enough salt in the stockpiles and when the temps drop to 0 or below the salt stops working.

For safety the salt shortage is bad, but in some ways, it is good. For instance, they are no longer salting my residential street. It isn't needed there--plow and drive slow. And, it is making them look elsewhere. Areas in the central part of the state (where they are more progressive) are using beet juice on the roads. It is the waste product after they extract the sugar. As I understand it, the juice lowers the freezing point so it reduces the amount of salt sprayed on the street. And, it isn't as harsh on the environment.

But this is one (explicative) winter--is there any part of the country that is having a happy winter?!?!?!?