Friday, December 12, 2008

Fog Delays!

My friends in Bakersfield probably do not care about this blog, but for my friends other places, I must share something that I find very interesting about Bakersfield . . .

Just like those of you in Oklahoma who have children in school have snow delays, we have fog delays. Yes, fog delays. We did have a couple last year, so this is not new information to me, but I never thought much about it last year. I think we only had three total, and they were pretty far apart. And the first two, we did not even know and sent our children to school anyway. After the second time, Jason came home and said his teacher said not to come in. Classrooms are still open because technically it is only a bus delay, but the teachers cannot teach regular curriculum because the students who come late cannot be forced to make up the work, so they have to do something to keep kids busy that has nothing to do with regular classroom learning. We are actually far enough for a bus (but that is funny in itself because we are so close to the school, and the kids have never ridden the bus in the morning), so my kids count in the bus delay. Plus, they do not check attendance until after 10:00, so many people keep their kids home.

Well, this year has been completely different from last year, and I have a new appreciation for fog delays. We have had at least one fog delay each week for the past four or five weeks, and both last week and this week we had two. The fog is crazy. I leave for work at 6:25, and it is unbelievable. I wish I could get above it and take a picture to show you. Some of the mornings I have not been able to see the houses across the street. I have to drive very slowly because I am almost at an intersection before I see the stoplight. I guess I probably should just stay home.

Who knew there was somewhere in the world that delayed school because of fog?