Well, here we go again…  Last year, people everywhere were forced to shift and adjust when COVID-19 made its appearance.  On every exam and assignment given in my classes since March 2020, I have referred to our time as COVID Chaos.

Now it is time for a new “add-on” to COVID Chaos, and I’ll call it Climate Chaos.  The photo attached was understated, as this porch was away from the direction of the snowdrifts and snowfall.  Our house saw 8 or so inches of snow on Sunday/Monday and another inch on Tuesday.  My friend in Canada said he has yet to see that amount where he lives.  It was a Winter Wonderland accompanied by sub-zero wind chill temperatures day after day after day…. Retiring in Montana is losing its appeal…

Abilene is not used to a WEEK with temperatures never rising above freezing.  Throw in days with highs in the teens and lows in single or negative digits, and you have the recipe for all of the adjustments we’ve had to make.  No power means no heat. No internet means no remote learning.  No power also means no water.  So juggling three crises that preclude on-campus activities (life in the residence halls, classes, meetings, athletics) and severely impact remote learning has meant we have had to pretty much shut down campus for a week.  We’ve resigned ourselves to plan a restart/re-do next week to get our semester back on track.

What does it mean for Title V?  Delayed delivery of some important pieces of equipment (like our critical point dryer for the SEM), delayed installation and setup of the Phenom XL (yep, the instrument featured in a couple of posts last week was our new SEM).  Postponed start of research projects for my Micro class and for two capstone students.

As our campus decided to forego Spring Break to start classes a week later than expected, I think it is safe to say we traded Spring Break for a less than ideal or satisfying Winter Break.  Wish us luck!