Five Things to Know Today, Jan. 3

Welcome to Tuesday and back to the real world for most of us. Get an early start this morning if you're commuting -- Gwinnett school buses will be on the road again for the first time in more than two weeks. Here are some more things to know today.

The weather: Better bundle up -- it probably won't get warmer than 37 degrees today and it will be windy to boot, according to the National Weather Service. The low tonight will be around 20 degrees.

Gas prices: A gallon of regular is going for anywhere between $3.14 (at Kroger, 3050 Five Forks Trickum near Oak Road) and $3.27 (at Texaco, 4785 Lawrenceville Hwy at Indian Trail Lilburn Road), according to reports made to www.georgiagasprices.com.

Woof! The Gwinnett County libraries bring together kids and well-trained therapy dogs to practice reading skills in a series of events called Doggie Tales. The next one will be at the Mountain Park branch this Saturday at 1 p.m., for children ages 5-10. The friendly dog will be from Atlanta TheraPaws, part of Therapy Dogs International, Inc.

Mummy's the word. British archaeologist Howard Carter worked at excavating the tomb of Tutankhamen in Egypt for two years before he and his team found its greatest secret: the sarcophagus and gold coffin that had held the teenage pharaoh's mummy safely for more than 3,000 years. It was Jan. 3, 1924, and the discovery would be a lasting highlight of the excavation of the four-chamber, underground tomb. The coffin and other artifacts are held by the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and many of the objects frequently tour the world.

Hobbits. The father of modern fantasy literature, J.R.R. Tolkien, was born on this day in 1892 in South Africa, the son of an English banker. He returned to England at age 3 and ultimately became a professor at Oxford, where he was also friends with C.S. Lewis, the author of "The Chronicles of Narnia." Tolkien wrote "The Hobbit" for his own children before it was discovered by a publisher and released in 1937. That book's success led to calls for a sequel, which became the three-volume epic "The Lord of the Rings," published in 1954 and 1955.