News from the Frozen South

I make it no secret that I love winter. Living where I do; however, my common complaint is that I pay admission for the show without the much anticipated special effects. In other words, it’s cold but no snow. Snow, for us here in Tennessee is more of a novelty than a nuisance. I’m sure I would feel differently if I were in a different line of work.

Right now we have snow! It canceled classes on Friday, today, and again tomorrow, making this a five day weekend so far. I’m sure the public schools will be closed for a couple more days. I’m less certain how that will play out for us.

NO MORE BRACES!
Ben got his braces off on Friday! His teeth look great and he said one thing he’s missed eating are apples. He’s been able to eat apple slices, but not bite into the fruit. At any rate, he got the braces on February 16, 2016, so after almost 23 months I know he is glad to have those things off his teeth.

NEW YORK CITY
I reported last time that Ben was on his way to New York City. He was part of a group of forty juniors and five chaperones from school to go. They flew up there on the 2nd and began taking in the sights immediately. The schedule that day included Central Park, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Little Italy, Chinatown, and ended with a nighttime trip to the observation deck of the Empire State Building.

The next day they got moving early so they could visit the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and enjoy some shopping time on Fifth Avenue. That evening they took in the broadway show, School of Rock! That’s when they, and we, all learned that their flight home had been canceled due to the bomb cyclone that was working its way up the Eastern Seaboard dumping snow on everyone from Florida to Maine.

The itinerary for their last day in New York included trips to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and a stage door tour of Radio City Music Hall before flying home. All this was canceled and the kids were told to be ready to leave their hotel early to head home by bus. They drove all day, getting away from the threat of bad weather first before heading south, and made it to Roanoke, Virginia, where they went to the movies and saw Jumanji for their evening entertainment. The next day they hit the road early and pulled in at school around 1:30. From the sound of it Ben had a great time in spite of the change in travel plans. A trip to remember for sure!

BASKETBALL UPDATE
Just a quick update as we are a little over half-way through our regular season now. We currently have a 6-7 record with 9 more games before the tournaments begin. Our team has a pretty deep bench so sometimes he gets a lot of game times and other times not. Either way, we are enjoying watching Ben and the team play.

ODE TO YAHTZEE!
It is time to say goodbye to one of my favorite time-passers, my Electronic Hand-Held Yahtzee! game. Many people like to read a quick magazine article while taking care of business in the bathroom, though I’d say this has pretty much been replaced by reading things on a smart phone nowadays. (This makes me wonder just how much social media is consumed from this location, a metric I’m glad Facebook and other platforms cannot track.) For me, it’s been Yahtzee!

Vicki says we got this game before Nate was born as she remembers playing it when she was first starting to feel the labor pains before we went to the hospital for Nate’s birth. I remember that Mom gave it to me for Christmas one year. This stands out in my mind because she immediately tried to take it back as she was afraid it would lead to an addiction to gambling. So, for at least 15 years now I’ve been playing Yahtzee! in the bathroom. I have no idea how many games I’ve played or how many hours I’ve put in, but I do know it takes about two and a half minutes to play one game. My high score is 610, just under Vicki’s high score of either 612 or 615 (a battery replacement wiped her score years ago), and I earned a 423 the last time I played.

I’m choosing to say goodbye to my long-time friend. Three or four of the rubber buttons hardly work making game play a little frustrating. I can (and may) go to Walmart and buy a replacement for $9.49, but for now, I say it’s time to put it down.

Mom, that has probably been the most well used and enjoyed Christmas presents you’ve ever given me and you’ll be glad to know I never lost a penny to gambling.

Joe

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! The year has certainly gotten off to a cold start. So far the highest temperature recorded on our thermometer is 21°. This morning’s low was 1°. I’ll take a coat and cracked fingers over sweating and a sunburn any time.

To catch up from last time, we have had a wonderful holiday. Since Christmas Eve fell on Sunday this year we were busy with our regular activities at church that morning and the Christmas Eve service that evening. We went to Mom’s afterward where we enjoyed the chicken enchiladas that Vicki and Jenna made for supper.

Christmas morning we got up and exchanged our gifts. We’re pretty much past the toy stage now, though I did see a Star Wars Lego set in the mix. Jenna got a new Kindle. As much as she enjoys reading this will be the gift that keeps on giving until she wears it out. The boys are wanting to build their own computer so they got money so they can buy computer parts. There were also a lot of clothes and books under the tree, and it seems the kids all got enough socks to replace everything in their sock drawers.

Later that morning we headed over to Mrs. Connie’s for brunch. It was sort of interesting to see two new girlfriends in the mix with all the family. That evening we returned to Mom’s and ate supper together. All in all, a pretty typical Christmas for us.

The next day we ventured out a bit. Vicki, Jenna, and Ben headed out after lunch to do a little shopping. Nate and I caught up with them a little later at the movie theater where we watched The Greatest Showman, the musical about the life of P. T. Barnum. We really enjoyed this flick.

Early Wednesday we headed out for Virginia to spend a few days with Will, Darice, and their kids. They live far enough away that the drive takes the whole day now, though we can work in a fun stop along the way.

Will and Darice’s new house is very beautiful. It is situated on the land they purchased when they lived in that area over ten years ago. They moved in about three months ago. As with their previous house in Georgia, there’s plenty of room for everyone to spread out and play games, watch movies, battle it out in ping pong or air hockey, etc. and that’s just what we did. One popular game this year was the Telestrations game we got for Christmas. I have not laughed that hard in a long time.

We ate out twice. The entire family dined at El Puerto in Staunton on Friday. That was the first time I’ve ever been to a Mexican buffet. The next day Will, Darice, Vicki, and I drove to Harrisonburg for lunch at A Taste of Thai.

All too soon our visit was over and we headed home on Sunday. We did a little shopping in Knoxville and Crossville on the way and still got back in plenty of time for most of us to celebrate the new year.

Yesterday we spent the day taking down our Christmas decorations, a big job in which everyone pitched in and made it happen smoothly. Ben also spent part of the day packing for his school trip to New York City. They had to be at the airport by 4:30 this morning. One of Ben’s friends lives in Hermitage and he invited Ben and a third friend to spend the night so their could sleep in a bit and have a short drive to catch their flight. So, all three families met for supper in Hermitage last night and we said our goodbyes to Ben there.

I want to say congratulations to my cousin, Ginny Yergler, who got married in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday. I wish it would have worked out where we could have gotten there to celebrate with them.

It’s hard to believe 2017 is in the books and our Christmas break is coming to a close. I return to work tomorrow and classes resume on Thursday. Hopefully there’s some snow in our future.

Joe