Sometimes when I am hanging at home, checking out what is to be checked out on the internets, I come across something that just needs to be shared. This video is one of those things. Plus the music is worth hearing.
Snowing Like Stink
I would, of course, be in Milton all day. Most of the schools in the state were closed but all of Chittenden County was open. That made sense in the short run, since it was not even snowing when I left this morning. But whenever I got the chance to peek out of one of the too-few windows at Milton High School, it was snowing.
By early afternoon it was snowing like stink. Some schools that had not closed for the morning closed early. That would have been smart. Driving home was craziness. Snow was falling hard, visibility was low, there were lots of cars on the road; it was a recipe for smashing. I made it home, however, with nary a scratch. I simply had a long drive.
Now, long after I am home, it is still snowing like stink. Look:
Snowing Like Stink at Night
The timing of this was all wrong. Schools were open because it wasn’t snowing in the morning. They can’t close around here because too many parents complain if they are closed. But when it was time for buses to carry students home, the roads were about as dangerous as they can get. Plus, it will likely peter out so we don’t get the bonus snow day tomorrow.
Not that I can afford a snow day. That would mean more work to make up. But still, I frickin’ love snow days. If I can swing it, I will take a couple of hours to go skiing tomorrow. Or not. But maybe. We’ll see just how much of the stinky stuff we get.
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Leftover Soup
I was home with the kids tonight, just the three of us. We had sandwiches, soup and fruit for dinner. It was a winning combination. I made pumpkin soup last weekend and it was a real winner. I used frozen pumpkin from the summer and pureed it smooth with some sour cream. It was a real success. My daugher asked for more the night we had it and then asked for it for breakfast the next day. She still liked it tonight, a couple of days later.
We also had some potato leek soup left over from a few days before. I ate that. Good cheese, good bread, good soup, and fresh fruit to top it off. It was cold out, the woodstove finally heating up after a day of us gone, and we were filling our bellies. It was a satisfying parent moment. Happy kids, happy dad.
Soup is one of those foods that work pretty well most times, but especially well in the winter. And they are cheap. I am into cheap these days. We spend a lot of money on food. In some ways I am OK with that. I want to eat good food. I don’t like to compromise when it comes to food. But good food is expensive. It is one of those ironies of the food system. The stuff that is grown close to home without all the extra poisons tossed onto it actually costs more. It goes against logic–less shipping and less cost for all the added junk, yet it costs more?
I hope to make some soup later this week. I hope it comes out well, and that it lasts. That will satisfy the palate and the wallet.
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Best Part of the Day
Today this was waiting for the bus in the afternoon. I had two meetings cancelled today which meant I had time to go home before I worked in the evening. I walked down our long driveway with my wife and my son, the sun shining on the snow, the air cold but typical for late January. It was beautiful. I thought of nothing else at that moment. I watched my son run and jump in the snow and I was content.
The school bus has given me that–time to just be outside on a fine day and look around and be with my family. And then my daughter gets off the bus and she is such a big kid and I am a proud dad and we walk back to the house together.
Today, as on many days, it was the best part of the day.
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Another Chilly Run
It seems they can’t be avoided, these cold forays with the running shoes. I was busy today with all kinds of random crap–paying bills, trying to figure out how to refinance and being put off again (even by a second lender), taking a carful of junk to the dump, letting my children climb all over me. So I got out to run at the end of the day.
I got to say goodnight to the sun, as it was setting. I told it I looked forward to seeing it tomorrow. It was 7 degrees when I left and 5 degrees when I got home. The wind was light but I ran fast. I heated up halfway through, enough so I was sweating, but it was chilly, especially with the breeze I created. These chilly runs can’t be avoided this time of year, if I want to run at all.
When I got home I was sweating, as usual. I wore a wind jacket, and it got soaked through. My gloves got frosted. My hat had a rim of ice. It was cold and I was pumping out water. My body isn’t quite sure what to make of thermoregulation when the outside temperature is in the single digits but my core temperature is higher than normal. It kind of freaks out.
The temperature is now zero, darkness having settled in for these many hours. It will get much colder tonight. I hope our blueberry bushes handle it well. I was hoping to run again tomorrow. I keep getting in these shorties–only four miles today. I was hoping to do at least six tomorrow, but I may just do the same four again.
I like to get out there, but dang, I’m no popsicle, and I’d like to keep it that way.
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Hungry
I went to the dentist today. I had deferred the appointment, to rejigger some loose fillings, twice, so I needed to get there. I got a reminder call yesterday that the appointment I thought would be at 12:50 was for 11:50.
I had a meeting set up that was shorter than I expected, since I had to end sooner than planned to make it to the dentist. That worked out fine. We were done early anyway. I raced to the dentist, risking speeding tickets as I went 35 in a couple of 25 MPH zones. Still, I was several minutes late. Then I had to wait around for a while, first in the waiting room, and then in the chair (where I learned that Novacaine hasn’t been used for about 50 years, that now they use other drugs, like Septacaine, that Novacaine is a brand name that everyone bandies about for various similar numbness drugs, and that Septacaine contains Epinephrine–no wonder I was shaking like a blender).
I had eaten at about 10:00. I left the dentist at about 1:00. I couldn’t feel crap in the left side of my mouth. I literally could have had crap on my face and I would not have known. Luckily, my glance in the mirror revealed not even a bit of shattered filling when all was over. But the numbness meant I couldn’t eat for a while.
The dentist suggested a milkshake. We were almost out of milk. I wouldn’t have enjoyed that anyway. Who wants a milkshake with a numb tongue? I had some cereal at about quarter to five. That was a bad idea. The numbness was mostly gone and soreness had replaced it. Every crunch was uncomfortable, so I let the cereal soak for a while. In the small pool of milk I eked from the jug.
At 5:00 I had to leave for an evening meeting. I didn’t eat much today. I am still hungry. On my drive home the only thing I had with me were a couple of caramels. Given the fresh fillings in my teeth, I figured they would have been a bad choice.
If the pears are ripe, I will go with that. My wife did bring home some milk so maybe the milkshake idea can still work. I will need to wait until the children are fully asleep, however. In our open house, a blender at bed time would be worse than caramels with new fillings.
Or maybe I will just make the chocolate Santa right next to the computer go down. At least that would be a start.
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Middle of the Night
In the middle of the night my son came into the room, as he does at times. He was sleepy. He asked me a question.
“Daddy, how come Santa never takes showers?”
“How do you know he never takes showers?”
“Because he doesn’t have a shower anywhere in his workshop.”
“I bet he does but you just haven’t seen it. I’m sure he must get clean somehow.”
“Oh. OK”
And he went back to sleep.
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Children on Inauguration Day
Yeah, yeah. I watched the inauguration like everyone else. Let me tell you, I was inspired as all get out. It was a double whammy of goodness. First, Bush is finally out of office and he can’t get back in even with the Supreme Court on his side. I mean, how could you not be happy about that? The reign of incompetence has come to an end. Watching his (tax-payer funded, can we please get this guy off the public trough?) helicopter carry him away from the capital, it was a sight of joy.
Second, we get a smart, eloquent, thoughtful individual into the White House. After eight years of “I go with my gut cause God speaks to me through my gut,” that is a relief, let me tell you. But we don’t just get someone who isn’t dumb, we get a leader who cares and gets it and understands he can make mistakes and can talk about and think about it. Obama is going to do a great job. He makes me believe that change really is possible. Guessing by the number of people on the Mall today, I don’t think I am the only one.
But the point here. I met my daughter as she got off the bus and the two of us went to pick up her brother. Once we gathered him up, the three of us got in the car to head home. As we pulled out, National Public Radio rebroadcast Obama’s speech from earlier in the day. The first thing that happened was that my daughter said, “Daddy, can you turn this up?” A little while later, my son, who wanted to hear about Barack Obama, said “This guy isn’t talking about Barack Obama.” My daughter’s response: “That’s cause this is Barack Obama.”
All that was good stuff. I was happy that they were paying attention and might just understand some of what they heard and maybe even remember this day. But here is the best part: they actually paid attention. They were looking out the windows but listening. Maybe it was just Obama’s tone, but they were rapt. I’m thinking if I want to get their attention in the future I can just play back this speech and they will start listening and then I can just slowly fade it out and start talking and all of a sudden they will be paying attention to me and they will do whatever I want just like I was the brain from outer space with my secret zombie army that will do whatever I command.
This is a historical day. I want my children to remember it. I wish I could just command them to remember it but I do not have the power of the space traveling brain and, as far as I know, they are not zombies. So I will have to trust to more conventional means, like talking about it and listening to what they have to say about it. Obama, in his speech, mentioned the importance of “a parent’s willingness to nurture a child” to the fate of the nation.
I’m on it. With these kids, it will be easier than it might. As I write they are marching about the house chanting “O O Obama, O O Obama.” I guess I get inspired more than once today.
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Rough Day
At 1:00 AM I woke with the thought that I had missed a presentation I was supposed to, well, present, on Saturday. Sunday night is a bad time to remember such a thing. Saturday morning would be much better, at least for me. So I descended the stairs in the dark, checked my calendar and, ouch, I had indeed missed it.
My brain was already spinning, and I hadn’t gotten much sleep, so at that point, forget it. I read for a while, did a few crossword puzzles, and lay awake cursing myself. It wouldn’t have been so bad if a whole crew of students and parents were not waiting for me to show up, but they were. I called the guy with whom I had coordinated things and he was forgiving. He was more forgiving than me, that’s for sure.
After a while we all went skiing. I forgot my spouse”s skis. Great. One of us can’t take both the children on the ski lift, since they both still need assistance. So I took our daughter while the other two farted around. We only took one run before my daughter was tired and cold and wanted to quit. This was because I had dropped a ski pole from the lift and had to walk uphill to get it. No one helped us out with that.
I went for a run this afternoon. I had eaten two slices of toast and a muffin. Oh, I did have a couple crackers. No sleep and little food. I was out of energy pretty quickly. I put in a few miles, and it was beautiful, but I was tuckered and brain wouldn’t shut off. Too tiring.
Friends are coming for dinner. I have soup well underway (potato leek) and fresh bread just about ready to hit the oven. Hopefully that will all work out. I need something to call good today. Sheesh. I’m getting senile a little early. Those crossword puzzles aren’t doing the trick, but maybe doing them at 2:00 AM doesn’t count.
I am hoping tomorrow offers better luck. Otherwise, I will need to conclude that something is wrong. My confidence is taking some blows lately (I forgot a couple of other important meetings earlier this week as well). It won’t be long now before I turn into a grumpy old man.
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iPod
My wife’s birthday is tomorrow. She just got a new iPod Touch. I won’t be seeing her for a while.
She’ll be here, of course, but she will be way occupied with her new toy. There are lots of features on this thing and she has lots to learn. Will she use all the features? Doubt it. But she will have fun with some of them.
I have to admit I am a little envious. She’ll use it for music and she’ll use it get online. I could use the calendar and the email option and the photo option and…
I have been thinking of getting a new PDA in any case. Mine was a gift from a friend who didn’t use it. It is handy but I could use more functionality to really make it work like a charm.
I will test this baby out when I get a chance to get my hands on it. Maybe that will be my new work tool and toy wrapped into one.
It may be some time before I get my hands on it, however. The testing will have to wait.
Mercury on the Move 