On This Date in 1999 (April 18)

I’ll finish this letter while I have some peace and quiet. JoAnna and the boys went to the health club tonight. She’ll exercise while the boys play around in the pool. 

Andy’s team lost their soccer game, 7-0, against a team that took first place in the fall league. The sun was shining during the first half, which kept the parents, standing along the sidelines, from feeling the full effects of a fairly strong breeze. A dome of clouds appeared during the second half and blocked out the sun’s rays. Suddenly it felt like early March. We were all very eager for the game to end, a sentiment we didn’t share with our sons, of course. 

During the afternoon and early evening, JoAnna was at the annual Democratic Party Leadership Conference in Merrimac, about 30 miles north of Middleton, where she conducted a couple of workshops. A friend of Andy’s, Rex Johnson, spent most of the afternoon here, most of their time challenging each other to various Playstation games. I didn’t have a particularly productive day. I finished reading a book (Little Green Men, by Christopher Buckley, a very funny spoof on Washington and the politics of UFO’s) and continued the yard work on the south side of the house. Saturday evening JoAnna and Andy went to the health club. I sat at the kitchen table and watched a movie on TV (Airplane, which had me laughing uproariously at times). Eddie was setting a mini-Lego world on the top of the bookcase next to my desk. During the commercials, I’d check out his progress. 




We went to 9 o’clock mass this morning and then stopped at Scott’s Bakery, usually referred to by us as “The Donut Shop”, on the way home. I went grocery shopping after JoAnna and Andy had completed a menu plan for the week. At quarter to 12, I drove Andy to the high school for the Babe Ruth League baseball tryouts. I didn’t stick around to watch the kids to through their paces. When I returned to give Andy a ride home, though, I heard reports from both Rex’s and Meaghan’s dads that Andy was sure to make the team. Andy, too, felt very confident about his chances. He said he did well in the various hitting, pitching, throwing, and batting drills the coaches ran them through. 

The weather today has been overcast and cool, with intermittent rain showers, so I postponed cleaning the windows. I had even considered putting up the screens in the family room when it looked as though the sky was clearing during the middle of the afternoon. That turned out to be a false promise of pleasant weather. Instead I went through my closet and filled up a large plastic bag that was distributed at the end of church today with old clothes -- shirts and pants and sweatshirts that Eddie has outgrown and shirts that I haven’t worn in over a year. The clothes will be dropped off next week at church for St. Vincent de Paul, a Catholic charitable organization. 

Eddie played in a soccer scrimmage at 4:30 today. I wore my windbreaker and still felt chilled. Unlike most of his teammates, Eddie wore only his jersey, nothing warmer underneath, although I thought I had brought along a long-sleeve shirt for him. I found it on the kitchen table when we returned home. He had brought along his windbreaker, which he wore when he was on the sidelines, but didn’t seem to be bothered by the cold when he played. JoAnna brought along an umbrella since the intermittent sprinkles had returned when we left the house. The Sailfish played two quarters against a 3rd grade team and lost by a score of something like 7-2. Eddie scored a goal to give his team a short-lived lead. 

Dinner took ten minutes to get ready once we were back home. A beef roast had been cooking in the crockpot all day, with red potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery. Biscuits and corn completed the menu. Great meal for an unseasonably cold spring day. 

It was a rewarding weekend for those of us who love to hate the Yankees. They got swept by the lowly Tigers, getting outscored 16-3 in the three-game series. Your Mets aren’t doing too bad, Mom, although I see they lost today. Eddie’s scout troop scheduled a Brewer outing for the first Sunday in May, but that is when the boys have their first communion. Larry, Alice, and Cindy will be spending the weekend with us. Larry and Alice, by the way, should be back in Wisconsin within the next week or so. 

So much for now. We send you our love.

On This Date in 1999 (February 21)

What a beating my checkbook took this weekend. Ouch! Since Friday was payday, fortunately, it didn’t make much of a difference to our bottom line.

Andy’s Friday night basketball practice was cancelled. The head coach wasn’t feeling well, and the assistant coach wasn’t available until 6:30, and since the team was playing an 8 a.m. game on Saturday, they decided the practice wasn’t really all that necessary anyway. That gave us a rare Friday evening, at least so far this year, for a family activity. JoAnna suggested going to a movie – October Sky and My Favorite Martian seeming to be the only appropriate family fare – but Eddie vehemently vetoed this idea. In fact, he didn’t want to go anywhere. He can be such a homebody sometimes, content to watch TV or play with his toys or draw. Andy suggested we go out to eat at Damon’s, the “trivia” restaurant, and that was acceptable to everyone, although we did have to do some armtwisting with Eddie. I wasn’t all that hungry, having picked up (pigged out on) a chicken fajita burrito, one of my all-time favorite Mexican entrees from Pasqual’s, during my lunch break. That meal was still resting heavily on my stomach. As a result, I just ordered a sandwich, but Mom and Andy opted for a full meal, grilled salmon and a rack of ribs, respectively. Eddie got the chicken strips kid’s meal. Our efforts at trivia were respectable. We ended up in second place, quite a few points behind the first place team. We faltered on a series of questions that had to do with music of the 90s. At this point of the game, we looked to Andy for guidance, and he was able to answer 2 or 3 questions correctly. (Final monetary damages: $62 with tip.)

Saturday morning started out just like any other weekday. The alarm sounded at 6 a.m. I lay in bed for a few minutes before getting up to exercise. We left the house at 7:15 for Glacier Creek Middle School in Cross Plains, a ten-minute drive. Once again, Eddie whined about not being able to stay home, as he does before every single one of Andy’s basketball games. We let him vent for a minute or two before putting our collective feet down. He’s not ready to stay home alone, even if he is cuter and (usually) more personable than McCauley Culkin.

Middleton played a nonconference team from Sauk Prairie. It was no contest. At the end of the first half, the score was 30-2 in Middleton’s favor. For most of the second half, the scoreboard showed 0-0 – I guess there is a 30-point humiliation rule – and the clock ran continuously, except for time-outs called by the coaches. The final score was somewhere in the neighborhood of 55-12. Actually, this was not the kind of game the kids needed going into a tournament weekend. Next weekend, the four best teams from two leagues will participate in a 3-day Tri-County League tournament.

After the game, we went to the Kiwanis pancake breakfast, which is held each time this year at the spacious parish center at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church. The event seems to be a good fundraiser for this service group. We had to wait in line for 15 minutes before we were served, and the line snaked for 50 feet from the kitchen to the ticket-taker’s table for the entire time we were there. I had bought the tickets in advance, so the meal wasn’t part of the expenditure column for this weekend’s expenses.

As soon as we returned home, I stretched out on the couch in the living room and finished reading The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields, a highly regarded 1993 novel that follows, in ten beautifully written chapters, the life of Daisy Goodwill Flett through birth (in 1905), childhood, marriage, love, motherhood, work, sorrow, east, illness and decline, and death (in 1985). It’s been a very popular choice of book reading groups in the Madison area since it was first published. After JoAnna and Andy returned from their visit to the health club, the family went shopping. Here is where the major dents in my checkbook occurred. First stop: Target. Our purchases included underwear and t-shirts for the boys, sportswear for JoAnna, plus two $1.99 boxes of favorite brands of cereal on sale, a “Battle Squad” toy for Eddie (Dad is such a soft touch), and CDs for Mom – Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits – and Andy – a collection of recent pre-teen favs. (This dad is made of clay! Just mold me.) Total damages: $279.53. 

Actually, we rarely go shopping as a family anymore. Everybody but me needed additions to his or her wardrobes. After Target, we went to Penney’s to get pants and shirts for the boys. Andy’s growing out of his current pairs of JNCO jeans, and Eddie has rips and tears and shredded threads in the right knee – not the left knee, only the right knee; why is that? – of most of his jeans. Andy picked out three pair of baggy jeans, while Eddie selected two pairs of form-fitting jeans. While the boys were trying on these clothes, a mother of a seven-year-old trying on pants complained to me about her son’s choice of style. He emerged from one of the fitting rooms wearing a baggy pair of black jeans with white stitching all over the place. From the look on his face, you could tell that he thought that he was Mr. Cool, but Mom had a different opinion, which she was obviously hesitant to share with him, and I didn’t feel it was my place to confirm. I shared with her the difference between a baggy 11-year-old Andy and a form-fitting 8-year-old Eddie. My philosophy is Let Kids Be Kids, a point of view that requires parents to give their children the space to explore their own individuality.

By the time we got home, we had 15 minutes to get ready for church. After mass, I drove Andy to Verona. During a family conference Friday evening, we agreed that Andy could have a sleepover at Tim’s house. Originally, JoAnna and I had made plans to go out to dinner Saturday evening, which meant that we expected Andy needed to stay home with Eddie. Mom approved the Andy’s sleepover request, forgetting about our previous plans. Although JoAnna was ready to rescind her request, I thought we should give Andy the benefit of the doubt. Why should he be punished for his parents’ mistake? I said. As a result, Eddie accompanied us to Imperial Garden last night. We had dinner with Ted and Dorothy Shannon, 80-year-old friends of ours from Middleton. At first, he wasn’t too happy with this turn of events, especially our choice of restaurant – Chinese -- but he made his parents very proud with his mature behavior during the three hours we spent at the restaurant. Having him bring along his sketchbook and some colored pencils helped to keep him occupied during what he considered the slower stretches of the evening.

The other morning while I was exercising on the Walkfit, SportsCenter spent almost 10 minutes on the Clemens-Wells trade. Everyone thinks the Yankees are going to be even better than last year. But let’s take a closer look at this situation. David Cone: old, in baseball terms, and with a suspect arm. Andy Pettitte: subpar 1998 season; unfulfilled promise; Hideo (?) Irabu: he’s never lived up to the hype that accompanied his rookie season. And Clemens is no spring chicken. Unlike Wells, he’s such a selfish player, someone who won’t add anything to team camaraderie. Personally, I think the Yankees are fooling themselves if they think they’re going to walk through the season to another World Series championship. Steinbrenner and Torre and the rest of the team just don’t realize what a fluke it is to win 125 games in a full season of baseball. This is not the 1950s. What goes up must come down. 

Sunday evening

Andy is at the health club. JoAnna is attending a Renew 2000 meeting, a discussion group associated with St. Bernard’s. Eddie is playing in his newly rearranged bedroom, unknowingly waiting for me to tell him it’s time to take a shower. And then we’ll read for 15 minutes.

But first I want to finish this letter.

Andy played his final regular-season game of the year. Middleton played against a Mount Horeb team from the other Tri-County League of 5th grade teams. From the look of the opponents – some big guys on the team as far as height and/or weight was concerned – I thought our guys would get a run for their money. Once the game was underway, though, it was obviously that Middleton was the more talented and better coached team. Andy played a great game, pulling down his usual share of rebounds and scoring six points on aggressive drives to the basket. He looked to be in playoff form. Middleton won, by the way, 41-27.

After the game, the families gathered at Kit’s Korner, a sports bar located halfway between Mount Horeb and Middleton. The fact that every player and his family showed up was an indication of what a positive experience this basketball season has been for everyone. With video games lining the walls, all the parents were fishing in their pockets or purses for loose quarters. If none of those were available, then dollar bills were extracted from their wallets. One of the moms ordered a sheet cake with all the players and coaches names on it. The two coaches were also presented with gift certificates in appreciation of their many volunteer hours – two practices a week in December and two practices and two games a week throughout January and February.

Once we returned home, we rearranged the furniture in Andy’s bedroom. Now it looks as though he has 50% more space – and 100% neater. The latter condition may not last that long, knowing Andy’s habits. 

I baked a banana bread this morning and just took out the last pan of cookies out of the oven. I made the usual chocolate chip dough, but due to the boys’ fussiness and JoAnna’s Lenten denial, I divided it into three bowls: one with chocolate chips (for the boys), one with peanuts (for JoAnna, since she’s given up chocolate for Lent), and one with both extra ingredients. (I’m not about to deny myself my favorite cookie.) 

Time for me to get Eddie into the shower. I’m also waiting for Andy’s phone call for taxi service from the health club to home. He must be having a good time there. In the meantime, I’ll watch a black-and-white rerun of (“Let’s all play”) What’s My Line?

On This Date in 1999 (January 17)

Both JoAnna and I came down with colds yesterday. I woke up feeling a scratchiness in my throat. When I mentioned this symptom to here, she said, “I have the same thing.” The achy, lethargic symptoms kicked in during the late afternoon. We decided to just to with the flow, so to speak, and tuned the TV to the USA network, which broadcast The Godfather and Working Girl.

“I can remember the first time I saw The Godfather like it was yesterday,” I told JoAnna. And in my mind was a clear picture of that day. A new multiplex in Cheektowaga, New York. The usual group of movie-going friends during what was supposed to be my final semester of college, winter-spring 1972: Tony Szczygiel, Dennis Drescher, Donna Krasnow, Harvey Lipman, Michael Kanter, and probably Al Marmulstein, who, through some weird breakfast moment during our junior year in college – he was one of my roommates on Tonawanda Creek Drive – was nicknamed Dr. Ono Marmalade. Ono, for short.

Even though JoAnna and I weren’t feeling up to par, we didn’t become complete vegetables. JoAnna made a delicious beef vegetable soup, and I did a few loads of laundry, one of which I left in the washer overnight and is just now drying. I also organized a series of insurance inventory photographs that I took last weekend. I should put the name, and, where appropriate, the serial or model numbers, on the back side of each print.

Andy went sledding last night with two of his basketball teammates (Ross and Johnny) and two of his 5th grade classmates (Matt and Wesley). He was gone for at least four hours, from 3 to 7, and had a great time. Earlier in the day, he wanted me to buy him a new pair of snowpants, but both JoAnna and I agreed that his current pair fit him just fine. This decision didn’t irritate him as much as I thought it would.

I woke up this morning with a voice that could only croak. Both JoAnna and I had a terrible night’s sleep. We were both very restless. My usual problem is that I always try too hard to fall back asleep. This time I felt as though I had to open two computer files in order to attain my goal, but every time I clicked on them, nothing happened. Consequently, I lay in bed, shifting from lying on my back to my stomach to my right side to my left side – never finding the ideal location. As Chester A. Riley would say, “What a revoltin’ development this is!”

I need to shape up and ship out since Eddie has a birthday party at 11:30, and we haven’t bought a present yet, and Andy has a basketball game at 12:00. Fortunately, he’s playing at the Kromrey School gym, which is only a 2-minute drive from here. After this early afternoon activity, JoAnna and I will probably be content to veg out, shifting between a football game and a movie. I just hope I’m feeling back to normal tomorrow. I have too much to do to miss a day of work. No matter how I feel, I’ll probably go to the library and do what I can until I run out of gas.

Right now I’m going to do my usual 20 minutes on the Walkfit, and see if I can sweat this cold out of my system.

Fortunately the boys haven’t caught our bug. Andy hardly ever gets sick. In six years of grade school, he’s missed less than 5 days due to sickness. I think that’s quite a great attendance record. Whenever Andy complains about being sick, I always suspect that he’s trying to avoid something at school, e.g., a test he didn’t study for. Eddie has a strange record, too. The last time he complained about not feeling well, he looked (and acted) to be in perfect health by 10 o’clock.

Our two wonderful guys certainly keep us on our toes.

JoAnna and Eddie are at the health club. I’m still feeling a little out of it. In fact, I took a three-hour nap this afternoon, falling asleep during the fourth quarter of the Falcons-Vikings game. I was very surprised to learn that the Vikings lost. I’m still convinced that if the Packers had gotten the right call in the 49ers game, Jerry Rice’s obviously fumble that the refs somehow missed, they’d be in the Super Bowl. I was glad to see the Broncos win for two reasons. I’m sick and tired of hearing about Bill Parcells being the second coming of God. And I’m just naturally prejudiced against any New York team, a state of mind I entered during the 1960 World Series when the under-rated Pittsburgh Pirates spanked the New York Yankees butts in what has to be one of the best World Series ever.

Andy’s team won their basketball game today, 43-24. I told Andy that if his team scored 40 points each game, they’d be assured of a win. I guess I was right.

All for now. We send you our love.

On This Date in 1999 (January 15)

I have the house to myself right now. Andy is at a basketball practice from 6:00 until 7:30. JoAnna and Eddie are at the health club. Until I sat down at the computer, Boxer was following me around the house, uttering a mournful meow every now and then. He’s been acting peculiar lately, especially during the past few days. Last night I thought I heard him cut loose with a howl. Was I dreaming? I asked myself, lifting my head off the pillow and waiting for an instant replay. Kitty Meowsers jumped onto the top of our armoire, then pawed at the blinds as if trying to get a better view of something outside. Did he see a rabbit hopping across the snow? Boxer seems bored and lethargic. I’ve never seen him so hungry for attention. When I was home for lunch today, he let me rub his tummy and neck and the top of his head without giving me the slightest indication that he was gettin tired of this attention.

“Sorry, Boxer, I have to get back to work,” I told him.

At breakfast, JoAnna had offered a possible solution.

 “I think Boxer needs a playmate.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if we become a two-cat household within the few months. Maybe Boxer’s birthday present will be a buddy to play with while the rest of us are gone during the day.

I got a little annoyed at Andy right before I drove him to his practice. He couldn’t find his basketball shorts. He pawed through the hamper in the bathroom, the one in Eddie’s room, and the laundry basket in the utility room and came up empty.

“Maybe the Maids put them somewhere,” he said, referring to the cleaning service that JoAnna neglected to cancel before Christmas. They were here on Wednesday. I’m not sure what they did since the house looked to be in major disarray when I returned home from work. But now that both Andy and Eddie come home right after school, they have a lot more time to trash the place.

“I had them right here,” he said, pointing to the top of the futon.

“No, Andy, your jersey was there but not your shorts,” I countered.

He disagreed.

Losing patience with yet another search for the missing whatever, I gave the boys an ultimatum, since both Andy and Eddie were guilty of the offense that was on my mind. “There will be no Playstation, no TV, none of your favorite recreational activities until you clean up your rooms each day.” What parent hasn’t had to put up with dirty clothes serving as throw rugs, beds unmade, toys abandoned. Last weekend I did a photo inventory of the interior of the house, bypassing the boys’ rooms because of the clutter. In a way, it would be nice if we had a bigger house, specifically, walk-in closets for each bedroom. Most of my clothes are in Eddie’s closet, since JoAnna completely took over our closet four or five years ago. I can just hear Eddie when he starts high school.

“Hey, Dad, can’t you find another place for your stuff?” 

But back to Andy’s basketball shorts.

Andy directed his comment at Mom.

“Dad’s not going to like it when I tell him where my shorts are.”

He was absolutely right. He brought them to school on Wednesday so he could wear them in gym class and left them in his locker at school.

I launched into a mild tirade, words that have been said, in various forms by many parents, many times before. “Andy, you know you’re not supposed to do that.” (Take his sports stuff to school, that is.) “How many times do you have to be told?”

Blah blah blah.

During this rant, a part of me was still able to act as an observer, and I had to laugh at myself. I wouldn’t want someone to talk to me like that. I was acting too much like a parent who can’t deal with childhood’s shortcomings. Lighten up, I told myself. Don’t let this get out of hand.

Andy reminded me that Elm Lawn school was still open. Even though it was closing time (5:45) for the After School program by the time we got there, a few kids were still waiting for their parents to pick them up. Andy was able to retrieve his shorts and get to his practice in plenty of time. After his practice, he had planned to stop at Blockbuster Video to rent a couple Playstation games, but I told him that was no longer on the evening’s schedule.

“I know, I know,” he said impatiently, as we pulled away from the school. He tested me just before he exited the car at the Kromrey gym. The answer was still no.

JoAnna has visited the health club now for seven evenings in a row, Eddie accompanying her the last three times. At first, she didn’t Eddie would be interested, that he would only be a bother. To her great surprise, Eddie has really taken to the various pieces of equipment that the health club offers. He going to become not only the pancake king, but the exercise king.

I just heard another mournful meowr from Boxer.

“Why are you ignoring me?” he asked piteously.

Kitty Meowsers will get his strokes later tonight. I just can’t be bothered right now. I’m in the mood to write a letter, at least for the next 15 minutes, when I have to pick up Andy.

I had an interesting day at work. I moved my office into the conference room, a space twice as large as what I used to occupy. The conference room will now be referred to as the director’s office/staff conference room. To accommodate a credenza, desk, and computer table, one section of the conference table was removed. The remaining two sections will easily accommodate eight people, enough for both board and staff meetings. My old office will become the reference and circulation office, the two staff members responsible for those library activities sharing this space. This rearrangement of staff workspace became necessary when the city approved the library’s budget request for two additional staff members (a Young Adult Services Librarian and a Library Assistant II) as part of our package to open the library on Sundays. I don’t know if I mentioned this during our recent visit but this is the first time in my 13 years as director that the library received everything we requested in our budget proposal. It amounts to a 12% increase. In the library world, Warren is the flip side of Middleton. I was so fortunate to get this job. It fits me like a glove, to try on a well-worn cliché.

For the past couple years, the library board has been trying to raise my salary. Based on what happened during a closed session with the mayor and city administrator at last Tuesday’s meeting, they have finally succeeded. The city personnel committee will recommend an increase of between 5% and 10% next Monday evening. (The board pushed for 10%, but I think fiscal realities made them have to compromise.) I didn’t get all the specifics since I don’t participate in the board’s closed sessions. This will be over and above the 3.5% cost-of-living increase that all city employees will receive this year. 

Well, it’s about time for me to pick up Andy. I still haven’t told you about JoAnna’s latest free-lancing and job-hunting adventures. She’s doing as well as I expected. It’s not amazing to me how well-regarded she is. After all, she is my wife, my partner for the past 15 years, which include our pre-nuptial era. I’m so proud of her. Sometimes I wonder if the boys realize just how special their mom is.

On This Date in 1999 (January 10)

I didn’t get much done yesterday as far as continuing this letter is concerned. And I almost didn’t get much done this afternoon. I couldn’t get the tab key to work, so I exited the Word program and started over again. Still no luck. Then I shut down the computer, but when I booted it up again I got a fatal error message. Nothing serious, as it turned out. I simply turned off the computer again and rebooted and the tab key is now working as it should be. I tried using the appropriate “Help” screens but they, of course, are written by geeks who have no idea how even a marginally computer savvy person thinks. For them, it’s all or nothing; you either understand my geekspeak or you’re on your own.

Andy’s basketball team split their weekend series. They won yesterday’s game against Mount Horeb 30-23 but lost today a thriller to Sauk Prairie, 24-23. Their offense seems to be going on a vacation. 40 points in game one. Then 30. Then 23. They missed a lot of scoring opportunities today. In fact, considering the talent they have – it’s a team with a lot of depth -- they should have won the game easily, but the boys just didn’t click. A lot of bad passes, missed free throws, easy shots in the paint off the mark. Although he scored no points in either games, Andy is probably the best rebounder on the team and had at least one steal in each game.

Andy’s basketball schedule seems to put our weekend free time at a premium. Today, for example, I got up, exercised on the Walkfit, and after taking a shower, Andy and I went grocery shopping. That took up most of the morning. At 11:30, we left for Sauk City/Prairie du Sac (the school district is combined, therefore the Sauk Prairie designation) to eat lunch at a restaurant near the Wisconsin River, where the eagles soar this time of year. The communities have a number of special events, none of which we had time for, of course. We did spent about 5 minutes in a parking lot along the river scanning the clear blue sky for signs of life. We spotted only two eagles, both of them at quite a distance from our vantage point. Andy’s basketball game started at 1:40.

It was 3:30 by the time we returned home, and then JoAnna needed to make a delivery to the east side of Madison, which took a 45-minute chunk out of her day. Now she’s in the kitchen preparing supper: pork chops, red mashed potatoes with the skins on, corn, applesauce. I’ve been on the computer for the past hour, the Wisconsin-Purdue basketball successfully competing for my attention. What an exciting game. The Badgers are leading by 4 points with about 6 minutes left. After losing their first two Big Ten game, Wisconsin came back earlier this week with a big win against Michigan State, ranked 12th, and now is on the verge of beating the 7th ranked team.

I think I’ll concentrate on the game and leave you with this rambling, but hopefully not incoherent, letter.

The Badgers won!

JoAnna and Andy went to the health club for the second evening in a row. The membership was my birthday gift to my wife and, after this weekend, I know she is going to get a lot of use out of it. I should probably go myself, but then I get my exercise each morning on the Walkfit. After that, I figure I’m done my time. Initially, Eddie was quite peeved that he wasn’t invited along. But I have to agree with JoAnna. He’d be too much of a handful. I think he’d quickly get bored, and JoAnna would have to spend all her time keeping an eye on him. He’s in a much better mood now. I told him he could help me make chocolate chip cookies as soon as the two sticks of butter soften. That helped to perk him up.

It’s been very cold this weekend. Daytime temperatures have not been able to get out of the single digits, and we experienced especially frigid wind-chill conditions today. Our only outdoor activity has been walking from the house to the van, from the van to the restaurant, from the restaurant…. We have excellent conditions for sledding but haven’t had the time to take advantage of it, with two basketball games in the middle of the day this weekend. Now that I have a warm lining for my Goretex jacket, I’d’ve probably been ready for an Elver Park excursion. That’s the location of the best hill in our area.

If JoAnna and I didn’t set some limits, the boys would become complete vidiots. The Playstation game system is a big hit with both Andy and Eddie. The hockey game and castle, unfortunately, have not received much attention. I don’t see much realism in the sports games that Andy plays. How’s this for a final score?: Arizona 82, Washington 81. On the other hand, the baseball game that Andy was playing earlier today did have a very close resemblence to the real thing. I have yet to try the system out myself.