I am writing this on Sunday, 1/26. There are no pics.

What a great week. It started with a 3-day weekend that stretched into 4 1/2 days. Snow started about 9 Tuesday morning. That left just enough time for me to gas up the car and pick up a prescription. The snow matched the forecast — about 8″, ending around midnight. UMBC was closed. Danita was forced to stay home. Lunch was homemade, of course. Tomato leak soup and onion triangles. Dinner was pasta with a tomato/onion/spinach/bacon topping. Sometime during this frantically busy day, Danita found time to make orange cream scones for breakfast Wednesday. During circle Monday evening, we discussed New Year resolutions. Mine was to lose 10 pounds. I haven’t make much progress on that one so far.

I had a dental appointment early Tuesday morning. There wasn’t much chance that was going to happen. Barbara from the dental office called to reschedule. Danita answered the phone. The first thing I said was to complement Barbara on her quick thinking — her having called and got my wife, quickly pretending she was from my dentist office.  It took a few beats before she figured out I was insinuating she was my girl friend. She thought that was so funny she had a hard time getting the appointment rescheduled. The women who run that office continuously amaze me. I am one of many patients. But while Barbara and I were joking around, the woman who does billing figured out who I was, knew what I was coming for, and asked Barbara to ask me to make sure and bring my “EOB”. I didn’t know what my “EOB” was. (It really doesn’t matter what it was, and it would take too long to explain.) This triggered several soto voice exchanges while we shared our confidential information about my “EOB”. It turns out I didn’t have my “EOB”. But I was forgiven in exchange for providing several minutes of entertainment.

We spent most of Tuesday reading and relaxing. When we lived in Kingsville on days like this, we used to have an “all day fire”. This was very nice, but it involved trudging out to the wood pile in the snow, using a wheelbarrow to haul the wood into the garden shed (after inflating the wheelbarrow tire),  hauling arm loads of wood into the living room, and dropping wood chips all over the garage / laundry room / kitchen / hall / living room floors. That was followed by cleaning up the next day. Plus all the effort of acquiring and preparing the woodpile during the previous summer. It may not be quite as impressive to have a gas fire. But it sure is a lot easier to walk across the living room and flip a switch.

Yoga was cancelled Tuesday evening. That left us free for a full-fledged snow emergency. (THIS IS NOT A DRILL). Danita went back to work at Noon Wednesday, and the fun was over. We had such a good time, it took me days before I started feeling cabin fever. It’s been quite cold since the snow. Most days, it’s 10 or 20 degrees warmer in Talkeetna, Alaska than it is here.

The snow that’s still on the streets is enough to keep my bike indoors. It’s a good opportunity to do some repairs. I’ve worn out my gears. When I press the pedals hard, the chain skips. I received the last of the parts I need Saturday. My bike’s in the basement warming up. I’ll be trying to effect repairs tomorrow. In the mean time, we have a neighborhood dinner party in a little while. I have to go — it is definitely not a good idea to arrive late!

I hope this finds everybody doing well.