Yesterday it was still snowing when I woke up. I went out to warm up the snow thrower and clear the driveway. Afterwards I wandered around the yard with my camera taking some photos of the snow-covered yard. Mr. Ridgeline (our new neighbor’s father) pulled up and rolled down the window. I pulled out my headphones and wished him a merry Christmas. His kids appeared to be out of town. [get the name from mom]
It snowed all day Christmas Eve, but it didn’t seem too bad, even late that night. The wind is rather calm in the city, but fierce out in the country or the edge of town i.e. the Dobbins’ home. That evening the wind picked up and the snow kept falling. By morning there was no travel advised anywhere in the city. The Interstate highways were closed. Sean called all day desperate to get his iPod Touch set up. I downloaded all the software for his Touch and Paul’s Inspiron but there was no way to get there.
Late in the afternoon, I was a little bored. I decided to blow out the driveway. There was no wind, so I wasn’t too concerned about it drifting back in. I have a small Murray snow thrower and I am worried about getting accumulations that the Murray can’t handle. We weren’t going anywhere so I did not clear the snow in the street or the edge of the driveway- the snowplow will come and fill this in no matter what I do. Our neighbor Doug Smith was out with his snow blower. The neighborhood was filled with the sound of snowblowers and shovels- there was nothing else to do. Mr. Ridgeline swung by to check on the house. He had a flimsy shovel in his truck bed. He dug a path to the door and then left.
Saturday (12/26) It was still snowing but much slower. I was bored and ready to clear snow but I kept waiting for the snowplow to come by. It was quiet all day. Around 3:30 PM I heard three plows, one after the other- first our side of the street and then the other. (They cleared a narrow path down the middle yesterday.) I couldn’t wait to put on my snow pants and fire up the Murray. I hurried down the driveway and the sidewalk. I didn’t have much gas left in the Murray and couldn’t get out to get more. The plows left about three feet of snow in the driveway and street. I don’t like clearing the street but I have no choice. I switched to a shovel and carried the snow out of the way. Our other neighbors seemed to have a house full of guys. They came out in gangs to shovel before, during and after the snow plows came by.
Sunday (12/27) I was out clearing a little snow with my shovel. Mr. Ridgeline drove up with his son(?). The son didn’t look dressed for the weather and they had two cheap shovels. They looked to be crappy plastic shovels. They dug a path to the door and left- hopefully to get reinforcements. After I left Mrs. Ridgeline arrived at our door to borrow a shovel. Char said, “If my son was here I’d send him over with the snow blower.”
Snowy Stump on Christmas Eve Morning
We don’t have an ice scraper in the van so I was chipping the ice off with a Best Buy gift card. At one time we had half a dozen ice scrapers lying around but not any more.
That afternoon I made a delivery to Noridian but ended up at Blue Cross. The deliveries door was right were Ray said it would be. The guy pointed out I was at the wrong place. I was embarrassed. I didn’t look at the address. I just assumed Noridian, owned by Blue Cross, was Blue Cross. It’s not. Noridian manages Medicare for a number of states. Their building is as big as the Blue Cross building- it is the old mall behind Hornbachers.
Sean invited me over to watch the Steelers vs. Broncos football game. Clare came downstairs to watch it with us. Of course she didn’t watch it but she was very interested in the football Sean and I were throwing around. Clare wanted to be part of the game and was throwing, tackling, getting tackled, and laughing wildly. Sean made the mistake of root for the Broncos. This left the Steelers for me. The Steelers made short work of the Broncos in Denver. I think Paul was watching upstairs. Suzanne returned from a chocolate party. She told me Dove gave her a couple leads in South Dakota. Suzanne was excited about that.
I got an order for an odd lamp. Only one lamp, so I thought I would find it locally. Paul Dobbins called a couple times. He and the boys have the day off from school. Later, Paul called, “I have a meeting in a few minutes and Suzanne hasn’t returned and she isn’t returning my call. Can you come over and watch the kids?” Sure. Tim was in the basement playing Sponge Bob video games on the PS2. Clare was suppose to be taking a nap, but was up. I laid on the floor next to her crib to keep her company until she fell asleep. Suzanne called. She didn’t hear the phone, “Can you stay a little long?” Sure. “Good, then I can stop at the pharmacy and pick up Sean’s prescription.” Sean was suffering from an ear infection.
Suzanne and I chatted about her Chocolate business for a little bit. She had a stack of the invites I had designed for her ready to go out.
Suzanne's Chocolatier Party Invite
I left to find my odd little lamp- odder than I thought. I couldn’t find it: Home Depot, Menards, Lowes, Walmart (at one time they had a large bulb section), Office Depot, and Scheels (they have a large section of GE lamps.) The trip wasn’t a complete waste of time. I ran into my aunt Marilyn West working at Scheels and we had a nice conversation.
The solution to this odd GE F382D lamp was replacing the fixture- one with a common lamp inside. I finally found the F382D at Graingers but it was almost $30 each the same price as a new fixture.
Paul Dobbins called me while I was enjoying lunch with Bob Nelson at DQ. I told him I’d meet him at St. Joseph’s. Paul and walked through the Church offices. Paul was moving quickly and I was writing as fast as I couldn’t. Then we moved into the church. Same story, I was writing down the lights as fast as possible without getting lost, distracted or missing anything. I was mostly successful. Paul had an appointment at 3:30 PM. We were able to cover most everything. I ended up with half a page of notes to return to. Not bad considering I’d have notes even if we had gone slower. Paul invited me up into the church attic. I must be getting old, even though you couldn’t see the 30-40 foot drop just knowing it was there freaked me out a little. I was happy to crawl down again. The church has a lot of 500PAR56 lamps. When they’re switched on the St Joe’s electric meter must really start spinning to say nothing of their monthly demand charge.
Sean Dobbins called and asked, “Uncle Craig can we go to ‘Up‘ tonight?”
“Sure. I’ll pick you and Tim up after supper.”
I arrived early. Clare was excited to see me and sad to see the three of us go. The theater wasn’t very crowded. Sean bought some candy but I talked Tim out of buying popcorn. The movie was good but not great; certainly not as good as the reviews made it out to be.
