Silly Me

I had my eye on the clock yesterday. Maybe I should have been watching a little more carefully. I wanted to get on the 3:55 train. So at :47 past the hour I ran down to the train station. I got there at :56 past. Damn, missed the train. Hmmm. next train at.... Hey it's only 2:56 ooops!

Hey I got home early anyway. Got to make up the hour today.

Book Club.....

Marilyn and the ladies of the book club will be meeting at our house tonight to discuss the lastest read.

Marilyn made cupcakes and I have tapped to make my Pasta Fagoli and black bean hummus. I have to get home early tonight to start the soup simmering.

A wing and a prayer....

I'm changing VOIP providers. For all you non techies I'm changing my telephone company that I use to make calls over the internet.

I have been using Vonage. You know the one with the stupid commercials. We are changing to Verizon Voice Wing VOIP. Seems like Vonage lost a patent suit and I'm not sure of the viability of Vonage.

I just got the equipment yesterday and I'll set it all up this weekend. When it's all installed we should have the same number and no one should see a difference.

I love the Internets......

I really love the internet. And it's just for a reason like we had yesterday. I broke the microwave door latch.

It's a small plastic part and if I went to try to get it from a parts dealer I'd have to take off work during a weekday and go to three places just to order it to get it in 2 weeks. And no help on how to put it together.

I found the part on the Sears web site. And they had exploded diagrams to show how to fix the thing. Total cost $10 and 3 days.

Easter Cake

Marilyn and I were watching the food channel program Ace of Cakes. We were watching them decorate the cakes. So we wanted to do the sheet icing that they have. It's called marshmallow fondant. So we bought a pound cake, marshmallows, sugar and coloring and went to town. The icing was more work than we thought. It came out better expected for the first time fooling with it.

Pizza Everynight....

We were disappointed with pizza the other night from Wegman's. And it would be easy to just call a local joint for a pie. We wanted just something different. We decided to make our own. I found a web site all about pizza . So I tried one of their recipes for pizza crust. I left it over night like the bread dough. I stretched it out into a pan pizza. Marilyn loaded it up with sauce, mushrooms and cheese. Into the oven it went. The result, not bad. We didn't throw it out. The crust was pretty light and it was not too greasy. All in all pretty good.

Boat work....

We were going to do some work on the boat this weekend. Until we heard that there is snow in the forecast.

So this will give my arm a chance to rest, us a chance to clean the house ahead of the book club meeting, and a opportunity to organise the parts coming in for Marilyn's motorcycle.

Next weekend for sure. May 1 is coming quick.

Ouch!

Marilyn was making Scones this weekend. I was helping her take the scones from the cast iron scone pan. I rotated the pan over and OUCH! I have a bit of tendinitis and it felt like my arm was being ripped off. It was hurting from the shoulder to the wrist. It's better now thanks to liberal doses of ibuprophen.

The Shooter...

We went to see the Movie "The Shooter" last night. It was based on the book Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter the Washinton Post film critic. The movie was in the genre of the aging gunslinger lured out of retirement to do a job and is double crossed and seeks revenge. The movie is loosely based on the book. ... Well the only thing that is the same is it's in the US and the main charater is Bob Lee Swagger. But it does justice to the books and is good movie to see.

What was Stephen Hunter reviewing this weekend..... Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...

Night Out

Last night Marilyn and I went to the theater. We had dinner at Marathon so we could run out and spend an hour at Rittenhouse square. The weather was just so great with the temps in the high 70's.

Then we went to the Philadelphia Theater Co. to see "In The Continuum". It's a play about two women who get pregnant and also find out that they have contracted HIV. Not a light play. With two players who played a cast of characters it was very well done. It's just a depressing play about a depressing subject.

Vacuum dead.

Had to look for a new vacuum cleaner. Bag,bag less, 2,4,64 cyclones, brushes beaters, hoses, colors.... I have no clue.

I just want one that sucks that doesn't suck!

Mike's Birthday.

Cheers to Mike!

Gail arranged a dinner at Charles Plaza last night for his birthday. Meg, JoAnne, Linda, Tracy, Saul, Marilyn and others where there. The Charles feast was tasty as usual.

The only hitch was a scrum for beer and glasses at the beginning of the dinner. Gifts were bestowed to the bithday boy and all had a good time.

By The Way Mike.......What are you going to do with 6lbs of elbow noodles???

Worst Pizza in the World.......

On Friday we got a pizza at Wegman's. It was an "Allentown", Onions, Garlic and Tomatoes.

It was the most awful pizza I have ever had. The crust was not fully cooked and the cheese had an off taste that is much like mold.

This is not the first time, but this is the second time that this had happened. First time I figured a bad day in the pizza parlor. Now I know they have putrid to perfection.

We are pizza people and we took one or two bites each and threw the pie into the trash!

Wegman's gave us our money back. But the chain mostly depends on bringing people in to shop using their prepared food. The slackers in the pizza shop can't seem to get with the program.

But now I'm going to give anything I choose there the hairy eyeball.

Party!

The breaking of spring means a few things.

Crocuses peeking out of the ground.

Clocks springing ahead.

Allergy Season.

And Jennifer's spring bash.

Marilyn and I we to Jennifer's for the spring party on Saturday night. It was a good time. The house was chaotic and crowded with about 75 people. Most of the people there were the BCP ( Bicycle Club of Phila. ) regulars. We reconnected with some of the people that we haven't seen in years.

Tea Party

Marilyn and the book club will be doing their spring tea tomorrow. The refined ladies will be imbibing infusions and crumbling crumpets at the Talking Tea Cup Saturday.

Tomorrow I'll be with the other manly oafs drinking my WaWa coffee, without sticking out my pinky.

Weather Station Problems......

The weather station that I set up is having problems. It will stop communicating with the computer. This is the second time it stopped this week. I'm going to put in some new batteries and try again.

Feedback

I opened up the comments section to anybody. Let's see how well this works.

So if you want to give feedback on a post just push the "post a comment" link and let me know what you think.

Keep it civil out there!

Crops planted

Marilyn and I planted our garden today. The tomatoes, peppers and herbs are in the plant trays and in a few weeks they will begin to sprout.

Marilyn Feeling under the weather...

Marilyn is not feeling well.

Looks like she picked up something on the trip to see the family.

Chicken Soup and Orange Juice for the weekend.

Broken Glasses Edition

Well It happened. Watching TV the other night I heard a SPRONG! and the left lens of my glasses dropped onto the floor. The plastic bottom of the frame broke and there is no way to repair it. Beside walking around with tape on my glasses is not what I want to do. ( Hey Geek! ) So it's lucky I got my contacts working well.

Lame-o service writer

Marilyn came home yesterday from St Louis. She made it home on an early flight. It's nice to have her home again!

After a quick home coming we had to drop off her car at the Honda dealer. The "Check Fuel cap" light came on a few weeks ago. I checked the manual and it said to clear it you tighten the fuel cap, drive it at 30mph for 45 seconds. I did that and it's still been on. I really hate making and an appointment to see the dealer.

We get to the dealer. First question: " Did you check the fuel cap?" ( Gee, I never crossed my mind to check the fuel cap when the "Check fuel cap" light came on! )

Then the problems began, the service writer said that it could cost me $45 to clear the light. I told him that the light is on and could not be cleared by the procedure in the manual so it's all on him. He told me that the procedure is wrong and that it could take about a month to clear the light on it's own. Huh??? The manual said hmmmmm 45 seconds not a month! He said the manual is wrong. Well, Something is wrong.....

I was ready to give the service manager a real need for $45 of Rolaids.

Well they cleared the light and charged me $0 which was ok with me. The Service Manager told me that the guy last night was new and not trained on this issue. But the manual was still wrong. I guess they need a update for the service writer, manual, and my car.

Marching forward

Set the clocks ahead this morning. I really love this time of year as we have more light when we get home. A longer day, more time to things when you get home from work. It just seems better.

I think I'll celebrate by taking a walk.

Still there.....

Mike and I went down to Rock Hall a the boat is still there. You think all kinds of things have gone wrong during the winter and its mostly worst case thinking. We got down there every thing is Ok. We changed the filters and gave every thing a look over even the varnish on the hatches are in good shape. Just have to go down and paint the bottom and it's reeady to splash.

Left to my own devices....

Marilyn left on her trip back home to see Emily in a dance perfomance. Marilyn packed her tap shoes to do a duo with her. I hope someone can send me a picture of that one!

I'm ready for tax-o-rama this weekend. I'm dropping off tax info to Laura this weekend and finishing up Mom's returns.

Mike and I are going to a look at the boat Saturday. It's 59 days till splash down sounds like a lot but it's not.

Coffee Grinder held for ransom

I brought back Mike's coffee grinder from Garnet Hill. I had slipped him a note.....If you ever want to grind coffee again give me $200 check and you'll get the grinder back, Java Boy!

We made the exchange last night at my house he gave me the check for the trip and I gave him the grinder. We set up Saturday to go down to the boat to get it ready for the spring. Not much work just change the filters and a check to see who or what has taken up residence for the winter.

I still have Chris's skis.....I wonder what I can leverage from him.....Better wait till there is snow on the ground, I'll be in a better position!

Prairie Home Companion -- the movie

Spoiler Alert.... It you want to watch this movie stop now........

.... Ok still with me. Ok good!

I usually don't give spoilers but I'm making an exception here. We rented prairie home companion on DVD this weekend. And we are fans of the radio show and if you like Lake Wobegon you just may not like this movie. The movie is about a show that is very much like prairie home companion and the radio station is being gobbled by a giant corporation. The tension is that the show is being canceled because it's past its prime. Well, the thing is that they do nothing to dissuade you of this fact and it does get canceled and you get say, yup should have been canceled years ago. No humor, no redemption, no nothing to cheer for. Everybody just goes away and has breakfast. Save your money do something else. 1/2 movie reels only because I'm feeling generous.

Garnet Hill .... Epilog

Ok now that we are home and the weather is rainy and 60 deg one more look back to The XC ski season. ( Garnet had a foot of new powder today so anyone going up again? )

It was a short late season. With only one trip. As a group we took advantage of all the ski sales. New skis, hats, waxes and bindings were brought home. The snow was just great for a short season. We booked a year in advance and we picked the best extended weekend of the year, cold and lots of snow. So we did well in spite of the sucky season. We missed seeing Gore winning the Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth. But I think we get the global warming message.

The skiing was fun and the camaraderie was very high. So a short season, a building season and good season.

Plans are up for next year. Maybe we resurrect the Nordics. Rumor is that JoAnne wants to run the Stowe trip next year. Keep an eye out in your mailbox and the Nordics web site for more information. The Garnet Trip is a Go 02/08/08 for sure no matter what is happening with the Nordics. So put the skis away in their honored place in the basement, wrap up the wax, and throw away any open tubes of klister. And let's get ready for next year! ( Besides, I got a boat I have to paint! )

Garnet Pics from Art.......

Mark your calendar....

.... Garnet '08 will be Feb 08, '08!!! Deposit is down on the house.

Garnet 07

Sometime late Saturday night…..

The group formely known as the New Hope Nordics are back up at the Bazil house in Garnet Hill. The trip got off to a rocky start as Art got his Subaru stuck in the snow. I thought those 4 wheel drive things didn’t get stuck! The deep snow that is lousy for driving is just deep and fluffy, but just right for skiing! Last year’s garlic offering to the snow gods seems to work it’s magic. The skiing was fantastic only thing was yours truly got a blister again. I have to do something like walk in my ski boots to break in my feet before the season. Seems like the rest of the crew made the picture of the Week! What a good looking bunch of skiiers! This year’s dinner was a hit even though I just made pasta and garlic bread. There were a lot more things in the pot luck offerings. More desserts that you can shake a ski pole at! Tomorrow night Mike and Ellen are going to work their magic with dinner. I’m going to try something else with my heel. And the weather will give us some more snow.

….but somehow that new antler chandelier is disturbing!
Later Saturday Night….

I hate not being able to fall asleep. I have a house load of compatriots that are gently snoring and I’m out here in the dining room tapping away on the blog!

Sunday Morning….

My blister is preventing me from skiing. I’m going to try petroleum jelly on my heel next year to give the heel more slide. I rented the Bazil house for next year Garlic Hill 08 is set for Feb 08.
Notes from last night dinner. We had garlic bread, roasted garlic, Gemelli with tomato sauce and salad. The sauce was made from a jar of sun dried tomato pesto sauce, it was finely chopped in olive oil with pine nuts, that pesto was put into chopped garlic and olive oil, then a jar of tomato sauce is added. A very rich sauce indeed.
Note from dinner….

I made 4 pounds of pasta. 3 or maybe 2 may do it. 2 sour dough loafs were good for garlic bread. Two large bags of chopped lettuce is OK. Roasted garlic – Put bulbs of garlic with olive oil in the oven in a closed container. Roast for 2 hours at 325.

Sunday Evening……

Chris left for an early train. We tried to watch parts of the Blob on the computer’s DVD. We were looking for gaffes in the scene where they are running out of the theater in Phoenixville. We could not control the DVD player with enough fine detail. There was a cat hearding exersice when we had to move the cars to let Chris out to catch his train. I was driving Art’s car and the tires really stink for the snow. It’s the first four wheel drive car could not get up the driveway.

Dinner was great Ellen’s Red Lentil and Tomato soup was excellent. Very good even if it did not have the herbs de provance. Mike’s mac and cheese was a hit. But now we are up to our ears in pasta. Note to both cooks. Less pasta. But I’m a mac-aholaic I’ve been enrolled in a 12 sauce program and it had not detered me from any pasta. I have not met a shape that I did not like.

I tried to explain to Art the reason that the bus drivers would turn up the heat…. you know to make all the passengers in the back fall asleep. This is the same reasoning I guess that we serve all that pasta.

Meg and I tried to get the TV working even though that they have a Dish Network we could not figure it out. So the Oscars will go on without us.
Also, Art mentioned to us that Herring was the only fish that can be said while holding your tongue. Well soon as that was said a chorus of Cod, Halibut, Patagonian Toothfish was heard while people held their tongues.


Monday…..
Blister gone! Smeared heel with petroluem jelly and we headed out. Marilyn, Art and I took Blue Jay trail. We climbed to the lodge. The climbing was the thing that blistered my heel and I was feeling no discomfort. The temps were in the twentys it was a great snow day. About two inches of fresh power were on the freshly groomed trails. Marilyn and I decided to do Duffany’s Run. It is allways closed as it is pretty steep and gets icy fast. The snow was soft and not too packed. The snow gave way under the skis so in addition to snow plowing you had to do some tip management to keep them up above the snow. Coming around a right hand turn my ski dug in and over I went. About mid way down there is a 90 deg left turn which I never made. No dice today either went off the course and into the woods. We then took the long climb to the ski shop on Trapper. I had the shop fix my bindings that broke last year. And we head back to the house for lunch and to see Mike, Meg, Saul and Ellen off.

Tuesday….

House cleanup. We packed up cleaned up and hauled out. Got the house in shape and loaded the car. Said goodbye to Art and we for a shower. As I’m taking the shower Marilyn knocks on the door to say that Art got stuck in the driveway. I got dressed an Phyllis, Marilyn and I push Art out but he ended up deeped and up to his axels. AAA had to be called again. About an hour the same tow truck but a new driver came to rescue Art. He mentioned that his son dragged him out a few days ago, and that he hardly ever saw Subarus stuck… Anyway a few minutes and a tug on the cable an Art was free to go. We then followed and made it home easily.

12 steps of the e-mail addicted.....

Are you panicky if you don't have touch with your BlackBerry? Feel leashed to your inbox?

This could be for you! Found this on CNN ......





Following are the 12 steps of a plan devised by executive coach Marsha Egan in Pennsylvania to teach people how to manage their e-mail:

1. Admit that e-mail is managing you. Let go of your need to check e-mail every ten minutes.


2. Commit to keeping your inbox empty.


3. Create files where you can put inbox material that needs to be acted on.


4. Make broad headings for your filing system so that you have to spend less time looking for filed material.


5. Deal immediately with any e-mail that can be handled in two minutes or less but create a file for mails that will take longer.


6. Set a target date to empty your in box. Don't spend more than an hour at a time doing it.


7. Turn off automatic send/receive.


8. Establish regular times to review your e-mail.


9. Involve others in conquering your addiction.


10. Reduce the amount of e-mail you receive.


11. Save time by using only one subject per e-mail; delete extra comments from forwarded e-mail, and make the subject line detailed.


12. Celebrate taking a new approach to e-mail.

Now Don't you feel better?

Garlic Hill fever!

All seem to be excited about going to Garnet. Mike and Ellen are preping Sat night meal. I'll keeping a weather eye out. Looks like maybe some warm weather heading for Albany. We'll be north and in the woods so it should be cooler.

DSL back On....

Had to reboot the outside box to start the internet access again.

Would have been nice if Verizon told me to do that but it's one of those things you just have to figure out on your own.

Gotta love those ad slogans....

DSL Network
Posted Date: 2/20/2007 5:49:21 AM CST
Status: Open
Some Verizon DSL customers in the WILLOW GROVE, PA area may be experiencing difficulties accessing the Internet at this time.
Engineers are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it as quickly as possible. Estimated time of repair 4 hours.

Verizon's new ad campagin is "It's On"

Hey Verizon ..... It's 1:30 pm and "It's Still NOT On"

odd and ends....

Verizon DSL down this morning. That's why there are no images or weather on the blog this morning. Remember this when Verizon tell you that IT'S ON. Yeah Right!

Final thoughts on King Tut. It was amazing to see a glimpse of the past 3000 years ago. All of this was done for immortality. I guess he achieved it in some small measure.

Garnet Hill ski trip is on track. It's going to be warmer blue or purple ski wax at the ready. Mike and Ellen are on deck for making dinner too this time. Looks like lots of good skiing and good eats.

Also, today is Mardis Gras. Happy Doughnut day! Laissez les bons temps rouler!

King Tut....

We went to see the King Tut exhibit down at the Franklin Institute. It really was pretty amazing to see all the artifacts from 3000 years ago. The small gold canopic coffinette was terrific and the detail of the statues was really remarkable. We just got back so it all has not sunk in .








King Tut


( (c) 1978 Steve Martin - Wild and Crazy Guy )

King Tut (King Tut)

Now when he was a young man,
He never thought he’d see
People stand in line to see the boy king.
(King Tut) How’d you get so funky?
(funky Tut) Did you do the monkey?


Born in Arizona,
Moved to Babylonia (king Tut).
(king Tut) Now, if I’d known
they’d line up just to see you,
I’d trade in all my money
And bought me a museum. (king Tut)
Buried with a donkey (funky Tut)


He’s my favorite honkey!

Born in Arizona,
Moved to Babylonia (king Tut)
Dancin’ by the Nile, (Disco Tut)
The ladies love his style, (waltzing Tut)
Rockin’ for a mile (rockin’ Tut)

He ate a crocodile.
He gave his life for tourism.
Golden idol!
He’s an Egyptian


They’re sellin’ you.
Now, when I die,
don’t think I’m a nut,
don’t want no fancy funeral,
Just one like ole king Tut.

(King Tut)

He coulda won a Grammy,
Buried in his Jammies,
Born in Arizona,
moved to Babylonia,
He was born in Arizona,
lived in a condo made of stone-a,
King Tut

Nerds

We went to the Plays and Players theater last night to see Nerds a Musical Software Satire. It was Ok. Let me explain. It was kind of like the saying when Joe Kennedy was getting stock tips from his shoe shine boy in 1929 he knew it was time to get out of the market.

Before the play started there was this guy behind me that was just blathering on about PC's, Macs, Windows, Office and other things software and hardware. With all the authority of a Saturday afternoon living room coach. But this was not the only conversation I heard about three!

Then I really tried not to listen. It must have been all the glitter painted pc's on the walls as decoration that stired up all this computer nonsense.

But anyway the play was a fun little number. It depiced the early life of Bill Gates/Paul Allen and Steve Jobs/Steve Woz. And it's a musical. What more can be said. The play has the themes of success, failure an redemption. But in Bill Gates place it's only success, success and more success. It plays a little like an old worn Apple ad. Microsoft bad Apple cool. And the jokes about nerdy guys not being able to get dates is tiresome. But on the whole it was a fun play and a great night out.

BTW go see it and leave the laptop at home.

Snow!!

It finally snowed here today. We got a few inches of mixed snow, ice and sleet. The big news is that in the ski areas above Albany they are using the blizzard word. They may be getting three feet. So the snow gods may have found our garlic offering favorable! We may just have something white to ski on!!!!!!

E-mail Trouble.

I've been setting up a mail server at home. This is because I have about 3 e-mail address that I answer in addition to the one at work. I was trying to consolidate them into one place for retrieval.

Only thing is now when I send a message I'm getting stuck in spam filters. So if I mail you send me an answer back to make sure that it's working.

An if you don't get e-mail from me check your spam filter. ( I may be in there among the Viagra ads and Nigerian get rich scams ) .

If I'm not in your spam filter ( Sorry for having you look thru the XXX mails to find me ) or your inbox maybe I didn't send you anything.

In that case send me an e-mail and I'll send you one telling you to get right back to me.....

Hmmmm maybe I should rethink this whole e-mail thing.

Uninterruptible Power Supply

I found a UPS ( Uninterpretable Power Supply ) at Home Depot when looking for salt for the driveway this Saturday. I installed it on the web server and our VOIP phone equipment. Now our phone will stay on in the event of a blackout. Also, the server will shut down in a controlled manner. Also.........

Hey.... Hey you.... yeah you!! Keep pedaling!!!! I need to finish this blog entry!

You think I should dangle a Power Bar in front of that kid?

A relaxing wax........

Mike and I both had a waxing session this morning.

No No it had nothing to do with personal grooming. We waxed our cross country skis.

But it does look like she is using Universal Klister.

We both did grip zones with base wax and no glide wax. Seems the glide was good from last year. We cleaned up the nasty wax from last year. Then we slathered on the sticky SWIX base wax and ironed it on. It will provide a good foundation for all the sticky business that is grip wax.

Job well done... and we lost no hair... to the wax anyway.

Enough snow for ya?

Found some pictures from that snow fall in upstate NY. Here are the pix from New Haven and Mexico. ( You think they might want to be south of the border today eh? )

Shoveling the driveway is a pain but shoveling the roof!








Hey kids, this is what is means to be snowed in!

Could ya turn off the snow..... PLEASE!!!!!

I've been geeting snow condition e-mails from Hugh Quinn at Salmon Hills for a while. This year has been plagued by late openings beacause of warm temps and dry conditions. I found this in my in box today:

Well if you have been listening to any of the local or even national news this week you know that we have been getting hammered with lake effect snow. I measure snow just once a day so if anything my totals are low and I've come up with almost 70 inches of snow so far in the last week. The news tonight said north redfield had received 111 inches, mexico and parish around 101 inches. My guess is that we are up somewhere between the amount I have recorded and the 100 inch plus totals. Not that it makes much difference - the packed snow depths on the trails are between 3 and 4 foot. unpacked areas have considerably higher measurements.

Temperatures for the weekend look good with highs of 24 for saturday and sunday. Lake effect is supposed to be around until monday so you want to pay attention to wind directions. Saturday looks like we will be under a westerly wind where we might get hit. Sunday looks like a southwest wind where the snow should go north of us. I have seen a lot of lake effect storms over the years, the worst was when we got 100 inches plus in a 3 day stretch a few years back when montague got hit so hard. But even that year it was a fairly limited area that got hit real hard. This year a large area got hit. I currently have a request into wsyr9 to see if they have any computer models that could estimate the tonage of all the snow that has fallen. So far no reply, but everybody is busy with the snow.

we will be open, everything has been packed and all my gas cans are full so we will pack as hard as we can for the weekend. oh yeah - maybe back off on the THINK SNOW for a couple of days.

Hugh
Osceola Tug Hill XC
315-599-7377
www.uxcski.com

Once upon a mattress

We then went to see Amy Miller in the Beth Sholom production of Once upon a Mattress. It was a fun evening watching this adaption of the Princess and the Pea fairytale. The play was done in the round to make the most of the small auditorium. There was a full compliment of musicians to provide the score. And the players did a great job of bringing the story to life. Amy was the princess Fred, the lead princess in the play. She did a great job with the part. She had the quality of suspension of disbelief. Which is to say that she drew you into the part she was playing. Saul said playing a princess was not much of a stretch for her.

[UPDATE] I got a picture from the proud papa. Here is Amy and the jester.

Once again good going Amy!

Jonathan's

Marilyn and I went to Jonathan's at the Jenkintown train station. The station was originally designed by noted architect Horace Trumbauer at the turn of the 19th century. The menu is American steak and fish, but has a healthy helping of gourmet pizza. We got the brick oven strombolis. The crab and pesto is as good as any crabcake. I thought it could use some Old Bay seasoning but that would be cliche. The interior of the station is really impressive. And the price is very reasonable. Good food in a nice place with good service. What more can you want.

No Ad Hoc trips.....

No ad hoc ski trip this weekend. Gotta go unclog a drain for mom tomorrow night.

Yeeech!

Tonight...

We are going to see a play at Beth Sholom in Elkins Park. They are putting on "Once upon a Mattress". Saul and Ellen's daughter has a part in the play. The play is based on the fable of The Princess and the Pea. It will be in the round so it should be fun.

On one other note Beth Sholom was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Follow the link above it has some information and a photo gallery.

Wrong again..... and snow talk

Our tix for King Tut are not this weekend. They are for next weekend. With calendars and schedule software and PDA's you think that I would get a date right.

Looks like Lapland Lake snow fortunes have turned. They now have a respectable amount of snow on the trails. Western Upstate NY got hit hard with lake effect snow. Up to 6ft. Salmon Hills has about 30 inches of snow on the trails and up yo 94 inches in the woods!!!!!

Maybe time is right for an ad hoc trip?

Hey It's Cold.......

Winter is here. At least the cold part of it anyway. Crocuses were starting to break the surface. I wonder if they regret coming up? It's still dry here no snow.

Lee (Jr?) is in Cherry Hill on a trip from Texas. It was 60 degs when he left. (I wonder if he regrets coming up? Kind of like the crocuses. ) I sure hope he brought his hat and gloves. He asked if this was normal. I told him that no usually it's this cold and we have to deal with snow, ice and shoveling the driveway. I told him that since he's from Texas were cutting him some slack.

The cold will last at least until this weekend. We are going to the King Tut exhibit. Something nice and warm. Also, we are going to wax up the skis in firm hope that maybe, just maybe there will be SOMETHING to ski on by the end of the month.

Of Note....

It's finally cold here and we have a light dusting of snow on the ground. We went to the storage shed this morning to put the tires back in and the locks are frozen. We'll try again later and we'll bring something to warm the lock.

Which is a great segue into skiing.

Lapland lake is reporting that they have 100% of thier trails open.

Garnet Hill ( watch out the link has Garnet's cheesy music ) has 40Km of trails open.

Next week looks like it will be cold. What is on the trails will stay any they are getting 1 to 2 inch flurries daily for the beginning of next week.

Maybe we can really think about skiing!

Happy Birthday.....

Happy Birthday Gail and Jake.....

We went to Mike and Gail's to celebrate Gail's birthday. It was also Jake the cat's birthday. He was his hissing and snarling little self locked away upstairs.

Back to the party. The party was great. People were doing their best El Wingador imitation on Mike's famous wings. The cheese table was just spectacular and beautifully presented as aways. And the beer selection is something behold. The melted chocolate fountain had all the chocoholics dipping all kinds of things. ( Marshmallow's, Banana slices, strawberries, sweaters, shirts, hands, etc..... )

We ended the evening by singing "Happy Birthday" to Gail and Jake.

The ending line " ...any many more!!!" was left out of Jake's rendition.

Another Excellent Party... Thanks guys!!!!!!

Oh Phil.....

Look like Phil saw his shadow today. Which is suppose to mean an early spring. But next week is suppose to have the coldest weather we had all winter. Still we have three weeks before the first ski trip. We are still hoping for snow in the northlands.