The wrestling marathon concluded today with a successful tournament for little kids. We had been expecting about 200 to come to compete, and we got over 300! Steven and I helped out in the concession booth, which was very busy. I think I will dream of hot dogs  and pop  tonight! Stevie was a great help, especially as I know he would have rather been wrestling. His headaches and dizziness have greatly reduced in the last few days, so maybe soon...

The last few times I have driven at night I have been wondering if I have been losing my vision, or perhaps my mind. I kept thinking that my headlights haven't been working. I will be driving along, continually trying to turn on the switch (which is, of course, already on). I have even pulled over in order to walk in front of the Jeep and make sure that they are turned on. Today I remembered to look at them during the day -- and discovered that they had a very heavy coating of dried on road salt and scuzz. When I got out of work, I scrubbed them down with rubbing alcohol and gauze pads. Driving home I was singing to myself:

Yeah, BABY!! I have headlights!!!!

Sometimes its the little things in life that can just make your day!

The wrestling coaches today let me go something I have never seen a wrestling coach do before -- my older son was so tired that he was pretty obviously unwell, and they let me bring him on home, several hours before the tournament finished. So home I brought him, ran him a hot bath with mineral salts so he could soak and relax, and fed him some dinner. Hopefully he can get to sleep very soon, so he can feel better tomorrow.

I am also worried about his homework. They had wrestling Tuesday, Thursday, yesterday, today, and they will be helping with the little kids' tournament tomorrow. I honestly do not know when the kids will have a chance to catch up with their homework. I probably should ask Bill to work on some homework this evening, but I do not have the heart to do that, with him being so tired. Physical well being sometimes must take priority over everything else.

A lot of the kids had a rough day today. One of the kids even had to be taken off in an ambulance, which is always horrible. It hurts even seeing a stranger child hurt, but when it is a child you know, like, and talk to it is even worse. It was a leg injury, but the kid is a big guy (wrestles heavyweight, 275 pounds) so they didn't want him to put any weight on it until they could check things out at the hospital. So hopefully he will be OK.

Long, long day. I am grateful to God for my power drink, that enabled me to get through the first half of it, and the gigantic bottle of  soda pop that help me get through the latter part.

Well, my older son earned his first Sheriff's star today. The Monroe County Sheriff's Tournament is one of the most prestigious in the state, and always has very high quality teams like Dundee and Bedford. They give out these wonderful and unique medals, that look like the star shaped badges deputy sheriffs wear in old western movies. It is the highlight of most wrestler's high school careers to get one. Bill got a sixth place finish, so earned his star. Of course, being the perfectionist that he is, he was all upset with himself and thought that he should have done better. He didn't get much sleep last night, as he was all anxious about the tournament. So I am hoping with some sleep he will feel better. Of course, tomorrow he will be at an even bigger tournament all day (I have the feeling that it will be one of those 14 hour or so ones.) I think I might break down and share one of my vitamin power drinks with him in the morning! And maybe let him take another one in his gear bag...

 (Even though he is down on himself, my son will always be a star to me.)

A lovely sunny Thursday afternoon, though it is horribly cold outside. I will be going to work in a few minutes, and I am most grateful that tonight marks the end of the work week. There will be no rest for the weary, though, this weekend, for parent or child. But once we make it through this busy weekend, things will hopefully calm down a bit.

Tomorrow we will be heading down to the Monroe area, to Frenchtown Township, for the big tournament (the one that had been cancelled due to the snow and will be made up tomorrow). I always feel a bit odd when I go to that high school, as it is so close to the nuclear power plant. Once again, Fermi has been closed down this week due to some sort of problem. It's an older plant, and seems to have a lot of problems, and I truly wish that it could be decommisioned.

On Saturday Dan will stay at our high school to help coach the junior varsity team at our tournament. I will be heading to Lincoln Park to watch the varsity kids at their tournament. I will probably be in charge of our food table, too, and make grocery store runs if we run out of food or bottled water.

On Sunday Dan will be helping to run the tournament for little kids at our high school. I will help with concessions until it is time to go to work.

Next weekend, though, the high school team will be going to Battle Creek, and possibly spending the night there. We are hoping to send our younger son to his best friend's house for an overnight visit. Dan and I will go hear the Philharmonic and eat out at a nice restaurant. And we will take long naps, and rest as much as we can during the course of the day. Now that will be a day to recharge our batteries!!

It's quite a bit warmer today and tonight, though it is still below freezing. It is cloudy rather than clear, which is probably why it is warmer. No moon glistening on the snow, beckoning me outside tonight! Tomorrow we are due for some winter mix and freezing rain. Yuck!!!

I am so glad I made the decision to wait until summer to go to New York rather than go next month, though I was upset about it at the time. I have just heard from my buddy, and his wife is working all three days of that weekend and he will be watching the three children. That would have been OK in some ways, as I love kids and wouldn't have minded hanging out with Fist and the little ones. But it would have been difficult to get around, as I was not planning on getting a rental car and I would have been staying in a hotel near where he and his family live, an hour north of the city, and he would have not been able to go to the Philharmonic concert, etc. So next summer, when I will have the Jeep, will be better. And even if he can't get time off of work, and watches his children in the evenings, he can always bring them to the hotel and Dan and I and my kids (since mine are older than his) can keep an eye on them while they swim and splash around in the pool. And the weather will hopefully be a lot better...our nasty little storm last weekend was their huge nasty blizzard!! And I still will get to go to a concert with the New York Philharmonic -- right here in Ann Arbor. So everything is working out, and I'm feeling a lot better about my decision. Isn't it funny how life works that way sometimes???

Tomorrow the great wrestling marathon will begin.

Well, we had quite a snowstorm this weekend.  Ten inches of snow, followed by a windstorm, which blowed the powdery snow around like mad. And it is bitterly, frighteningly, brutally cold. The moon is as bright as a spotlight tonight, shining on the snow and making the night glow. I would love to go for a walk in the woods, but it is far too low below zero to stay outside for very long.

The wrestling tournament was cancelled on Saturday due to snow. So I ended up having a very quiet weekend at home with the kids. Even managed to fit in a hot bath.

This coming week will be brutal. On Tuesday the high school has a makeup meet for one that got snowed out. Wednesday marks the official beginning of the middle school wrestling season (all of the tournaments they have been going to have not been sanctioned by the state high school sports association). Thursday is another meet for the high school. On Friday is the makeup tournament for Monroe County Sheriff's Tournament. On Saturday the varsity wrestlers are going to a huge tournament in Lincoln Park, while we are hosting a junior varsity tournament at our high school, and the parents will have to help as much as we can. On Sunday our high school hosts a tournament for little kids, and again, we must all help out as much as we can. Hopefully, we will get no more snow storms!!!!

Since it became so cold and snowy, untold numbers of birds have been coming to our feeders. Sometimes there will be 6-8 birds hanging off of each feeder at the same time, while others wait their turn in our neighbor's lilac bushes. Its pretty amazing! The cats love watching them, and I would love to have a bit more time, so I could get out a bird book and figure out which kinds they are. I only know the very distinctive ones like cardinals and blue jays.

The children were charming today. They sat by the fireplace with their books and talked quietly for quite a long time. I always love to see how well they get along.

 

Another snowstorm is moving in tonight. I caught the beginnings of it about halfway home from work. When I wake up tomorrow morning there should be a good blanket of snow on the ground. And it might even get up to nearly freezing tomorrow, which would be most welcome!!  January is a very cold month in this part of the world! I hope the kids have school -- they have already missed some days due to weather-related cancellations, with the possibly snow heavy remainder of this month, February, and early March to go!

I have started reading the latest in Lillian Jackson Braun's Cat Who mystery series. This one is called The Cat Who Went Bananas. They are set in a very thinly disguised Michigan, and the sleuth (a semi-retired reporter turned columnist and philanthropist) is helped out by his two beloved Siamese cats. They are a good mystery series for people who aren't big on graphic sexual content, gruesome violence, or foul language. And the books are fairly short, which is also a big plus when you are busy.

An odd coincidence that has recently happened is getting to purchase tickets to the New York Philharmonic when they play at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor next month. Going to see/hear them in concert was something I was greatly looking forward to on my cancelled trip to New York -- but now I will be able to experience one of their concerts right near home. Is that great, or what???  They will be playing a symphony by Mozart and one by Mahler. In New York, I think they were due to play Stravinski, a composer I do not particularly care for.

Dan and I have made reservations at a nice state park in the mountains in Kentucky. We and the boys will be staying in a rental cabin for Memorial Day weekend. We have not stayed at this particular park (Cumberland Falls) before, though we have stopped off to see the water fall and eat a meal in the Lodge -- and it is a lovely place. We have always wanted to be able to stay there, and now, if all goes well, we will. Late May is too late for the dogwood and redbud, but there should be plenty of other wildflowers in the mountains. It will be beautiful!!!!

Life can be really odd sometimes, and filled with weird and bizarre coincidences, that I know that some people would call evidence of God working in people's lives.

Take the recent Friday night when we had to take our younger son to the Emergency Room at UM Hospital with the head injury from wrestling practice.

While we were waiting for our son to be seen by the triage nurses, in came an old professor of Dan's from when he was in graduate school. The two of them had gotten on well, and Dan had taught the professor's classes at UM-Dearborn for a term when the professor had been called to UM-Ann Arbor to cover for another professor. Anyway, because Dan had decided many years ago to build up his business rather than finish up his PhD (his dissertation has been half-written for years now), he had not seen or talked to this professor for a long. long time.

The professor had been hurt (which is why, of course, he had been in the ER that night) , and will be out of action for three weeks or so, following surgery to correct the broken bone. He was all upset over who would be able to cover for him in his classes at UM-Dearborn this term.

Well, of course, it all worked out. Dan, who is already known to the peoplel at Dearborn, and who had actually taught these two classes there before, will be able to cover for the professor. So the professor can relax, UM-Dearborn can relax, and Dan will pick up a nice bit of extra money in what is usually a slow time of year (other than snow removal) for his business.

And all because an injured professor and an injured 12 year old boy crossed paths in an emergency room on a cold Friday night...

Very busy weekend.

On Friday there was a half day of school. Bill had wrestling pracrice after school, and I went to pick him up. We then headed into Ann Arbor so he could take his state road test. He passed with flying colors, so then we went to the Secretary of State's office, to turn in the paperwork so he could get his license. The lines were endless, as they usually are at such places. We eventually got out of there and went to the one post office in the area that accepts applications for passports. The line there was endless as well. They had a big sign up that said they cut off passport applications at 4PM -- and we made it to the front of the line with about five minutes to go!! But we got his picture taken, and the application turned in. It was difficult finding a time to do that, between school and wrestling, and with him having to apply in person. But since the school trip to Europe won't be taking place until June, there should be plenty of time to straighten out any problems, if any should happen.

Friday evening Dan and I went out on a date. We went to a restaurant in Ann Arbor called The Earle, that I have wanted to go to for many years. It serves southern French and northern Italian food, in a very romantic setting, and they have live jazz there some nights. Well, the food turned out to be fantastic, the restaurant was very romantic, and a jazz trio played for some of the time we were eating. It was a very enjoyable evening!!! Since Friday was the one year mark of my father's death, I am so glad, so grateful to have a good memory to add to the terrible one!!!

Saturday Bill had a wrestling tournament -- one that was close by for a nice change of pace. It was up in Canton, at the new high school there (that school district has three huge high schools now). The team did fairly well, and so did Billy. I like the way the new coach allowed the varsity kids to have a break in one of the rounds if there was a junior varsity kid at his/her weight. It gave the freshmen a chance to have a match, and let the more experienced kids get a bit of a breather. With team tournaments, there can be a lot of matches in one day! Even with sitting out one of the rounds, Bill had four matches, and two of them were really tough ones. They say that the six minutes of a tough match can be among the most intense you can live through, and while I think that is somewhat exaggerated (the person who originally said that had probably not given birth), there is also a kernal of truth in that.

Today we woke up to another unpredicted and unexpected snowfall. Dan and Stevie set out for Montrose for a middle school team tournament. I stayed at home, as I will be working tonight. Bill also stayed home, as he has a bad cough today, and we wanted him to relax and rest.

Tomorrow, they were going to try to make up the big tournament that had been cancelled a couple of weeks ago. But they cannot, as the state athletic rules say that a wrestler cannot have anymore than two matches on a day/night before school. This is to protect the kids from being exhausted and not be able to function well on the following school day. So there will now be no tournamant, though there will still be practice. So I will get to have a quiet day with my family after all.

I am glad to have the day off tomorrow, with nothing taxing to do other than house work. Last week we had a lot of call-ins at work, so I am pretty tired even after having two days off. I don't mind when people call in -- in fact, I would rather they call in if they are unwell than come into work and infect everyone else -- and I certainly call in myself when I am sick -- but it can be tiring for those who work shorthanded. Having tomorrow off will be quite nice!!!

The fog was very heavy today. There was an accident involving about 100 cars on I96, about 1 1/2 hours northwest of here. Two people were killed, and many more seriously hurt. Horrible.

Work has been very busy this week. I'm not sure if the high humidity is bothering people with bad lungs, all of the snow has been bothering people with bad hearts, or there are just a lot of ugly bugs going around, but the ER has been full, as has nearly every bed in the hospital. It's been kicking our buttts big time. Luckily I have only more more night to make it through, and then all will be busy at home, but well. A busy day at home is better than any night at work.

I am continuing to greatly enjoy Tim Power's book, The Annubis Gates.

It's wildly creative and very entertaining.  The most original thing I have read in quite some time, and a good adventure story as well.

And things seem to be working out for the new and summertime trip to New York. If either of the major league baseball teams is in town, we are going to try to get some tickets. Should be fun!!!  I'm still sad that I will have to miss the February trip I had been planning, but sometimes things happen that are outside of our control, and plans must be changed as a result.

Well, we never got that freezing rain! Thank God. Instead we got a lot more snow than they had been predicting, almost another half foot. School was cancelled yesterday, though the high school still had wrestling practice. And I got to use my four wheel drive for the first time -- the county snow plows left a wall of snow and ice over two feet tall at the end of my driveway. With the four wheel drive I was able to go right through it with no problems at all. What a miraculous invention!!! As long as I live in snow country, I will have vehicles with four wheel drive from now on!!!

Today it has gotten unseasonably warm, and we have a couple of feet of snow melting rather quickly -- which means a heavy fog cover. Luckily my Jeep is also equipped with fog lights! I really love my little truck!!!

Well, we're getting more (3-4) inches of snow tonight, followed by hours of freezing rain in the morning. I hope I can make it into work tomorrow -- snow I can handle, but ice is horrible for driving!

I also hope we keep our power. Its not so bad to lose it in the summer, but during the winter it is horrid, especially trying to keep the house somewhat warm! So far the record in the new house is four days in the winter, and that was before we got a generator. I still remember how cold it was with horror. I do not know how people who live on the street can stand the cold in places like Detroit and Chicago.It would just drain your will to live after awhile!

I did get my first spring flower catalog in the mail today. I will have to look at it tomorrow when the freezing rain comes down, and perhaps even order a few plants to be delivered when spring comes.

This will be a very busy weekend. Bill has a tournament in Canton on Saturday. Steven will have one in Montrose on Sunday (I will miss that one because of work). Then they will make up the Monroe Sherriff's Tournament on Monday, which is Martin Luther King Day, so my precious holiday off from work will be spent in a noisy, stinky gymnasium. The kids have a half day on Friday, too, so I probably won't be able to get enough sleep this weekend, and I hope I won't be grouchy as a result!

I'll probably be in a horrid mood no matter what, actually. This weekend will be the one year anniversary of my father's death and funeral. I get upset just thinking about it.

Had a quiet night at work, followed by a drive home in the freezing drizzle. Glad to be home, and will take a quick hot shower soon, followed by paying some bills.

Steven had a headache most of the day today, poor kiddo. Hopefully he will be able to go to school tomorrow.

Am reading a very fun book now, called The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers. Time travel, romantic poets in Regency London, psychotic clowns, poisonous werewolves, ancient Egyptian gods -- what's not to like?

Well, real life has a bad way of interrupting any and all plans.

I did get the oil changed yesterday, and enjoyed an excellent lunch. Then I came home and gave myself the rare treat of a hot bath (I usually only have time for quick showers). So that all went well.

Then I got a call from Dan, who told me that Steven had been hurt in wrestling practice. He had hit his head pretty badly. So it was off to the emergency room for a few hours, while they ruled out a concussion. The CT scan came back clean, so they sent us home. Stevie will be fine, other than perhaps a headache for a few days. Thank God.

This morning we were supposed to get a dusting of snow. It somehow turned into six inches that no one expected, so none of the road crews were out. Dan and other parents drove the wrestling team down to Monroe for the big tournament, only to find out that it had been cancelled, and that the hosting high school had not called any of the participating teams (we were not the only team my any means to make the long drive on the awful roads). So that was bad.

But  I got to have a quiet day at home with both of my children, which was nice. I feel like flat soda pop today, and have no energy or motivation, probably an after affect of the emergency room last night. So the quiet day was good to have. Dan was gone most of the day doing snow removal, which will give him thousands of dollars for one day's work. It wipes him out, though.

And my friend from New York called. It sounds like the summer trip is the one that will fit the best into everyone's schedule. It was nice to hear such a friendly voice on the phone, too. Friends are a treasure.

I finished the last of the Nevada Barr books. High Country involved drugs and brutal murder at Yosemite National park in California. I'm not sure what to read next. As I said, I'm a bit burned out and mentally dull today.

 

Well, one of my coworkers wrecked her car on her way home from work last night, so I am very glad my drive home went as smoothly as it did. Luckily, she is fine, though her car will need some work. A person is infinately more important than a car anyway!!!

Have been chugging along on my Nevada Barr mysteries. Hunting Season involved poachers, simmering racial tensions, and mysterious death on the Natchez Trace. In Flashback, Anna (the woman ranger) takes a temporary promotion to Fort Jefferson in the Florida Keys, and investigates the explosion of a mysterious boat. She also becomes involved in some old letters that belong to her family, written by a Union Army Captain's wife, who lived at that same fort when it was a prison camp following the Civil War. So there is a mystery in the current time, and also one from the past.

Am very glad it is the weekend now!!!

Tomorrow I will take in the Jeep for an oil change and go to lunch at my favorite Chinese restaurant in the entire world.   Saturday is the Monroe County Sherriff's Tournament, one of the most prestigious high school tournaments in the state. I'm not sure if I want to go to that one or not. I still do a slow burn when I think about last year's, with Bill wrestling when he was still so hurt from the concussion. I will have to wait and see...

Well, we did get quite a bit of snow, and more coming down. The drive home was slow and careful, but I did not have to engage the four wheel drive. I was able to make it home safely with just two wheel drive. I did leave work an hour early, as I hoped that there would be fewer drivers on the road at 11PM than at midnight. I saw few cars, so that was probably the case.

They have already cancelled school for tomorrow, in our district, and in many neighboring districts. So I am glad I got to come home a bit early, for hopefully the kids will let me sleep a bit in the morning!

Even if they don't, there is only one more night to make it through, then get up moderately early on Friday to take in the Jeep for an oil change. Dan will take me out for a meal while it is in the shop, so that will be nice!

The snow is absolutely gorgeous, by the way. I'm sort of sad that it will be warm and raining this weekend, and that it will all melt...

Last night a big storm started moving in. We only got a couple of inches of snow overnight, but it just started up again after breaking for a few hours, and we are supposed to get up to another eight inches, with some freezing rain on top of that. I will go to work early, before the roads get too bad, but am not looking forward to the drive home, when the roads promise to be a mess. I have already made sure that I will have not my usual one but two blankets, my cell phone (which I am bad about forgetting), and extra warm clothes in my vehicle. Tonight maybe I can use the four wheel drive on my Jeep for the first time!

Finished up reading two of the four books by Nevada Barr, to catch up with that mystery series. I read Blood Lure, set in Glacier National Park, and Hunting Season, set in the Natchez Trace. Two more to go, one set in the Florida Keys, and one at Yosemite...

I should get going now, as the snow is really starting to come down again...

 

 

Well, the weather has certainly been interesting this winter. We had that big snowfall right before Christmas, then it got really warm and rained for a few days, so all of that snow was gone before New Year's. It has been raining all day, will switch over to freezing rain sometime tonight, then we will get another snowstorm on Wednesday.

Having talked to Dan and to my buddy Fist, the summertime visit to New York is on. I will take a week off, and we will spend the first part of the week with Fist and his family in New York, then spend the second part of the week at the Delaware Water Gap, an area where Dan has wanted to take me for 22 years (simply because he thinks its pretty). It's all a very nice gift from Dan.

These days I am keeping busy by trying to get the house cleaner by day, and working by night. And trying to catch up on my reading in the spare bits of time. I am pleased with Barr's Blood Lure, and am glad I have three more books in that mystery series standing by awaiting their turns. Keeps my mind off of other, unhappier things...

We worked on the house all day today. We got the Christmas tree and decorations down, including some that have been up for more than a year (I was sick last year, and then after my father died in January, never got around to it). Did lots of laundry. Cleaned in general and washed dishes. It helped that all four of us were home and pitched in to help!! So it was a good and productive day.

After that, I got to go to work. Luckily, it was quiet. Started catching up on my other favorite mystery series on my breaks. I got caught up the the Tony Hillerman novels set on the Navajo reservation this morning while eating breakfast. Now its time to catch up with the series about the female National Park Ranger, written by a former female ranger named Nevada Barr. I had been three books behind on the Hillerman, and four behind on the Barr, so am currently reading Blood Lure, set in the glories of the Rocky Mountains at Glacier National Park. It is a mystery involving murder and grizzley bears!

Have been talking to my buddy in New York and Dan trying to figure out a good time for us to go to NYC. Right now it looks like a choice between Easter weekend and sometime this coming summer. Dan has wanted to take me to something called the Delaware Water Gap for over twenty years now, so he suggested taking off out east this summer for a week, spending the first part of the week in NYC with my buddy and his family, the second half at this Water Gap place. Either would be fine with me.

I'm feeling sort of bad because the friend I decided to drop things with sent me a message on the computer and I deleted it without reading it. My sense of fairness tells me I should have read it. But once someone has been proven to be thoughtless and cruel why should I have to subject myself to being in contact with him or her -- especially after I told that person I wanted no further contact? If it was important, I will definately feel bad, but on the other hand, I honestly don't know what could be important, at this point in time, anyway. The whole situation sucks.

The kids are back in school tomorrow (Monday). They didn't seem to be too happy about that today. I am looking forward to getting more sleep, though.