Winter Wonderland

We had 12.5" of snow last night - the third biggest one-time snow fall in history. We were snowed in today - school was canceled - I emailed my team to stay home. I thought I'd get a lot done - but with everyone snowed in, LOTS of emails to deal with and I didn't get any special projects done.

Oh well...we are all safe and have plenty of food in the house. It took Kevin 3 hours to drive 20 miles last night from the south side. Rather than another 1-2 hours on the road to get home, he stayed here. Joel and Jeremy went sledding today. Joel tried to get out of the neighborhood, but we were still snowed in so Jeremy had to pick him up in a tall 4-wheeler.

I cleaned the snow off the bird feeders for the hungry birds - see Mr. Finch on the table above having some breakfast.

Joel participates in All-State Choir

Joel was selected to be in the All-State High School Choir again this year. There are about 325 of the best highschool choir students selected by audition each year. They have several practices at an area school, and then they all converge downtown for 2 days of rehearsals with a renowned Choir Conductor, Dr. William Skoog, from Bowling Green State University, culminating in a performance at the end of the weekend for all the choir teachers around the State. Their performance was awesome.

You can see Joel's head poking through in the upper right corner, 5th from the left. There was a set of normal risers, and another set of risers behind it, which is why you can't see him very well.

Here he is while they were filing on the stage........



After the performance.......Joel, Todd and Eli. Eli alwasy loves to see Joel sing, or play piano or violin.

Coldest temps in 12 years

News here - yesterday the coldest day in 12 years - when I left the house yesterday morning it was -11F (-23C) and warmed up to a balmy 7F (-14C). This morning we work up to a VERY cold house.....and realized the furnace had gone out. I called a repair man and he was able to be here within 30 minutes. The blower on the furnace is out - so it is still making hot air, just not blowing it into the house. We are sitting by the fire in coats and hats. The repair man had to go to the supply house to get a new blower and will be back. It is going to be an expensive day!!!! Of course the furnace would go out on the coldest day in 12 years!!

Aussie Money Redeemed

Thanks for redeeming our pitiful $20bill Granny! This is Joel's Aussie $$ collection. The display turned out nicely. It is on the wall in his room.