Baby It’s Cold Outside

 

It’s been bitterly cold here the last couple of days.  The temperature yesterday morning when I got up was zero.  ZERO!!  Today’s a little better.  I think the high was around freezing.  The big news of the weekend is that it might hit 40 or 50 degrees on Monday.  Is it any wonder that everybody is sick?

 

Believe it or not, the goofy dogs are enjoying the cold weather.  They’ve been running in and out all day.  Especially Blacky.  Even though the cold isn’t good for his arthritis, he’ll still go outside and sit on the deck just to watch the world go by.  I could understand it if there were some snow on the ground, but it’s been too cold to snow. 

 

Even though it sounds like I’m complaining (yes, I am), I have to be grateful that it’s not as bad as it could be.  As a matter of fact, thirty years ago we were experiencing The Great Blizzard of 1978.  We had 11 inches of snow, wind chill temperatures of 60 below, and the state was basically shut down for two days.  I was 14 and a freshman in high school.  If I remember right, we were out of school for over a week.  We had to make it up over the summer, but it was pretty cool being home for an extra winter vacation.  Mom didn’t care for it much, but we enjoyed it.  I’ve been reading the local paper and taking a look at some of the pictures of the storm.  I remember the radio stations asking for anyone with a 4 wheel drive to help bring police officers, nurses and doctors to work.  The National Guard was called out to help clean up the snow after the state was declared a disaster area.  

 

I have to admit, though, that if it’s going to be this cold we should have a little bit of snow to go along with it.  Just a little bit.  Not a blizzard – just enough to cover up the grass. 

 

 

 

Fair and Balanced

 

Since yesterday’s entry was about Evil Luci’s attempts at corrupting her Big Brother, it’s only fair that I report on some of the good things they do.  

 

Hubby has the flu.  He stayed home from work today with a general "icky" feeling.  Nothing too bad.  Just tired, and always cold, and achy all over.  He’s been this way for a couple of days and was fighting it.  Unfortunately, the germies won and he spent the day on the couch with his Vitamin Water and his Chicken Soup.  You know the man is sick when he willingly gives up his Monday Night Bowling.  (The rule here is if you don’t go to work, you don’t have after work activities.  Kind of like the rules I had when I was a kid living at home. . . but that’s a blog for another day.) 

 

And he has had two very dedicated caretakers watching over him.  No, not me.  I was at work.  I love the man dearly, but there’s no way I want to let those germies get ahold of me.  The caretakers were Blacky and Luci.  They have spent the majority of the day sleeping near Hubby.  They make sure he gets up every couple of hours or so to make a trip to the fridge to get himself something to drink.  They would nudge him if they thought he was napping too long.  Since he was up, they would make sure he would eat something . . . by staring at him with those big brown eyes and get him to give them part of whatever he was eating.  

 

They were very happy to see me come home from work.  Happier than normal.  Taking care of a sick Daddy is hard work.  They’re napping in the corner now.  

 

Yes, this more than makes up for being such onery little devils.

 

 

 

Not What I Had In Mind

 

There’s a 6-1/2 year age difference between Blacky and Luci.  I thought that since Blacky is such a wonderfully obedient well-behaved dog, that the age difference would work in my favor and Blacky would use his Big Brother role to be a good influence on Luci and calm down her impulsive puppy ways.  Boy was I wrong. 

 

Blacky has always been a good dog.  Never dug holes in the yard.  Once he got through the puppy stage, he never chewed anything he wasn’t supposed to.  He always came when he was called.  Heels and follows very well while we are walking.  Just an overall well behaved baby boy.  I was hoping that Luci would learn by following his example.  Seems like the opposite has happened.  Luci is teaching her big brother a thing or two and not always in a positive way. 

 

She’s teaching him that if they both sit and look at me with sad brown eyes, they will get extra doggie treats.  The only time Blacky willingly sits quietly next to Luci is when food is involved.  This really isn’t such a bad thing since I think Blacky is a little on the thin side – but then Luci is a little on the chunky side. 

 

She’s taught him how to "knock and run" at the back door.  If they are outside and they want me to come play with them, they will scratch at the back door and then run away so that I have to come outside to see what they want.  Once I get outside, they will bark at me until I play a few rounds of fetch with them.  

 

Somehow she always knows when it’s 5:30 a.m. – even on the weekends.  I get up at 5:30 during the week and the first thing I do is feed them breakfast.  I like to sleep in on the weekend, but Luci has other ideas.  She’s figured out that if she stares at me long enough, I’ll get up and fix them breakfast.  And she’s taught that trick to Blacky.  So now I have the two of them sitting by my side of the bed dropping toys to get my attention so they can have their breakfast.  The good news is that if I get up and feed them, they usually let me go back to bed until about 8:30.  They rarely ever let me sleep later than 8:30.  I had hoped that Blacky would teach Luci that Mommy likes to sleep late on the weekend. 

 

When I told Hubby about all this, he told me that there was a reason we named her Lucifer . . .

 

 

Potpourri

 

I have a bunch of stuff running through my head . . . not all of it is a blog of it’s own so I’m throwing it all together and hoping that it makes some sort of sense.

 

Now that the Holidays are over, I thought all the hustle and bustle at work was going to slow down.  There’s still a few months before the busy season starts with all the spring/summer events.  After being in this job for eight months, I was finally starting to feel like I have some idea of what I’m doing and I’m not chasing my tail.  That lasted for about two or three days.  Then I found out that we’re moving the entire office.  In less than six months.  Moving an office of 110 people about a half mile away.  I remember what it was like to move an office of two people and I can’t begin to imagine what it’s going to be like to move 110 people.  I’m just really really grateful that I’m only a small part of the team that has to pull this miracle off.  

 

Every time that Luci gets in trouble, she runs and hides under the dining room table.  She puts herself in "time-out" and will stay under the table for about 5 minutes.  After she’s done, she’ll come and sit next to me and put her head on my lap.  How can I stay mad at her when those beautiful brown eyes are looking up at me?

 

For the first time in a long time, Blacky is enjoying snow.  He’s out in the back yard romping and running with Luci, barking at me to throw snowballs to him and waiting (not very patiently) for me to shovel off the back deck.  He’s even been going along with Luci and me when we go for our nightly walk.  Since I don’t want to aggravate his arthritis, we only go once around the block.  Then I drop him off and take Luci for the rest of our walk.  As long as he’s willing to go with us, I’ll be willing to take him.  I’m hoping the exercise will help his hips.

 

My luck is changing a little bit when it comes to football.  Yea, now after all the bowl games are over.  The only disappointment this weekend was when Indianapolis lost to San Diego.  Needless to say, I’ll be rooting extra hard for the Patriots to win this weekend. 

 

I’m finally over my cold but I’m wondering if the goofy weather is going to bring a Round 2.  It was in the 60′s on Saturday and the temperatures are going to drop down to the single digits by the end of the weekend.  Gotta love winter in Ohio . . .

 

Okay, I’ve got two pairs of sad brown eyes staring at me.  I think they want to go outside and start a snowball fight . . .

 

Mayor of O-fer-ville

 

That’s what Hubby’s been calling Coach Tressel all week.  It’s something that he and his buddies call each other when one of them doesn’t catch anything when they are fishing.  Everyone catching something but one guy catches nothing. 

 

Since Coach Tressel is 0 for 9 against the SEC, Hubby’s calling him The Mayor.  The bad part about being The Mayor is that you stay The Mayor until the next fishing trip.  Or the next game.  It’s going to be a lllloonnnggg 12 months listening to Hubby rant about this one. 

 

I can’t say that I’m surprised that Ohio State lost.  They started off Monday’s game like the started off last year’s game.  Unfortunately, they didn’t learn much from last year’s loss to Florida and they repeated their performance all over again.  Then when things started to go south for the guys, they turned on each other.  You should read some of the newspaper articles up here about what happened on the field during the game.  Tsk.  Tsk.  Tsk.  

 

Now that College Football is over for the year, all I have left is the NFL.  I’m not even going to mention which team I’m rooting for because I don’t want to jinx them.

 

Holding My Breath

 

It’s 9:30 p.m. and the temperature is 64 degrees.  Yes, you read that right.  64 degrees in Ohio.  In January.  It’s going to be this way for a couple of days and then it’ll be back to Old Man Winter.  I love when this happens.  I just don’t love when it will be 25 below in a couple of weeks.   Yes, I know that it will be that cold.  It always works that way. 

 

Hubby and I are peeking at the BCS Championship game.  Right now Ohio State and LSU are tied at 10 points a piece.  Hubby and I are afraid to actually the game because our track record on bowl games isn’t so hot this year.  Every team we’ve rooted for has lost.  We don’t want to jinx the Buckeyes so we’re channel surfing and trying to avoid actually watching the game. 

 

My cold is better.  My voice is still a little graveley but I feel better.  Except when I talk more than two sentences at a time – that makes me cough.  Or if I start laughing.  That will start me coughing, too.  With all the water I’m drinking to keep from coughing myself silly and being so dry from all the cold meds, I’m spending a lot of time going to the little girls room.  

 

You could say the pity party is officially over . . .

 

 

Wine & Cheese

 

Yep, I’m having a pity party for myself.  And you’re invited to come along . . .

 

(The title for this entry is a tribute to Hubby.  He always asks if I want some cheese with my wine when I’m having a pity party.)

 

I still have my cold.  I took vacation days on Friday and Monday so I had a nice 5 days off for the New Years Holiday.  The tickle in my throat that started late last week has turned into a very lovely upper respiratory problem.  Nothing serious enough to make me go to the doc . . . just enough to make me miserable.  My nose is totally stopped up.  My voice sounds like Froggy from "The Little Rascals" and if you don’t get that reference, please don’t tell me.  I’m already feeling pretty old.

 

Hubby and I have been watching football games all weekend.  College.  Pro.  You name it.  We’ve watched it.  I watched the Patriots complete their perfect season.  I was rooting for Eli and the Giants.  I thought it would be cool to see Eli do something that Peyton wasn’t able to do.  (Beat Brady and the Pats.)  I should have known that would set the tone for the weekend.  Every team we rooted for lost.  Florida, Hawaii, Navy . . . they all lost.  I’m watching the Oklahoma – West Virginia game now and I’m sorry to say that Oklahoma is losing.  Sorry, Nadine.

 

During one of the college football games, Hubby and I were watching the half time show.  The band (I can’t remember which one) was playing a song that sounded very familiar, but I just couldn’t place it.  I asked Hubby what the song was and his answer completely floored me.  It was Stairway to Heaven.  Oh. My. Garwsh.  Led Zeppelin in a half time show?!!  It just can’t be.  Promise me y’all stop by and visit me at the Old Folks Home.  

 

I love cabbage rolls and I make them every year for New Year’s Day.  Hubby hates them, but he eats them every year because he loves me.  It’s a long standing tradition from my childhood and I look forward to this meal all year.  Cabbage rolls, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, corn, and dark pumpernickel bread.  Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm.  I make them early in the day and let them simmer on the stove for hours.  Because of the afore-mentioned cold, I cannot smell anything.  I cannot taste anything.  I ate the cabbage rolls but they were bland as rice cakes.  What a disappointment.  Luckily, I can freeze the leftovers and eat them later when I can really appreciate them. 

 

And my final whine of the evening . . . and more proof that I’m really old . . . what ever happened to all the parades that used to be televised on New Year’s Day?  Does anybody else remember the Orange Bowl Parade?  The Cotton Bowl Parade?  The Sugar Bowl Parade?  There was even a parade from Hawaii . . . don’t remember the name of the parade, just that it was hosted by that guy from Hawaii 5-0.  Yesterday I was lucky if I could find the Rose Parade on TV.  I think I finally found it on the Travel Channel.  The Travel Channel?!  What is the world coming to when the Rose Parade is on the Travel Channel.  

 

Other than all the above . . . the year isn’t starting off too bad . . . we finally got the snow that I wanted for Christmas.  Started snowing at 9 a.m. New Year’s Day . . . and has been falling ever since.  Luckily it’s the light stuff that doesn’t accumulate much.  We’ve got a good 4 inches on the back deck.  Luci and Blacky are having the time of their lives romping through the stuff.  And I’m loving every minute that I get to watch them . . .