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| First time in a snow suit! |
It's a bit chilly here this morning. It's so cold that when I opened the door to let the dog outside he peered out the door letting the sub zero air touch his whiskers and froze in his tracks. He looked outside, he looked at me, he looked outside and back at me. After about 45 seconds it dawned on him that nature calling was stronger than nature's blowing wind. He didn't waste much time finding his "spot" though and sprinted back inside, all four legs in the air like a greyhound. He's a bit older and presumably wiser, turning 21 last week. He's legal! It's so windy outside that our home is making noises less than natural. When the wind really kicks up (60 MPH gusts) it whistles loudly in an extremely high pitch. It woke me up around 1:30 last night and I searched the house for the noise. To no avail. You could actually feel the wall our bed is perched against shaking. Our fireplace fire was blown out twice. Is that safe? The good news is it's a cross wind and all the snow we got was blown off the driveway into the neighbors down the street. So even though it's minus whatever outside I won't be braving windchills where no man has gone before but instead watching the Packers battle the Lions in an indoor stadium. The metrodorm (Vikings) roof actually collapsed last night under the weight of 17 inches of snow. Collapsed is a bit of a misnomer as the roof is kept at its height because air blows it up. More accurately a tear developed, the air escaped and it collapsed. Ironically the game was already cancelled and moved because the visiting Giants had their flight diverted from the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport due to its closing to Kansas City and are still stranded there now. In case anyone was wondering it's 68 with some light rain in Tampa this morning.
We had such an awful night on Friday night we had Carrie's parents come get Quinny for the day. With the sudden turn in the weather here he is essentially stranded up at their cabin in the back 40 in northern Iowa. You have to carry a weather radio around with you in this state just to keep up. We are definitely not used to that. We made use of our time to head to a friend's house for dinner (in the middle of an ice storm). It was the first night out we've had in a long, long time. We had a good time and it was nice to visit with some local friends. The night before Quinny was up at 10:45, 1, 1:30, 2:45, 3:30, and got up at 5:25. Parenthood is so awesome. Saturday morning no one had slept and that makes for a tough family dynamic. No one had any patience for anyone else. I decided to take the dog for a walk to blow off some steam. Stinky took off on me and as it was raining/snowing out so he dumped me right on my duff. Oh, I wasn't too pleased with that scenario. He got me good. The last thing I saw was my Adidas over my head and down on my arm I fell with a distinct thud. The "lucky" dog is fortunate I didn't break an arm or our kid wouldn't have been the only one going to the farm. So, I'm soaked, full of mud and really fired up now with a good quarter mile to blow off some more steam. I needed a marathon.
What does one do when they really need to relax? Well, they of course decide it's time to put up the Christmas lights outside. Four increasingly frustrating trips to Menard's later we officially have our lights up. I didn't even bother to see if they would turn on when I left. I set up the timer and got in the car. If I did it right they would be on when we came home. I couldn't take any more failures for the day. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger right? I was about to put that theory to the test. As we rounded the corner to our block last night you couldn't see the lights. I was already half way through the, "You've got to be kidding me..." speech when we drove past the house and there in all the snowy windy glory was our non-obnoxious but tastefully thrown together in freezing temperatures with four trips to Menard's and hundreds of dollars in more lights needed than anticipated lighted display of Casa de Iowa. Shazam! It took until 10 pm at night but we had our first win in 36 hours. We could now go to bed.
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| Not quite sure what to think of the big guy. |
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| Enjoying a hot toddy! |
Here are a few pics of the kids meeting Santa last week at an extended family Christmas celebration. Translation: there were 50 people there and I knew 8. Did you know in Iowa people know who their third cousins are! Really? I can't even figure out what branch equates into a third cousin in the family tree. It's nice to have a big family, but if these kids don't start sleeping we're stopping at seven instead of the eleven Carrie has her heart set on. And maybe even six. I see a lot of grey hairs these days.
We had such an awful night on Friday night we had Carrie's parents come get Quinny for the day. With the sudden turn in the weather here he is essentially stranded up at their cabin in the back 40 in northern Iowa. You have to carry a weather radio around with you in this state just to keep up. We are definitely not used to that. We made use of our time to head to a friend's house for dinner (in the middle of an ice storm). It was the first night out we've had in a long, long time. We had a good time and it was nice to visit with some local friends. The night before Quinny was up at 10:45, 1, 1:30, 2:45, 3:30, and got up at 5:25. Parenthood is so awesome. Saturday morning no one had slept and that makes for a tough family dynamic. No one had any patience for anyone else. I decided to take the dog for a walk to blow off some steam. Stinky took off on me and as it was raining/snowing out so he dumped me right on my duff. Oh, I wasn't too pleased with that scenario. He got me good. The last thing I saw was my Adidas over my head and down on my arm I fell with a distinct thud. The "lucky" dog is fortunate I didn't break an arm or our kid wouldn't have been the only one going to the farm. So, I'm soaked, full of mud and really fired up now with a good quarter mile to blow off some more steam. I needed a marathon. 
What does one do when they really need to relax? Well, they of course decide it's time to put up the Christmas lights outside. Four increasingly frustrating trips to Menard's later we officially have our lights up. I didn't even bother to see if they would turn on when I left. I set up the timer and got in the car. If I did it right they would be on when we came home. I couldn't take any more failures for the day. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger right? I was about to put that theory to the test. As we rounded the corner to our block last night you couldn't see the lights. I was already half way through the, "You've got to be kidding me..." speech when we drove past the house and there in all the snowy windy glory was our non-obnoxious but tastefully thrown together in freezing temperatures with four trips to Menard's and hundreds of dollars in more lights needed than anticipated lighted display of Casa de Iowa. Shazam! It took until 10 pm at night but we had our first win in 36 hours. We could now go to bed. 
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