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Sundance

I went to Utah on Friday and Saturday for business. The meetings went well, but there was also time for fun, like snowboarding on very soft snow with Lincoln and Mimi.

My friend Keith is famous

Check it out.

When Sophie takes a tubby her hair gets curly

Basta!

We got about 3"-4" of more snow last night. Now if only we had mountains!

 

 

 

Kirtland, Indiana

Actually, it's just down the street. Emma and I stopped to take a picture today.

In several of the counties around ours, it's illegal to travel (unless there's an emergency) because of all the snow. Fortunately for us, the roads in our county have been cleared enough to allow for freedom of movement. Sheesh. It was a big storm, but nothing like what they get in some parts of the country.

I'm thankful for...

...our nice neighbors who offered me the use of their snow blower this morning. The snow's not at Sundance levels yet, but there are plenty of places where it's waist deep. Here's a photo of the snow packed up against one of our basement windows:

It's a beautiful day today. When I go out later I'll try to take a few pictures around the neighborhood.

Bring your shovel

We're snowed in!

Which means Bama and Pa are snowed out :-(.

Joke

A funny joke I saw online today:

Two cows are standing in a field. The first one asks “Aren’t you worried about this mad cow disease?” The second one responds “It doesn’t worry me, I’m a duck”.

Backing up your blog

An easy way to do it, here.

Cheap art

We bought this painting on eBay for $10. More out of curiosity than anything. It just seemed hard to believe that you could get real oil paintings for that cheap.

However, the painting arrived from China today and sure enough, it looks just like the photo. 24"x36". A little bit kitschy, but hey--$10. Shipping was $55, but still, that's pretty cheap altogether for a real painting. The person we bought this from doesn't seem to be selling any more paintings right now, but try searching eBay. You may be surprised by what you find.

Overheard

A couple of days ago I got my haircut at a barber shop in the old part of our town. It's a classic kind of barber shop with animal heads on the walls, no cash registers or credit card machines, and three old leather seats. Clippers are used more than scissors. Anyway, here was part of my conversation with the barber:

Barber: It sure has been cold out this week.
Me: Yeah, I was joking with my wife that we should put our newspaper on vacation hold for a few weeks, because it's just too cold to go outside and pick it up in the morning.
Barber: You're not from around here, are you?

Snow!

A fun snowstorm came through today. Here are Andrew, Ethan and Emma playing soccer in the snow with the neighbors:

And here's Emma, earlier today, sporting her new swimsuit. She likes to wear it around the house in anticipation of our June trip to Hawaii. She makes me cold just looking at the photo.

one more

Sophie has a cold again today...

...but she's still her cheerful self. All of our kids have been smiley, but none to the extent that Sophie is. Or maybe I've just forgotten.

Sophie will smile when we look at her, even if she's crying (and she doesn't cry very often). She likes to giggle when we're changing her clothes. She's very ticklish, and sometimes we can't figure out what exactly she's laughing or smiling about. She just oozes happiness. And sometimes she oozes bubbles, too, as in this photo.

California dreamin'

Yes, the thermometer says -3. This was at 8AM this morning. With wind chill it was -21.

-21. That's 53 degrees below freezing.

Although once you get below 10 degrees, it all sorta feels the same.

Those cheeks

Typical

This video from the French version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" made me laugh. The poor contestant doesn't know whether the moon or the sun revolves around the earth, so he appeals to the audience for help. Their response is classic French. Nobody understands cynicism better than the French.

Fun with Photoshop

Push ups

Some people get coffee breaks at work

The lucky ones get Sophie breaks.