We are in the midst of a mild winter storm, some ice on the roads. A Department of Transportation truck carrying sand to be used to fight the ice instead slid on the ice and turned over north of us. We had ice on our deck rails and a light coating of ice on the drive this morning but it is gone. However, the roads out of here, which go up before they go down, are still icy in spots.
But we have a nice fire in the fireplace, a load of wood handy, and the generator ready just in case.
There has been a lot of news since the last posting. We had a huge, wonderful, joy-filled reunion at Christmastime with all of our children and grandchildren coming to the mountains to be with us. It was really a blessing for Sylvia and for me. It was especially nice for me because the kids cooked up a surprise birthday party for me as an early celebration of my 70th birthday. They
brought in a lot of my favorite food -- including a huge supply of tamales from my favorite Mexican restaurant in Detroit -- and then sat around the dinner table telling me how I had blessed their lives.It is really an honor to beloved by such wonderful people!
Sean brought his friend Amy so we had a total of 15 people spread around our little mountain cabin. Sleeping bags and pallets on the floor, constant smells of delicious food from the kitchen, many, many hugs. It was great.
Sean got us a radio controlled airplane to play with but unfortunately the prop was broken in shipment and because of the holiday we could not get a replacement before he left. It arrived the day after he left. So I have the plane now, waiting for a nice day. I promised him video.
Shortly before Christmas we joined a health club in Forest City, a nearby town east of us, that has a nice pool and -- best of all -- a nice steam room. We started exercising on our own in the pool. Sylvia was working on therapy for her sprained ankle and I was working on getting my strength back up somewhere near normal. That progressed pretty well and I started swimming laps. Now we go three times a week for water aerobics, a time in the whirlpool and a nice steaming.
The fire department has been busy. Not many fires but we were called for rescue and traffic control on several wrecks. The only fire we have had in the past couple of weeks was in the median of Highway 74 -- a small grass fire that was out by the time we got there. We start training in dealing with hazardous materials Jan. 24. The HazMat training is necessary because of all the weird stuff being transported along the interstates and highways around here.
Art Buchwald, who so often made me smile, died Wednesday. The New York Times has a wonderful video obit, "The Last Word." You have to register for the Times but that is free and you should be checking it out once in a while anyway. Richard Severo, who shared office space with us in Mexico City, has a nice written obit in the Times.
