Basketball playoffs

Well, we are gearing up for a big weekend. HPU's Lady Jackets are co-champs with Hardin Simmons and since we won both games against them during the regular season we will get to host the ASC Championship. Eight teams will arrive here for the tournament and the winner will get an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. We are excited to be able to host and have the opportunity to watch some very good basketball games. Our first game is Friday at 7:30 PM. HPU advanced to the final four and won the national championship in 2008 and are the only ASC team to ever accomplish that. Martha and I had the chance to attend the final four that year and that was an exciting time. We enjoyed it very much and would not mind trying to do it again so, GO LADY JACKETS!! 

Snow again

As you can see in the picture we have snow again. There are only a couple of inches but it is enough to shut down the university again. There is still ice under the snow and that makes walking and/or driving somewhat treacherous. I have already heard of a couple of people who have broken bones from falling on the ice. It is probably best to not risk more injuries. On the brighter side, the sun is shining and the sky is clear and blue so it really is a pretty day, just cold. The temperature is in the low 20's but started around 15 or 16. We may or may not get above freezing today, they keep lowering the forecast. We should get a warmer day tomorrow though for sure. I am tired of the cold but it will be back on Monday so I guess we just have to keep on surviving.  Martha is rejoicing because she gets another day off. That makes 3 this week due to weather.

Stay warm!

It pays to be flexible

So here we are on Wednesday morning and the temperature was a cool 10 degrees. I think it may reach 20 by the afternoon. We left the cat's (not our cat but a stray) water dish out and it was not flexible as you can see from the picture. The bird's bath/dish for their water was more flexible and it survived even though frozen nearly solid. That is amazing. The university decided it was still too cold and dangerous so Martha got another day off. Of course with me being retired, every day is off. And can you believe this, Saturday the high is forecast to be 62. We get a short break before it turns cold again the first of the week. I am ready for winter to be over! Hope you are warm wherever you are.

The weather





Just to the left of center is a large block of ice

from the bird's water dish


The temperature has hovered around 20 all day and we expect low teens tonight. The university closed for the day so Martha was able to stay home. We have a little bit of light snow and many of the streets are icy. There is up to an inch of ice on some streets and since it is not forecast to get above freezing for several days, that ice may not melt, or if it does it will refreeze. The high for tomorrow is only supposed to be low 20's. The winds are up around 25 to 30 mph and that makes the chill factor significant. As a side note, yesterday we were at 75 and sunshine, today we have the sunshine but over a 50 degree difference in temperature.

The birds are having a hard time.

Creek progress

Recently I spent a week at the creek by myself and in spite of the not perfect weather I was able to get quite a bit done. Our Christmas trip allowed us to get the floor done in the master bedroom but we weren't able to finish the trim on windows and doors nor get the bifold doors installed. I decided to go again for a week and see how much of that I could get done. I also wanted to bring home a boat that my dad built over 20 years ago and see if I could restore it. It is in pretty rough condition but I think I can fix it. I will also make a sail for it so I can sail it. I spent about 3 or 4 days getting the window and door facings stained and varnished. Then we had a day of rain with about 2.5 inches falling that day. But I did get the facings on the doors and windows in the bedroom and the window facings on in the dining room. We are ready to lay flooring in the dining room and finish the doors and baseboards in there. Hopefully we will get these done when we are down for spring break. I also finshed up putting the balusters on the porch railing which I didn't finish at Christmas because I ran out of material then.  I still wasn't able to get the bifold doors in the bedroom done but maybe I can get them done spring break as well. Above is a picture of the woodwork and below is a picture of the boat and another of a sunset.

This is the old boat that I will take home. It is 15 feet long and will hang out the back of the truch by about 7 feet.

Here is a nice sunset picture as well.

Back to the creek

I am planning to return to the creek next week to continue on the stuff we did at Christmas. I want to finish the window and door facings in the master bedroom and the windows in the dining room. I can't do the door facings there until we get the flooring down. I plan on leaving on Wednesday and staying for a week. It may be a little longer depending on weather and how much I get done.

The bird in the picture is a male Great Blue Heron. He is courting the female who is standing, or rather dancing on the next pier. These are beautiful birds and are quite large. For reference, the grey square on the post next to the bird is about waist high on me or around 3 feet above the deck, so this bird is easily 5 feet tall or more when his neck and head is extended as it is in this picture.

Welcome to 2011

I see that I have posted 50 times over the last year or about once every 7 days. Sometimes they were more frequent and sometimes less but that was the average. Perhaps I will be able to do better in 2011.

We spent the last 2 weeks of 2010 at our Caney Creek retreat working on the house and just being away. There is no internet there and we just barely have cell phone sometimes. We worked on the decks, front and rear, and laid vinyl flooring in the master bedroom. We had hoped to do the dining room as well but it was cold and we were worried that the glue would not setup correctly. The MBR is now almost finished. We just have some window and door trim to complete and put in the bifold doors for the entry to the room. Maybe I will get it done on my next trip down. I added some balusters to the deck railing and the next step there is to stain the whole deck and add a roof to the creekside deck. I also worked on the pier, puttered around with one of my dad's old rowboats, and put a line in the water fishing, but there were no fish. Martha picked up oyster shell around the pier when the tide was way out and they were exposed. She also painted the bedroom and helped greatly with the flooring. In between she worked on Algebra. She wants to complete her degree but alas college algebra is required and she has not kept up with math skills so it will be a struggle. She spent much time practicing math skills in preparation for intermediate algebra this spring.

We did squeeze in a visit with our son and daughter in law and their children on the 18th. On the 20th I reached a milestone by turning 70. On the 21st we gathered with my sister and brother and spouses to celebrate another year. It was a great visit and good food, I think we all enjoyed the time together. We need to do it more often.

I have included a couple of pictures of the house. I have also posted a few more pictures at Picassa. You can see them here.

More to come