Saturday, February 7, 2009

We Have a Winner

From the world of master's racing, Jim won his age-group in a National XC race in Maryland today. His team of veteran's men won the team title by one point! So, congratulations go out to Jim! There were several Syracuse freshmen at this race and 2 of the boys finished so well that they made the World XC team. I'm not sure what that means, but it sure sounds good! I'm sure one of my guys will inform me of the meaning of this achievement.

So, Jim is in Maryland and on his way to Germany tomorrow. I am sitting here late on Saturday afternoon with a glass of wine and college basketball on TV. Tonight I am going to the RIT hockey game with Bob and Sally so I will get this entry done now. The RIT hockey team lost last night so hopefully we can bring them good luck tonight.

I have almost finished my cabled mittens. I did a provisional cast-on with the intention of adding a pretty cuff knit out of matching mohair yarn. This cuff would fold over the ribbed cuff. Before I can proceed with that I need to get a book from the library on different edgings that can be added to projects. I am quite pleased with the mittens considering I really didn't have a pattern. 

On Thursday night as Jim and I sat at the kitchen table eating dinner, the UPS truck stopped in front of our house. The UPS man carried a large, white foam cooler up to our house. It was a thank-you gift from Jim's running buddy who recently spent a weekend here for a race. He had a gift box sent to us from Omaha Steaks! The cooler contained a cheesecake, 2 filet mignon's , a couple of top sirloin steaks, some ground beef patties, a box of 4 stuffed baked potatos and a package of fancy hot dogs all on top of some dry ice! Boy am I going to eat well while Jim is gone! Only teasing, I'll wait for him to come home before we dive in (except for the baked potato and piece of cheesecake I ate tonight. He doesn't like those things!). This gift was a nice treat and certainly not necessary.

Thursday night we went to a touring whitewater film festival. We saw about 5 short films about whitewater kayaking. My favorite one focused on the annual race down a stretch of the Green River in North Carolina. The river features near continuous class 5 whitewater for a mile or so. Spectators hike into the river and cheer from the banks adding to the excitement. I'd like to see that river some time. 

Corey called this morning and is still on the road to recovery. He has some applications for some internships in the Syracuse area for this summer. He will be completing that paperwork in the near future. 

Today I went to the northeast corner of Irondequoit Bay for the Skate the Bay event. I met Bob and Sally there and cheered for Bob as he raced in the 5K event. Unfortunately this is the only warm weekend we've had all winter and it was the weekend that this event was scheduled. There was about 1-2 inches of water over the very thick ice. Bob reported that there were some really rough and soft spots on the 1K loop. Earlier in the day there had been races of 50K and a 1K sprint. After Bob's race, the general public was invited to skate the loop, but it did not sound too appealing. I took my skates with me, but I think I would have had to swim if I had fallen down! So, congratulations to Bob for skating a great race! Here are some photos from the race site:


Welcome Sign


Ice carving of skates


Bob coming around on his 3rd lap.



Sally sitting in the "skating chair". We each bought a raffle ticket to win it!

The SU basketball team lost today, and they lost badly. At this rate they are not going to get into the NCAA tournament. They still have some big games left to redeem themselves.

Fifty degrees today! Unbelievable! The driveway is looking pretty good. I am keeping my eye on the temps in Ottawa for next week as we hope to do some major ice-skating on the Rideau Canal and it needs to be cold for that to happen. At this point, 7 days out, it looks like it will be OK.

I guess that is all for now. 

Hope all is well. 

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Hola!

Tucker sent us (and some of you!) some photos where he is staying for the next month, Baja, Mexico. Enjoy!

This is the place Tucker and his buddy, Duane, are staying. They are doing some work on the house in exchange for staying there.

Sunset on the drive down. 


Tucker trying to catch dinner, or a whale!

After these photos, there is nothing that I can add from around here that would be the least bit interesting so I will say,

Hope all is well.