I read a little bit of a column in yesterday’s paper about him already being tired of winter and I had to think to myself that I quite agree with him, at least for now.  A week ago I would not have been in agreement but the last several days have shown the rougher side of winter.  Starting Monday morning, we had the rain from the night before that turned into the freezing rain during the night leaving the roads very icy in the morning.  The very next day, the snow started coming down in the afternoon making for a longer return commute that time.  However, after all was said and done about this storm I said to myself that I could shovel snow like that all the time- very light and fluffy.

Then Thursday night came.  The storm that shut down the schools on Friday for a head start on the two-week break.  I really would have liked to say I didn’t mind shoveling after this storm but that would make me a liar.  Shoveling this snow was like shoveling dirt and rocks it was so heavy.  It felt like the snow had been compacted as much as possible after falling, but still leaving several inches to move.  The end of the driveway was the worst.  We could use some modern technology to replace those snowplows that shove all the snow in the road to the side, including driveways.  I could not shovel the driveway and sidewalk all at once- I took a few-hour break between sessions.

Saturday.  Not so bad, but then snow started coming down in the evening when I was still driving.  Light snow, but at this point I was already tiring of it.  Then of course we have today’s frigid temperature.  Fortunately the car started right up for me this morning, but it was a little more trying following church.  The battery is only two years old, so I can only guess that I didn’t let it run for long enough between home and church to keep the battery charged.  I did notice that by the time I got near my home afterward the temperature needle still had not moved so I drove for about ten minutes more just to let the car warm up.  And tomorrow promises more of the same.  At least it was sunny out.  Tuesday is forecast to be much warmer in the upper 20s, but it also shows snow.  How about sunny and warm.  Please?

So is it time for spring yet?  Unfortunately the calendar shows winter only just began…

Temperatures dropped below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, that is about -18 degrees Celsius. That is cold folks. It is cold enough that I don’t want to be out in it too long. It is cold enough that the old fireplace is working overtime just to get up to heat. The breeze is bone chilling.

To top all this off, we were without power for a few hours this morning. Since I have electric heat, that meant I woke up to a cold house. Since I have a well, it also meant no hot showers. Conserve water, get a fire going and report the outage. Actually, I found out I didn’t need to report the outage. It was widespread enough to alert the local electric company without my call.

Days like today are made for playing games, and drinking hot tea or cocoa. I was able to heat a kettle of water on the wood stove and made some instant cocoa. My youngest and I played a few games and had a good time until the power came back around lunch time.

Still going out and getting firewood was an experience today. I guess I’m just not used to the cold yet. I remember, not too long ago, going out on days like today and playing games with my girls. Just last year, I remember going to the zoo with most of my family. Walking around and admiring the many lights the zoo puts up for the holiday season. Our family has been members of the Toledo Zoo for many years, and will probably continue as members for many years to come. I have yet to see the lights this year, but will before they close by the end of the year.

So for all in places that are cold right now, find someway to stay warm. I will.

Kids say the darndest things, as we all know – they even made a tv show about it.  Here is a list of some of the cute mispronounciations my kids have made and their ages when they said them.

“ah-cro-poose” said by Sammie, age 3.  Translation: octopus

“Taylor lelled at me” said by Sammie, age 4.  Translation: lelled = yelled

“Beeber” said by Disney, age 2.  Translation: Christopher (her baby brother).  This has actually led to Christopher having nicknames of Beeber and Beebs.

“Kipper” said by Disney, age 2.  Translation: Christopher.  She moved out of the Beeber phase and now calls him Kipper.

“may-sa-peer” said by Sammie, age 3.  Translation: disappear

“tormado” said by Sammie, age 4.  Translation: tornado.  Look closely at how I typed the word – she replaces the “n” with an “m” sound.

“ith ith” said by Taylor, age 1.  Translation: kitty.

“diaper call off!” said by Disney, age 2.  Translation: Help!  My diaper is falling off!

“gggg” said by Christopher, age 5 months.  Translation: various.  I just wanted to put his sounds in this list too.

What IS this?  It’s something that is popular among tween girls lately.  They walk around doing some kind of ritual that involves clapping and slapping their chests, among other things.  I didn’t really think much of it, until my daughter’s 9th birthday party, and there were other kids here doing it.  When my 2-year-old picked it up, it became annoying and I decided to take action by writing a blog post and looking it up on the internet.   I asked my daughter if it’s from a movie or a tv show or something, but she didn’t seem to know where it came from.  When I tried to look it up on the internet, I just got instructions for other games of this type and didn’t see anything about any sort of fad that’s sweeping our tweens.  So is anyone reading this whose kids do the same thing, or is this a NW Ohio thing?  I’d like to know where it came from so I can decide if it’s a behavior I want all of my kids duplicating.

We had a great weekend, even though the weather on Sunday was horrid – so cold my Christmas teddy bear got frozen to the window!  Friday night was an all-night work session to finish up the planning and organization of our community theater’s awards show, which is where we went Saturday night.  But first on Saturday afternoon, it was a birthday celebration for our oldest who turned 9 on Sunday with a MUCH anticipated visit from family who live out of state.  We had a great time catching up and watching the kids open their birthday and Christmas presents, and the kids got to have a sleepover in the hotel with Grandma, Papa, and Uncle Bud while we went to the awards show.  The awards show was lots of fun, as always, and I got to watch 2 very good friends win much-deserved achievment awards.  Congratulations, guys!

It was lots of fun putting the show together, even if we didn’t have much time to do so due to last minute notice from the theater.  It was fun and also rewarding to watch the individual skits, shorts, songs, and awards presentations start as ideas on paper and then watch when they came together as a whole.  It’s also a fun excuse to get everyone together, and it’s always nice to see long-lost busy friends who are unable to get together but for this one night.  It might be fun to produce the awards show again next year, but then again, I’d love to have my best friend sitting beside me to watch them because I missed him this year – even though he did make an excellent host.  If there are a few individuals in the theater community who have a hard time because they don’t win awards, then let them have their hard time.  There is talk of cancelling this awards show, and I would be very sad if that happened.  It’s definitely a whole ton of fun for most of us, and I really don’t think we should let a few individuals ruin it for everyone.  That’s all I’m going to say on the subject for now, but expect to hear more from me once this very topic is discussed at the next production board meeting.

Sunday we had major Grandma-let-down, and because we didn’t want our oldest daughter to be depressed on her actual birthday, we let her have a friend sleep over.  During football season, we usually set aside Sundays for low-key stuff, like watching football, reading newspapers, and blogging, but we always end up with crazy kids so it’s never exactly low-key.  But I don’t usually cook dinner on Sundays, and today we ordered pizza.  Five minutes after the pizza was delivered, we noticed the delivery guy was still parked out front and that he was standing outside of his car.  Turns out, he had locked himself out of the car, and so we offered him a warm place to wait for his ride.  Since the temperature outside has been hovering around 0° all day, with wind chills near -20°, he gratefully accepted.  And he stood in our front hall for almost 30 minutes!  If he were outside, he would have frozen to death.  But it did feel a little awkward eating the pizza he delivered while he stood there.  We offered him a seat in the living room, but he opted to stand in the entryway, and I’m kind of glad because at least we were then eating out of his view.  Our 2-year-old kept asking about “the pizza guy”, and then he became scary to her – “I scared pizza guy” – probably cuz he was just standing there, doing nothing, and she’s never seen anyone do that in our front hall before.  But finally his ride came, thank goodness, and he left.  I wonder if he gets paid for the time he was standing in our house?  I wonder who pays for the gas that was used in his running car while he was waiting for his ride?  Should we have offered him some pizza?  It was kind of a weird situation, but it does make for interesting blog fodder.  Of course it had to happen on the coldest day of the year – that guy has a new story to tell!

Ain’t technology grand. Today, I looked at my stats again. I found somebody has accessed this lonely little blog on their blackberry. I’ve seen people stopping by that use Windows, Macs, Linux boxes and other PC systems, but I don’t recall seeing anything from a phone. Amazing. You can now read complete drivel, on the go, with your phone. (yes, I do think this blog is complete drivel, I’m only emptying my brain, I try to keep the good stuff in.)

So for my information, what type of device do you use to blog or read them? I’ve only used my windows laptop. Multiple Web browsers, but I keep trying new things. Really I just want to know who used the blackberry? Curiouser and curiouser.

Last night was the theatre’s (check out the new and improved website) annual awards night and it was filled with comedy, excitement, and a few tears.  The group lost a great asset this year and there was a fine tribute given in her honor by the interim president… very few dry eyes remained after that.  Conveniently, our fantastic host chose this moment to have an intermission. I think it was a fantastic touch to honor a lady who along with her husband have added so much to our group.

One of the highlights of the evening was a skit showcasing some of the characters from the past season as well as inserting themes from a 2002 production of A Christmas Carol which I was not a part of but have heard a great deal about.  This was also written by the talented MC who also provided a series of Jib-Jab videos on the projection screen for even more hilarity.

Another bit of humor was provided by the adorable couple who entertained with a parody of the song “One Day More” from the musical Les Miserables.

Overall, each of the awards were very well received.  However, I must say that i am biased when it comes to the special awards given out.  Justj and Carol each continue to go totally above and beyond.  J has been our unofficial videographer for several productions and single-handedly repaired the large, leaky roof which was so prominent during our summer production.

I would say that Carol is one of several ladies who act as honorary mothers to the group.  I had the profound honor of working with her backstage during The Nerd in September.  She was a great help in bringing the food used on stage, cleaning up cottage cheese, and helping keep a certain young boy under control backstage.  Both of these honorees exemplify the hard work and dedication necessary to keep a small community theatre afloat.

This brings me to daughter of one of these award winners (and she knows this is coming).  The director of the upcoming production of Over the Tavern is looking for someone to fill the role of the 16 year-old daughter, Annie.  Megan is about to turn 21; however, those around her and especially myself (as she will attest) feel that she would be wonderfully cast.  She agreed to read the script but made sure to voice her concern that she has at least one evening class during the week.  I proceeded to remind her that she bailed on our trip to Florida in October but the play is right in town and I’m sure the director would work around her if she fit the part.  Megan has constantly said that she has wanted to get back on stage and this would be a fine opportunity 😉  Ok… i think that is enough prodding.  Anyone else care to join in?  Maybe this will encourage her to comment.

Finally, the evening wrapped up after a group of us again congregated at the host’s home.  I have not laughed and had such a good time in awhile.  i also got to see many friends I have not seen in quite a while including a former co-worker whom I have not seen since last New Years.

An annual event for our little community theater is our award banquet. Fun time with good food, fun skits, and of course, awards for the actors and shows.

It is always fun to be involved in a show. At the time it is a lot of work and it takes up quite a bit of time. But when the show is over, there is always a let down of sorts. For me, this award show brings back all the good memories of the shows, but the time and work involved is a lot less (unless you are setting up the show).

I won’t go into all the awards won. My memory of who won what and what show it was for, and how to spell the names is lacking at this hour of the evening. Even with that, I would ask them first before putting their names in my blog.

Me, I wasn’t in any shows this year. I didn’t design any sets. I wasn’t a director on any show. I wasn’t expecting to win any award. I did!! Shock of shocks. It was an award that is decided on by the president of the playhouse trusties. Big honor I will have to say.

Winning this award got me thinking. I have strange thoughts all the time, so this was no exception. After the show was over, everyone was congratulating everyone with an award. The common phrase heard was: “You deserved it.” Of course most if not all were well meant. But in common, polite society would we ever say anything else? Would you say: ‘Why the heck did they give that award to you? So and so did much better, they should have won.” (of course behind the scenes, they are saying those words to so and so.) No, polite society will generally refrain from those remarks, until enough booze is swallowed. 😉 Polite society will refrain from making comments other than the ‘congratulations’ if they feel the award was not deserved, or they won’t say anything.

Why did I think of this, well I got a large number of those “You deserved it.” comments. Being the humble person I am (no that isn’t meant to be a joke), I was caught off guard again. Then again, thanks to the training my wife gave me, I can read body language very well (my secret is out now, oops). The language of the bodies, and the words said were matching up. The people saying the words, meant the words. Wow again, I was humbled.

Over the years people have done more for the theater than I’ve ever done. This year there were people that did more than me. But the big thing for me is this one little fact. The theater has done more for me than I’ve ever done for the theater. Little things here and there, now and then, have kept this old soul in good health. The people in the theater were there at my darkest moments. Outside of my daughters and others in my family, the theater was an anchor to sanity. For me, that was better than any award they can give. I cannot say thank you enough for that.

All this from one little theater group. Wonderful therapy for a grieving widower, and good shows too. Is it any wonder I keep going back?

There is a new Batman animated series on Cartoon Network.  Batman: The Brave and the Bold takes its name from a series of comic books that featured various heroes teaming up to battle evilness.  The first two episodes featured Batsy meeting Aquaman and Red Tornado, respectably.  The animated series itself feels closer to the 60s television series or the Superfriends cartoons of the 70s-80s.  A much lighter tone than the recent movies but kind of fun.  The tone is also exemplified by the casting of Diedrich Bader (Oswald of The Drew Carey Show and Jethro from The Beverly Hillbillies movie are among his credits) as Bruce Wayne/The Masked Manhunter.

The obligatory holiday episode features Red Tornado searching for inner Christmas spirit.  I for one was not familiar with the character until his few appearances on Justice League Unlimited.  In this episode, we learn that the hero is a robot who poses as a professor of archeology when not fighting crime.  He informs an inquisitive student that the subject is mostly books and very little field work (hmm.. sound familiar?)  After rescuing a pair of siblings from an out of control delivery van, Tornado is wished a Merry Christmas.  However, being a robot, the greeting does not compute.

The evil villain named Fun Haus (definitely a second string Scrooge-inspired baddie) arrives on the scene with his arsenal of destruction causing toys, flying saucers, and hundreds of giant Santas which cause pillage and plunder and wreak havoc on Gotham City causing a most un-Holy, non-Silent Night.  Red Tornado joins the cowled hero to bring down the no-Good Nick.  In the end, the robot does experience a tingle of sorts.

The episode also reflects upon the World’s Greatest Detective’s own melancholy during the holidays.  How one unappreciated gift led to the most life-altering event in the young life of the millionaire heir.  Not sure if the details were invented for the show, but as I have previously noted, backstories are contantly changed to either reflect the culture of the time or to aid in story telling.  I like the new series as it brings back memories of past incarnations even if it is geared toward a younger audience not yet old enough to experience the dark atmosphere of the movies (although…).

This morning while wiping the last of sandman’s dust out of my eyes, I turned on the local news.  One of the segments was a live broadcast from the area Children’s Wonderland attraction.  This followed a description of last minute book ideas for the last-minute shopper.   Well, the remote interviewer decided to get into the act complete with rim shots from a snare drum.  Try these titles:

• Danger by Luke Out
• Robots by Anne Droid
• You’ve Got to be Kidding by Shirley U. Jest

Thank goodness the large display of decorations and exhibits was much more entertaining than the puns and took me back to the number of times the family ventured to the city to walk through the wonderland.