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Birds, online church, reading, walking in Hawaii, Night at the Museum 3, thick layer of ice, blinking power but no outage, Mississippi iced over, outdoor sledding, fast is over... updates coming soon...

... Hunkering Down

Today we were doing the waiting game pretty much, waiting on this winter weather to come crashing in upon us.  Things were predicted earlier, but then it sort of all arrived much later tonight - at least the precipitation part.  It wasn't until the third watch of the night that the freezing part really started to kick in.  A layer of white appeared on our back deck and a thin layer on the grass of the lawns in the neighborhood.  We didn't go anywhere, good citizens that we are, and really we didn't need to.  We had all our gear and our emergency items and so forth.  We're not quite sure if the power will go out or not, but we have the flashlight and the firewood and the all the other items that we think we'll need.  It's just that the power rarely goes out here, and that's a pretty amazing testament to those that bring the electricity to this vast area.  Tomorrow a lot of other people are supposed to be in danger of losing that power, and we very well might too.  But right now, we're still doing okay, nice and warm and not stumbling around in the dark so much.  

We've been looking outside at all the birds coming by to visit on this wintery day.  The birds have been going bonkers out there on the back porch.  Lots and lots of them, I guess getting ready for the big storm.  I'm not sure if they know or how - perhaps they have bird meteorologists spreading the news on Twitter.  Yes, that was a terrible joke.

Moving on!  I was on the virtual marathon today, finishing up Elvis movie #7.  Tomorrow we'll hopefully start number eight, which is amazing.  I haven't seen any of these, and I'm enjoying them!  

INSERT COMPLETE PUZZLE PICTURE

Maddie was online and also on her Buc-ee's puzzle today, which she finished with ease.  Back to easy puzzles!  It's still 1,000 pieces, but it's the layout of the design that makes it easier to complete.  She was working on this one on-and-off throughout the day, even while Mom and I were watching the next "Night at the Museum" movie, "The Battle of the Smithsonian."  My parents were recently at the Smithsonian, just a few weeks ago, which is probably why I started watching these again.  Mom and I really miss Robin Williams.  

I was doing some "Star Wars Battlefront" today, of course in Hoth because of the snow.  It's the last day of the church fast, by the way, and the Miracle Prayer Service will likely be held next weekend, as tomorrow's service is officially cancelled out of an abundance of caution.  I'm not sure who is open tomorrow, other than hospitals and power companies.  Hopefully everyone will stay safe and warm inside.

We closed out the day with reading from Überwald in the Discworld some more.  We're nice and warm and safe, and we're sleeping in tomorrow because church in online only.  Time to get some rest!

...The Cusp of the Ice Storm

 

Ah!  A new puzzle to do!  As promised, here's a picture of Maddie working on her Buc-ee's puzzle that she got at Christmas time.  This one might be easier, as there are different images scattered throughout the entire thing, and not so many large places filled with all the same color.  It's a smaller size puzzle, but it's still 1,000 pieces, so it'll take a bit of time.  But she likes doing puzzles, and that's good of course.

I'm still walking with Elvis, about halfway through the journey here.  I finished "Charro!" - which wasn't too bad.  And now on to movie number seven, this one called" It Happened at the World's Fair."  One notable moment is a very young Kurt Russell coming up to Elvis.  Elvis asks the young Kurt to kick him in the shin for a quarter, which of course is odd.  But yes, this of course is all so Elvis can have a bruise and an excuse to go see a pretty nurse.

One of the neat things about this movie is the visit to the Seattle World's Fair, which makes Seattle actually look like a pleasant place to visit.  This is the debut of the Space Needle, actually one place I've always wanted to visit.  But the glimpse at culture and the fairgrounds there is all just a wonderful look back in time.  The songs are fun too.  I should finish this one up soon, and then on to another Elvis movie.  These are all new to me, and sort of one of those things I've always wanted to do:  watch the old Elvis movies.   

Okay, so here we are at the cusp of the storm, and everyone's scrambling about to get those last-minute items, just in case there's such a catastrophe with the power that we'll all suddenly have to live like it's 1830 again.  We're as ready as I think we can be - we were getting items earlier in the week.  Many places are closing up for Sunday, although we haven't heard officially from decision makers at the church.

Here's a picture of our KidPak set somewhat in the dark.  I think it'll be remaining that way this weekend as we go to an online service only.  We just have to wait for the official word.  Many other churches are cancelling already, as the forecast has seemed pretty certain for at least a week now.

Yummy!  Look at this matzo ball soup Mom made me!  Okay, not kidding:  at first, does this not remind you of the Monster Ball Soup that Mavis gets in a "Hotel Transylvania" movie?

That was the first thing I thought of.  And then I promptly ate it, because Mom makes good soups.  There's nothing like a good soup on a cold day, and yes, the weather is a little chilly outside.  It's not too chilly yet, but that's to come.

INSERT TAEKWONDO IMAGE HERE

In fact, tonight there was taekwondo as always, because the weather was just fine tonight - a little wet, but certainly warm enough.  Maddie and the others were continuing their training as I was watching on.  We'll have to see how it goes for Monday night, as there's supposed to be lingering ice.  Everyone is in "wait-and-see" mode at the moment.

Maddie dropped by Nate's afterwards, and the two spent a little bit of time together.  As we're all about to get "iced-in," we might not see him for a few days. 

Tonight's movie was "Night at the Museum," just because I was wanting to see that one again.  I like those movies.  Afterwards, we read from "The Fifth Elephant," where we got to see how Captain Vimes and his team deal with an ambush in Überwald.  After that, prayers - and eventually sleep.  It might be a later night tomorrow night, as we're on the cusp of this ice storm.

Catastrophic

Got another Elvis post card today, as I'm still virtually marching along around Memphis here, all while watching Elvis movies that I haven't seen before.  Today I was in the Wild West with the movie "Charro!"  It's a movie that you only hear one Elvis song at, right there during the opening credits.  And that's it for the musical numbers - the rest of the movie is soundtrack, and old-school western tropes.  It's fun, kind of slow at the start, but there are moments that work.  I'm not sure which one I'm watching next, but I'm about halfway through the virtual path now and on movie number six!

Okay, pretty slow day today as we brace for impact.  I was able to get some wood for the fireplace, just in case power goes out - and by the sound of it, a lot of people will be losing power.  They are using words live "catastrophic" or "devastating" to describe this weekend:

You can see here that we're in the "CATASTROPHIC" zone.  Yes, that's right, we have meteorologists now predicting a catastrophe for us this weekend. 

As a refresher, the definition of "catastrophe" is simple, as explained to Felix above.  It's from the Greek.  It means a misfortune, a cataclysm, or a serious calamity.  And so yeah, the stage is set for this weekend as to what this ice will be like for us. 

Moving on, today we were doing a good bit of work for our skit for Better Together in a few weeks, plus some limited work on the booklet for March.  Mom was deep in the closets upstairs cleaning them out and getting the housework done a good bit.  Maddie was at taekwondo tonight to help instruct first, and then join the leadership class a bit.  She loves that class, and I'm glad we could make it.  We'll be there tomorrow too, as things are quite catastrophic yet by that point.

Tonight Mom was wanting to return to Neverland, watching the movie "Hook" together.  That's another one we love dearly.  All of it is magical.  I remember seeing this in theaters, and it just brings back such warmth and joy of a time long gone. 

Maddie started a puzzle today, her Buc-ee's puzzle she got at Christmastime a few weeks ago.  She's just getting started with that one, but it'll probably be on the table during the catastrophe.  We read tonight from our book, just a short bit, and after that it was time for prayers - and sleep.  We get to sleep in tomorrow, and that's great.  There are a lot of supplies being sold out tonight at grocery stores and elsewhere.  The panic is setting in for folks, which is what generally happens when meteorologists use words like "catastrophic."

Chill Before the Storm

Nate came over today and that was nice for Maddie.  After school, Maddie was doing some board games with Nate, some rathe complicated ones that involve dice and cards and things like that.  It seemed easy to get the hang of though, so Maddie caught on quickly and they wound up having a good time.  They also had tacos tonight, and that's always a good thing of course.  

I'm working on the Spring Training booklets, but also I got the skit done for this weekend.  But it's one of those things that I doubt we'll ever get to, given that the forecast is so dire.  It's still one of those bleak midwinter sort of recipes.  They're using words like "DESTRUCTIVE" with what is to come, so we'll just have to wait and see if the disaster hype lives up to reality.  I think, as in all things, it'll be somewhere in between.  We're going to be prepared as we can.  To that extent, I stopped and picked up some wood for the fireplace, although not a ton of wood.  Enough to get us through, I think, should there be power issues and we don't have heat.  Not that this fireplace can heat the entire house.  But it will be nice, regardless, gathering around the first fire of 2026.  Mom got some kindling together and we have it ready for this weekend.  

Mom was doing a good bit of housecleaning today, and we've also gotten all those ornaments down and off the trees, cleaning up a few other things too.  Mom put this new drain catcher in one of our sinks, and has enough for the others, a cool device that will be cleaner and more effective for cleaning up the drains.  The garage is a little cleaner right now now, and we got new lightbulbs put in one of our hallways.  We'll be really attacking some areas soon as we try to declutter the house some.  That means donating a bit more and getting rid of quite a few items as we pour through each room.  Example:  we have too many jigsaw puzzles.  I mean, how many do you need?  The library will appreciate those I'm sure.  

As promised, tonight's movie was the 2003 version of "Peter Pan," which is one of Maddie's favorite movies ever.  She really couldn't wait to see this one again.  Mom and I saw this in theaters, and man, if I could only go back in time and tell myself in that theater that some day you'll have a daughter and it'll be one of her favorite movies ever.  Crazy how time flies.  I remember liking this movie quite a bit back in the day. 

Okay, moving on:  it's time for bed tonight.  We did our reading from "The Fifth Elephant," following the adventures of Captain Vimes and his friends into Überwald, a place on the Discworld somewhat like Transylvania.  Meanwhile, some of the City Watch remain in Ankh-Morpork, looking into a mystery that is no doubt tied to where Captain Vimes and his men are. 

Tonight we said our prayers afterwards, and then after watching some more weather reports, got ourselves under those warm blankets for a good night's rest.

Winter Storm Watch

Winter is coming.  You can tell because these birds are super busy at the feeders!

Okay, so winter is already here, but the kind of winter we haven't seen yet is on the way, due here sometime this weekend.  That said, we were out grocery shopping before coming back home.   Mom texted us a fairly big list, and yes, there were others there shopping although not as many as there will be later on this week.  Generally, the great weather panic hits a day or two before the storm.  Maddie and I gathered up a good bit of what we need, and I think we'll be ready, hopefully.  This is a unique storm to us, unlike many of the ones that have come before and something I haven't seen in quite some time:  a significant storm of ice.  And for a twist, it appears as if our county is actually in the crosshairs of both the American and European model forecasts.  There are some variations as always between the two, but in both, we're right there in that zone that will get hit with the most ice, apparently.  Uh-oh.  We'll see how things turn out.

In the meantime, things are cold and overcast and generally boring here.  We did some work at the office today, setting up for "Better Together," which is a new series we're returning to in February at KidPak.  Since I'm pretty much done with this weekend, why not work on that?  Also, we worked on a few messages for March today too, which was pretty forward thinking.  We've got to get to that book, which we're doing.  We're figuring what to do for a baseball series, and writing messages that have a baseball theme to them, tying those to classic Bible stories.  We have one on Joseph and one on Moses, and they both should be pretty good, plus that one on the Ten Commandments.  We'll see as we move forward how all that turns out. 

Maddie had her college classes today, and next week she'll have a retreat, although things might be shortened due to the weather.  We'll see how that goes.  But she'll have to pack soon and get ready for a retreat where she's gone a few days during the week. 

Mom is pretty much back to full strength, and that's good.  She has fatigue still, but given that it was just last week that she was sick, I think we're in good condition moving forward.

Tonight we ventured back to Neverland, this time for a return to the live production of "Peter Pan" that they did a few years ago with Christopher Walken.  This somewhat concludes our current marathon of recorded live productions of classic plays.  We've done "Grease," "Hairspray," "The Wiz," and "The Sound of Music," and of course "A Christmas Story" back in December.  Now "Peter Pan" is here, and that got Maddie wanting to watch the 2003 "Peter Pan" tomorrow, which we think is the best live action adaptation of the story we've seen.  Anyway, we might stay in Neverland a while - I don't know.

What I do know is that we got to bed earlier tonight. We read from our current story, and we said our prayers.  The blankets are nice and warm tonight.

That's No Moon, it's a Popcorn Maker

Ah!  The Death Star Popcorn Maker!  It's National Popcorn Day, and before we went to bed, we were watching a few just-released episodes of "Phineas and Ferb," and decided to celebrate the important holiday by having some popcorn from our Death Star Popcorn Maker.     

Occasionally, I write some reviews for these products, and here's one I wrote for the Death Star Popcorn Maker:   

The designers should be proud of this technological terror they've created, because this fully armed and operational popcorn maker is ideal for obliterating your hunger! Are you ready for popcorn to enjoy while watching a movie from a galaxy far, far away? Load up the kernels. You may fire when ready!

* Note: we've discovered a small thermal exhaust port on the surface, with a shaft that leads directly to the popcorn maker's reactor system. A precise hit MIGHT start a chain reaction which should actually destroy the Death Star Popcorn Maker.

Tonight Mom and I had a nice little date at Cracker Barrel.  It was quiet there and really cold outside - the fire was in the fireplace there, and we had a nice meal together.  I had a vegetable plate, and Mom got some pot roast.  It was a nice meal, and afterwards we were looking around at the store, looking for Valentine's Day and Easter ideas and just doing some general shopping, killing time.  Look at this fun idea for an Easter decoration:

So we were doing that while Maddie was down the road at another Mexican restaurant, celebrating her friend's nineteenth birthday.  Maddie just found out that her friend keeps all of the homemade cards that Maddie makes for her - this year she did another one.  Nate was there too at the restaurant, and they had a good time there.  Here's some pictures from her night with some dear friends:

Meanwhile, Mom and I were using up gift cards.  We got some items - and food - at Cracker Barrel, using up some on our gift cards there, and then we had gift cards to Target, so we dropped over there for a bit.  I was sort of saddened to see that there weren't any blu-ray or DVDs there anymore.  Such is the way of technology.  Ironically, there were vinyl records there.  Anyway, we were there for a few items here or there.  It was just walking around.  It's funny how quiet both of these locations were tonight, when just a month ago they were crawling with people and lacking in parking spaces outside.  

We had a good day today.  We do have a looming forecast though, one we've been looking at the last two days:  next weekend looks challenging to say the least.  Usually we aren't as confident a week out of some weather event, but this time around there seems to be a higher level of certainty.  We'll keep you posted!

Meanwhile, it's just cold here.  And windy.  We got home and watched a few of those latest episodes of "Phineas and Ferb" (along with the popcorn!), and then it was time for some reading, and then bed.  It's easy to get to sleep under those nice warm blankets!