Wednesday December 22 2004

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Awake 6:52 am Temp downtown 28 Strong winds during the night & now, rain.
5 hrs 28 min of daylight

Our sleep was disturbed by those strong winds. We leave two windows
cracked open in our bedroom for sleeping if the nighttime temp is above 5
degrees. But the wind caused the windows to creek open and shut. We heard
later today, those winds obtained speeds of over 100 miles per hour
throughout the night in our area.

Kathy bakes a scrambled eggs with ham & cheese casserole & toast breakfast
for 5.

Four Christmas shoppers leave the house @ 8:25 am. Kathy is the driver.
Her 1st stop: to pick up Katrina's Honda at Alex's place where she stored
it for 5 months during her European touring & semester of art classes.
Then Katrina & the boys go shopping while Kathy stocks up on more
groceries and a few stocking stuffers.

Meanwhile, I plaster & nail the sheetrock patch in the game closet ceiling
in prep for sanding & painting. Then replace 11 screws with longer ones to
do a better job of holding the sliding door upper plate in place. Over the
yrs, our sliding doors had drooped & were scuffing on the carpet. Now they
will clear the carpet by at least 1/2 inch.

Next I run the 1984 Ford van for 1.5 hrs. Up to now, I was unable to gain
entry into that vehicle due to too much snow cover. Since those high winds
& rain earlier this morning, it's no problem now. As the van is idling, I
begin snowblowing the remaining slush in our driveway. In retrospect, this
was a bad choice, a waste of prime time as that slush was so heavy, it
clogged my chute 3 times before I wised up & used 80% engine power to
really shoot that water/snow airborne.

Kathy, Katrina & the boys rendezvous at Barnes and Noble. The boys rode
home with their Mom arriving just as I finished & am warming myself up by
the fireplace. They reported near empty stores while shopping. Amazing! We
think it's due to the bad weather reported earlier with those strong winds
& rain. So the Christmas shopping is done for the boys in a record setting
6 hrs.

Kathy makes Ivar's clam chowder for a late lunch @ 3:00 pm.

Nick & Zack have been doing a lot of computer talking since Saturday
morning in West Lafayette. We don't really understand this new language
they speak, but in a mystified manner, we think it might have some merit
for a good career.

Speaking of career, Zack received his grades via e-mail today. He is
officially a Purdue graduate and ready to begin his career in computer
programming. Congratulations, Zack!

Katrina is visiting her friend Emily tonight & hopes to find her apt. key
so she can start organizing her bedroom & suitcases.

Before dinner, I cut a slice from the bottom of the Christmas tree trunk;
with Kathy's help, I bring it into our living room, set it up in it's
holding device & give it water.

While watching the national news tonight, we see the recent snowstorm that
hit Indiana state & stopped traffic for over 9 hrs on I-65. Now how did
that waitress at the Hilton Hotel know that Monday was going to be our
lucky day?

Meanwhile, Nick is monitoring his fiance's flt. via computer from Detroit,
MI to Anchorage. Her flt. originated in Nagoya, Japan & went directly to
Detroit. At 6:30 pm, Nick leaves for the airport to greet her when she
arrives.

7:10 Dinner: Stuffed peppers, corn, sugar snap peas & toast.

Katrina calls to say she hasn't found her key yet and the landlord isn't
answering his doorbell, so she will come up later to spend another night
with us.

Nick & Eriko arrive from the airport. Eriko looks good & had a nice flt
but very long. We sit in our living rooms & talk. After dinner, Kathy
begins decorating our Christmas tree with her 80 origami figures she made.
When Eriko & Nick finish their late dinner, Eriko helps Kathy hang some of
these origami figures & makes a few new ones.

Maybe 2 hrs later, our door bell rings: It's Katrina but she's not driving
her car. A stranger brought her to our door. He's a rather chubby guy
dressed in a red outfit with a loud boisterous laugh like HO-HO-HO.

Ok, I am kidding! But she did get a ride up our hill from a neighborhood
stranger. She explains: Due to her time zone change, she became very tired
mid evening & asked Emily's husband Taro if he would drive her car to our
place & she would ride with Emily. With good logic, she realizes
Stuckagain hill could possibly be icy & slippery. As it turned out, Taro
could not make the hill so he turned around & went back to their condo.
Katrina still had her summer tires on her car.

Meanwhile, Emily & Katrina continued their hill climbing up Stuckagain.
Apparently there were several other cars who were having difficulty this
night & was cause for Emily to make a complete stop. That did it. Emily
could not go forward from there. Emily has front wheel drive. Katrina did
get a lift with a neighbor who was running studs with 4 wheel drive.

Zack & I to the rescue. The hill is a sheet of ice with some cinders
spread thinly. As Zack approaches Emily, he finds her in tears. She is not
accustomed to this sort of scary driving. Zack does a marvelous job of
getting Emily calmed down, her car turned around & headed downhill. We
both creep slowly downhill & let Emily drive her own car from the lower
elevation of a main road on wet asphalt. She thanked us & complimented us
as being "Heros of the night." We were lucky & happy to have the
opportunity to be named "Heros of the night."

Lights out: 12:38 am

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This page contains a single entry by George Monte Kirsch published on December 31, 2004 12:59 PM.

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