Subject: Weekend Update: February 7-9, 2003
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 13:21:41 -0500

Friday dumped more of the white stuff in our area.  ENC down
in Quincy seemed to get the jackpot of over a foot, but it
was a mere 5 inches in Pepperell.  It was slow and slippery
getting home. Although the backroads are not as quickly
cared for during snowfall, I opt to travel that route home
because I will generally meet less traffic. I reason that I
have less of an opportunity to fall victim to someone else's
inexeperience behind the wheel of a 3000-pound tobaggan.
The down side is that our secondary and tertiary roads are
hemmed in by snow barriers piled up from previous snows.
These are hard now, and subsequent snow plowing tends to
simply narrow the road.  I sucessfully avoided several
opportunites to fill out insurance papers, arriving home
safely.  While the snow was fluffy, I blew it out of
the driveway; that is, down to the previous snow pack.

If frozen precipitation is wet and heavy and less than about
5 inches, we will pack it down on the driveway rather than
break our backs or machines to move it. This has resulted in
at least 2 inches of solid ice and snow pack in our driveway,
created from several of these kinds of snow since December.
My driveway has a couple of car-sized depressions into which
we sink our cars at night.  We may have to pack snow into the
car wells just to level the driveway, or risk getting our cars
stuck in the hole.

Winter has gotten old when snow has been on the ground
since Christmas and the ground hasn't been seen anywhere
but the scoured pavement. The snow is not a blanket anywhere
anymore but a trodden mashed mesh.  The roadsides are more black
than white.  New snow doesn't help to cover up the situation
much if it is less than 8 or 9 inches to a storm.

On Saturday, I slept in while Joy took Andrew on his paper
route and then ferried him off to the church.  He was
headed to a quiz meet somewhere.  Miranda and Emily also
scattered. Miranda went to help out (or observe) a girls'
basketball clinic at the church.  Emily joined Mandy later
and went shopping with her and Melissa in the afternoon.
This left Joy and me home alone to do some light chores and
play some Doctor Mario.

Joy has been maknig progress on the wedding plans, but has been
reluctant to cut into the bridesmaid dress patterns that she must
begin soon.  She's been on the phone with Jessica, and occasionally
with Lana (David's mom) trying to make long-distance arrangements
about catering, tuxedoes, reception, lodging, and the beat goes on.
I am still on the perimeter of such activity (you know, "Shut up.
Show up. Pay up.") but that's okay.  When they need me, I'll be
there with my "Unity Cupcake" and "Baseball Uniform" ideas. 

I fixed my subwoofer speaker.  It had a broken paper ring that
is between the cone and the metal rim.  It had dried out over
the years and torn.  I bought a kit to glue another (polyeurethane)
ring around an otherwise good speaker to restore it to its former
glory. (New subwoofers are expensive, and buying a replacement
speaker for this model was also more than I had hoped to pay.)
The glue job more than a week before went fairly well, considering,
but I was getting a buzz with heavy bass responses.  I determined
that the cone was misaligned (probably due to my glue job).  I put
my finger on one edge of the circle to align it over the center and
the bass response was occuring without distortion. I imagined a piece
of aluminum screwed to the speaker mount and bent to replace my finger
and put pressure on the spot.  Now, every project I encounter seems
to take three times longer than it should, so I was shocked to find
a piece of metal in my pack-ratted, basement hardware junk pile
that was exactly what I needed. It even had the hole pre-drilled.
When I affixed it, I was done. I still can't believe it.

Joy and I went for a drive through the countryside on Saturday
afternoon.  It was sunny and good to get out.  We headed to
the shopping Mecca in Nashua and picked up a few things,
including slurpees.  We found out that the Men's Warehouse
rents tuxedos for about $50 and rejoiced.  (The groom's will
be free.  More rejoincing.)  When we got home, we learned that
Mandy and Melissa were taking Kelly out to dinner to celebrate
her birthday; Emily was to pick up Andrew at the church (ah,
the convenience!) and they spent the evening with Pepperellian
friends.

Joy and I went out, too; this time to dinner at the home
of Tim and Linda Young.  Chris and Nina also joined us and
they regaled us with tales of mountaineering (which they call
hiking).  "Would you like to come along sometime?" they asked
and I foolishly said "yes, that sounds like a lot of fun" until
they started telling their stories.  I asked them to compare
their "hiking" to the trip to the top of Mount Monadanock and
back, which is a favorite ~3200 foot climb for teen activities
and the like.  Chris said that their hiking was "fifteen times"
tougher.  They showed me a picture of a sign on a trail that
tells you that your life is at risk if you are not in top physical
condition.  I guess I have my work cut out for me, if I want to
be able to follow these trekkers on anything other than a stretcher.
We enjoyed the company and conversation very much and hope to set
up a more sedentary activity in the very near future.  Maybe in the
Spring they can humor me with a stroll up Monadanock.

On Sunday afternoon, Mandy, Kelly, and Kara came home for dinner
and a movie.  Before the feature film, we enjoyed Kara's 8th
birthday party footage, and they enjoyed seeing what I looked
like even earlier (1980).  I told Joy that I have difficulty
remembering what life was like in 1980.  Back in 2003, football
was over and I had seen the movie, so I headed up to bed for a
long-expected Sunday afternoon nap!

In the evening, after church, we asked Diane Adams to come home
with us so that we could make her some birthday french toast and
give her some birthday apple pie and ice cream. She had her entire
birthday week scheduled up so Sunday was the only night that she
had free.  We were glad she allowed us to celebrate her birthday.

Mark