Subject: Weekend Update: February 13-17, 2003
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 13:53:48 -0500

Miranda and Melissa are both school teachers and friends.
This school vacation, they planned a vacation to Puerto Rico;
Melissa's mom is from there.  They left early on Friday morning,
skipping school to beat the rush.  Mandy called to let us know
that she arrived safe and sound, and that it was about 100 degrees
warmer there than it was at home.  Friday morning, my car's
themometer registered -13F degrees in Pepperell, and it has been
nasty cold around here!

When I got home on Friday afternoon, we had warmed up into the
teens.  Joy warned me that Andrew was not in a good mood.  He and
Emily were playing Cactus Jack's pinball.  Andrew was having a good
game at around 59 Million and Emily was 50 Million points behind.
However, Cactus Jack's has an occasional feature called "Catch up"
and Emily, despite a nasty cold that had her down for much of the
day, was lucky enough to get Catch Up which gave her the same score
that Andrew had.  This outraged Andrew's sense of fairness and=20
threw his game off.  Meanwhile Emily took her game to 68 Million;
enough to be Number 1 on the score board, and Number 2 to Joy's
all time high of 69 Million that she set some years ago. Andrew
was not happy in the least and the slightest reminder brought
out a diatribe about the unfairness of the Catch up feature and
the undeserved status that Emily now held. Andrew's indignance was
inconsolable as we told him that no matter how Emily got the points,
they were hers and the game awarded them.  Number One is the one
with the most points. As incentive, I said that whoever beat Joy's
all time high score on the machine would also win a Slurpee that
I would buy on their behalf.  The very next morning, Andrew earned
his Slurpee, earning 74.6 Million points.  It took some of the
edge off his diatribes knowing that Emily's Number One status was
so short-lived.  I don't think he'll be happy until he erases=20
EPM from the score board, however.  Cactus Jack's is still getting
a workout by Joy who hopes to recapture her former glory.  I have
been staying out of it, myself, occupying myself with the continuing
chronocling of home videos to DVD.  We're up to 1990!

Brandon and Kayla Bickom were guests of our home on Friday night
and Saturday night, while their parents flew to North Carolina to
visit Paula's ailing brother.  Mom and Dad Bickom brought us a water
plant in a clear vase with a blue fish swimming in it. I think I am
going to name the fish "Flushie" but Joy may call it something else.
By Saturday afternoon the barn had been fully "Bick-tomized".  Joy
started out each night in our bed but ended up joining Kayla in the
middle of the night.  Although I am having a bit of fun, the truth
is that we enjoyed these little cherubs, and look at our time with
them as practice for the not-to-terribly-distant future: Joy does
all the work, and I play all the games.

For many years now, we have been going out to dinner for=20
Valentine's Day with Eric and Linda, but this year we couldn't
schedule the right day.  The church was having a Valentine's
dinner on Saturday night, but we missed our opportunity to join
in that fun, so Eric and Linda came over Saturday night for a
cookout.  I marinated a couple of steaks earlier that afternoon
and grilled it out on the deck in single-digit weather.  Eric
wondered why  we should even go out for steak, so I think they
enjoyed how I prepared it.  (The reason is that *I* don't have
to prepare it!)

We had President's Day off in the USA; don't know why but I was
glad to take the day off.  As it turned out, a winter storm was
headed our way that previously might have missed us to the south.
I think Pepperell got about 14 inches, but I am not sure.  I=20
cleared the driveway on Monday night so that I wouldn't have to
clear all of it in the morning; we got some 8-inches more through
the evening hours.  It was enough to cause half of my people to
stay home from work (digging out, and working from home).  I cleared
the driveway myself this morning while the teen younguns took
advantage of their week off from school by staying in bed.  The
snow thrower did its job before breaking at the base of the handle.
The good thing is that the messed up lawn is now smoothed out again
with a blanket of white.

Mark

P.S. Brian Farmer died this past week.  He joins his wife Joyce
who preceded him in death just 7 months ago.  Brian Farmer exchanged
pulpits with my father on a couple of occasions, and kept a bond of
friendship throughout the years.  On their first trip to Massachusetts
from Paisley Scotland, Joy was pregnant with Jessica.  We treated=20
them like family and they did the same for us.  Our hearts and prayers
go to Alison (who we met in 1982) and Sharon (who we've never met)
and their families.  I will miss his email encouragements.