Mon Jan 19 08:13 EST 1998
Weekend Update: January 16-18

We began Spring cleaning at the Manor, which is another way to say
we started some of the chores that need to get done around the house,
including a list that will keep us going until Spring.  With the
first thaw in April, we'll come out of the cave and start to rake,
since we missed all those opportunities with 5 wet weekends in a
row last Fall.  Until then, we need to put the house in order and
also construct a couple of things.  Aunt Faith and Uncle John got the
kids a basketball hoop for Christmas - some assembly required, which
means me in the Spring.  On a more fun project, I want to turn the
chicken coop into a little bath house, complete with port-o-pottie
for those long summer days by the pool.  On the not-so-fun side of
things, I'll be wrapping asbestos in my basement after it is cleaned
and organized.  And I'm not looking forward to trying to run phone wire
through the house.

As you can see, I'm looking forward to warmer weather already and we have
three or four months to go.  In the present, we've got snow, and Joy is
taking the kids sledding today (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day).  The wood
stove makes the barn cozy.  Try as I might to focus on such satisfying
things, there is something about the short days and naked trees that gives
the feeling like there is too much to do and not enough time in which to
do it.

Have a good week, folks. I think I will, too, anyway.

Mark
Mark Metcalfe, Cadence Design Systems, Inc.                \
270 Billerica Road, MS04                                    \  O,
Chelmsford, Massachusetts, 01824                     (_______\/ )_______/
Phone: (978) 446-6451 Fax: (978) 446-6351          -----------\--------------