You might have noticed a new way to interact with this blog. It is the little votes you can do at the bottom of each post. Go ahead and rate that particular post. I still like the comments though so keep adding those. So far I understand you don't like my complaining about the weather and mowing the lawn. If I complain about something else is that okay? Maybe I'll find out. Also, just because you provide feedback doesn't mean I'll listen to it.

Speaking of reader interaction, the current poll votes so far only add up to 5. The previous poll which was about your new year's resolution had 10 votes. Something doesn't equate.

More drawings from Cole and Kaori soon; I promise.

A Fun Weekend

We had a good weekend, too bad it is over. It started Friday night with Cole's pinewood derby. As you can see in the picture Cole won a trophy, taking second place and a chance to move on to districts in a couple months. His car won 3 out of 4 heats and was second in the other. At the end he was tied for third. The timing was down to the thousandth of a second and they were still tied after 4 heats. The race off was almost as close but Cole's car won by a few hundredths of a second.

Also on Friday night was the girl scout cookie dance; this kicks off cookie selling season. Anybody want some? Robyn and Kaori went to that and had a lot of fun.

After that we went to Rapid City, SD to spend time with my family. We shopped a little, played cards (who got the first place prize in the canasta tournament? It wasn't the left-handed dealer) and swam in the hotel pool. Cole and Kaori especially liked the pool with the water slide. I can't forget to mention that we ate and ate and ate all weekend too. We returned home last night and picked up Hiroo who stayed at the kennel at his veterinarian. Very enjoyable.

Winter Doldrums

We are currently riding out a "wind chill warning". This means temperatures are cold. This is a direct quote from the weather channel (online edition):

TEMPERATURES THIS AFTERNOON WILL REMAIN NEARLY STATIONARY OR RISE A DEGREE OR TWO... BUT STILL REMAIN BETWEEN 4 TO 12 BELOW ZERO. NORTHERLY WINDS OF 10 TO 20 MPH THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON WILL CAUSE WIND CHILL READINGS OF 30 BELOW TO 40 BELOW ZERO. OVERNIGHT LOWS TONIGHT WILL DROP TO NEAR 30 BELOW ZERO TO AROUND 20 BELOW ZERO. DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS INTO THURSDAY MORNING... WIND CHILLS WILL TUMBLE TO 35 BELOW TO 45 BELOW ZERO.

It kind of reminds me of a comedian's schpiel (sp?) on the starving Africans from 20 years ago. He said they were living in the desert, of course they couldn't grow food in sand. We are living in the Northern Plains, of course it is going to be d*mn cold. And I don't mean to be making light of people starving anywhere, just drawing a parallel. And I'm not saying my suffering from cold = people dying. Have I covered all the politically correct bases yet?

Cole and I turned in his pinewood derby car for cub scouts last night. We had a last minute scare when the car came in too long because of the exhaust pipes we added in the back. Fortunately the always prepared scouts had problems like this in mind and all sorts of power tools were on hand. So I pulled the exhaust pipes off, redrilled the holes and stuck the pipes back on, only deeper this time. After that we glued on an extra penny to get the weight up to the allowable limit and we were good to go. The actual racing takes place this Friday night. Pictures and results to follow. Wish Cole good luck.

More Drawings

More drawings as promised. Cole joined in the art class with Kaori so that is why there are two of each. They'll start in a couple weeks in another session. Also they'll start a chess class after school.