Signs of the season

I was only back from Turkey for 2 weeks when winter hit us with an ice storm. It wasn't as bad as the one we had last year that devastated numerous trees, already weakened by a strange wind storm which occurred the previous summer. Some of my friends said they could hear trees cracking & breaking under the weight of the ice last year but luckily, we heard no such action from the trees in our yard or on the bluff behind. We did lose a small flowering tree in the front yard but I don't think the ice or wind storm was to blame.

The ice came on a weekend and some of the kids had to get to work which caused Jim to begin the search for the ice scrapers. We had already been up in the attic getting the Christmas decorations down and he couldn't remember seeing them up there. You see, ever since we moved into the house in June, 2006, Jim has been "reorganizing" the garage. The problem is that since he won't part with his 4-wheelers, they take up a car's worth of room and you can imagine the amount of "stuff" we have after combining our households with accumulations of years in the making!

Patrick had to leave for work and Jim's years of being Mr. Mom kicked in. He went up in the attic to check and the ice scrapers were not to be found. Thus, the mad dash began. When I suggested that Patrick just start his car, turn on the defrost & let it warm & defrost naturally, Jim said he still needed an ice scraper to keep in his car. I also suggested that Patrick buy one on his way to work but Jim searched the garage, the two storage rooms in the basement, the closet in the entry hallway, the entry cabinet and God knows where else. He was like a madman driving himself crazy over where he could've put the ice scrapers! It finally dawned on me that this was our second winter in the house and perhaps he had given out the ice scrapers last year. I told Jim that I had an ice scraper in my trunk and he probably gave them out last year. You could see the relief on his face. He admitted that I "might" be right and proceeded to check with each kid as he saw them. Lo & behold, everyone had an ice scraper except Patrick!

This past weekend was our first big snowstorm for the winter. We were having a Christmas party Saturday night so Jim decided to keep up on cleaning the snow off the sidewalk for our guests. Thus, the search for the snow shovels began. Last year we had a big snowstorm and Angie & I (snow day for JCI!) were the ones to get out and shovel the driveway while the boys slept in and Jim went to work. The shovels were all bent and crappy and probably 10 years old. We didn't get the whole driveway (parking lot) cleared, it would've taken us 8 hours and why should the females do all the work! When I talked to Jim later and complained that we girls did all the work, he said that he doesn't shovel snow, he waits until it melts on it's own, but if we were having guests, he'd clear it off. When I commented that maybe he should consider shoveling so I didn't fall on it, he laughed.

I won't get into the frantic search for the snow shovels, you get the idea. He never found them and proceeded to go outside every 1/2 hour to sweep the snow off the front walk with the broom. The only thing I can think is that the shovels were so crappy we threw them away. Guess what someone's getting for Christmas?

Last week Jim & I started working on the Christmas cards. The deal was that I'd address them and he would sign, seal & mail them. I did my part in one night. The only thing I was missing were the last names of two of his recently-married nieces and their addresses. So Jim's assignment was to get this info and we'd be done. He was happy to report that he got the names the next day, but unfortunately, he didn't write them down so when I asked him last night, he couldn't remember and had to call his dad to find out again. They are now in our address book so we shouldn't have this problem next year.

I woke up this morning with a cold. Welcome winter....