Wednesday December 1, 2010

December came in with a bang. It snowed most of the night. The grass was covered with snow but at 0630 as I headed for Breakfast Club the snow was not sticking on the concrete. This morning we had a member talk about his wood working hobby. He showed some samples of his work. He uses exotic wood pieces and glues them together into interesting mosaics. He cuts, sands, glues and polishes the wood in his basement shop. The speaker was 87 years old and still travels, skis, plays in a band and of course works in his shop. At age 18 he was a Navy corpsman assigned to the Marines in the Pacific campaign. He was involved in all of the Marines operations in the south Pacific.

After breakfast I drove by the Farmer's Market to buy a Christmas wreath. The market was closed. I did stop by the Kava House so I could read the WSJ and DFP. When I got home the concrete was covered with about 2 inches of snow. I got out the shovel and performed my first snow shovel of the season.

It was too dangerous to bike to the MAC so I walked. I swam 45 minutes. I had a quick lunch and then retired to the office to check my email and go through my mail. I had the heater on and Ms P slept in front of the heater. Nancy worked at the Gardens this afternoon. When she got home I took out my two suits and asked which one she thought would be appropriate for the Gala at the Gardens tomorrow. Since we decided on my gray suit I polished my black shoes. At 1730 I took Ms P out and shoveled the drive and walk.

Nancy had to work at the Gardens tonight so I fixed a pb&j with a onion slice for dinner. Actually I fixed two. I also had a Bell's Winter Ale. I like Bell's beer.

I watched the news and read the GRP. When Nancy got home we watched Undercover at 2000 on NBC. It was bad. I can see why NBC has such low ratings. At 2040 we headed upstairs.

I remember another December 1 where the weather was very warm. In 1964 I had just gotten out of the Navy and working for Scott Engineering in Alpena. We had an emergency bridge job in Big Rapids. A milk truck had brought down the old bridge and we were hired to get the bridge open to traffic as soon as possible. The project started December 1 and it was 70⁰. Bill Cruise and I were setting out control points and I remember thinking this won't be so bad. The next day the temperature plummeted and we had a very cold winter. I never got warm all winter.