Ooftah! What a winter. Snow, cold, snow, cold, freezing rain, cold, and on, and on. It doesn’t even phase me anymore when I step out of the door in the morning, and am met by a 4 foot drift of snow. City and county highway salt supplies ran low weeks ago, so driving roads that are snow covered and slippery has also become the norm.

I was treated to a magnificent nearly full moon this morning as I slipped and slid my way to work. According to Native American culture, this full moon as known as the Snow Moon:

Feb. 20, 10:30 p.m. EST — Full Snow Moon. Usually the heaviest snows fall in this month. Hunting becomes very difficult, and hence to some tribes this was the Full Hunger Moon. This is also the night of a Total Lunar Eclipse. North and South Americans will have a ringside seat for this event and will take place during convenient evening hours. Observers in western Europe and western Africa will see this eclipse from start to finish during the morning hours of February 21.

Weather permitting, I hope to catch a glimpse of the eclipse Wednesday evening. It is expected to be very colorful: red and orange and brown. But I am not nearly as excited about the eclipse as I am about March’s full moon:

Mar. 21, 2:40 p.m. EDT — Full Worm Moon. In this month the ground softens and the earthworm casts reappear, inviting the return of the robins.

From snow and ice to worms and robins in a month? I sure hope the Native Americans got this name right!

How I Got My Name: By Quinn

Once in the land of Jawake boys would eat a lot. One day they were running out of food. The king asked the wise spider what they should do. He didn’t know what to do so he crawled across the world. He saw a man. Everyone was asking him for help. The spider asked him what they should do. He said ‘gust a son.’ The spider was wise, but he did not know what that meant. so he asked again. It means when a boy eats too much call for the great spirit to blow him away. The spider told the king and they didn’t run out of food any more.

One day the king said, ” What shall we call that man?” The spider said ‘Gustason.’ Yes, that is what we shall call him. And whenever the king says his name they all bow down and thank him for his wiseness.

The Fondy Thunder defeated the Madison Polar Cats 4-0 in the championship game. Quinn had an assist, and a back hand goal.

For a team that has very few wins this season, they sure know how to rock the house when they want to.

..for this special announcement.

I watched another good movie - the second one in about a year. That is record setting for me.

It is classified as a musical - not what I would usually consider good viewing. The story starts out slow, the plot is predictable, but if you hang with it you will get to hear some pleasant harmonies.

Oh, forget what I said about that predictable plot…Give it a go, ONCE.

..and a nail-biter. 4-4 at the end of the third period. Quinn and Chase move the puck down the ice. Quinn wings the puck towards the goal, Chase tips it in. GOAL!!

..and it’s off to the pool for a celebration, and then a long rest before the 1:15 championship game tomorrow.

The Fondy Thunder hand an awesome game, beating Middleton 4-2, Quinn had his best game ever. He fought for the puck when he lost the face off. His shots and passes were spectacular! He scored a goal too.  All that practicing has paid off.

Another game tonight against Stevens Point. Lets hope the team can keep things flowing.

Quinn and I will be off for Stevens Point shortly. Brent is already there, as he was traveling back from Minneapolis yesterday - no need for him to drive all the home home and then turn around and head back the same way he came. Hopefully he was able to spend a relaxing night in the hotel hot tub last night, as he has been battling a cold for about 2 weeks now.

After several days of rain and 40 degree temps, we are once again covered in a blanket of snow - only 3 inches this time, but better than mud and fog.

Will update later with some tournament results. What do you think, do they look like tournament champions?

..not the tipping point in terms of peak oil, but the tipping point that I’d imagine only comes from tipping too many alcoholic beverages.

How else do we justify spending dollars and resources to make a cow fart like a kangaroo in an effort to reduce greenhouse gases, when to problem is really that the cow’s indigestion is caused by a grain based diet. Grass fed cattle fart less. Dairy and meat products from grass fed beef are better for human consumption. One simple change resulting in two beneficial outcomes. Leave it to experts to over-complicate the issue.

We have been blessed with lots of snow this winter lending a bit of magic to what could have been a rather cold and leaden December. Walking up the staircase at night, cup of hot chocolate in hand, I pause at the windows and can see clearly across the field and beyond. Even when the moon is less than full the snow seems to glow as if a light bulb has been buried beneath it’s billowy drifts.

Deer have taken up residence in the alfalfa field just beyond the lawns edge. Some move ghostlike through the field pawing up tender shoots for grazing. Others bunker down in beds on the driveway, nestled up against the snow banks which provide protection from the winter winds.

At 4AM I descend the staircase, empty mug in hand. The snows luminescence glows through the windows high on the wall above my head. I pause again at the window, and then the next window and the next, until I have made my way to the kitchen. Often, the deer are right where I left them the night before. Other times I circle the house window by window only to be disappointed.

Eventually I turn on the kitchen light. It’s bulb glares at me, dispelling the magic I was feeling just a moment earlier. In a few minutes hot coffee and my morning commute will replace those moments of solitude and wonder with the sharp jangle of the other world that lurks beyond my windows.

Here is the new bike that Quinn got from Grandma and Grandpa Gustason for Christmas. It is a little bit bigger than his old bike, as you can see in the picture below.

Truth be told, that little black bike is his first bike which he received around the age of 3. I don’t recall how long he rode it before the training wheels came off, or at what age he decided to trick it out with pegs so that he could use it for stunts. He does have a 7 speed road bike that fits him a little better, but he never really took to that one - preferring to spend his time on the little black bike doing jumps over a ramp in the driveway or practicing front wheel spins while balancing on his pegs.

When one of the pedals fell off over the summer, we decided it was probably time to trade up to a new model.  Features of his new bike; it has both front and back wheel pegs, it has only hand brakes so that he can pedal backwards while braking on the front tire, and it is his favorite color - blue.

Hopefully we can find someone in need of a little black bike of their own. With the new pedals and pegs, it should be good for at least another 6 years.