January Update

January is turning out to be a frigid month.  At the moment the sky is blue, the sun is shining in the sky and on the river.   The temperature is about in the 30's during the day and drops sometimes as low as 8 degrees.  The house is shaded by the trees which makes it seem even more colder, but "THE RIVER" looks mystical with the ice being carried up the river with the tide.  Two huge barges are bellowing through crushed ice with their tug boats moving them down stream and out to sea.  The flag is waving in the wind as they pass by.  It is high tide right now, but in about 3 hours the water will be moving south again bringing all the ice back down.   Yesterday it snowed 6 inches and at midnight it was freezing rain.  We woke up to a mess so Wayne, Ross, and Ashby went trenching out in their snow gear to snow blow the driveway and paths.  The "Apartment Loft" ran out of gas last night and the heat dropped to 43 degrees inside.  It looks quite arctic out there right now and I really don't care for the cold, however today is a sight to see the ships journeying up and down the river through the ice. 

Courtney left New York on Wednesday last week during an ice storm.  I am sure you can read about it all on her blog.  She starts classes tomorrow and she will be finished and graduated on May 8th of this year.  It was nice having her around.  I didn't get to see too much of her because she was working nights and I was teaching during the day, but we did get to squeeze in some time together.

Ross is still home and working hard.  He works everyday for a Tire Company delivering parts for them.  When he isn't working he is usually spending time with Amelia catching up on time with her before he leaves for school again in 2 weeks.  

Ashby is still doing all the "S" activities:  Singing, Scouts, Swimming, School.  On Thursday last week, he started to learn guitar and taking voice lessons.  He has mid-terms coming up and so the house is a bit stressful.  Starting in February he has many Swim Meets and then the big competitions to end the seasonal meets.  He has qualified for 3 events going into the "Gold's Tournament" in March.  He is hoping to qualify for more events, but it is difficult because he doesn't practice enough (just isn't enough time with all the activities).

Wayne and I cleaned the house this weekend putting away all the Christmas decorations in their respective home in the cellar.  This year I labeled and separated the children's ornaments in plastic bins with a directory as to when they received the ornaments.  This will be a nice gift for them to take when they set up house for themselves.   The wood floors shine because Wayne was on his hands and knees scrubbing, and ridding them of the salt and dirt that has been tracked in from the outdoors.  I started to hang a few Valentine's decorations to lift my spirits from the cold, frigid, arctic mood of January.