Gonzaga vs Northern Alabama

I got a call yesterday from my friend Ron. He had access to two tickets to the Gonzaga basketball game at 2:00 and wanted to know if I wanted them.

Not just yes, but HELL YES!

Tickets to Zags games are a hot commodity these days and it turns out that these tickets are great seats.

I recorded the game so we could see if you can see us.

And you can. Obviously, you can't tell it's us. But I assure you it is.

We had a great time. It was a great way to spend a chilly afternoon.   

After Christmas Monday

 We are heading into a cold spell for the next week. It's 20° right now and that is going to be the high for the week. They are projecting a low of zero on Wednesday.

It snowed enough last night for me to break out the snow blower this morning and hit the neighborhood. It's been threatening to snow more, but so far it hasn't happened.

I'm using my time today to set up an office space for me. I have kept this laptop computer down on the kitchen table and I gather too much crap too quickly there and soon, the table doesn't have a bare spot on it. 

So I'm setting up in the upstairs back bedroom. We have a good long counter space there which will be good for me to work on the computer away from the TV and give me some drawing space as well.

There is a shit load of clutter on the counter right now and I'm trying to de-clutterize. (Is that a word?)

My other main goal for today is to fix our EdenPure heater that we use in the kitchen. A couple of years ago, the power switch on it stopped working. The heat and electricity going through it finally cooked it. I managed to find some replacement switches through Granger.com but they are not sturdy enough to last very long. I got six last year and I have used them up. 

Needless to say, I am now quite adept at replacing the switch. I ordered some new ones directly from EdenPure so they should be built to take the amps and heat that the heater produces.

We shall see.

Later: Well, that didn't go well. I got the new switch in and it has power. However, there must be something else going on because the heater never came on. Now I'm going to have to really dig into and check the heating elements.

Merry Christmas

 It’s Christmas Day and I’m writing this on my iPad. I have resisted blogging on the iPad because it is a little difficult. However, we’ve cleaned off the table in preparation of tonight’s Christmas dinner. My son Scott is coming over with his boss and girlfriend. (They are two different people.)

Anyway, we’ve cleaned off the table and put my computer away. Hence the iPad.

Susan and I had a nice Christmas morning. We opened our presents and enjoyed Peppermint Patty’s. Now we are just hanging out, prepping dinner and watching “A Christmas Story” on TV.

I got a set of heated seat pads for my truck and a membership to Triple A. 

Susan got a new robe and slippers and a heated steering wheel cover.

There is a little snow on the ground and we are getting ready for a really cold week.

Merry Christmas!

Jolly Holiday Lights

We had a nice snowfall over night...about 4 inches. Then it warmed up and rained. We still have snow but I think it's supposed to rain off and on through the night.

It's snowing on Mt Spokane and they are open.

Last night, we went to see the Holiday Lights at Manito Park. This is the second year they have done this. Last year, we took Mom and drove through. The congestion was massive and it took about 45 minutes to get to the start.

This year, they had the drive thru option until last night when it turned into a walk thru event. There was a good turn out but we got through it much faster. The hardest part was walking to and from where we parked the car.  But I consider it my mile walk for the day.   

Spokane Icon

I took the following picture back on May 24th, shortly after the White Elephant closed its doors forever.

I have been chronicling the demolition of the building, which started Monday. Here are the results so far.

Another part of my childhood is gone.   

Snow Talk

 I am presently on line with the Mt Spokane webcams and I'm waiting for an update on the snow stake.

Shown above is the snow stake at just about 4PM when they supposedly come out and wipe off the snow that fell the previous day.

It is now 4:15 and nobody has cleaned it off yet. I have some other stuff to do on the computer so I'm going to continue to monitor until 4:30.

I'm not yet sure about the current conditions but the hill in front of the lodge looks pretty inviting. I don't think they are up to two feet yet.

Upon perusing the other ski resorts in the area, I found that Schweitzer and Lookout Pass are open.

Okay, it's 4:30 and I'm giving up.

DAMN! I missed it! Someone came out between 4:30 and 4:42. I'm going to catch them one of these days.

snowsnowsnow

It looks like Mt Spokane got between 2 and three inches of snow last night. They are still a long way off before they can open.

Here is how it looked last night at about 8:30PM.

And here is how that same camera looks today.

There is snow in the forecast for tonight so hopefully they will get a good dumping.  

Gas & Liquor

 I had an appointment with my accountant today to discuss some stuff involving Mom's estate. Her office is out at Liberty Lake so I took the opportunity to gas up the truck at State Line, Idaho ($3.24 per gallon) and buy some booze. It doesn't make financial sense to drive to Idaho just to get gas but when you combine it with a booze run, the savings are substantial.

I also had a gift card to use up at a bar in Liberty Lake so I had a nice lunch. Well...not a nice lunch. This bar does not prepare food to my liking. Last time in, I had a BLT sandwich. They used weird bread and it didn't hold together very well.

Today I had an Italian sandwich and it was served open face. I don't care for that. But I used up the card and I won't be going back.

Monday Snow

I came down to get the paper this morning and opened the front door to snow. It's nothing to get excited about yet. It is a light snowfall and it is not supposed to last long. But the good news is, if it's snowing here, it's snowing on Mt. Spokane. And that is indeed the case.

We still have a long way to go. Mt Spokane said they need a good two feet of snow in order to open. At this point, they have about eight inches.

 But it is snowing and there is more in the forecast for the week.

Let it SNOW!

A Christmassy Day

Today was the first day that our church moved from 9:30 to 10:00AM. We got to sleep in an extra half hour. 

After church we went downtown, dressed in our church finery, and met Randy and Karen for Bloody Mary's. After a nice B.M., we went to examine this years version of Christmas Tree Elegance at the Davenport Hotel. It's a fund raising event for the Spokane Symphony where you buy a bunch of tickets (25 for $25) and place your ticket stub in your favorite trees ticket bin. They will have a drawing and somebody (usually not us) will win the tree and all the stuff that goes with it. I believe there were 16 trees this year. We put tickets in most of them and some extras in the ones with big cash payouts.

We got home about 2:00 in time to watch the Seattle Seahawks. This is not their year. They were 3-8 going into todays game against San Francisco. They were three points down in the second period when we left the house to go over the river and through the woods to get a tree.

That baby cost us $65.00. We'll bring it in and decorate it tomorrow.

Upon our successful return we were pleased to discover Seattle was up by se7en. They managed to maintain that lead and win the game.

Now we are settled in for the evening and Susan is erecting Mantleville, our mantle based Christmas Village.

Here are some pictures of the erection.