Hop-a-long

Chalupa took a fall on Friday, January 22. During basketball practice, she was boxing out the center (Abby Normal II), and Abby crushed her. She went down hard on her left leg.

A trip to the ER, and x-rays revealed nothing. So she went to an orthopedic. More x-rays, more nothing. Two more weeks, more x-rays... still more nothing. She is finally getting an MRI in a few days. This will more than likely confirm a deep bone bruise in her left tibia under her knee, around her growth plate.

Assuming this is the case, she'll be back in action as soon as she can tolerate the pain. Sigh... it's always SOMETHIN'!

Indoor Practice for Big Dawg

Here we see him waiting with mad anticipation for the ball to be kicked into play.

During the action, this young man will sacrifice his body to make a play.
Look at this diving kick! Fearless!

And of course, there is the post
G O O O A A A L L L !!!!
Celebration! Wooo Hooo!

Running Streak '09

The annual running streak has reached one month and counting. The first part of January was blistering cold, but I managed most of my runs outside. There was a brief and welcomed warm-up in the middle part of the month, but this was short lived. We went into the deep freeze again in the final 7 days. I was less tolerant during this second cold spell and spent more time on the dreadmill than I would have liked.

The boredom of the dreadmill led to some good speed work which may have some long-term benefits as February and March roll around. I also took advantage of the gym to get in some good cross training which may have some residual benefits as the season warms up and distances begin to lengthen.

Total mileage for the month was 129.25, for an average of just more than 4 miles a day. Onward and upward into February!

Hobbling Wounded

Rough week in the Taylor House. Chalupa went in for more X-rays only to find nothing. Just

under her knee at the growth plate, her left tibia is either very deeply bruised, or hairline fractured. We didn't want to pay for an MRI ($1,500) only to have about the same treatment... rest. She's on the DL (disabled list) until March 1 at the soonest. Probably will not see any action until the ides of March (always wanted to use that in a sentence).

The injury happened at Basketball practice a week ago. She was "boxing out" her opponent from the lane and rebound. Her opponent (teammate) happened to be the center. Her opponent happened to toss her to the floor like a wet rag. Her opponent, seen here, was Abby Normal II. And you can also see the crutches that Chalupa is not scared to use as a weapon.

Meanwhile, Big Dawg had his trauma at school. For the second Friday in a row he crawled into the nurses office at school complaining of a tummy ache. Last Friday we determined he was faking it because his big sister (Beaner) was at home sick. So naturally, we thought he was faking it again. In fact, Sidetrack and the nurse were joking over the phone about it, and decided to keep him in school. But, as luck would have it, when he got home... he puked twice. Shame on us. So, before he went to bed, I told him the tale of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", and I think this will be the last time we have such deleterious results.

Award Winning Reading

Here we see Award Winning author, Tim Johnston, reading from his recent collection of short stories, "Irish Girl". He gave this reading at Prairie Lights Bookstore in Iowa City. Prairie Lights is one of America's more reputable independent bookstores because of its ongoing support for the University of Iowa's International Writer's Workshop.

Tim is on a cross-country book tour and will read in Asheville and Charlotte in the next week or two. It's a good read ("Irish Girl"). A bit dark, but thought provoking; at times it's intense; and the dialog is uncomfortably accurate and insightful. Read the book and add your comments to Amazon and/or Borders if you get a chance.

Winter Blues

Here is the view from my morning bus stop. This has been the view for more than a week, and I'm beginning to wonder if we'll see the sun anything before Easter? The melting snow puts a lot of moisture in the air and the cool evenings creates ground fog that doesn't seem to want to move out of the area. It's a nice view, yes. But we're ready for some sun.

As if the Republican victory in Massachusetts and unruly gloating by my right-winged conservative nut friends were not enough, we had to deal with a crazy ice storm that about shut the city down and put an inch coating on everything. This picture does not do it justice, but it was an amazing storm that blew through.

Straggling photos

Every holiday we start and complete a jigsaw puzzle. Here is a picture of this year's 750 piece puzzle that was recently completed by the family. It was a good one. The kids are all getting the hang of this.

Below we see Chalupa squaring off against Maddy Miller from North Central JH. Last year, these two were on the same Thunder Team so it was fun seeing them face off for their respective teams. Unfortunately for the Vikings, the North Central team had more mustard in their tanks. To a person the Vikings were out-sized by about 3 inches per person, and out muscled. The final score was a dismal 26 - 11 loss.

Love this photo. Sisterly love at it's best.

Actually, despite the oil and vinegar that may exist... Sidetrack and I have many fond memories of these two playing AG (American Girl) and other such games without any regards for Emotional Intelligence. Once they became teenagers, it was like they ate forbidden fruit... now they find every reason to rant at one another. I think boys would be easier... but am glad I'm blessed with the girls we have.... but for the Love of God... loose the drama!!! XXX OOO

Indoor/Outdoor

What this picture can't tell you is that it was -6 below outside. Temps in "The Bubble" dropped into the 40's. It was all quite cold, but after the 3 X 3 Bubble Blowout... the Taylors were undefeated with an unremarkable 2 - 0 - 4 record. Yep, four ties - ugh.

This picture was quickly snapped looking down (east) Washington Street at the beginning of a snow storm that dumped 10 - 14" of powder on Iowa City.

Hair is Overrated!

TOP 5 Reasons for short hair:

Reason #1 - Hair products are expensive but necessary

Reason #2 - I find the style options overwhelming and a bit confusing

Reason #3 - Takes too long to groom

Reason #4 - it gets in my eyes, on my clothes and in my food

And Reason #5 - the picture below should be explanation enough -

New Years in the DEEP Freeze!

Hello 2010. Here we see Chalupa and Buzz standing in front of the Event Center with one of the volunteer hosts for the Ice Jump. More on that later in this post.

Above we see Big Dawg and the Reeveletts playing some computer games on the couch. Across the street is our Mankato Chateau still looking for a buyer with an eye for beauty and location, location, location. Below we see the Big Dawg during his first foray into skiing at the breathtaking slopes of Mount Kato. He was zipping along when this shot was taken. I told him to bend his knees but he was in a panic and trying not to wipe-out that he failed to hear me.

The picture below was taken in the car while driving home from the Twin Cities on January 2. Shortly after getting this picture, the temp actually dropped to -26. A new record for this automobile. WOW!

The freezing (dangerously cold) temps didn't prevent Peanut and Chalupa from nesting in the back seat of the van to sleep off the crazy week of holiday and vacation activities.
This was the scene in the warming house just before the jump in Lake Minnetonka. This is an accurate picture of some of the nuts that make the plunge. The first jump on goes in as a Guppy and comes out a Minnow. The following year you go in as a Minnow and come out as a Pike and so on and so forth. In 2011, Chalupa will enter as a Walleye (4 years) and come out as a Barracuda 5. Buzz will become a Barracuda 6. After ten registered jumps (no two in the same year), a person qualifies for the SHARK robe.
Here we are just minutes before we exited the staging tent for our 2010 plunge.
We are not smiling, that's our teeth chattering away. Anyway, Happy New Year one and all! Cheers!