A Gray, Foggy, Messy Morning

7:05

Up at 6:30, to a 34º morning, some rain, a slick lake as the snow on it has mostly melted. The driveway was just slush, though the yard is still snow covered.  More of the same today, it looks like---no hiking in the woods.

Yesterday was just like this morning, gray and wet, not very inspiring weather, the bane of this area at times.  We did go to Lakewood, me for Yoga, Evie to work out and get some pictures printed at Walmart but that was about it for most of the day.  Neither of us have had much mojo the past few days, or if we do, it's in the morning, afternoons are a bust.

At 6:00, however, we gathered ourselves together, sucked it up, and jumped in the car and went over to the Seezuhr House for a  burger and a beer.  It was not very busy but we struck up a conversation with a couple, Ken and Beth Hunter, who had commented on my Big Sky hat. They may be a bit younger than us but like us, they moved here full time a couple of years ago.  They bought an older house in Maple Springs, two down towards the lake from the Post Office(same side) and spent nine months renovating it.  Ken's business is Whiteside Construction so he did most of the work himself.  We only talked for about ten minutes but it was enough to make us want to see them again. They also mentioned how much they enjoyed Tom's Tavern, near Maple Springs, mostly for the atmosphere (shoddy and run down), not the food and they often have good bands.  We exchanged names, and Ken gave us his card, so we will have to see if you get together.

It was a miserable night, but we braved the slush and rain and drove to Jamestown Community College after dinner to watch Maple Grove play Portville in the State basketball tournament.  Our neighbors, the Soffels' grandsons play for Maple Grove and they were the only bright spot in Maple Grove's play as the team lost handily to Portville, 67-39.  It was a sad way for them to end the season, in a packed gymnasium.  The ride home was terrible, a couple of inches of slush on #86, blinding snow, and trucks racing by, splashing your car and windshield with a combination of snow and slush.  It was the worst drive we have had in a number of years.  We feared for all the fans, especially kids driving home after the game but so far, we have not heard of any major problems.  I don't envy the Portville fans who did have a long drive home.

Will Soffel, Senior and Captain

Graham Soffel,  Sophomore

We were home by 9:30, watched some TV and read before going to bed at 11:00.

And it's actually snowing at the moment, large wet fluffy snow flakes.  Maybe the day will be better than I thought.