End Of The Year Review

Hmmm…Where to start?  I guess I’ll just jump on in.

The last two weeks have seen snowing and blizzard conditions here that are worthy to be compared to Wisconsin winter conditions, but without the good snow removal.  In my estimation, they (Colorado Springs) are prepared to deal with a storm this size maybe once a year, but then under the usual conditions here it just melts in the next couple of days.  They don’t get one giant storm after another, dumping feet of snow on the ground, blowing into four foot high drifts and staying a week until the next storm does the same thing.  And Denver was more poorly prepared than Colorado Springs.  Alas, contrary to Skunkfeathers‘ (Maybe he should change his handle to “Snowfeathers”) kind wishes to me, there were no 16 year old boys with snowblowers, just me and my non-plutonium shovel.  It doesn’t even talk.  (Blogger’s link-back system was smarter than me so just go to Skunfeathers’ blog and read about his Plutonium snow shovel.  You should find it.  I need a neighbor like him.)  After the plow guy had packed the van in the other day, I shoveled out a couple hours and 25 pounds of kitty litter later and parked on the other side of the street.  Yesterday he just made a 4 foot pile at the end of my driveway all along the curb.  Heavy and hard-packed so I just shoveled a little path for the mailman and for us to get over the snow bank and will keep parking across the street.  I would have taken some pictures but the girls have the camera with them in Texas.

They were due to come home yesterday, but there was sleet and freezing drizzle in Amarillo, so they stopped there.  Tabitha is in good spirits and has been using Ashley’s phone to call and keep us informed of how she and her sister are doing.

Today is the last day of the year and I looked back at my list of resolutions for this year.  Here is what I found:

1. I Resolve NEVER to pet-sit again as long as I live.

I kept that one, although the lady with the dog that bit me four times never asked me again, I am glad I re-read this or I may have done something very foolish.

2. I Resolve to read the Bible all the way through.  Our church gives out BREAD (Bible Reading Enriches Any Day) charts that go between the Old and New Testaments.  I have read it through a couple of times before but what usually happens is I get sidetracked on studying something out and forget about where I was at, get discouraged and give up.

I didn’t keep this one.  It happened like it does most every year, I start off with good intentions but then I get sidetracked on studying something I read and go off on a tangent and never get back to where I was.

3. I Resolve to try to update these blogs at least once or twice a week, even if I have nothing to say.  (Oh, yeah Herb, how is that any different?)

I had just started to get into the swing of doing this when the laptop went belly-up.  Now I have gotten discouraged about doing it.  The only thing that keeps me going at all is the knowledge that there really are readers out there and they leave me comments.  If nobody commented, I would quit.  (I hear your conspiratorial whispers out there.  Gonna stop commenting now, eh?  Well, just for that I’m gonna keep on writing this blog.  Ha!  So there!  Nanny-nanny-boo-boos!)

4. I Resolve to update my blogroll and links and keep them that way.

I did this and it already needs to be changed and updated again.

5. I Resolve to finish a story and submit it somewhere.

I was doing my writing stuff on the laptop.  I did complete a couple of pieces, but did not submit them anywhere.

6. I Resolve to find a place to join like http://www.fictionpress.com/or http://www.fanfiction.net/ or http://www.fanstory.com/.  It may be the last one because that is the on that Writer’s Digest suggests.

Nope.  Didn’t do that one.

7. I Resolve to try to love a liberal.

This was the most educational one for me.  I have found that I can like a liberal quite a lot and can accept one as a friend, but now more than ever I know I cannot accept, let alone embrace, the ideology.  The more I learn about the way these people think, the more frightened I become.  The farther left they are, the scarier they are.   They can be funny though.

8. I Resolve to try to get my weight down to “overweight.”

I did not really accomplish this, but I didn’t really try, either.  The joke of this comes from an Abbott & Costello routine contained in the original radio broadcast of “Who’s On First?” aired on 4/17/47 that goes something like:

(The boys walk into a sporting goods store.  They are greeted by a witty clerk.)

Clerk:  Good afternoon, boys.  As Buster Crabbe said to Johnny Weismuller, “What dive did you come out of?”

Abbott:  I’d like to see a baseball uniform that would fit Costello.

Clerk:  So would I.  My, you’re certainly a pudgy little rascal, aren’t you?  Aren’t you overweight?

Costello:  I’m one-hundred and twenty pounds overweight, but I’m going back to my normal weight.

Clerk:  Eh, what’s normal?

Costello:  About sixty pounds overweight.

Clerk:  Well, if you really want to lose weight you ought to try exercising with a couple of dumbbells.

Costello:  I’m ready whenever you and Abbot are.

So, anyway, I didn’t lose any, although I didn’t gain any, either.

9. I Resolve to enter something in some writing contest somewhere.

Well, I actually did this, but won’t know anything until March of ’07.

10. I Resolve to make more long-distance calls to friends and family.

   I kind of did this.  Since my mom died I have tried to call my dad a couple of times a week.  I call Carter occasionally and had been calling Harold but his phone’s out of order.  I don’t call my brothers like I should, though.

11. Since you are reading this on the 2nd you can tell I need to put “Stop Procrastinating” on this list, and maybe I will add it next year.

Well, this isn’t a list of resolutions, so I guess if I try this again I will have to be late with it.

Five and a half out of eleven, I guess that ain’t too bad.  Happy New Year to everyone!

Remember, The Good Book says:  “For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.”