Fill my Dreams with Flakes of Snow

Well what a bummer�the Colts looked more like the Dolts of old as they blew their chances and gave away the opportunity of another Super Bowl victory. Oh well, at least it went to a team with a good story. The city of New Orleans needed something positive and it�s always good to see Boiler alums succeed! Dan & George sent pictures from Miami. They said The Who�s halftime performance was worth the price of admission alone! Gigi gave us her camera disc, which produced not only priceless vacation pix from Vegas, but also Ann�s birthday. Thanks, Gigi�

Monday was a depressing day because of that game (call it a step in the grief & loss process?), making it seem like it lasted for-e-ver. Abby had dance class that evening, so Ann hustled over to be with her and see Amy (uh-huh). That night, we started getting more snow � to everyone�s delight. We already had about 5??? on the ground and by the time it stopped this round (Wednesday around noon!), we had another 7???�giving us approximately a foot of snow to play in this week. Amy also gave us more pictures from the Vegas trip. Again, I couldn�t share all of them, but here are some good ones�

Tuesday morning was a fun ride! It took us well over an hour to get in to work. It amuses me how people around here panic with a little bit of snow. They freak out because of their lack of experience in dealing with it. I am thankful for my time spent in Lafayette and LaPorte; as it trained me for days like Tuesday. We passed cars going 35 mph on the state and county roads without any issues. It took us a couple hours to clear the snow at work that morning and then had to repeat it every hour or two, as it was coming down pretty hard. My guys worked really hard all week. They originally gave us a two-hour delay before finally calling off school in Greensburg, meaning that Matt�s wrestling meet against Shelbyville was also cancelled. 🙁 It kept on snowing Tuesday night and into Wednesday. It finally stopped snowing around noon. They called off school again that day, much to the delight of Matthew who � when the phone would ring each time – would shout, �It�s Grandma�school is closed!??? Although it was no longer snowing, the strong winds were causing everything to drift. On Thursday, they called off school yet again, much to the delight of all the kids! Luke packed a �buffalo bag??? with his snow clothes (it�s a duffle bag, but we haven�t corrected him yet!). ;-P He and Abby went sledding with Brandy and her family twice as well as went to open gym at the Gymnastics & More. My team and I passed our next challenge at work, as we passed our DFC Health & Sanitation inspection. The kids were pretty pooped that night, but had enough to come home and build forts and have snow ball fights in the front yard�s snow drifts.

On Friday, the kids were tough to get out of bed, as it was finally a school day (granted, they only had to go one day and then have two more days off!). That night, Matt and I met up with Deanna & Jamie over in Cincinnati for a celebrity charity game at the University of Cincy campus. We were impressed with their campus. It was a very large, clean campus with friendly undergrads (we had to ask for directions a couple times) and cool architecture. We stopped for a few minutes and checked out their football stadium. The basketball arena was cool as well. They had mostly local celebrities. Although it was billed as former Reds vs. former Bengals players; it didn�t quite work out that way. The best known celebs were James Brooks and Icky Woods of the Bengals (remember the Icky Shuffle?) on the black team and former Reds players Todd Benzinger and Jeff Branson on the white team. Other things of note that night included a former WBC (welterweight?) champ (from Cincy?) signing autographs in the lobby, a silent auction and countless different booths with lots of freebies to handout. It took us a while to find the place, but with the help of Jamie we eventually found our way. We found our way to our seats, which were in the student section in the corner of the building. We met some interesting characters over there but noticed a few open seats up front. So, after the 1st quarter, we moved to some great seats that were center court and about 10 rows up from the floor. The game was fun but the announcers were rather annoying (one was a local comedian & the other was the voice of the U of C). I think we got a bigger kick out of watching the mascots (inner city youth doing lots of break dancing and cutting up). The halftime show was long � they had the local gymnastics troop (aged 6 to 10) perform for about 15 minutes. Although it was cool at first; you can only watch little girls run around for so long� Matt picked up lots of souvenirs for his siblings but refused to pose for a picture with the rest of us at one of the booths (too cool for us, I guess). They�re supposed to send it to me via email; so we�ll see when it actually arrives�

On Saturday, we took it easy in the morning before Abby went to dance practice for 3 hours, in preparation for her upcoming dance competition next month. While the girls were busy, the boys all headed out to the snow hill to get some exercise and enjoy the outdoors for a while. We went sledding for about an hour and a half or so. The hill was very fast! It made for some excellent runs, jumps and of course crashes as well. The worst was when Luke gave us a scare by running in to an unpadded tree. He is a tough little guy and before we knew it, he was back on the hill, screaming with joy again. We finally had to leave when Luke couldn�t feel his fingers & toes, Matt couldn�t feel his nose & ears and I couldn�t feel my butt and legs. 😛 We got drive through and hot chocolate from Burger King and came home with lots of stories for mom. Ann left shortly afterward, heading to Southport w/ Amy for a scrapbooking event. When Abby got home, she had enough time to get a shower and get dressed before heading out with me to our annual tradition at the YMCA � Daddy Daughter Night. We have done this since she was about 4, I think. The first year, it was a smash! They had close to 100 couples and ran out of food. It has gone down hill ever since then. This year, there were maybe 20 couples � the poorest turnout yet. The condition of the building was in question, as was the program�s integrity itself. We started off with dinner in the new gym. It consisted of lukewarm grilled chicken sandwiches, runny mac & cheese and a square of Jell-O. Unfortunately, the mustard was nearly as watered down as the lemonade. Next, we headed to the pool. I guess their budget must be pretty tight, as that pool was about 5 to 10 degrees too cold. Although we stayed in there for over an hour, it took forever for us to get warmed back up. The �toys??? they had were the same ones they�ve had for years now � a couple chewed up balls and a little, cheap Frisbee. When I went to shower off, only 3 of the 5 showers were working properly, one of the soap dispensers was broken and oozing and the whole shower room had obviously not been painted since the place opened nearly a decade ago. Next, we went upstairs to the �game room.??? It was even shabbier than last year. They�ve not replaced any of the broken games. They have two pool tables that both need numerous repairs with 1 set of billiard balls between them, 2 broken cue sticks and no triangle. They have a foosball table that still has no balls, a basketball game that is ripped and has the same 5 flat balls and the electronics haven�t worked in three years, a ping pong table with a broken net�but they do have 1 of 2 air hockey tables working well. 🙁 Obviously, the economy has been hard on this place, if they can�t even afford to use the electricity, make repairs and replace dilapidated furniture. I feel bad for the kids who have to use these facilities everyday� To top it off, they didn�t give us our frames in time to decorate, so we decorated a separate piece of paper and our picture frames are a little generic. That being said, Abby and I made the most of it and didn�t complain. We enjoyed the time to ourselves, away from everyone else and kept it simple. We laughed almost the entire time. Gracie was also there with her Grandpa Buchanan. Just as in years past, we were one of the last ones to leave. Abby one our pool game, but I won the air hockey game. Afterward, we kept our other two traditions alive as well � Dairy Queen & Wal-Mart trips! 🙂

On Sunday, we did our usual clean up around the house. Grandma & Gigi came over to say hi and gave the kids Valentine�s cards. Ann gave all the kids a few little Valentine�s Day gifts as well. We watched the longest Daytona 500 in history (literally as well as figuratively). They had to patch a hole in the track twice, which caused most of the delay. Gordon had a chance to win it, but stopped for tires and gas and was never able to make up that track position. He ended up getting wrecked by stupid Denny Hamlin again�which, by my count, makes it the third time he�s done that to the 24 car. We all went to bed excitedly, as they were calling for another 3 � 7??? of snow for Sunday night / Monday morning�here�s a video collage of this week�s happenings:

Next, let�s get in to the Waybac photos. We�ll begin with the early ones, as usual. Here we have my Grandpaw Brown in his swim trunks in the 30s, as well as someone from the Morrison family from the same general time period. Maryann; do you have any idea who this is with her cat? Also included in this batch is a picture of Ann�s Grandma Owens� home in the 40s, Dean & Maryann leaving on their honeymoon, a picture of Maryann in high school, and Mom with Aunt Midge in July of �63. In addition, there are also pictures of Grandpaw Brown in March of �64 in his 4th Degree K of C�s garb; Maryann cooking out in the mid-sixties, another picture of Mom, Karen & Kathy in their �pool??? on their Grandma & Grandpa Morgan�s farm; Keith hamming it up in late �66; Keith at his first birthday party in �67 with Grandpa Owens and cousins Tony & Lisa; and finally Great Grandma & Grandpa Morgan with Aunt Norma in �69.

Here we have Great Grandma & Grandpa Morgan in July of 1970; Keith with a fish about the same time period; Grandmaw Brown, GGma Morgan and Uncle Ralph�s mom (I think?) in August of �74 on Elmwood St; Ann in her Easter outfit, circa �74; little Annie in kindergarten picture in �75, then a couple of her from �76 � the 1st at church and the second posing in her tap dance outfit; Mom, Aunt Norma & Kathy at the Spoor�s on Father�s Day, 1976; May 1st, 1977 featuring Mom, GGma Morgan and Norma at Grandmaw�s dining room table; Grandpaw at that same spot in May of �78 with Schnappsie; The Song of Norway � Mom�s cruise ship on her honeymoon – in June of �78 (taken during a stop in Puerto Rico); Ann�s 3rd grade picture, Dee�s 2nd grade picture and finally Dee in a cast in �79/�80.

I told you there were a bunch; here we go again�Rob, Nathan & I in Nate�s backyard in Kokomo in August of �80; Vird & Rob on Easter, 1980; Ann�s grandma Owens in the middle of the decade; Grandpaw Brown in January of 1981; Ann in the fall of �81; me with Brown grandparents, outside their home in August of 1981; Rob on Christmas of 1982; Rob on his birthday in �84; Rob & I on Thanksgiving a month later; Keith & Gigi on a dock in Cali; Dad in a motel in �85 with the Delta 88 parked outside � no doubt we were on vacation somewhere�; Mom with her high school girlfriends in �85 � they got together each year for a long weekend; and Dad with his Moose buddies at a bowling tourney also in the spring of 1985.

One more small batch: Dad with Tuffy in his FC sweatshirt (!), circa �89; Ann in her FC school picture in the fall of �88/�89; Rob, Grandpaw and myself � with Peanuts in the winter of �89; Mom w/ Peanuts in the winter of 1990; Ann, Keith, MaryAnn and Deanna at Keith�s wedding in LaPorte (St. Peter�s?) in �92; and finally that cute little shit, Matt in our Columbus apartment at Christmas of �96. We had to put our speakers in front of the tree to keep his curious little hands from pulling the poor tree over! 🙂

OK; that�s all I have for this edition of the Scheu Family Blog. Thanks as always for checking in with us and hanging out for a little while. We�ll catch up with you next time. Until then, have a good one.
Later, Scheu