Happy February & HodgePodge!

Woody the Woodchuck is Michigan's Official Groundhog.

Her schtick is she has to come out of her stump and stay for 30 seconds to signify an early spring.  If she goes back in before that - 6 more weeks of winter. 

Fun fact - she's got a better track record than Phil does!  

She's got a 65% accuracy rate, where Phil only has 38%.  But this year, she agreed with him. 

How about....

If winter could stay around 30* - that would be perfect.  

Last weekend was the VFW's Dept of Michigan Mid-Winter Conference and one of the main events is a banquet announcing the Patriot's Pen and Voice of Democracy winners.  

In a quick nutshell - middle school kids write an essay on the topic that the VFW chooses, and high school kids record a 3–5-minute speech on their topic.  Ever since I've been the chairpeep at my post for this program, there have been 2 separate topics, but this year it was the same for both - "How are you showing patriotism & support for our country?"  

The entries are judged at the post level - the winner goes on to compete at district level and then onto state and national levels.  So, this banquet had the 12 district winners there and the state winners were announced.  

I know there was one very proud family (and VFW post who sponsored them), since their kids won both the PP and VOD!!  

These kids can win a truckload of $$, (idk about other posts, by mine gives $300 to the VOD winner), district gave I think $500 and the state winner got $6000 and an all-expense paid trip to Valley Forge and will compete against 51 other kids for the $35,000 national win.  

Anyhooo.  I took last Friday off work and drove the 2 1/2 hours to Kalamazoo and spent 2 peaceful nights alone in a hotel.  Heavenly!  

Saturday during the day, there was various meetings & trainings that I really didn't need to go to, but it makes the post look good to have more people in attendance.  Saturday night was the banquet.  The last couple years it was just the people from my post and maybe one or two others at our table, but this time the hall was packed!  We had 5 old guys from various other local posts with us, which means we got to hear some great stories!  

 Sunday, I got up & had breakfast, then chilled in my room until time to check out.  I had planned to go explore a couple cemeteries (because I like to do that!)

But I had no desire to risk getting stuck!  

I went to a second cemetery and was able to drive thru, but I decided not to get out to walk around because it was like 12*F out, even tho the sun made it look nicer. 

So I went home. 

**********************

Time for the Wednesday HodgePodge!

1. The Winter Olympics kick off on Friday, February 6th...on a scale of 1-10 how excited are you? (1= eh and 10=watching every event all day every day). What's your favorite Winter Olympic sporting event?

A solid 1.5.  I enjoy watching the opening ceremonies and maybe whatever events I happen to catch.  But I don't plan my day around it or set an alarm reminding me to turn on this or that event.  

2. In other sporting news, the Superbowl (American football's championship game) will be played on Sunday, February 8th. So tell us...what's your superpower?

This one required a LOT of thought!   Creativity?  Imagination?  I like to make things. 

3. Are you a romantic?

Hmmm.  Maybe not in the traditional sense.  The Spouse & I just like to be together.  We don't have to do anything per se.  Pre-covid & grandkids we used to have date nights where we would park the car at Tim Hortons, walk down the block a little bit and get dinner at Taco Bell, then go back to Timmy's to get a coffee, then we'd go walk around thru the Salvation Army.  Ridiculous, yes.  But we were together and that's all that matters.  We really need to start doing that again. 

4. Blue cheese-yay or nay? How about feta? If you said yes to one or both, what's a dish you like that calls for one of these?

Yes & yes!  Feta more than bleu, tho.  We always have Sunday breakfast at the same local diner and they have a "capri scramble" that's scrambled eggs with tomato, mushrooms, spinach & feta.  It's so good!   And I have had a burger somewhere called a black & bleu that had bleu cheese & mushrooms that was delicious, too. 

 
5. What's more important - doing what you love or loving what you do?

My first thought was the Clay Walker song, "if I could make a living" - it's got a line similar to that!

I agree with Joyce - this is a trick question!  At first it seems like the same thing.  But once you think harder - it's not.  Doing what you love is more for hobbies, or what you choose to do.  Like I love doing Halloween stuff.  Loving what you do?  When it comes to work... eh NO.  I don't ~love~ my job.  It's a paycheck and since I've been there almost 26 years, there's a definite sense of possibly misguided loyalty.  The search & rescue team?  Enjoy.  The VFW?  Enjoy most of the time.   

6. Insert your own random thought here. February is the month of ❤️...

You'd think with a last name like our's (Love!!)

that we'd go all out.

Nope. 

This is the best Valentines meme ever!!!

Linking up at From This Side of the Pond!

Icy HodgePodge

Happy Wednesday! Welcome to the latest edition of Wednesday HodgePodge!

I'm linking up at From This Side of the Pond like I have been for the last couple weeks.

 

1. I live in the south so we're pretty much only talking about the weather right now. Give us a weather report from where you live. Does the kind of weather you're having today affect your mood in some way?

I'm in SE Michigan so winter weather isn't much of a surprise to us.  However, this single digit, cold-hurts-your-face, frozen nostrils nonsense can go away anytime.   We had an insanely hot summer last year, so maybe this is balancing it out?   I was supposed to go to Arkansas last weekend (see my last post) but I'm kind of glad my flight was cancelled since getting home probably wouldn't have happened when planned.  We have snow here, but they got the ice, too - and ice sucks no matter where you are! 

The last couple days, the sun has been breaking thru the clouds and makes the snow sparkle & everything seems a lot less BLAH than if it was continually dreary.  It's blinding but it's pretty. 

2. Avocados, kale, cauliflower and cottage cheese have all had their time to shine. 2026 brings us the year of the cabbage. Is this a vegetable you like? If so, what are some of your favorite dishes that call for cabbage?
Meh, I could take it or leave it.  I've fine with wraps or whatever that include cabbage and I enjoy coleslaw, however I don't like it cooked.  I just learned that!  I honestly hadn't thought about it until now. 

3. Was a Cabbage Patch Doll a part of your childhood? Or maybe your children's childhood? What's a toy trend from your childhood you remember wanting for your own?  

My mom was one of those people who never bought name brands, so I had a homemade by somebody / wannabe that looked like it had a run-in with a trash compactor. 

I am the youngest of 5 so I got a lot of hand-me-downs.  I don't remember ever wanting a trending toy anyway.  I had Barbies and Breyer horses, tho. 

4. Something you've spent a lot of time doing lately?

 Ummm - being lazy?  I look at the disaster that my house is and I just don't wanna deal with it.  

5. Somehow it's the last week of January...sum up your month in just three sentences.

I'm glad the days are getting longer. 

I wish I had a heated driveway so I didn't have to shovel snow!

I feel guilty that there are still skeletons on my patio. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I took all the Christmas blowmolds in a couple weeks ago, but I leave the snowmen out until sometime in February.  It helps with the long dark evenings. 

However, this guy doesn't look happy!

Thanks, Joyce! 

Adventures in (non)travel!

I was ~supposed~ to go visit the Spouse in Arkansas this weekend.  

Yeah, that, too

Seeing as how this post is happening on Friday, it clearly didn't happen!

I went last year, too. And it started out pretty dicey. 

2025 part 1

2025 part 2

I sense a trend of this NOT being an easy trip for me!

Anyhooo.  My flight was supposed to leave out of Flint Bishop Airport at 5:44pm.  I was up early, at work at 6am, did a half day in the office, then came home "worked" from home until 2pm. 

Normally I travel and do stuff with a 3 foot skeleton with googly eyes who wears a tux (aka Chuck) but I only took a carry on so there wasn't room for Chuck in all his glory.  

Welcome to Mini Chuck.

I almost didn't get him in time, but as I got in the car, I saw the mail truck on the other side of the street.  By the time I got gas in the car and came back - the mail had been delivered!

Perfect travelling size!

The Flint Airport has paper airplane art!

I got to the airport with plenty of time.  I prefer coming here over Detroit Metro because it's smaller and less traffic / fewer people. 

However, this means that my flights require a change of planes in Chicago before going on to Little Rock. 

The Spouse was watching FlightAware.com and was keeping me informed, usually faster than the airline itself was!

At this point, I'd already missed my Little Rock connection and was going to have to stay at a hotel in Chicago for the night.  

When I clicked "view other flights" there was nothing. 

AAARGH!!!

We were told there were significant mechanical issues also and they had to change planes. 

And then the snow started in Flint!

But we got a plane.  

I don't remember the plane last year being this small, but it must have been.  It just goes back & forth between Flint & Chicago.

And we proceeded to sit there until after midnight because visibility was only about 1/2 mile.

Watching the plane get fuel. 

We'd watched it land and there was already more than an inch of snow on the wing. 

As we waited, we heard about a maintenance snow sweeper truck that got stuck on the runway, so even if visibility had cleared, we would have had to wait for that to get moved.  And that late, airport workers were already going home so they had to find someone to move that truck, make sure the de-icing crew was on standby, etc, etc. 

Then they just cancelled the flight until today. 

And had to track down workers to put the jet bridge back.

I felt sorry for the people who were trying to get home!  I feel very fortunate that I was able to just cancel my flight completely and come home.  Yes I'm bummed that I didn't see my Sweetie or get to go to the bathhouse (or eat real southern BBQ) but I didn't have any solid plans for the weekend.  An older lady (who was quite hilarious - she sang happy birthday - loudly - to another passenger who was trying to go to Nashville with her friends to celebrate and then prayed - loudly - to Jesus & all the saints for everyone to get to their destinations safely, etc) and her daughter had been in town for a cousin's funeral and were trying to get home.  

By the time I got back out to my car, there was 4 inches of powdery snow and crazy drifts from the wind.  It only took me 45 minutes to get to the airport, but an hour & 15 minutes to get home. 

It was hard to see the lanes on the highway.  I followed a truck for 35 miles because the wind was tossing his trailer around and I was afraid to pass him!

It was well after 3am when I got home and thankfully the Spawn kept the grandkids quiet and they left me alone until I woke up on my own at 11!  I haven't slept that good / long in I don't know how long, guess being up close to 23 hours will do that to a body. 

Maybe next year's attempt will be less eventful...?

Sigh.  Guess I'll save a vacation day and go to work Monday. 

Boooooo.