Our updates for all of you

No, not us. But for a week starting tomorrow we're a "Nielsen" TV rating family! We got a call last month asking if we'd be interested. I said sure! Why not! So yesterday we got the booklets to fill out and then send back. It might be interesting since the majority of TV shows we normally watch are not on or in continual re-runs from the writers strike. I've read that some will be back in April or May for a few shows, while others won't be on again until next fall now. So, I know that everybody wants to get what they believe is 'their piece of the pie'. But with many articles being written about more and more people turning away from "traditional" network programming, I'd kinda think that the just ended strike would have been the worst thing possible! Other news, well our weather has remained pretty stable- cold! In talking with Laura yesterday, in her area of Iowa they're dealing with snow and cold like we'd had last month. She

And yes they are. Just doing the thing called life as luckily, nothing of real note going on around here. I'm guessing that the real snows of winter '07 - '08 are finished. The temps have been up to the right at 40's in the day and around 32 at night. We've had some periods of rain and even some sunny days so we just worry that it will go warm fast instead of gradually which would cause a good deal of flooding in our area as well as guaranteed flooding in our basement room. There are still mountains of snow piled up all over the north end of the state. Although its starting to 'disappear' there are places around the house that are still four feet deep with snow. Other things to update. Laura's information from her husbands family in Las Vegas to her family in Iowa was a little off. But in the big picture of life one isn't that much better than the other, she'd had a mild stroke, not a heart attack as Laura, and we, had been told. Like I said thou

We've been pretty busy here the past week. Still lots of snow and still snowing right now! I've been busy driving, I was at it from 7:45 am yesterday until 12:30 am this morning because I took the High School Jazz Band to a concert down in CDA at the College. I watched them during the practice session. Well at least they TRIED! Pretty bad, which is a little sad. I think that some of the 13 members attitudes of "at least its getting us out of school for the day" are to blame. Last school year I took the Jr High to a similar concert, it was kind of embarrassing, but they also tried! And that's one of the things about the schools up here. They still have the opportunities to try at the districts expense. Golf, Archery, Ski trips this time of year for all grades, Bowling, all kinds of activities that have long been extinct from the old California schools our kids attended. Stacy has been putting in many days of long hours still getting her 'charges' in the sys