The February Thaw!

It appears that the next 4 days will see our massive ice and snow accumulation take a hit...maybe "massive" is a bit of an overstatement, however, the ice under the snow is at least 6 to 7 inches thick in some places...or was!  It took a hit over the past weekend, and with sun today and tomorrow, with temperatures ranging from the low 40s today to the low fifties tomorrow, much will be gone by the time the upper 50s to near 60 arrive, with some rain on Thursday and Friday....

I have to admit, February is a change over month...by the time it arrives, especially in years like this, where the winter has been long and cold, you are sick and tired of the season.  Sure February usually isn't warm, but you do, on occasion, get a brief hint of Spring...then by March you can feel the sun warming, and when April hits, you at least get 50% of the days where you can enjoy the outdoors with no coat, or at least just a lite jacket or sweat shirt.  So this week will be our "hint" of Spring, and the extended forecast, looking out 10 to 15 days, doesn't look all that bad...some cool, some warmer, but no days that are forecast to be bitter or with major snow accumulations.  At least that is the Ohio forecast.  For those of you to the north, good luck....to the south, watch out for the early Spring storms and Tornadoes....

We finished up the Dartball regular season last night...our team went out with a bang, defeating our cross town opponents, Bethany United, three games to none.  So after a dismal first half, which saw us lose our first 9 games, and finish 6 wins 15 loses, we bounce back and win 13 to 8 defeats in the second half of the season....no league playoffs for us, but we did improve, and some of our younger players really stepped up.   The post season tournament will be held beginning this Sunday at Hopewell Lutheran, we take on perennial power Schumm, whom we split with during the regular season 3 games each.....they took 3 at their Church, we took the 3 at ours.  I finished first on the team in both batting average at .367 and in RBIs with 24...the average down from last year, when I finished in 2nd place in the league with a .441.17 just a fraction out of first(the top average was .441.34), but my RBI's with 15 in the second half was 3 more than last year...our team got steadily better as the season progressed...anything can happen come tournament time, and usually does.  I make the all-star team for the 14th time in my 17 seasons playing this type with the large wood darts, tossing underhand.

As Dartball winds down, so does my personal basketball officiating season....a regular season Junior High double header in boys action at Lima Central Catholic tonight....and a 7th grade boys tournament double in Celina on Thursday.  Friday back to High School action at Wapakoneta...then off Saturday for Hal and Lisa's post wedding reception in Fairborn, back to Dartball on Sunday.  Next week, just one game on the agenda, that being a final JV Boys contest at Allen East.  Then I can concentrate on Baseball Season....and hopefully some warmer conditions to work in...but Spring snows have cancelled many a contest over my umpiring career.  Meanwhile rules meetings to be caught up on...my first will be in Van Wert tomorrow night...I already completed the State Meeting, they are now offered "on-line" in all 3 of my sports...saving time and gas.

That's about it for this morning....will let the sun, weaken up the ice cover and see if I can help clear off the walks....I would be remiss if I didn't "brag" a bit about my score on the video Miniature Golf game located on the right border of this blog....a 24 with an opening string of holes in one, made for my best score ever, played last night before hitting the sack!!

back later>>>>

Photos-The ice is still with us, the driveway is a sheet of mixed ice and slush, which freezes overnight and melts during...the walks both out front and in the back yard still have at least of 2 or 3 inches of cover...it should melt by Friday, if the forecast is correct...and finally my scoreboard from the best score of the video mini golf game(see right border column)...I started with 10 consecutive holes in one!  Ya~Hoo!