Reflections, November Rains and December Snows

I sit here typing this morning feeling every bit my 61 years 8 1/2 months....the cold I acquired over Thanksgiving is still hanging on, my ankle and legs hurt, and my body aches.  Anyone that thinks growing old, even gracefully, is a treat, hasn't been there.  Don't get me wrong, I'm in pretty good shape for someone my age, still holding in the 185 pound range, where I was in the 210 area code some 15 months ago.  My blood pressure is good, even though I still take some mild medications for it, and my pre-Diabetes 2 is at bay.  Add that to the fact that I can still officiate 250 or so High School sports contests per year, I guess I shouldn't complain...but I still do!

After officiating my 4th basketball game in two nights, I drove home from Spencerville...thankful for the night off I have coming, because another double header Junior High game here in Celina tomorrow, then after a JV Boys game at Wapakoneta on Friday night, I have 3 games, a JH Girls double at Elida, followed by another Boys JV contest north in Continental Saturday.  Making 6 games and one scrimmage since last Friday, and another 7 games between now and Saturday night.  What the Hell am I thinking?  These retirement years are supposed to see a bit of a slow down....so far, I'm refusing to play the game.

Without a doubt, basketball is the hardest on the body of my three sports...sure you can get dinged up in baseball and twist an ankle or knee in football...but for plain old wear and tear on the legs, knees, and back...none of them top roundball.

November becomes December, and the first snow arrives____

It rained from Monday night through yesterday afternoon....the cold front had swept through just before I arrived in Spencerville in the Jeep, with the new replacement windshield in place.  After the games, on the way home via the back roads of Ohio 66 and route 197...the ended rain was freezing on the sides of the roadways.  This gave me a chance to shift the Wrangler into 4 wheel drive for the first time of the season, just to make sure it was engaging and still working...no problem.  I got home, Patricia was in the process of baking another batch of her Christmas Cookies, and fixing supper.  I grabbed a frosted glass from the freezer and poured the first of 3 Guinness Extra Stouts that I would consume while watching The O'Reilly Factor, and some college basketball in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.  Ohio State dumped Florida State 58-44, as the Big Ten took a 4-2 lead in the series.  Tonight #1 Duke takes on #6 Michigan State in the glamor game of the series.  I'm a long time Blue Devils fan and will certainly be rooting for them...however, I am also a Big Ten and OSU fan, and hope that league wins their 2nd straight challenge.

This morning I awoke, with cold still in my head and body still aching, around 8 o'clock...as I looked out, it was plain to see that the rains of the past 24 hours had turned to the first "sticking" snow of the season.  December1st seems like a good day to realize that winter has set in....where has 2010, and in fact the first 11 years of this "new" century gone?

I remember growing up in Venice, Florida, back in the 1950s, thinking that the year 2000 was so far in the future, that it would never get here...and that it seemed like it was so far away, that it was like living forever....how wrong was I on that?  In the bat of an eye, 50 years and more have flown bye.

Anyway, the snow isn't much, but I did get a photo of some of it stuck on Livingston Street in front of my house, looking towards the old Mersman property, where they are completing the Senior Citizen housing...those should be available for occupancy by spring.  Also a photo of the new window, still with tape to solidify the seal, with this mornings half inch of snow clinging to it.

Off to George's Barber Shop at lunch to get "my ears lowered", and then I think I will kick back and try to rest the aches and pain, and work on the next segment of Riff Refs view of the sports world on The MAC Online{Click the blind ref in the right border to see the latest installment}. Or you can click the link below:
 http://www.themaconline.com/macword/?cat=54

 And one final bit...thanks to all that stop by this blog....November saw, by far, the greatest number of "visitors" and "page views" since I started keeping track @sitemeter.... 3630 Visitors(121 per day) and 5634 pages viewed(188 per day), far outdistancing my previous highs of both, set in September of this year.

back later>>>>

Photos-Reflections as I pour my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, cups of Coffee this morning, and views of the first, albeit spartan, snow of the year, on the street in front of the house, and on the newly installed windshield on the Jeep Wrangler...the 4th windshield on that vehicle since I purchased it 8 years ago...stones and whether, in addition to the unique slant and design, seem to be the culprits.