Volleyball Player!

Folks, we have a volleyball player in the house!  Reina had her first elementary game this afternoon.  She joined the team last year but they just had a few weeks of practice before Covid closed school and canceled the season.  She's been practicing for a few weeks this year, then the snowstorm canceled the first game last week so we had to wait until today to see her on the court.  I had a preview of her volleyball skills because she and I practiced (with some new friends that we've made as part of the Adopt-an-Airman program) yesterday and I was BLOWN AWAY with her skills.  We were practicing on a full sized net and Reina was serving the ball with no problems and getting a lot of bumps and even a few sets. She was so nervous about today's game but once it started, she settled right in.  She got all of her sets over and was almost perfect with her passing.  Her team won 2 games to 1 and it was very exciting!  Volleyball is a little different speed than Will's basketball games - the girls are very encouraging to each other and there's a lot of cheering and clapping.  As we watched the ball hit the floor a few times, Glenn remarked that there aren't a lot of ball hogs either!  :)  

I sent this picture to Pop-pop, Grandma and Aunt V.  Pop-pop made Reina's day by writing back "who's #44?  I don't know her - does she play for Central (the high school team)?"  

Getting ready to play some defense!

One of her killer serves.  The net in her league is lower than a regulation sized so she had no problem getting it over the net and serving it strong.  

 Win or lose, Reina girl, we just love watching you play.  

A Letter to the Birthday Boy

 Dear Will:  Today you are fourteen. 14!  Where has the time gone?  I know, I know. I start every birthday letter with those words - I just change the year.  But seriously, how can I have a fourteen year old?  One more year until you can get a learner's permit?  Eeek!  

A few days ago, you asked me if you could stay home from school today to watch March Madness at celebrate your birthday.  You were still home on a snow day at the time, so I said I'd think about it.  Then school was canceled the next day, then the next and then today school was canceled too.  So you got your wish!  

I'm more cognizant of your privacy as you get older and I hesitate to gush about  all of your weird little idiosyncrasies.  So here's what I will talk about.  Your love your pets.  You continue to come up with intricate backstories for all of them, that changes on a daily basis.  Soxy sleeps on your bed during the day and usually comes to find you at night too.  You rarely call them by their actual name and instead invent of series of nicknames, which also change daily.   

Soxy loves you more than it looks like in this picture 

You also love your sports.  I think football is your favorite but you also go all in on whatever sport season it is.  I can hear your shooting baskets in the hall upstairs even though your basketball season ended a few weeks ago.  You have baseball practice tomorrow morning and your first game is in just a few weeks.  You'll be ready!  You told me a few months ago that you thought you might like to be a coach when you grow up.  I think you'll be terrific at whatever you set your mind to but I also think you'd make a heck of a coach.  

For your birthday, you asked me to make sausage casserole for lunch, you ordered wings for dinner and requested a chocolate cake for dessert.  I make a giant-sized hostess cupcake cake which is your favorite. I pulled this cake out of the oven and showed it to you and you giggled. I inadvertently made you a boob cake for your 14th birthday.  Hmm.  

Will, you are doing really well in school.  Your dad and I are proud of your effort and your grades.  You've registered for high school classes and I'm excited to see what you will learn.  This year you've become much more interested in politics and things in the news.  We have good conversations and you do like a good debate.  You hunt with your dad and every once in a while bail your sister out in her video game.  You let your cousins talk your ear off.  We couldn't be prouder of the young man you are growing up to be.  Happy birthday Will.  

Snow Days

I have to say, I'm a little tired of writing about historic events that we are experiencing from the confinement of our house, but here's another one.  We are digging our way out of the biggest snowstorm our community has experienced since 1979.  We officially had 36 inches of snow from Saturday to Monday.  The kids have Snow Day #3 tomorrow.  Government offices are closed but Glenn and I are working from home.  It's wild to see how much snow is on the ground.  

Reina on top of the pile from cleaning off the driveway. 

Reina sledding down our street before the plow came through.

Will helping Glenn shovel on Monday after the snow started to taper off.

Glenn taking on the sidewalk. He shoveled a path and took on the driveway and then our neighbor came over with his snowblower and helped finish it up.  We are taking him a gift card as soon as we can get out! 

I've had to teach an online class this week so I've missed some of the shoveling and clean-up.  This afternoon, Glenn sent me a message while I was in my class that our grocery store pharmacy was giving out COVID vaccines to anybody who could make it there.  When my class finished up at 3, I put on my snowboots and walked about 2 miles to the store.  On my way there, I kept telling myself not to get my hopes up because there were a lot of people who could easily get to the store because the roads were opening up.  Most of the roads have been plowed but there's just been about an 8 foot wide path cut so only car can get through at a time.  I was able to walk on the road for most of the route, but I did have to slog through some big drifts.  I made it to the store and stood in line behind one other person.  I was handed a clipboard, filled out some information, waited a few more minutes and got my first vaccine.  I knew it was real when the clerk handed me my vaccine passport with a note to come back in April for round 2.  And yes, I got a little teary-eyed.  I'm so glad I can stay healthy and help keep everyone else healthy too.  Even better?  Glenn shoveled a little path to get his truck onto our road and came and picked me up so that I didn't have to walk back home.  It's mostly uphill on the way back so I was happy about that.  Plus, I did a little post-vaccine celebration grocery shopping and stocked up on some items that we were running low on.  All of the roads have been closed in and out of town so store shelves were pretty bare but I grabbed some goodies to tide us over until things open up for good.  

Definitely not Spring yet

We are on the tail end of an epic snowstorm, even by Wyoming standards.  As of about 4 pm today, the National Weather Service reported that we had 30 inches of snow in Cheyenne since yesterday morning.  That's more snow than we've had in a 2-day period since 1979.  Yikes!  At our house, we've lucked out a little bit.  Our power has stayed on so we've had heat and been able to cook.  Glenn shoveled a path for the dogs to go outside and do their (ahem) business.  He also made a path to the chicken coop after I waded through waist deep snow to take them food this morning.  The chicken girls are warm and snug too, and not interested in venturing outside of the coop, thank you very much.  

The dogs, while appreciative of Glenn's hard work, were confused because they usually don't take bio breaks in the front yard.  

Before the shoveling.  

Reina working on a diorama about ancient Japan.  Yes, those are pajamas and yes it was the middle of the afternoon.  Snowy days have different rules.  

The literal calm before the storm. I took this picture Saturday morning.  The storm arrived a little later than forecasted so I took the dogs to the field for one last run to tire them out.  An inordinate amount of my time is spent figuring out how to tire out the dogs.  

School is canceled tomorrow.  Glenn and I don't get a snow day but we do get to work from home.  We'll both probably have to take a little bit of time off to shovel the driveway.  Roads are pretty impassable right now but we'll have to get out eventually.  This moisture will certainly help our drought situation but wowzer, I wouldn't have minded it being spread out over a few more weeks.  

Felt like Spring but it's probably not

It felt like Spring today, well Spring in a normal climate.  Spring in Wyoming is usually marked by nice days, then a snow storm, some wind, another nice day, a hard freeze and then Summer.  So maybe it is a typical Spring day in Wyoming.  But we made sure to enjoy the weather.  I wanted to work in the garden but the compost bin is frozen so that'll have to wait a while.  We did some yard work and I took the dogs for a long field run so it was a good day.  

Tootsie is alive, just really tired.  

Charlie is scared because someone has a camera

Trigger and a giant leftover moose bone 

We finally convinced Charlie to enjoy the sunshine

As the day went on, I felt a little off-kilter. I think the weather was reminding me so much of last March when everything shut down and we stayed at home for weeks on end.  I know the pandemic is not over  yet, even though more and more people are getting vaccinated. I hope Glenn and I get a call soon.