I need to vent

Okay, completely Olympic curling related.

Really, these are the best teams in the US? You can't draw the fucking eight foot? With last rock? Time to find a new sport champ. You suck! You had a run, now find a bar to throw darts in and drink beer full time.

Just frustrating to watch. Sorry if you don't know curling and are reading this but I need to vent. The US men's team could be 3-1 easily. They look completely lost. The US women? please, if that had a clue it would say "go home and play ping pong". Seriously, at 54 with two bad knees I like my chances against either team.

I also fear the end of competitive curling on the East coast. The almightly dollar (USOC) is not gonna be happy with these results at all. There will be a serious effort to create "all star" teams from this crap fest in Vancouver. Of course, the "center of the universe" has all the curlers that matter. Good luck East Coast, you may get to play for Worlds and Olympics in 20 years if you are lucky.

Okay, now I feel better.

Later
JH

Okay, another try

So, one post in January. Guess I need to decide if this blogging thing will continue or become a once in a while thing. Maybe I just need to collect Facebook status updates and post them here.

What has been happening? Work is crazy with lots of driving to and fro to NJ. That will get worse in February. Curling is kind of over for the season for me due to that. Just wont be in CT enough to make it to the club on a regular basis.

We did host the GNCC Mixed Championship and I did the ice. I must admit, it was really good ice. Nice and fast and decent curl.

Beginning of March sees us off to Kalamazoo for the Nationals. Coaching a women's team out there. First time for me so it will be interesting. Hope I can add something to the team.

Olympics start soon and with it a rush of open houses to hopefully add a bunch of new members. Interest seems pretty good so far with quite a few people already signed up online.

Later,
JH

The new year begins

So, here we are in 2010. It has to better than 2009.

Curling also starts again after a long break for the holidays. I have not really thrown a rock in a month and the break was good. Playdowns are coming up for the US and some of friends in Canada. The Olympics is just around the corner. Have to find time to fit in a bonspiel somewhere I guess.

The Phightins' are just a month or so away from spring training. Winter can't last that much longer. March also begins the run-up to the Run for the Roses. Time to start watching the horsies soon. April brings the melting of the ice. Really does not seem that far away.

And somewhere along the way, I have a feeling a new kitten will enter the picture. Probably one of these.

Later,
JH

One cat household

So, those of you on FB know that we lost Bonspiel. She was the matriarch of the house and ruled all the other cats. Nobody messed with her, even the kitten got his ears pinned back a couple of times while she was still fiesty. At the end she was not so fiesty. History of cats to follow so stop reading if you don't care.

In the beginning (when I moved to CT to marry Mrs. JH) there was Bonspiel and Domino. She had Bonspiel (hence referred to as Bomps cause that is shorter to type) and I brought Domino with me. The first two nights we were together, I slept on the couch. Seems Bomps always slept in bed with Mrs and of course Domino always slept with me. However, the bed (and fighting zone) was not big enough for the two of them. So, off to the couch with the Domino I went. They eventually figured it out and things grew relatively quiet.

A couple of years passed and someone decided we needed a kitten. I blame ours friends and scotch. At an Ardsley curling club party, there was a picture of a cute kitten. Mrs immediately started buying me scotch to listen the tongue to the yes word. Well it worked and Snickle (the baby) entered the house. Bomps loved him, Domino not so much. Bomps decided he was her baby and would groom him and curl up with him. Domino would hiss and spit at the Poodle (who knows where he got that name) and the Poodle would just ignore that and jump on Domino. It all quieted down mostly.

The most stressful times were "daddy lap times". I would settle in to the comfy chair to watch TV and it became a contest for the lap. Both Domino and Bomps would want to be there. Poodle would be content with curling up by my feet. Having two cats (both 15+ pounds) fight over your lap is not really that much fun. Things always worked out. One would end up pouting on top of the couch or somewhere.

At the end of 2008, we lost Domino. At 17 or so, it was a long life. Then we lost the Poodle in the summer to what we think was a brain tumor. No life left in him at the end. This week we lost Bomps, who slipped away quietly one day.

Now, we are left with the nutball who is Skippy. Part Domino, part dog, mostly crazy. He makes us laugh every day. He has not yet found the joy of curling up in my lap but that will happen. Took Poodle almost 5 years to be a lap cat. He will curl up with Mrs on the couch if I am not here. All the better to protect her as he is known to growl when a strange noise happens.

I am sure that sometime in the not so distant future there will be another addition to the family. For now we will enjoy the "quiet" that one cat provides.

Later,
JH

Rudolph the red faced sweeper

What happens when you get bored


Rudolph the red-faced sweeper,
had a very bad delivery
and if you ever saw him
you would say he sucks

All of the other curlers
used to laugh and call him names
they never let poor Rudolph
curl in any important games

Then one tied up extra end
Santa came to say
Rudolph with your face so bright
Please make sure my draw is not light

Then all the curlers loved him
and they shouted out with glee
Santa the draw miester skip
You'll go down in history

(it is all about the skip, after all)

Merry Christmas

To all the invisible readers out there. Merry Christmas!

Santa made an early stop last night and dropped off lots of needed things. Some new toys for the camera and the workshop.

Off to NJ for a couple of days and then home to pack for a one day trip to DC. Have to squeeze in a project down there around the one in NJ. More writing which is not really my strong suit.

Curling returns after the New Year with mixed playdowns at the club. Lots of work on the ice for that. Also have to get the team together for some practice time.

Merry Christmas to all!
JH

First snow of the year

The first snowfall of the year. Makes it look like Christmas. Might even make it feel like Christmas. It started late in the day which was good and bad. Good that the party we attended last night did not get cancelled. Bad in when we got home from the party the driveway was not easy to navigate. After 5 or 6 attempts to make it up the hill which serves as the driveway finally got the car to a point where it could be parked. Not really in the driveway but more on the grass. Good thing the ground is frozen. Should be a lot of fun trying to get it moved and parked for real. At least it stayed there overnight.

The driveway is pretty steep. So steep that I need to wear ice fishing spikes on my boots to use the snow blower. So steep that the previous owner had to put in a pull off at the top after their car slid down the driveway one night. Seems they had parked it as normal, just straight up the drive. Overnight it was a freezing rain which got under the tires. The next morning the car was across the street in the neighbors yard. Just slid down the hill, across the street, over the mailbox and into the yard.

I came pretty close to recreating that last night on one attempt at the driveway. Made it almost to the top and slid back down. Was able to veer away from the mailbox and just hit the curb on the far side of the street.

But it is pretty out there right now. And I get to play with the snowblower later.

Later,
JH