Hello again from the nation's capital !
We are either shoveling snow or chilled to the bone. There are no signs of spring in the air, although we saw six mallards flying over the arena Friday afternoon. We shoveled snow every day this week and it remains cold. The fresh snow on the road every morning makes the drive to work a challenge. There has been a bus drivers strike in Ottawa since early December. The increased volume of traffic and road conditions add to everyones misery. Thankfully the government stepped in and forced the city and union to binding arbitration. There was very little support in the city for the strikers; except from the CBC and other commie run social networks. Hopefully they don't 'give away the farm' to the bus drivers. With the announcement of the settlement the union said they would need another week before getting the buses back on the road. A fine example of how beaurocratic and complicated the city remain. The car dealerships have been selling lots of used cars to people who have never owned a car before and also to families for a second car. A lot of people sware they won't use the bus again. Not good for the environment I guess. It will be nice to have less traffic on the road.
We had another busy week in the cold and snow. We had hockey practise on Monday and Friday night and a game on Saturday morning. The game was played out in Russell. Our first game at their arena. We were referee'd by two totally lazy dim witted teenagers. They had trouble keeping up with the players, thus could not call proper offsides. They did manage to call the most obvious. One ref even said to us he wasn't calling too many offsides. What????? We had players being hooked, slashed and roughed into the boards on every shift. The manager (Randy) was kept busy tending to bruised throats, necks, wrists and legs. Our guys were no angels. They too performed some obvious penalties. Not one penalty was called during the game. The other teams coaches were also amazed at the imcompetence. Our head coach was thrown off the bench for yelling at the kids. He had called the ref a couple times before for not calling penalties. The ref's got pissed for being told what to do and called him off the bench. We should prepare and send in a complaint. It doesn't help as it only creates work and to much hassle. The governing officials report they have a hard enough time hiring ref's as it is so don't take any crap from coaches and fans.
We ended up losing the game 3-4. It was a fast hard hitting game. We shouldn't be reporting the hard hitting action. One kid on the other team always managed to knock one of our players down every time he skated off the ice. It was almost amusing. Carter played a very good game with two goals. His wrist shot was most impressive and his aim even better. He should have had ten assists as well. He can pass the puck in front of the net with three opponents in between. He played good position, skated hard and back checked with speed and agility. He had a few break aways, thus the two goals. He was tripped on one a few feet in front of the net. It was totally obvious; yet no penalty. At breakfast we jokingly promised we'd buy him a squishie (slurpy) at the convenience store if he got a hatrick today. Of course he wanted cash! Anyhow, he almost achieved his goal. Maybe offering cash per goal is a good incentive.
The rest of the day was spent cleaning the house, doing laundry, shopping for groceries, preparing meals, at a birthday party and oh yes, shoveling snow. Randy also managed to get to a couple of local hockey games and Paula some photo-shopping. Not all work and no play. Paula made us tender moist ribs with baked potato's for a late dinner. They were scrump-dillie-icious. We watched 'The Hulk' after dinner and were straight to bed afterward.
We were up early again this morning. Carter was asked to choose between hockey at 8:00am or Lacrosse at 9:00am. He chose Lacrosse. we got to sleep in until 7:30am. Man, what a treat for a Sunday morning. We all had a good nights rest. Randy had a bad dream, night mare; his older brother was serving him a cup of coffee. Thankfully he woke up before swalling any liquid. Man, it was to weird. He'd have much prefed an espresso or even a beer or martini ...Ha! Anyhow, while Carter scrimaged with the guys Randy walked the track at the Field House. We both had an invigorating work out. Randy chatted with the professional/experienced walkers as they lapped him on the track. Some obviously cheated and jogged some of the time. Thats my story and I'm sticking to it. These little legs kept the same pace for an hour. We both had fun.
Carter has since gone to I-Play and to go skating on the outdoor rink with his bud. Paula is still cooking up a storm. We have a freezer full of food. Obviously she expects winter to last longer than normal. Hopefully some is for the Super Bowl game.
We received some exciting news from Roberta and Megan yesterday. They are coming to visit us in May. With luck the canal will be thawed, the tulips blooming and spring will be in the air. We look forward to hosting them a few days.
We also look forward to reading your reports. Have a great week.
