The sun was shining, so....

I asked Dave if he wanted to go to Punxsutawney. Not sure why, but why not? The sun was shining, we have the day off, and nothing else to do, and it's Groundhog Day Weekend, but the only thing I really saw that they were doing today was an ice sculpture exhibit. Turns out, we never found that. We did, however, meet the famous Punxsutawney Phil! It was cool. We got to meet him up close and personal, and didn't have to stand for hours in the cold among a flood of people. So, we can now say, we met Phil, and have been to Gobbler's Knob. Not at the same time, but we did it. And I requested Phil call for less cold, even if we had to go through 6 more weeks of winter.

Like I mentioned, we never did find the ice sculpture thing. We wandered around, took a few photos of some of the "Phantastic Phils", stopped by the Library Zoo, where we could see the groundhogs through the window, then went into the Festival activities tent to find out just what else was going on, which apparently by the middle of the afternoon, didn't really amount to much. That's where we met PHIL and his handler John Griffiths of the Inner Circle. We only stuck around for a little while, but got some pictures, and listened to John tell a story about how they give Phil some groundhog elixir each year, that adds 7 years to his life. He tells us it doesn't work on people. LOL. Dave asked that if Phil was there, who was in the Library Zoo. Well, it's Mrs. Phil and Stinky. Stinky? Really? Why would you name a groundhog Stinky and let him hang out with Mrs. Phil? I mean, she's the first lady of weather and all, right? Weird. (Yeah, ok, and I am being silly too) LOL PICTURES HERE :-)

Anyhow.... we left there, and took some more "Phantastic Phils" pictures and stopped at the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center. It was located in a building that was once the Post Office. I found the Post Office stuff more interesting that the weather stuff. Kids would have found it fun though. It had little weather related activities to teach how weather works. And had a little TV weather corner where you could 'broadcast' your own weather telecast.

We found a few more Phantastic Phils, then headed to Gobbler's Knob. The PHANTASTIC PHILS are a public art project, where 6 foot tall fiberglass groundhogs were molded and various artists from across the state and country painted them with whatever theme they chose, Phil was somehow incorporated into each name. They were then put on display though the town. Of the 32, we found 21. Some of them were very nice. It's amazing how many different ideas came from the same statue. We had seen buffalo when we passed through Buffalo, NY a few years ago. For some reason, I just think it's a cool project. The lady in the festival tent was saying they had a similar project in Johnstown, with a dog. I've never heard of it though, I'll have to check into it. I guess I just appreciate silly art :-)

Our last stop was Gobbler's Knob. It was a nice little park. And everything appeared to already be set up for Tuesday (with LOTS of lights already ON so he can see his shadow easily). We walked right up to the stage, which will be nearly impossible for all but a few come Tuesday. We're not really sure where the thousands of visitors will park on Groundhog Day. The park isn't all that big, and all the roads seemed to be marked no parking the whole way up. I'm pretty sure, we'll never visit ON groundhog day, but it was nice to have taken the day to wander around. PICTURES HERE :-)

Here's to Phil not seeing his shadow, or at least giving me the "warmer, please?" that I requested.

More wraslin....

Thursday evening we ventured out to the War Memorial to watch the TNA Wrestling event. TNA is the group that Hulk Hogan recently joined. I was hoping he'd make an appearance, but he did not. So, my BATCH OF PHOTOS won't have any pictures of the Hulkster. :-( We had a good time though, and got some autographs in our program too.

Have I bored you with any pictures lately? No?

Ok, HERE ARE A FEW...



Every year we each end up picking up a few new Christmas ornaments. Mine seem to have a tendency toward the silly and whimsical, while Dave's are more classical. That said, see if you can tell who's are who's.

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Fishies!... mine
Woody Wagon... Dave's. It is this year's Pier One collector's ornament, like the bug I couldn't find ANYWHERE last year!!! I'm still so sad :-(
Cartman... is actually Dave's. It was one of his Christmas gifts from me.
BMets... is an ornament that a client sent me. I work on baseball programs in the winter/spring months for upcoming the baseball season. This one came from the Binghamton Mets. (Thanks again Richard and Heith!!)
The next 3... Dave's
And "Duncan"... is Duncan's ornament in the "Blake Pet Series". A few years ago, a co-worker was painting these. I got them for Tyler, Benson and Patricia which we had at the time, then added two in memory of Riley and Alex. By the time last Christmas rolled around, this girl didn't work with us any longer. So... I was going to try to paint Duncan one to match as well as possible. We found an ornament that matched really well - it's in the background (I've been referring to it as "proxy ball"). We ran into the girl during the summer, then again recently. She stopped in this week to drop off Duncan's ornament. So now they all match!!!

More holiday stuff...

A few years ago, we discovered that Blue Spruce Park out in Indiana has a light display similar to Lakemont's. So we went to check it out again on New Year's Eve. We both got out of work early, and had plenty of time to get there and back before the crazies hit the road. Boy was it a drive! A lot longer that we remembered and the weather was fun. Rain, snow, fog, but we didn't slide through any curves this trip like last time. I thought I remember them having more lights than they did, but then that particular year, we were hitting light displays all over, I think I started mixing them up. LOL. Anyhow... I'm uploading pics, maybe they'll be ready by the time I'm done here...

After we got back from there, we came home and let the boys out, and got them their puppy food, then headed up to Dave's dad's. He had the usual array of snacks and munchies. We hung out for a couple hours, watched the ball drop, headed home, and played with the puppies and watched some Twilight Zone a while before heading to bed. I know, wow, exciting. But I'd call it perfect. I never did go out for New Year's and am content just staying home.

Dave got up early to put the pork and sauerkraut on for dinner. His dad came down after work with us. I did ice cream for dessert. :-)

I did two batches of ice cream this weekend with the new ice cream maker. Friday for New Year's Day dessert I did a recipe out of the Ben & Jerry's recipe book, Coffee Heath Bar Crunch. IT. IS. EXCELLENT! I thought maybe a tad too strong on the coffee, but the guys say no, it's good. Their only suggestion - just crunch up the Heath bars smaller. Saturday we had reruns on the pork and sauerkraut for dinner and I made Orange Sherbert out of another cookbook I received as a Christmas gift (thanks Tina). It was... ok, I guess, but I'll probably change the recipe for next time, or try a different recipe altogether. Dave suggested putting Peach Schnapps in it. LOL

And today, mostly just staying inside where it is warm. It is tooooooo cold out there.

WoO HOo! Pics are done, CHECK THEM OUT. As usual, I ended up taking the wrong lens. I should have grabbed the backpack for the trip, but we stopped for dinner at Chinese on the way, and I didn't want to lug it around. That'll teach me. Everything was further away from the car than I remembered. (Note to self: start lugging the backpack around so you quit whining.)