Bolts Down All-Stars, Lakers

In youth basketball league action today, the Bolts won both games of their double-header, despite the fact that they seemed to be sleepwalking through their first game. (I'd blame the early hour, but they didn't actually tip off until noon.) Their first opponent, the optimistically named All-Stars, had previously gone undefeated but had unfortunately lost their star player to an auto accident this week. Don't worry, the boy will be fine; but he'll be wearing plaster for the next few weeks. The All-Stars looked a little demoralized and flat, and never really seemed to get going; but neither did the Bolts, really. Final ridiculously low score: 4-2.

For their second game, against the Lakers, the boys got a little more energy. It was a close game, tied up at the half; then the Bolts found their groove and pulled away in the fourth quarter to win 16-8.

The video shows Hunter, fouled in the fourth quarter of the All-Stars game, shooting two free throws. He's generally a reliable free-throw shooter, but the sleepwalking thing had kicked in hard at this point. After missing both, he gets his own rebound but manages to miss that shot too. It was like that all day. I have a hunch that Coach is going to hit shooting basics pretty hard at the next practice.

Mike's Vest

Yarn: Elann's Peruvian Highland Wool in Nutmeg Heather
Needles: 8
Pattern: from The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd

Wow, two sweaters finished so far this year & it's only February. I must be on a roll.

Groundhogs, bah

I don't care what Punxsutawney Phil saw. Here in the Midwest it is cold, clear, and sunny; a day like we haven't had for weeks. The weak winter Sun is blindingly bright off the new snow -- plenty of shadows to go around. Looks like Spring won't show her face for another six weeks.

If Candlemas Day be bright and clear,
Two winters there will be this year.

A Riddle for the icy weather

Q: What do you get when you cross a 15-ton schoolbus, a slushy soft shoulder, and a car trying to pass on a narrow country road?

A: A really big trench dug into the side of the road.

Bolts Win Opening Game, 12-4

No, it's not a baseball score -- it's the results of the twice-delayed (due to the ice storms) opening weekend of Hunter's youth basketball league. When your tallest player is not quite yet five feet tall, there's not a lot of scoring. Still, the boys did very well; they are getting the hang of things like setting picks and rebounding. The Bolts, in yellow, score their third bucket in this clip. Hunter, wearing number 2, mostly stands around under the basket looking confused, but there you go.

(Some notes on YBL rules: Games consist of four quarters of seven minutes each; jump balls are given out-of-bounds to each team on an alternating basis; fouls result in a turnover rather than free throws.)

Snow Fort

We ended up getting about eight inches of wet, heavy, persimmon-spoon snow last night. So the first order of business this morning was shoveling the walk, tossing a few snowballs at one another, and building a snowman.

Then Mike & Hunter decided to build a snow fort in the backyard. Of course, it should come as no surprise that a fort designed by Mike is going to be over-engineered to the nth degree. This one is built of bricks made from compressed snow -- we used an old broken toolbox as a brick-making mold. Here's the first couple of rows laid down in a horseshoe pattern.

We all got involved in the massive construction project. We took turns shoveling snow, tamping it down to make the bricks, and patting loose snow all around the rows as the "mortar" between the bricks.

Near the top, Mike began angling the rows to get the top to curve inward. The top doesn't close all the way like an igloo, but has a narrow chimney-like opening at the top. The finished fort is somewhere around five and a half feet tall.

Thanks for the awesome fort, Dad!

More snow

What's that on the other side of the glass? Well, it's kinda hard to see, but YEP -- it's snowing again. Pyewacket is distinctly unimpressed.