The Return

Well, a lot has happened since Father's Day.  I'll start more recently then work backward until I get tired of writing words.
Yesterday, Anders and I met Former Vice President Walter Mondale at a town hall at Westminster Presbyterian Church (Mondale's home congregation) on the Nicolette Mall in Minneapolis.  I saw this event in the paper last week and asked Anders if he wanted to go, which he most enthusiastically did. Anders has been obsessed with the presidents since February when I gave him a place mat from the LBJ Presidential Library.  He knows them all, in order, and knows many fact about each of them.  In addition, he knows many of the vice presidents including Mondale, so his enthusiasm was not a surprise especially considering that Fritz served as Jimmy Carter's VP.  Carter is either Anders' 2nd or  3rd favorite president after Eisenhower who is clearly #1, then it's Carter or Van Buren in some order.  We were a bit out of place at the event as we were about 30 years too late for a Nuclear Freeze protest or 50 years too late for a SANE meeting.  We sat in the second row of the church, right behind Ted Mondale.  Anders listened for the first half hour.  He laughed at a Hubert Humphrey joke Mondale made, then got excited when he mentioned Reagan.  The final half hour was all about holding off the stink eye from Ted Mondale better than he held off Skip Humphrey in the 1998 DFL gubernatorial primary.
Mondale was great, so kind and gracious to us.  I told his aide that my son was four and he would not be able to stand through a book signing.  I told the vice president that his autograph would go in Anders' autograph book next to Mickey and Minnie Mouse, at which he laughed.

Anders was on Cloud Nine for the rest of the day.  He kept asking me if I had his autograph book, when he was not holding it like his most treasured possession.  Anders was almost off the ground as we walked down the Nicolette Mall.

Anna and the boys flew out of Houston on June 26th. I drove out on June 28th in this beast with Greg driving our car behind.

One should probably have a CDL to drive a rig this big. It took about half of Texas to learn how to handle this monster. Houston was the hardest, but I guess I'd say the same about them all: Dallas, Kansas City, Minneapolis.  The cooler temperatures were an immediate and welcome relief once we crossed into the North.  On day two, however, things took a torturous turn as the parking brake warning alarm started going off at Emporia, KS.  The parking brake, which by the way, was not engaged.  When I called U-Haul for help, their solution was to turn hard right or hard left.  As you can see from this picture, taking their advice would be about the only thing worse than listening to "DING! DING! DING!" in the cab for ten straight hours.  It's that sound that your car makes until you put your seal belt on, well increase the volume three times, then multiply by ten hours and you have it.  That would have been bad enough, but by the time we rolled north into Minnesota the real brakes were about 80% shot. Around Owatonna, I tried to merge into one lane for upcoming road construction; instead, I coasted past the line and gently cut off my fellow drivers as the two lanes ended.
I was happy to be fairly sound the next day when we unloaded the truck at our storage unit.  Upon finishing that task, we headed down to the Twin Cities to go house shopping in Eagan, a SE suburb.  Anna and Mandy had visited many homes and neighborhoods the day before so we had our search narrowed down to four homes.  The first home we saw together was our favorite.  I had seen it online a couple weeks before and had a feeling that it would be our home.  The problem was that there was another offer on the house, but it had not been accepted yet.  We put in our best offer, and late that evening learned that our offer had been accepted!  It's never over until closing, but so far the inspection and the radon test have come back in our favor.  We just need the appraisal, and then we close on the 30th.  We showed Anders the home from the car since the seller still live there and the elementary school that he would attend.  He liked both venues.  I thought Eagan would be old corn fields, but it's full of lakes, hills, and trees.  It seems like a great place for us, plus it's much closer to St. Paul than Sugar Land was to Houston, and St. Paul is no Houston when it comes to traffic!

We gave Henrik some rice cereal tonight because he was just too sad to obey our old doctor's order and wait for his next appointment, which is next month, to give him solid food.  He loves to eat and wants solid food so badly!  He took the rice cereal well enough. I think he was more surprised than anything.  Yesterday, Henrik Arthur looked like a baby picture of Dennis Arthur that Dorene has here, while today he was back to looking like me.  Above is Henrik Eats in its excruciating length (if it works, which it may not, and if it doesn't I don't know why, Mom).
I'm tired of typing.
Good night.

Father's Day

This is not a post about Father's Day. I meant to write these thoughts last week, but I never found the time. Now, with a family nap in progress, I found that time.
Last weekend Anders "graduated" from daycare kindergarten and we had a farewell party with my advisory students at our house before we move.  Over the past three years all of these kids have grown up quite a bit, and it was gratifying to see.
So much of what you do as a parent and a teacher feels like pounding your head against a brick wall that will not fall down, no matter what you do.  Then on one weekend, you see so much growth that your heart swells with pride and you see real progress on the wall.
Anders had a rough go of it in his Christmas programs both at daycare and at church.  It makes sense.  His baby brother was in the hospital, he was not with his extended family for Christmas, and the weather was not seasonally appropriate (Anders reads so many Christmas books where there is cold and snow that green grass and warm weather frustrates him).
Anders' teacher Ms. Rosella cajoled, threatened, and praised Anders just as we did in the lead up to the performance.  You might also add "bribed" to my list of tricks as Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream has a very strong appeal.
Anders memorized all the words to the songs and his spoken part, along with the spoken parts of the other kids.  His movements were crisp for the choreography that went along with the songs that he sang.  After graduation, I told Anders that he did a wonderful job and he was amazing.
"Better than the Christmas program?" he asked.
"Much better, but let's just try to forget that, " I replied.
"I cannot forget it, I cannot forget anything," Anders truthfully replied.
We saw him grow up right before our eyes.  He could not sleep the night before because he was so intent upon getting the moves right and doing everything flawlessly.  It was gratifying to see such dedication and focus in a four year old.  It made us feel like all of our hard work was paying off.  Deep down you know that your children are always changing and maturing, but when you see it so dramatically, it's quite memorable.
Meanwhile, Anders' love for the Presidents of the United States of America (not the band) continues to grow.  Last week, he told me that I look like William McKinley because we both have an angry resting face, but then he told me I sound like West Virginia.  I'm not sure that's such a good thing!  His favorite president right now is Dwight Eisenhower, but "I just love them all so much!"  Jimmy Carter or "Jimmuh Cartuh" as Anders calls him, used to be his favorite.  Anders wants to travel around and meet the living ones.  He makes up true/false questions about the presidents and his latest game is asking me what made each of them mad.  I had my students bring a fact about a president with them before coming to our house last week.  Anders loved matching wits with them.  He also had a great time calling the room to order before he knocked down a tower of numbers blocks that he built and rebuilt.
Last weekend was truly special, and of course Father's Day is nice.  The family treated me today to Ouzo 12, flaming cheese, Horiatiki, and a pot of seafood at our Father's Day spot, Yia Yia Mary's.  I'll post the ten best things about moving back to MN in a few weeks after we have some time to enjoy them.  In the meantime, Anders now doesn't want to move because Texas is the only state with an "X" in it. To wit, one of Anders' favorite songs is "All My Exs Live in Texas" or his interpretation "All My Xs Live in Texas."
See you on down the trail.

The Visiting Professor

Anders could not sleep last night as he crammed to learn the middle names of the Presidents of the United States of America.  I had enlisted Anders to "help my students review" for the Advanced Placement United States History Test by "teaching them the Presidents."  I had no idea.
Anders was up late last night, and shot out of bed like a bolt at 5:45 am.  He was ready to leave 15 minutes before Anna or I.  He sang his Presidents songs from youtube all the way in to SJS.
He only took a nibble out of his donut.  I had arisen at 5 to go to Shipley's to get the donuts for the "Donuts and 'Ders" review session.
A bunch of guys came in first.  Vasia got the first question correct about George Washington and the cherry tree, then Vinay missed the next two true false questions on Adams and Jefferson.  Anders was writing true false questions in order from 1-10. He made it from GW to William Henry Harrison.  Each question received its own color.  Anders greeted each arriving student with, "Welcome Guest # (fill in the blank)!"  Finally, it was "Welcome Guest #19!"  Anders was holding court with the students gathered around him.  He was keeping score of who had correct answers.  Each new "guest" got a "zero" on the white board until he or she scored.  Well, the students were 2 for 10 as Anders' true false questions were much tougher than the hard multiple choice questions we give that they complain about.  As Anders wrote on the board and directed traffic, I did some errands, even leaving the room to collect some printed papers.  Anders did not miss me!  He was in his element, and the students loved seeing this little four year old version of me run the class.  He ripped off a few Presidents, which worried some of the girls since they didn't remember Benjamin Harrison.  Anders was so taken with his job that he forgot to eat his donut!  He finally finished it later in the faculty lounge.  Once the kids left to take the AP exam in the church fellowship hall, Anders wanted to go around Rushmore, which we did.  We ran into the principle, our department chair, and a few others and I compelled Anders to start naming the Presidents from the beginning and he made it all the way from Washington to Obama without any help from me, dropping some middle initials and middle names along the way.
Henrik made a funny today too.  A short backstory, Anna has been trying to get in touch with the medical supply company for over a week since they first contacted her about taking back Henrik's O2 supplies.  They aren't good at returning phone calls.  Well, today they sent a letter saying that they had been trying to get in touch with Anna, but had not been able to do so.  I mentioned the letter to Dorene as she was holding a sleeping Henrik, and I said, "Anna won't be too pleased with this letter!" At which point, Henrik awakened, opened his eyes, and began belly-laughing.  Then, after the moment passed, he went back to sleep.  He knows what we are saying!  Just like Anders did!

Happy Mother's Day

Since my Mother's Day card to my lovely mom, Mom, was late getting in the mail, and because she was sending harassing emails, I'll write a blog post an a Mother's Day gift.
It's been a couple of months.  Since that time Henrik has officially graduated from O2.  Of course he hasn't really needed it since February, but we played the pulminologist's little game, until the Friday that Henrik ripped off the cannula and the tape affixing it to his face!
As of last month he weighed 12 lbs 4 oz, but I would guess that he's at least 15 pounds now. He remains good-natured and mellow.  He only gets upset when he hasn't had enough to eat.  He sleeps in 5-6 hour pulls in his crib at night, then usually a second 2-4 hour pull after getting up for a feeding in the night.  I think he might sleep through the night were it not for his all-consuming hunger.  Meanwhile, Anders is only 38 lbs.  It will be interesting to see if Henrik gets to 20 lbs or Anders gets to 40 lbs first.  My bet is on big little brother.
Anders, meanwhile, remains focused on scholarly pursuits.  He is learning the Presidents of the United States of America in order.  He knows them all, but he's still drilling in order to be able to say them all in order at one sitting.  The Animaniacs have greatly aided Anders in his quest.  Grover Cleveland is the bane of his existence because he gets counted twice owing to his nonconsecutive terms.  Anders covered his second presidency in Nerds on Easter so that he would not have to look at Grover the Rover.  When Anders refused to eat supper we have to take his place mat away from him.  We went swimming today for the first time this season, and he's currently taking a rare nap.
We are moving back to Minnesota next month.  I took a job teaching the same things I do now: American history to juniors and a senior elective on the Cold War at St. Paul Academy in of course St. Paul.  It's bittersweet for me because I've established myself and St. John's and the students have been quite gracious to me upon learning of my departure, but I'm also excited for the new opportunity  Anna, meanwhile, is counting the days before she can return to a unionized working environment.  She's had it much tougher than me, as always seems to be the case, so I'm happy that things should be much better upon returning home.  Anna will stay home next year as Henrik will technically have chronic lung disease until he is one year old (adjusted) in February, so he is not big enough for daycare yet.  Anders will begin Kindergarten in September.
We don't know where we are going to live yet.  We've talked about St. Paul and we've talked about the suburbs.  I suspect that we will end up in Eagan.  We have remarked over the years at the large number of people we know from Luther, Decorah, and in general who live in Eagan.  We have also noted on many occasions our aversion to living in Eagan, which pretty much makes living there a fait accompli.  I also stated that I would never live in Texas, but I ended up loving it down here so I have high hopes for Eagan.  On the other hand, I thought Ohio was be just like Iowa, and I was sorely mistaken.  All of this just goes to show I know nothing and should never make any Shermanesque statements about any future plans.  Eagan probably has more ex-Decorahns living there than any place in America other than Freeport.  If they try to open another Mabe's Pizza up there, I'll try to make sure it doesn't go under again!
The only thing Anna's not happy about is all the weather talk that she is about to endure.  For half the year no one talks about the weather in Texas because from May 1 to Oct. 15, it's going to be 90-100, mostly sunny, with a slight chance of rain.  That's it, nothing else to say.  With that said, here are ten top things I'll miss about Texas.
10. HEB: The best middle class grocery store I've ever experienced.  Free samples abound, store coupons lead you on scavenger hunts for free items, huge fresh produce section, game wheel for kids, and buying the store brands can make you a competent Tex-Mex chef in no time.  Also, Jalapenos get their own billing on the aisle boards.
9. Winter in Texas: usually between 65-72 degrees, sunny, low humidity.  I'm going to try to get Anna to spend New Year's through Easter with me in the Hill Country after we retire in 50 years.
8. Texas Pride: This could go on the bad list, but after living in a place that was so economically and psychologically depressed as SE Ohio, it was nice to spend three years in a place where people feel such pride and a strong sense of place.
7. Friendliness: People in Texas are overwhelmingly friendly, not just nice, friendly.  They will go out of their way to help you at the hardware store or grocery store.  They will wait for you in crosswalks even if you are five steps from entering the crosswalk.  No one honks!  This is the fourth largest city in the USA and no one honks!
6. Vacation Day Trips: You can drive an hour and be on a tropical island at the ocean--Galveston.  You can drive 2.5 hours and be in one of the hippest place in the country, Austin.  You can drive three hours and feel like you are in Old Mexico--San Antonio.  In an hour or a little longer drive you can feel like you are on a legit vacation.  We are definitely going to plan some family vacations down here when the boys are older.
5. Cost of Living: it is cheap to live down here.  My equivalent salary buys significantly less in the Twin Cities.
4. Diversity: We live in Fort Bend County, the most diverse county in the USA.  It's roughly a quarter African American, white, Asian, and Hispanic.  Going back to the Midwest to visit always shocks me by just how white it is.
3.  Food, this one goes well with #4.  Within a 10 minute drive of our house we have excellent: Thai, Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Japanese, Mexican, Argentinian, and BBQ restaurants.
2. Openness: Anna in particular has made many deep friendships during our time here.  I've made some friend as well, but Anna has made more good friends in a shorter time than perhaps at any time in her life.
1.The Idea of Texas.  Texas is not just a place, it's a state of mind.  People live well, eat well, drink well, play hard, work hard, and do it all with an abiding sense of optimism and "can-do" spirit.  Things get done in Texas, and they get done fast!  I hope that I can carry some of this spirit through the harsh MN winter.

Next time I'll do the top 10 things I'm looking forward to by moving back to Minnesota.

Update

It's been a big couple of days for doctors appointment for Henrik.  Yesterday he visited the cardiologist and today he went to his special preemie doctor in the Texas Medical Center.
Last week he went to the pulminologist who said Henrik will remain on oxygen until his sleep study on April 18.  Henrik must spend the entire night at the doctor's office.  Thus, Anna will do so as well.
The cardiologist appointment took a long time.  It was in Sugar Land, which is a satellite location for the main clinic.  This satellite location was  in a massage therapy and plastic surgery office.  It was an interesting spot to take your baby.  That appointment turned out well, but Dr. Burkholder said that because of a quirk of how his heart was made, Henrik cannot scuba dive.  Then, tonight I was out for a walk and for the first time ever, I saw through an open storefront door a bunch of guys in scuba gear in a shallow pool.  What were the chances!  I suspect that Anders will look at the actuarial tables and determine that neither he nor Henrik should ever scuba dive.  We will have to remind Henrik not to scuba dive when he gets older.  I think it's because of a valve that doesn't completely close, but Anna, me, and I think Anders have the same thing.
Henrik weighed 10 lbs 5 oz yesterday in clothes and with a full diaper, while today he weighed 9 lbs 13 oz.  He is 22 1/2 inches long.
Today at the doctor, Henrik had four shots and had blood drawn.  He was pretty spent after that and has been sleeping most of the day.
I feel at this point like I've just been going to doctor appointments for spring break!
Fortunately, Henrik is done with doctor appointments until the sleep study next month.  Then he will have a six month checkup on May 23.  6
Henrik got out of the hospital on February 22.  Anders and Henrik both spent 96 days in the hospital, but Anders had a random night in the hospital due to high fever when we lived in Ohio, so Anders is up 97 to 96, a distinction no one wants!
We continue to live with O2 in the house and an apnea monitor at night.  The apnea monitor is so loud that it is slowly destroying what is left of my hearing.  Henrik's special preemie doctor and his cardiologist don't really think Henrik continues to need O2, but only the pulminologist matters at this point.
One last thing, there was a funny sibling moment last week.  One of the boys' first true sibling moments as Anders was climbing naked on the couch, then he slipped and bumped Henrik on the head with his naked butt.  Henrik was initially shocked, but that shock quickly turned to tears.  Anna immediately thought that Henrik's head had been dented.  It was two minutes of utter pandemonium.  I guess that's life with kids rather than kid.
I'll probably be back writing in another two months.

Henrik Update on Another Texas Snow Day

Well, we had yet another snow day or I should probably call it a "slushy overpass day" as that's the big problem.  In a city where some of the highest structures are its highways, it makes sense, even if it feels goofy when driving around wet surface roads.
Anyway, that gave us a break from the weekday grind to visit Henrik in the middle of the day.  Anna held him and I tried (in vain) to entertain Anders.
Henrik gained weight, despite his course of lasix, so he weighs 4 lbs 15 oz.  He had a followup  eye test, which went well.  He'll have another one in a couple of weeks.  His respirations are closer to the good range, so they'll probably be restarting bottle feedings later this week.
More slow, steady progress.  I did the math and we are about where we were with Anders in late September, so I'm hoping that we only have about four weeks to go.  Henrik will be 36 adjusted weeks old tomorrow.  

Thoughtful Anders

Tonight at supper, Anders hopped off his chair ambled over to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said, "You're a pretty good guy."  He also told me that I was at 97%, of what I don't know, but he was at 99% and Mommy was at 55%, but I told Anna not to despair because right after that he called her "the bestest mommy in the world!"  This happened while Ann was holding Henrik.
Yesterday after the party, Anders was reading Martha stories in his room with the idea being that doing so would relax Anders into taking a nap.  Instead, Martha fell asleep in Anders bed and when she awakened there was a blanket covering her and Anders was gone.  Anders is a master of naptime or bedtime jujitsu, but he is also quite thoughtful. 
Martha and Brad also got a kick out of Anders looking in the index to find his favorite poems in "Where the Sidewalk Ends."
We are under a winter storm watch for Tuesday, so I might be writing more then. 

hanging out

Henrik is now 4 lbs 12 oz. They have stopped his bottle feedings and are giving him a three day cycle of lasix because he has a bit of swelling around his ankles and undercarriage.  They want him to be at 60 respirations or less per minute before they restart bottle feedings.  Henrik also needs to go back down to 1.5 or 1 liter of O2 before they restart bottle feedings.  This is just a pause in his progress, especially since Henrik was going gangbusters a week and a half ago going onto a cannula, a crib, and a bottle.
Henrik was slated to be due one month from today.  Tomorrow he'll have been out 10 weeks, 5 at "Big Hermann" and 5 at "Southwest."  Henrik did well for me last night with his respirations, but that's the healing power of chest hair.  We were both super-relaxed and took naps.
I took a nap because we hosted Anders' half birthday party with the help of Anders' godparents Brad and Martha Albers.  We had 30-35 people cycle through the house.  Anna kept them busy will all sorts of fun preschooler games.  Brad and Martha helped us set up, stay stocked up, and clean up.  Spending 3-4 hours hosting a party for 4.5 year olds, give or take, is exhausting.  Anders was exhausted yesterday, but did not take a nap, but he was early to bed.  Anders has also taken an epic nap this afternoon.  Brad and Martha may or may not make it home tonight as there is bad weather bearing down on Chicago.
My job was to pick up supplies, collect the continuously garbage flow, and chase nerf-style stomp rockets into neighbors' yards.  This job gave me the opportunity to meet the neighbor behind our house, a really nice and gracious guy.  Once I got the stomp rocket floating in his swimming pool, I did not return the rockets to the kids.
Anders had a ball, and I think his friends did too!  It was a lot of fun, and we'll have Chiptle leftovers for the week!
We are hanging in there.  We had an "Ice Day" on Friday and might have one again on Tuesday!  I hope we only have a month left with Henrik in the hospital.

4 Pound 4 Please

When I studied in England during my junior year of college, we frequented a small pub in the Beeston neighborhood of Nottingham called the Greyhound.  The lunch special was fish 'n chips and a pop for 4 pounds and four pence and the stern woman at the till said, "Four pounds four please" all day.  Today Henrik is four pounds four!  If you want to read the part about how I got into a confrontation with that lady over Pepsi v. Coke and Dan Seeley talked me down, then scroll back four years and read about the day Anders hit 4.4.
In the last few days Henrik has (deep breath)...moved from a crib to an isolette, moved from a cpap to nasal cannula, had his feeding tube removed, started taking a bottle, broken the four pound barrier, and passed his eye test (he actually passed on Jan. 8, but no one told us until Friday).  He's on 1.5 liters of O2, and he has taken as much as 10 mils of formula on his own.  I only caught the tail end of Anna feeding him today as I was with Anders, but he seems to understand the suck and breath process, even if he doesn't have much stamina yet.  I get the feeling that it will be a bit smoother this time as Henrik was not intubated as long and he trusts the process more than Anders did.  Anders had to experiment with all ways other than the correct way before doing what ultimately needed to be done.  Henrik seems more willing to accept what he's told to do, and then work to do it.  I understand how insane this might sound when talking about tiny babies, but if Henrik turns out to be mellow and easily coachable then I'll be a soothsayer.  That's not to say that Anders is not coachable, but I imagine Anders editing the coach's play in the huddle or offering unsolicited feedback as well.
Anders held Henrik for the first time on Saturday.  The first minute went well as Henrik had no idea what was happening, but then being leaned up against Anders sort of freaked him out, and that's why the picture that you may have seen on Facebook looks as it does.  Anders also likes the idea of going to visit Henrik, and sometimes he even likes visiting Henrik.  Saturday's visit was somewhere in the middle.  Today he didn't have much time for Henrik, and I took him to DD for a donut and a 20 oz-er of OJ, which he downed on his own!
Anna spent much of the weekend on Tiki Island with friends for a birthday party and rode horses on Jamaica Beach.  Meanwhile, Trudy got stuck in a durable shopping bag, Anders and I got parked in by a cement mixer at Whataburger, and Anders ordered me around in the kitchen as I made cookies for the first time.  Anders has much more experience than I do.
It's a beautiful day today in the high 70s and sunny.  
Also of note: Henrik has been out nine weeks today.  He's been at Memorial Hermann Southwest for four weeks as of today.  On Wednesday, his age will be 35 weeks adjusted.  Henrik looks more like Anders every day, I even noticed a small wave in his hair today.  I already call Henrik "Anders" about 50% of the time, and it's only going to get worse I imagine as they grow more and more similar.
I may not be writing again for a while.  The only reason I had time today was because it is a three day weekend and Anders is napping.  Well, til February!

...and a Happy New Year!

We've had a small spat of illness or under-the-weather-ness to be more exact in the House of Peterson of late, the sniffles but not full on colds hit.  We seem to be on the mend.  If one of us has not been totally well, then the other parent held Henrik that day.
Henrik is up to 2lbs. 9oz.  He hit 2-11 yesterday, but lost some water weight.  Henrik had another blood transfusion yesterday since he was looking pal and needed some help keeping the oxygen in his blood.  Henrik looks a lot fuller.  He has more meat on his bones and doesn't look like a frogman to the extent that he used to a couple weeks ago.
One interesting thing they told me today is that when they take him off of cpap, then they will try to have him breath without assistance!  Usually this method does not work, and he will have to go back to the breathing assistance, but at that point it will be a nasal canula rather than cpap.  As I've said before, they are much more aggressive with breathing than they were four years ago.
Between Christmas and illness, we went out in China Town with friends, our first time in this large and diverse part of town, where we had Korean food and Italian dessert.  We also attended the Texas Bowl, so I can now take attending a college bowl game off my list.  It's funny because Minnesota and Syracuse did as bowl activities stuff we'd routinely do, like visit the Houston Zoo or go to George Ranch Historical Park, just south of Sugar Land in rural Fort Bend County.
We attended a New Year's Eve party last night and Anders stayed awake until midnight on the East Coast!  It doesn't really matter if you make it to 12 in the central time zone as Conan O'Brien doesn't do his Central Time Zone New Year's show as far as I know.  I did see a lame syndicated Central Time New Year's show out of Dallas a couple years ago, but that was forgettable.
It defied expectations and reached room temperature today, but another "cold snap" is coming later in the week.
It has been relaxing not to travel, but I did get a bit sad listening to the "News from Lake Wobegon" when Garrison Keiller said something to the effect that the smell of Christmas is potato sausage. I never liked the stuff, but it just smelled like Christmas when the "potatis kurv" was cooking at my grandma's house in Marquette, KS.