Archive for January, 2010

in the trees

So, I like the snow and all, but it gets kind of ridiculously boring not being able to go anywhere.  I thought I’d brave it last time and ended up getting my car stuck, causing me to never want to drive in the snow again.  This snow, we got “just under a foot,” according to the news, and they didn’t plow our street until around 4:00 pm.  No luck in getting out at all.

Fortunately, our house is within walking distance of a lot of great places to eat.  Chris and I decided we needed out and headed down to The Caviler.

Afterward, we grabbed the sleds and headed over to Vista Ave, a very, very steep road in our neighborhood with trees on either side.  This road is so rough that it has been closed down twice for the snow, making it awesome awesome awesome for sledding.  So we thought.  We took turns using the old traditional sled that belonged to Chris’s dad and also a green, plastic, modern sled that resembles a trashcan lid.  Both worked great, but the newer sled did now allow for as much control and usually left the rider spinning.

After a few trips down the road, a snow plow truck came through.  And as you can see in the last picture, this road is so bad and crazy that the snow plow actually got stuck!  We never did see that situation come to a resolution and I sure hope that he isn’t still sitting there in his car.  Poor guy.  That road is nuts!

So, we decided to pack it up and head home when I had the bright idea of filming a sled ride from “my perspective.”  I chose the green sled since it lends itself for a more crazy ride.  Yeah.  Bad idea.  I spun out of control, cruised right over the road’s curb, flew straight down about six feet (at least!!!) into the woods.  And ended up sitting on top and kind of inside of a little tree.  You can see the video here.

It was so fun and crazy and I’m lucky that I didn’t slam into a larger tree.  Goodness, this could have been so bad!  I have bruises all over and am super sore, but I certainly cannot complain much.

And I plan to do it all over again tomorrow.

second snow


Lynchburg got about nine inches of snow, our second of the season.

 


Neko was not so sure about us going out into the white stuff.

 


Chris shoveling out a path in the back yard.  He kind of looks like a marionette puppet to me.

More photos

Point of Honor

Free museum day in Lynchburg!

We toured Point of Honor.

Nekoooo

me:  Hey!  Look!  A fortune on the floor…  This must be from the fortune cookie that Neko [our cat] got into….  “Money isn’t everything.  You can buy a doctor, but you can’t buy health.”  What a horrible fortune to give a cat with leukemia!

2010!

I haven’t really been thinking about the fact that the year has indeed clocked over to 2010.  Now I keep wondering how I will say it.  “Twenty-ten” or “two thousand and ten.”  The former is much short, but I don’t like it.  So I won’t say it.

Here are my goals for 2010–not resolutions, just goals:

-Finish the Ed.S. after this summer.
-By the new year, have 3/4 of my doctorate coursework completed.
-Come up with an awesome dissertation topic.
-Maintain a 4.0.
-Write fiction or CNF at least three times a week–whether or not I feel inspired.
-Submit three manuscripts for publication.
-Politic with MFA department heads.
-Teach three English courses per sub-term for LUO.
-Try to teach English  as an adjunct residentially with a local college.
-Work on my family history project.
-Get my family involved in my family history project–see, you guys didn’t even know I started one!  Months ago!
-Get that bathroom remodeled.
-Exercise consistently.
-Eat healthily consistently.
And now…  2009 in photographs.

K for Katie at the apartment!

So much thesising happened.

Ice storm at the end of January.

After the worst job fair ever.  Our worries for the days after graduation grow.

Snow in March!  The next morning, I was offered a job interview in Tampa.

A few hours after my Tampa interview.  I guess they decided that they didn’t have a position after all? It was for the best.

Mt. Pleasant.  One of my favorite places.

Graduation!  M.A. in English.

We got the jobs in Liberty’s education office on the drive to vacation at Pompano Beach (but this was taken in Key West).

And then we vacationed in Nags Head.

Chris was hired to teach English for LUO.  We began our doctorates.  And we bought a house in Lynchburg’s historic neighborhood, Rivermont.

Backpacking with ponies (Grayson Highlands).

Apple Orchard Falls

We adopted Neko in October.

McAfee Knob

Hosting our first Thanksgiving

I was hired to teach English for LUO.  Snow in Lynchburg!

Building a gingerbread house with my niece and nephew, Sydney and Matthew.

gingerbread

I guess I should be updating about the new year, but I won’t quite yet.  I forgot to post Christmas photos.

 

I gave Sydney and Matthew a gingerbread house.

 

 

 

Other Christmas adventure photographs