It is ours! I went yesterday with Dan and had the title switched into my name. We went to the courthouse in New Philly and were in and out in less than 15 minutes. I forgot about having to pay tax on the purchase, but I had the checkbook and it was not a problem. I am happy everything worked out. Now, I have boat payments for the next 5 years.

The end came for the bedroom TV this past weekend. We bought a 19" flat screen with a built in DVD player to replace it. We bought it at Best Buys with gift cards bought at Giant Eagle, so we also some free gas coming our way.

I went to the Sectional wrestling tournament on Friday and Saturday. Friday was super quick and I was able to get back to Mogadore in time to see the first of the East Canton-Mogadore boys basketball game. EC is coached by Chad Spurgeon. He graduated with my brother and I graduated and played baseball with his brother.

Saturday we met up with our friends from cruise. They were in N. Canton for a volleyball tournament. We visited awhile at our house and then went out to dinner at Rockne's. It was good to see them again. They are coming to N. Canton next month as well, but we will be at Castaway Bay with the Girl Scouts.

Tomorrow is the day we will get the title to the boat. I can't wait to get it in the water. I figure it will be about 4 to 6 weeks before we can us it. We may even launch it and put it back on the trailer, if we don't have a dock in the water for it. The boat comes with side enclosures to block out the rain and cold. So, we could use it before it warms up.

---Capt. Bayou

It is only a matter of time. It is sad to see an old friend during its last days. But, last night, T and I realized the time is now to purchase a new TV for our bedroom. The Emerson TV we have watched countless hours of TV is down to its last days. It has been acting strange since September, but now the picture is going. Last night the picture would turn into squiggly lines and become smaller.
I think I have had the TV since Christmas of 1990. I know I had the TV in my Holly Park apartment and I moved in there back in June of 1991. For Christmas, my parents did a great job of hiding the TVs (my brother and sister got one as well) from me and siblings. They left them out in the garage, in plain view of everyone, but they had the names of the neighbor girls on them. Then, Christmas morning, dad brought them in from the garage when we thought all the Christmas gifts had been opened. It was one of the greatest Christmas surprises of all time at our house.
But, it is time. The remote has no numbers on it. The TV doesn't turn on all the time when you hit the power button. Sometimes when you are flipping channels, the single digit channels are just snow. The alarm feature does not work. The TV used to wake me up for school everyday at 6am. It is time and by this weekend, there will be a new TV in our bedroom.
Thank you Emerson, your job is done. I hope the next TV we buy lasts 18 years!

I am back to school today. My little mini-vacation is over. I had a fun four day break.

Friday I went out to lunch with my mom. J did not go to school because he got sick the day before at school. So, we met mom at Steak and Shake for lunch. Then it was on to school for B and K's Valentine's Day party. The kids had a fun time.

Saturday, T had to work. So, I took the boys to the PTC wrestling tournament. (B was at a sleep over). J did not enjoy the tournament as much a K. The Cats placed 5, with 1 champion. This week is the sectional tournament. The top 4 from the sectional will move on to the district.

Sunday, we went to church then headed to Pennsylvania. We had a good visit with T's aunt. She loves visiting with the kids. As usual, we ate too much. We went to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner on Sunday and Applebee's for lunch on Monday. We were home by 9:40 last night, no thanks to a slow moving train on Faircrest. I have never been stopped there. We waited 15 minutes for the train to cross the street. It even stopped at one point. After 3 hour drive, we were ready to get home and go to bed.

Til next time,

Bayou

What a night. There were wind gusts over 60 mph! Our bedroom faces west and took the brunt of the force. I woke up every 10 minutes, well, it seemed like every 10 minutes. The temp dropped from 67 to 35 in just a few hours.
I found a bargain in the Walmart DVD discount bin. It is the complete collection of the HBO show "First and Ten". It was on in the early 80's. It shows old USFL game highlights and has some pretty funny story lines. I have watched 3 episodes so far here on parent-teacher conference night.
I was looking forward to a nice day off tomorrow. Well, J got sick at pre-school today. T had to pick him up and he has thrown up a couple of more times tonight. T will be subbing tomorrow, so I will to stay home with J. Hopefully, he will be feeling better soon.

Bayou

55 Degrees!!!!!!!! I am sure it will not last for long, but it is nice to see some green grass.

Yesterday, we had our taxes done. We will be getting money back from the IRS. It is "forced saving" account. We will use this money for our boat, camping fees, and other things around the house. We are still up in the air about a cruise next year. If we think we are going, then we need to set aside some $$$ this year.

Speaking of cruises, I have two friends cruising this week. A long time friend from the neighborhood is on Monarch OTS with his girlfriend and parents. Other friends leaves tomorrow for the Buckeye Cruise for Cancer aboard Grandeur OTS. The Buckeye cruise has about 20 former Buckeyes on the ship. It will be full of just Buckeye fans. The money raised on the cruise goes to the cancer research center at OSU. I would love to do something like that someday.

T is going to have a choice to make soon. She was called in to work at Edison today, but she was scheduled at Aultman. This is the third time in the last four days she has been called by Perry. She was already working at Reedurban and other schools called her. I would love for her to leave the hospital and work at the school. Hopefully, she will get hired by a school in the fall.

--Bayou

What a difference 48 hours makes. It was in the upper 40 yesterday and all the snow is melting away. It looks like the warming trend will continue today. I am sure we are not done with snow, but it is a nice break.
The Jr High wrestling team place 2 guys at the PTC Tournament yesterday. It was the end of a difficult season for the junior high team. They started out with 8 wrestlers. Early on 2 quit the team and one was injured. When the injured wrestler returned, we lost one to grades. Hopefully, they will stick with wrestling and join the high school team.
The high school team has the PTC Tournament this weekend. The seniors should do well. It is possible to have 2 PTC Champions and a few more place. Then, it is on to the sectional tournament the following week.

Quick post today. First, it was cold! The temp on my car read -9 on the way to school. All we needed was a 10 mph breeze and schools would have closed for the day. It was a beautiful clear blue day. The temp are going to hit the upper 40s by the weekend.

I will be at the Junior High PTC Wrestling Championship this weekend. We only have 5 guys on the team. I am not too sure how things will go. I hope we have a couple of guys place.

Tonight was scheduling day. It was quicker than most years. I will have a new schedule next year, but I like it. I will also have a new junior high class. I will need to get a book for the class. I do not use a book for any of my classes. I use one OLD textbook as a reference in Home Maint. class. I would love to get a new book for that class as well.

---Bayou

Sunday was a beautiful day. The sun was shinning and the temp topped 40 degrees. The kids went outside again and played in the afternoon. I will post a couple of pics from the last couple of days. While the kids played, I took down all the light along our fence in the backyard. I have not turned on the lights since the end of Christmas break, but I haven't had time or the weather was too bad to take them down.
We did not attend a Super Bowl party this year, so we had our own. I am glad for my brother that the Steelers won. I am more glad the game was close and entertaining. T said the commercials were not as good as years past. I liked the one second ad for Miller High Life. It was straight to the point. Now, it is college basketball time and pitchers and catchers report in ten days!

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers from the Bayou Steelers.