Wrestling?

     Some of you know that high school and NCAA wrestling has intersected with the paths of our lives many times over the years. It started with my modest success in both the intramural and JV ranks at West Point. It continued during our three years in Norman, OK as the University of Oklahoma is a perennial leading contender in the NCAA rankings. From there we went to the Air Force Academy where I was on the faculty. I quickly began volunteering with their wrestling team and became the "Officer Representative" from '72 to '74.
     That meant that I was the faculty assistant coach for all matters  except coaching. Our kids fondly remember having the cadets on the wrestling team coming to our house after a Saturday home match and making homemade ice cream with our hand cranked ice cream maker. Many folks were puzzled by the several perfect circles of brown grass in our lawn where a bit of spilled brine had done its thing. I accompanied the team to all the away games and paid bills, arranged post weigh-in training meals etc. 
     When we made it to Nashua, NH in 1977, the kids were in high school and both of them became deeply involved in the sport. No, Cindy did not wrestle. She did, however, start her journalism career as a stringer for the Telegraph providing the results and game stories of the NHS wrestling team. She became the the official scorer for home matches and even for the state championships on occasion. Most matches had at least one "discussion in front of the scorer's table involving: the referee, opposing coaches, and scorers. Nashua's long time coach once told me that, "Cindy was never wrong." Mark, nicknamed "the baby-faced assassin" by the Telegraph's sportswriter, had a successful wrestling career for NHS. I volunteered where I could, and one year was the Meet Director of the State Championships. Mark returned to the Air Force Academy as a cadet and rejoined the USAFA team of his youth with modest and occasional success.
     In subsequent years we remained fans of the sport. I still receive a weekly newsletter from the Army coach.
     So where in the world is this rambling recollection leading? 

Well, yesterday the Citadel hosted the "All Academy Wrestling Championships" at their field house in Charleston. Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and the Merchant Marine Academy were all there. To complete the eight teams necessary for a filled out bracket, the Citadel also invited Norwich and VMI. Cindy was kind enough to bring me to the semi-final round (where the greatest number of points are at stake).

     The top three finishing teams were Navy, Army and Air Force in that order.

     To wrap up this atypical narration, let me complete the bookending of this blog post with a picture of me taken sixty years after the one at the beginning.

My Street Hasn't Been Plowed!😆

     When it comes to conversations that contain questions like: "How cold was it?", "How deep was the snow?" and "How bad was the blizzard?", I usually win. Three years in Alaska, five years in Colorado, three years in Ohio when the Ohio River froze, a quarter century in New Hampshire, and a childhood in north central Massachusetts all conspire to give me more than enough winter anecdotes.
     So we belatedly smartened up and moved to Charleston, SC in 2004. We maintained our ties to the great white north via the motorhome in the summer. So, what did I find when I crawled out from under our down comforter at 0730, 4 Jan 2018??? 

Six inches of snow and 17↯↭⇟ degrees! We don't have a windshield scraper much less a snow shovel. Plus we are going to go through several cycles of daytime melting and nighttime refreezing before it melts away this weekend. Our bird feeder has never been more popular.

     Of course, Mocha was unaffected...four wheel drive, you know.

     This was taken on Wednesday before there was any accumulation. Here's the front of the house...again a yesterday picture.

    
     This, too, will pass.