The "Pitt" has been on vacation in a place where there is no snow and all the people read the NY Times.

I must say there is a great deal of catching up to do.

The Tarheels have dampened my spirits...my winter entertainment has become a nightmare. What has happened? Well, of course I have an opinion. For whatever reason Roy is not connecting with the boys. Maybe it is the pain medication he was taking after his operation, maybe he longs for last year's group, maybe he is looking past this year to next, or maybe he isn't the coach everyone thinks he is. (right Carolyn) At any rate the lack of b-ball excitement has gotten me down. I used to be able to shift my enthusiasm to Duke when they were doing better...but no more. After having paid a gazillion dollars to UNC I can no longer support the K man and his thugs. Ga Tech will become my team...I will recover. By the way, living with Pat when the Bulldogs are having a fairly good season and there are only 2 ACC teams in the top 25 is hell. Though our annual ACC vs SEC basketball war has cooled since we moved here.

Katrina and I have renewed our walking commitment and are once again tackling Firetower Road. We WILL be in shape come the summer! There are several updates from the Firetower. Rex, the Lab that looked like Katrina was killed. Everyone seems to miss him especially his owner who refuses to accept the fact that he is dead. The Bottle House has been adorned with raccoon skins and tails. Naturally they have all been placed in "artistic" locations among the collection. A freezer, many more interesting rocks, bottles, and bicycle parts have been added as well. One morning as we were walking down the hill two men were walking up with shot guns and I wasn't real sure what to think. They were going squirrel hunting I was told. That was certainly a new experience.

The "Pitt" has seen two businesses close in January; Archie's Appliance Store and Beggars and Choosers. B and C was an antique, vintage clothing, stuff store that had been here since the 70's. It was a landmark and people were quite upset, but you have to buy things in these stores for them to stay in business. This stupid economy has got to turn around.

Then there is the political situation. It has put me in a super funk. I will deal with that in the next post. It will take a great deal of energy.

The snow that I thought was so cool last week has become a menace. Our house sits at an angle where the sun does not hit the front in the winter. The 15 inches of snow that blew up against the garage and then became the South Pole was still there this morning. Though it is sunny and warmer no way it was going to melt, so I have been loading up the sled with the huge chunks of iced snow and hauling it to the gutter where the sun does shine. Fun times in the "Pitt"

January is over and I will come out of my hibernation and face the world again.