Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Exquisitely Cold, Wizard Kudos








Certainly Chicago is gonna get colder. 

Somebody said the Windy City could turn even colder than Antarctica this week. 

Fortunately, we haven't experienced much really cold weather this winter.

So, yesterday's exquisite crystalline addition to structures and to trees, shrubs and the landscape in general was something to behold.

Cold, artistic abundance was showing off pretty much everywhere before and after the sun came up.

I loved it and couldn't get enough of it, even if my toes turned cold while trudging through the snow to get closer looks. 

Not much more to say.  Just enjoy.  

This morning I read another interesting story among the offerings my Mozilla Firefox puts on the home page. 


Sometimes folks like to remind me of exactly what appears in the article. 

Sometimes I have actually applied what the piece suggests, but I'm thinking I need to keep practicing.

The article also reminded me of a place where I've recently seen its lessons in action.

It's been a building year for Willie's young team of basketball players.

They've won a few games and lost a lot more.

I've noticed, however, that my son, who would love to see a few more wins, realizes that there can be small victories within the big picture. 

One case in particular this attitude came into practice when the girls were down by a substantial margin.

It was toward the end of the game.  Rather than just getting the dang game over, Willie seized the moment and worked on one element of the game. 

Keep the opposing team's player on the sideline from getting the ball into her teammates. 

The Bulldogs succeeded at that point in the game with something THEY could control even when they could no longer control the score.   

A small victory, among many throughout the game, had to have offset their disappointment with the loss.  

In so doing, the team is getting better and better with their basics. 

By the way, they're playing their last home game tonight at 7 p.m. GO, BULLDOGS!

Anyway, I enjoyed the article.  I hope you do too.

This morning's paper had a letter to the editor suggesting the we thank people who have supported us along the way. 

I saw that just after reading the Kudos column where someone showed appreciation to that guy I always talk about during lawn mowing season.

You may remember:  Tony, the Wizard, who works with our lawn and garden equipment, our 4-wheeler and even our brush hog. 

Well, someone had a "vintage Tony" experience where he thought he knew what was wrong with his snowblower so he took it to Pac West Parts. 



Tony had him fire it up and then told him no, that he was wrong. 

Within seconds Tony, looked at the machine, saw a bent blade and straightened it. When the customer tried to pay, Tony told him to never mind and went back to eating his lunch. 

Twas neat to see that other folks recognize the brilliance and what a treasure Tony is to our community, especially those of us who tend to have breakdowns. 

Heck, Tony still comes to fix my equipment even after I almost killed him once.  

At the time, he had broken leg and was wearing a boot.  Tony had convinced me that Husqvarna Zero Turn mowers were the greatest thing since sliced bread, especially for mowing crazies like me. 

So, I bought one.  He brought it to the house, showed me a few things about driving it and then told me to give it a try. 

I learned that day that it's important to take it slow when you're first learning how to use those steering handles and move forward at the same time. 

The problem:  Tony and his broken leg were in my line of sight when that mower just took off straight for Tony.  He managed to get out of the way but not the big cement blocks around the dog kennel. 

I wiped about three of them out, which proved just how tough a Husqvarna piece of equipment can be.  It still worked, and eventually I figured it out. 

Thanks to Tony and that zero turn, lawn mowing is downright fun. 

Anyway, after I read the "Kudo's" column to Bill, he responded, "I sure hope Tony's careful with his snowmobiling this winter." 

Bill was referring to Tony's severe setback last year when he broke his leg [again] while out playing with his machine in the snow.   

And, the rest of us who missed him being available to fix our stuff suffered too. 

Thanks, Tony for all you do to help us keep on mowin' .

Happy Tuesday. 





















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