FEBRUARY - WRAP-UP REPORT

"A government that robs Peter to pay Paul,

can always depend on the support of Paul."

~George Bernard Shaw

The month of February had many fun activities. Individual blogs were published on the following bucket-list activities: the month began with Tracy's traditional birthday dinner with the family at Matt Denny's, then Memories and Plans regarding Olympic Games, then an enjoyable trip with Bonnie to Big Bear to celebrate Valentine's Day with a dinner at the Sweet Basil Bistro, then a Harley Day-Ride to Annie's Cafe in Lake Elsinore for a good visit with Dale, then a trip to Big Bear with Art W for some local skiing, and finally an interesting hike to Echo Mountain with Gerard and Harry. In addition to these activities, I published blogs recognizing February Birthdays, Favorite Family Photos, and an Updated Planning Schedule. A planned Family Tour of Angels Flight was moved to March.

This blog summarizes other "non bucket-list activities" during the month of February in the category of Activities and Visiting With Friends & Family and Miscellaneous Other. I must admit that I spent a considerable amount of time in front of the television this month watching the Winter Olympics held in PyeongChang, South Korea. I included a summary and comments about the Gold Medals won by the U.S. Team in this blog.

Activities With Family- Dale & Pam attended a Quilt Conference in Pasadena on Friday, February 23rd and dropped by our place that evening for a visit. Dale and I brought some Panda Express delicacies home for dinner. It was fun to get an update on their family and planned travel activities. Also, as usual, Dale had a hilarious story about getting up in the middle of the night, freezing, and trying to get into his pajama tops in the dark, thinking they were the bottoms.

Activities With Friends-

A Visit With Old Friends: To my great surprise, on the afternoon of February 7th, I heard a knock on our front door and Linda Haberlie was standing on our porch. Jim & Linda (aka The Habs) are long time friends of ours that moved from Monrovia to Colorado Springs over a dozen years ago. Bonnie and I stayed overnight with them during our 2008 trip to Florida, but don't have the opportunity to see them often. Jim & Linda are regular readers of my blogs so are acquainted with my obsession with the number seven. Linda said, "It's been 7 years since we had dinner together at La Posada Mexican Restaurant, and today is the 7th, so we thought we should go to dinner tonight." They had come to Monrovia on a short-notice, surprise trip, to attend a school reunion and visit family and a few friends. Bonnie and I were happy they included us in their plans. We had a fun visit at our home, then Carol G and Dennis joined us and we all went to dinner. It turned out that La Posada has closed it's doors, so we had dinner at Paco's. First photo on the left: Dennis, Ron, Bonnie, Carol G, Linda, and Jim.

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Lunch with Friends: When Art W and I drove to Utah in January for our Annual Park City Ski Trip I took Dave G's ski equipment along with us. On February 12th he came to Monrovia to pick up his equipment and took Art and I out to lunch at Paco's Mexican Restaurant. Dave said, "Thanks for the free ski delivery." I said, "Well, it turns out it wasn't free, was it?"

Post Script: It turns out Dave left his ski poles in my garage, so I'm expecting another lunch one of these days.

Breakfast with an Old Friend: On February 15th, while I was in Big Bear for our Valentine's Day celebration, I had a good visit with my long-time friend Art H. He suggested breakfast at a new place in town called The Grind and Grill Cafe, so we went there. It was a good choice - the food and the service were excellent.

Art makes his living as an entertainer. He lives in Big Bear six months of the year and in Ashland, NH the other six months. I met Art in 1977 when Bonnie & I, Merlin & Susan, and a bunch of our other friends, went to see the Smiff Bros. (Art and Keith) entertain at a local Big Bear night club. I was enamored with a musical instrument Art was playing called a "Gut Bucket." Before the night was over I had bought the gut bucket from Art for $50. We've had many jam sessions at our cabin over the years and everyone has had fun playing the gut bucket. The photo below shows Merlin and I joining the Smiff Bros. on stage as we often did during the 1980s. Art is on the left playing a tambourine, Merlin is singing and playing a gut bucket, Keith is playing a guitar, and I'm playing a "Stump Fiddle."

Much of our discussion at breakfast related to the history of the gut bucket that I purchased from Art in 1977, and to the literally hundreds of gut buckets he has made since that time. The photos below show the differences between the first gut bucket I purchased in 1977, and the second one Art made for me in 1983. Art found the bucket for the first one in a farmers field, the wood is rough and not of high quality, and his carving simply says 'Work of Art'-'76 (the "production number" is #8 shown on one of the buckets vertical members). The bucket for the second one was purchased new at a hardware store, the wood is of high quality and sanded with rounded corners, and the carving is more extensive saying, Works of Art (with his full address), #308 -- 5-9-83, and For Ron Hadfield. By now he has made over 500 of these gut buckets.

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Surprise a Stranger: Just for fun I've been giving a gift of $7 to a stranger on the 7th day of each month (or another day if the 7th doesn't work) with a brief explanation as to why I'm doing it (I'm sure they think I'm crazy). I attach an explanatory note to a 5-dollar bill and a 2-dollar bill.

I've been running the streets and trails in Monrovia for many years and see many other people who are out walking, running, or walking their dogs. These people aren't really complete strangers because I see many of them regularly and we may nod or say good morning; but of course I don't really know them. There is one woman walker that I have noticed walking along the Sawpit Wash in recent years, who began bringing a cute black Lab puppy with her about a year ago ( a large puppy now). I particularly remember her because a couple of months ago I saw her and she was obviously upset. It turns out that an off-leash dog had attacked her and her dog that morning. The dog did not bite her, but she was terribly upset, saying that she and the other dog's owner had shouted at each other about the situation, and said she would never walk along the Wash again. I consoled her to the extent I could and she hurried on home. I didn't see her for a couple of months, but then I guess she decided to give walking that area another try. On Wednesday, February 7th I saw her and her dog walking along Greystone Ave (which is near Sawpit Wash) and I stopped for a minute to talk with her. Her name is Pam, and since it was the 7th, I had my explanatory note and the $7 with me. She has always been so friendly, and I was glad that she had overcome the incident with the off-leash dog, that I decided she should be this month's recipient of my $7 gift. As with other of my gift recipients, she was a little surprised and probably wondered why I was doing such a screwy thing, but accepted the gift. To date I haven't seen past recipients of my $7 gift afterward, but I'm sure I'll see Pam out walking one of these days. It will be interesting to see if she mentions the gift next time I see her.

Miscellaneous Other-

Winter in Southern California: Below is our pear tree in full bloom on February 1st. I was hoping for a bigger winter this year so we could get some local snow skiing.

2018 Winter Olympics:

"We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self discipline, and effort."

~Jesse Owens

I won't detail the entire Olympics in this blog, but I really enjoy most of the events. During this month, Bonnie and I were in front of the TV constantly from February 7th through February 25th watching the Olympic events broadcast from PyeongChang. The Opening Ceremony on Friday was really impressive, and watching the excitement of the 242 members of the U.S. Team as they entered the stadium was thrilling. The photos below show the stadium from a distance, and the U.S.Team entering being led by Flag Bearer Erin Hamlin.

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The medals, which range in weight from 586 grams for the gold medal to 493 grams for the bronze, reflect the traditions and culture of the host nation. They are the work of celebrated South Korean designer Lee Suk-woo. Their design was inspired by the texture of tree trunks, with the front bearing the Olympic rings and dynamic diagonal lines that reflect both the history of the Olympics and the determination of the participants. On the reverse, are stated the discipline, the event, and the PyeongChang 2018 emblem. In total, 259 sets of the medals were made.

I decided to track the Gold Medals won by the U.S. in this February blog, not knowing just how long it would make this blog. I hope it will be interesting and contain some good photos of the winners.

I've always enjoyed figure skating, and on the first few days following the Opening Ceremony it was fun to watch the Figure Skating Team Event, which I think is a new event. We also watched Speed Skating and the exciting Snowboard Slopestyle events where Red Gerard, a 17-year old from Colorado, won the first U.S. Gold Medal in the men's event on Saturday, and Jamie Anderson, from South Lake Tahoe and the gold medalist in this event in 2014, won the second U.S. Gold Medal in the women's event on Sunday (my reference to days are Pacific Coast time).

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During the week beginning Monday February 12 we watched many Olympic events, including the Snowboarding Halfpipe events. Photos below show Chloe Kim, the 17-year old from Torrance, who convincingly won Gold on Monday in the Women's Snowboarding Halfpipe event, the third U.S. Gold Medal in these Olympics. Kim had won the event with her second run, but added a nearly perfect score of 98.25 (out of a possible 100) on her victory lap. With Chloe in the second photo is her teammate, Arielle Gold of Colorado, who won the Bronze Medal. Then on Tuesday, snowboarding legend Shaun White, also known as the "Flying Tomato," won Gold in the Men's Halfpipe event to complete a U.S. sweep of four Gold Medal's for the U.S. in the four Snowboarding Events. White's winning score on his third run was 97.75.

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Many of the Alpine Skiing events were cancelled early in the week due to very high winds. On Valentine's Day they finally had weather that permitted the Women's Giant Slalom. Mikaela Shiffrin, the 22-year old from Vail, Colorado, had been considered a favorite to win some gold, although not so much in Giant Slalom. But when I saw she was wearing #7 I knew she was going to win! Roaring down a steep and especially taxing racecourse, Shiffrin appeared to be both the most aggressive and most technically sound skier. Her two-run time of 2 minutes and 20.02 seconds was 0.39 seconds ahead of Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway who had been in 1st place after the first run. So Shiffrin won her first Gold Medal, and the fifth gold for the U.S., in what had been considered her third-best event. For an old, amateur skier like me, it is really exciting to watch the slalom and downhill races. Their speed is very scary -- I'm exhausted just watching the events!

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Over the next several days we watched part of many events - most were fun and interesting, but not necessarily our favorites. The events included Snowboard Cross, Skeleton, Curling, Ice Hockey, Cross Country, Biathlon, and Speed Skating. On Thursday and Friday we watched Men's Figure Skating, Women's Freestyle Skiing, and Women's Alpine Skiing - Super G Final. These are always favorites of mine, but the U.S. Team didn't win Gold Medals in these events.

The U.S. Team of Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall came from behind to win a surprise Cross Country Gold Medal in Wednesday night’s team sprint freestyle, ending one of the United States’ longest-running Olympic droughts with a dramatic upset, and raising the U.S. Gold Medal count to six. The American skiers overtook a pair of more heralded teams to finish the single-heat final, edging Sweden for the gold by 0.19 seconds and coming in nearly three seconds ahead of Norway. This was one of the closest and most exciting finishes of an event you'll ever see!

David Wise, of Reno Nevada, won the Gold Medal in the Freestyle Skiing Men's Halfpipe. He has endured the worst two seasons of his career. He suffered three concussions, plus serious injuries to his shoulder and back. His wife experienced severe postpartum depression. Sponsors fled. His sister lost her right leg in a boating accident and nearly died. One of Wise's students committed suicide. One factor that judges use to evaluate halfpipe runs is variety, and one of the best way for skiers to show variety is by spinning tricks in all four directions — left, right, switch left and switch right. Last month at X Games, Wise became the first skier to land double corks in each of those four directions in one halfpipe run. It was a feat he repeated in these Pyeongchang games bringing the U.S. Gold Medal count to seven.

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In the midst of a bitter 20-year gold-medal drought, the U.S. Women’s Hockey Team defeated Canada 3-2 in a game that grew more enticing by the minute as it moved from regulation to overtime to a shootout that needed even more shots to settle things, with a U.S. goal for the ages, followed by a save to match. I haven't followed hockey very close, but this game was really exciting whether you were a fan or not. The Women's Hockey Team won the eighth Gold Medal for the U.S.

The U.S. Men’s Curling Team defied the odds in PyeongChang on Saturday to claim their first Gold Medal ever, beating Sweden’s No. 1-ranked team and Canada’s three-time gold medalists to win the title. Curling is another of the games I have not watched closely, but this match was exciting to watch and I'm sure will bring more fans to the game of curling. This win brought the U.S. Gold Medal count to 9, the final Gold Medal count.

I've been interested in following Lindsey Vonn in these Olympics because of her past skiing success and her terrible past injuries before this year's attempt to "come back." Wearing lucky number 7 for the Downhill, her specialty, I thought she was a shoe-in to win. She did win a medal, but it was the Bronze. I've only been showing the Gold Medals in this blog, but since I've followed Vonn so closely I decided to show her anyway.

She won the Gold Medal in the Downhill at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. Then she suffered a broken left ankle, fractures in her left knee, a broken right arm, and most seriously, a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee. These injuries forced out of the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games. Prior to this year's Olympics, Vonn piled up victories on the World Cup circuit - a pair of Downhill victories just a month ago. She now has a career total Downhill victories of 81, the most of any woman. Her first event this year was the Super-G, where she was expected to medal. Unfortunately she came in sixth. Her second event was her specialty, the Downhill, where she won the Bronze medal. Her final event was the Super Combined (Downhill and Slalom) where she was in first place for the Downhill, but skied off course in the Slalom.

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Although I only followed the U.S. Gold Medals in this wrap-up blog, many other U.S. athletes had great performances that landed them on the medal stand for Silver and Bronze Medals. The final standings show U.S. at 9 Gold, 8 Silver, and 6 Bronze; a total of 23 medals and in 4th place based on total medal count behind Canada, Germany, and Norway who was the leader with a total medal count of 39. I've always enjoyed figure skating and felt bad that the U.S. was unable to add Gold to their count in these events. I thought the Gala Figure Skating on Saturday night was really enjoyable to watch.

I thought the Closing Ceremony was very impressive and entertaining. South Korean technology was very much on display. It was fun watching how excited the athletes were as their adventure to South Korea was ending. Photos below from the left:

1st row- Athletes from each country bringing their flags into the stadium; next, the flags of each country in the center, with all other athletes marching in; 3rd is some of the U.S. athletes as they marched into the stadium.

2nd & 3rd rows- Views of the stadium with a few of the displays and entertainment acts in progress; the last photo is the president of the International Olympic Committee handing over the Olympic Flag to the mayor of Beijing, China for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

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