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Happy 2014!

Since I was mentioned in Mark's address, I must say that on New Year's Day we were basking in near 70 degree warmth and sun. The problem is we have had no more than 1/4 inch of rain this winter, and things are very dry, and there is talk about possible water rationing later this year. Wildland fires are a major concern. Those folks from our class who live in AZ are probably doing better than us in CA. Of course that would be south of Flagstaff.

I still miss the beauty of the snow, but not the shovling of it. Then again we are a four hour drive from the beautiful Lake Tahoe ski resorts in the Sierras, if we want to experience the beauty...and no shovling.

Anne and I wish you all the best for 2014. We hope to see as many of you as possible.

Don

01/03/14 10:39 AM

#38

What happened? Did you guys all lose your tough? All I hear is complaints about the weather. You'd think that by your ages it would dawn on you that in winter it gets cold (and snows!) and there will never be enough water in California (at least for drinking). Well, I remember the winter of 1966 - 67 in Chicago. That was snow.

Here in Colorado it is cool - but, it is winter. We know that snow belongs in the ski areas and that is where it mostly is. In fact, if there is not enough, we make it - we love snow so much! We have enough water for that.

I've finally gotten around to putting a front receiver hitch on my pickup so I can mount a snow plow. That means I am sitting here hoping it snows. The more the better. Can't wait to get out there and push the snow off the roads (us locals maintain our local roads out here - the county has little money) to make room for more. Just put the Blizzaks on the jeep and driving around on dry pavement just makes me feel I am wearing out those tires faster than I need to. I want snow.

Mark, you don't know how lucky you are.

Don, I hope California hasn't changed you too much. You have been out there for quite a while. Do we need to do an intervention?

01/03/14 11:49 AM

#39

I think we should all climb aboard your snow plow truck and push some snow around. That would make my aching back feel so much better. Don

01/03/14 03:41 PM

#40

Mark Wieting

Two questions for you, Tom:

How can you be so close to Teluride and not have snow? All the reports so far this year have said that Colorado is having a great snow year and the resorts are making tons of money.

More important: why does Ridgway, CO not have an E in it?

All the best for 2014!

Mark

01/03/14 04:14 PM

#41

Bruce F. Burianek

Here in Washington we had snow for one day and it was gone by noon, I almost had enough to make one snowball, We also have enough water it did rain some yesterday. My Granddaughter doing intern chef duty in Aspen says they have a lot of snow.

Have a good New Year

01/03/14 05:13 PM

#42

Ahhh...Aspen! Beautiful part of the world. Where exactly in Washington are you Bruce?

01/03/14 06:22 PM

#43

Loved Tom's retort about whether folks have lost their tough! Lovely in Marion. Was 8 below last night, so went out this a.m. and shoveled the snow a second time, wind undoes all one's work. Then walked 8 blocks to the convenience store to buy an Indy paper, hands were cold but otherwise I was fine. Ah! It will be lovely to watch Green Bay and San Francisco go at it on Lambeau field (sorry Bears fans) in below zero degrees. And, btw, the Colts will beat the Chiefs, again.

01/03/14 06:43 PM

#44

Bruce F. Burianek

I am a ferry ride from Seattle. They get all the bad weather, the mountains shield me from most of it.

01/03/14 07:34 PM

#45

I'm looking forward to the game on Sunday. Bill can you guess whom I am rooting for?

01/04/14 08:18 AM

#46

James Alan Bullard

Looks Like St Louis will get a real snow storm. Kinda' fun to watch, the place will shut down for a couple of days.

Thanks to all who put together the reunion, that was fun.

Happy New Year

01/04/14 11:45 AM

#47

We get snow in Ridgway, in fact, it's snowing now and there is a little on the ground but I don't expect it will amount to much. It's about 45 degrees right now at 10:40am MST. Tomorrow and for the next couple of weeks temperatures should reach the high 40's / low 50's.

Ridgway was established in 1891 by Robert M. Ridgway, a Denver & Rio Grande railroad supperintentdent and was named after him - hence no "e". I guess the "e" was used at the end of Rio Grande and, back in those days, there was a shortage of "e"'s - not enough to go around. Robert M. sacrificed and gave up his for the good of the railroad.

We live at, approximately, 7,800 feet. The dividing line for heavy snow is about 9,000 feet so the mountains to the south of us, one gets to 14,000 feet, tend to accumulate all the snow. We overlook an east/west valley which seems to affect the weather we get in the Ridgway area. We're in, sort of, the "tropics" of western Colorado. Don would love it here

Telluride is on a valley floor at 8,750 feet and the ski slopes around it are much higher than that - about 10,000 feet, at leaast, at the top. Cold air tends to collect in the Telluride valley floor. So, the town of Telluride and the Telluride ski area will be much colder and get a lot more snow on the slopes. Same with Ridgway, by the way. We live higher and to the west of the town of Ridgway which is also in a valley (though a larger one than Telluride) and only at about 6,000 feet. It could be 5 - 10 degrees colder in Ridgway (just about 5 miles away) than it is here in the winter.

Yes, I hear it is a very good year for snow on the slopes in Colorado.

As for the Bears, how long can I hang onto the memory of the great 1985 team? That's the question! There is no doubt, however, that this year, at least, I am a Broncos fan.

01/04/14 11:50 AM

#48

Bill Heller:

I suppose your walk to get the paper was 8 blocks - up hill both ways

01/04/14 02:13 PM

#49

For Tom, correct, and the snow was 2 feet deep. Just like when we went to GE. And Don, I'd guess the 49ers...right? They better bring their long johns... but those Green Bay guys will be naked!

01/04/14 09:32 PM

#50

No problem with the "Packers" being naked...our team is the San Francisco 49ers.

01/05/14 08:34 AM

#51

Touche! Colts won as predicted....but I was damn nervous.

01/05/14 05:37 PM

#52

Just shoveled for the 3rd time, I'm certain we are up to a foot of snow now. What else would I be doing at half time of the GB v. SF game? This is after the 2nd shoveling and is a nostalgia trip for those in AZ and CA and other points warm.

01/06/14 11:22 AM

#53

Ronald Mueller

Green Bays luck ran out after 2 games against the Cowboys and Bears. Indy's Luck did great against an injury plagued Chief's. The best teans won all 4 playoff games.

01/06/14 11:35 AM

#54

Linda Louise Crissey (Cotten)

I like your play on words...luck and Luck. Go Niners!

04/02/14 03:00 PM

#55

Forty-eight years just melted away as Hélène Rousset Goutal and Linda Crissey Cotten reconnected after almost five decades of separation. It was Glenbard East’s Class of 63 Fifty Year Reunion efforts and, most especially, Mark Weiting’s website that allowed us to find one another once again. We had last gotten together in Hélène’s hometown of Lyon, France when I was a college student studying abroad in the fall of 1965, but since then, marriages and name changes and relocations kept us apart. Hélène was unable to attend our class reunion this summer, but it seemed as though we just picked up a conversation left off in the AFS host family Laurie Bilger’s back yard, as we explored Las Vegas and its surroundings this March. Some of the highlights included an all-day excursion through Death Valley, with a drive past the Nevada Test Site and Creech Air Force base -- no wildflowers, no nuclear tests, no drone surveillance (that we know of), but a lovely day nonetheless. We headed to Las Vegas’ new Mob Museum and old Fremont Street hotels. (There are some CRAZY people on Fremont Street even in the middle of the afternoon!) The Alvin Ailey Dance Troupe’s performance at the Smith Centre for the Performing Arts was outstanding. As was a picnic at the Red Rock National Conservation Area (minus the absent hikers’/mountain climbers’ annoying car alarm that succeeding in chasing us away from our picnic table!). We enjoyed a walk through the Springs Preserve and a night time drive down the Las Vegas Strip. Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson One show at the Mandalay Bay was an extraordinary experience. Lunch at the sidewalk café Mon Ami Gabi at the Paris Hotel (where else?) was delish! Brunches with family and friends and an afternoon with Linda’s ‘French lady’ friends rounded out the week. It was great to have a new sous-chef helping out in the kitchen, to have the opportunity to slip back and forth between conversations in French and English (I had had a career as a French teacher, Hélène as an English teacher), but most of all to enjoy memories of our shared past at Glenbard and to make future plans involving a little Franco-American exchange of our own. C’était MAGNIFIQUE! Now to see how successful I am at posting images to illustrate this carte postale!

04/04/14 05:44 PM

#56

Mark Wieting

Thanks, Linda, for the full accounting of what seems like a great reunion of your own! And you did a great job posting the photos except there are none of you.... When are you going to Lyon?

04/04/14 06:17 PM

#57

Mark

I'll send some bucks to keep this thing going when we return. We are currently in Old Town Albuquerque watching an Elvis contest. Be back home in a week.

04/05/14 11:17 AM

#58

Mark Wieting

Thanks, Tom! But tell us all------what songs will you be singing in the Elvis Contest? I suggest "Can't Help Falling in Love." And maybe "That's Alright" and "Blue Suede Shoes." Will you be accompanying yourself on guitar? Good luck!

04/06/14 09:13 AM

#59

Absolutely no singing for me. The costume was thing. I didn't have one.

04/15/14 12:14 PM

#60

Heartbleed web vulnerability: a check of the glenbardeast63.com website today (4/15) shows it was not vulnerable to hacking for password info. However, many of you are on Facebook too and it was vulnerable and so passwords should be changed. If you have not checked your financial institutions, or other sensitive sites, a site you can use to check for vulnerability is: http://lastpass.com/heartbleed This site checks and reports on the status of any updating that has been done.

Happy hunting and hope you won't find many of your sites have been vulnerable.

Bill Heller

04/15/14 12:16 PM

#61