Roller Derby

Is anyone out there old enough to remember watching the women's roller derby on TV? As I remember it, I watch a black and white TV with a tangle of women throwing elbows and skating like the wind. Their ponytails sailed behind them as the raced around the ring. They all had "battle names" - like Bomber Betty, Rowdy Renae, Tough as Nails Tina, etc. They would skate round and round all the while giving each other a hip bump to get through traffic or assisting their team mate to get through by giving her a slingshot type of assist. The matches were pretty exciting. As I remember them now, those matches sort of remind me of the men's professional wrestling - but for women. I'm not sure they were scripted but they certainly put a lot of flash and drama into the matches to ensure an exciting finish.

Some folks are attempting to revive the old roller derby. There are a few teams around here that have regular matches. I think there was an article in the paper or something. When Doug and I talked about it he mentioned that he would like to go sometime. Really? That doesn't seem like Doug but we both agreed that it we might like to go sometime. That thought sat in our brains and faded until a short time ago.

I get emails from Groupon - a site that sets up local discounts. They offer great deals (like 56% off regular price) at restaurants, rock climbing walls, spas, mani and pedi establishments, etc. A certain number of people must sign up for the offer before it will actually be valid. They call that their "tipping point". I usually just delete most of the offers. But then one came in about the Roller Derby. A race at the old Colosseum on March 20th. "Hey, half price tickets," I thought. "Lets go!" So we did.

Our group included Doug, Scott, Isaac, my mom, a guest staying with us - Sylvia, and me. We headed down to the arena and followed directions to turn in our Groupon for an actual ticket for the event. So I stood in line with about 2,000 other people. Am I crazy or what? I guess if I am - then so are the other 2,000 people in line.

They were not equipped to handle the number of "fans" who showed up. One window was handling the Groupon crowd. And I mean CROWD! And actually when I got up near the window I discovered that two very long lines were merged into the one window. Sheesh! We stood in line for well over an hour. The event started before we had moved very far at all. Then we heard that they had stopped the match because they realized that all these people outside would be really upset if they paid, stood in line for tickets, and then went inside and didn't get to see anything. But while the line-waiting was going on it appears that Doug and Isaac were doing a little socializing with the roller derby babes.

The box office finally abandoned their laboriously slow method of exchanging Groupons for actual tickets and just took the masses of people up to the door and counted the number of people with you and took your vouchers and let you in. My guess is that after about 1 minute of doing this they just opened the doors and let everyone in unchecked. But we were finally in and that is all that we cared about.

We came in during the first match - the Brutal Beauties vs. the Schoolyard Scrappers. What we saw was not really much like the memories of the Roller Derbies we had seen years ago on TV. The women seemed beefier. They seemed clutzier. They seemed daintier. They seemed less daring and aggressive. It seemed that they were mostly ending up in heaps on the skating floor. This just wasn't right. But we watched. The first match came to their half-time break and the second match started - Run Runaway Brides vs. Coffin Draggers. We were pretty ready to go by then. We had had enough.

Not only were we disappointed in the roller derby action. But we didn't understand the rules of the game. Scott scouted out a program and that has the rules printed on it - so if we ever go again we can prepare ourselves better.

But the crowd was - I guess I can say a little scary. We were surrounded by a sea of tattoos and piercings. The tattoos and piercings were attached to scantily dressed girls and ex-con type guys. And actually there were lots of gal pals there if you know what I mean. Sheesh! Talk about alternative lifestyles. I think they were in the majority that night.

Well the anticipation of an event stored in the foggy memories of days past - was way better than the actual event. Doug's rating of the night's activity?

TWO THUMBS DOWN!

But the approval rating for the entire evening went way up when we stopped for a Dairy Queen treat on the way home. Our guest picked up the tab. Thanks Sylvia!

P.S. - If you want to see an old roller derby clip

just pan up to the top and left click on "women's roller derby on TV."

You are correct!

Ever wanted to hear the words, "You are correct?" Yeah, me too. Well Doug did hear those words recently. His sister ,Yvonne, called him and said, "You are correct!" Joy filled Doug's heart. He was correct - AND - he was getting a prize for being correct.

What had he gotten correct? I bet you want to know. OK - I'll tell you. Yvonne's son, Clint, had sent in his mission papers and everyone was excitedly awaiting his call. We all submitted our guesses as to where we thought he would go for his 2 year mission. The closest guess would get a prize. He was called to a mission in Taiwan! Clint is thrilled with the call as he has already spent a good amount of time learning Chinese. And it turns out that Doug's guess was right on - he guessed Taiwan.

The wait for the prize was agonizing. Every day as we picked up the mail a little light of anticipation danced in his eyes. For days he had to deal with the disappointment that came when the prize did not come. But at long last a padded envelope arrived in the mail. It was addressed to Doug Selin. It was from his sister, Yvonne.

His hands shook as he held and inspected the envelope. He carefully opened the package and discovered that it was indeed his prize for being correct. And what a prize!

The first discovery was the two fortune cookies that were sent. They actually could not technically be called cookies at this point. They were pretty - crushed. They actually were fortunes with cookie crumbs in the same bag.

Next there was a pin with the US and Taiwan flag. Nice. And last but certainly not least was a pair of telescoping metal chopsticks in a golden metal case. WOW! Nice!

And as you can see in the picture - Doug was very happy that he had earned the phrase - "You are correct!" Just so you know, he'd probably die of starvation if he had to use chopsticks for all his meals. But thanks Yvonne for a very appropriate prize!

Oh, and just so you know - this was his fortune:

So you might be getting calls from Doug. He may

have good ideas to share with others.

And lucky you! You are the "others".

So just smile and nod and thank him.

And remember - you are helping his fortune come true.

Another kitchen disaster

Remember my last kitchen disaster? Yes, the one with the bread and shattered pyrex pan? The one that ended with a new calling from the Bishop? Well I had another kitchen disaster yesterday- but without a new calling.

It really was a much smaller kitchen disaster. But it was messy!

Want to know what I was trying to make? Rice Krispie Treats. Rice Krispie Treats! Sheesh! If I can't make those by now without having a kitchen disaster what good am I?

The main problem was using a container that was too small for the marshmallows. As they cooked in the microwave they puffed up and expanded and literally crawled out of the container and onto the outsides of the container and all over the microwave. What a mess! I had stickiness EVERYWHERE! But I still needed to finish the project. So I has strings of marshmallow stretching from the container to the spatula I was using to try to remedy the situation. Then sticky strings from the spatula to my hands. Then from the container to the countertop. The problem just kept on growing. Total Mess!

I felt as though I was stuck in the Dr. Seuss book, "The Cat in the Hat Comes Back". You know where the Cat in the Hat returns with little cats A-Z? They create a lot of havoc and end up with a pink bathrub ring that can't be cleaned up or gotten rid of.

After some concerted effort I did eventually get all evidence of the marshmallow explosion cleaned up and totally eliminated - (I hope). I'll also have you know that I did finish the Rice Krispie Treats. So this episode of Kitchen Disaster also concludes with a most delicious ending.

Snow

We live in a desert. When one lives in a desert - one loves the rain. And we have had lots to love so far this year. We have had 5" of rain so far this year. That is more than we received in 2009!

Anyway back to snow. When we get rain in the winter, Flagstaff usually gets snow. Usually they love snow. The snow brings in skiers and other snow loving people. Sometimes the ski resort only opens for a week or two because of a lack of snow (not that uncommon). But this year there is an abundance of snow. They have had 138.2" of snow so far this year. And typically March is their best month for snow so they expect to finish the year off with more!

Just for comparrison purposes I have a few other snow totals to show you.

(These totals were published in today's Arizona Republic)

Flagstaff: 138.2"

Buffalo, NY: 74.1"

Anchorage, AK: 58.5"

Chicago, IL: 52.4"

NYC, NY: 51.4"

Bismarck, ND: 48.3"

Minneapolis, MN: 40.7"

It seems as though our snow totals are way ahead of some pretty big snow cities. And even though the Flagstaff area needs snow to bring in winter $$ - they are getting a little tired of shoveling. And heck, even if not enough tourists come to ski - the snow shovel sellers are doing a brisk business.

Coming to Town

Our family is coming to town. That is - we are heading north to Utah to see the kids and grandkids. Actually we will be meeting our grandson for the first time. Hope he likes us.

This video is for Sadie and little Calvin.

Sadie likes to watch our

"Coming to Town" videos -

maybe Calvin will too.

We'll see you all soon.

P.S. Happy Birthday to Lindsey too!