Being West Virginian

We're just barely into winter and have only had one real snow. The ditches that weren't cleaned even once last year are hidden under leaves and beer cans, waiting to gobble up automobiles when roads turn icy. We called the State Road several times, but they never made it out. There's a jagged pothole on the corner we have to straddle, but when the snow covers it we'll have to guess where it is.

Deer hunting is over and the trail camera is back from the woods, filled with 290 pictures of all the deer, raccoons, turkeys and squirrels that made it through hunting season by the skin of their teeth (do turkeys have teeth?) and lived to see another year. Christmas decorations are under the bed, except for a few I used to make a Christmas corner to remember it by.

Our Mountaineers won the Orange Bowl football game in Florida a couple of weeks ago by a score of 70 to 33, setting all kinds of records. We are proud of them, but Jay Leno made a joke that their football score was higher than their ACT scores. Oh, ha ha, Jay. We're used to that kind of talk around here, and don't let it bother us. We don't watch him, anyway. At that hour of the night, we're usually in bed resting our blistered bare feet. Maybe next year Santa will bring us some shoes.

A couple of guys are trying their best to live up to our reputation, though. A new street sign was put up the other day and four hours later, a man was seen twisting it out of the ground and racing off with it in the back of his pickup. Nice going, buddy. Here's your sign . . .

And coming back from town today, we rounded a curve and there was a car smack in the middle of the road, talking to a guy in another car. He beeped his horn repeatedly at us as we approached, as if to say, hey, I'm in the middle of this road talking to my buddy, so back off. Hubby made it clear he wasn't going to do that, and the guy reluctantly pulled over into his own lane and left. Funny part is, there was a big parking lot right next to them they could have sat in and jawed for hours. Here's your sign, too, guys.

Jay would probably be surprised to hear that Hubby and I watched Masterpiece Theater last Sunday and enjoyed it. It is a series called Downton Abbey, starring Maggie Smith, about the folks in an English manor. Part of the Abbey has just been turned into a convalescent hospital for wounded British soldiers, so everyone is extra busy. There are a couple of love affairs going on at the same time.  It will be fun to see what develops.

On a vintage episode of the Waltons the other day, West Virginia's David Selby (whose I.Q. is beyond reproach) played an art teacher who became smitten with Olivia, the Walton mom, who was attending an art class he taught. I'd forgotten how handsome David was in the 70's, probably around the time he played Quentin Collins in the Gothic soap, Dark Shadows. Here in Almost Heaven, we're as proud of David as we are of  the WVU football team. Go Mountaineers!

I gobbled up Fancy Nancy's (Captionsbest) new book, Snippets II, in a night and it gave me all kinds of new ideas. Did I mention she is my new role model? Nothing stops her when she gets an idea. Thanks for your book, Nancy! Enjoy your snowless, pothole-free winter!

See you next week!