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I wish I had some pictures from a few weeks ago.  Joel and I played in the Oldtimer's Ice Hockey Tournament in Goderich.  We had a pretty good time; a win, a loss and a tie to miss out of a final fourth game.  The last time I played hockey with Joel was back in 2011 when we were living in Rossland.  I think that was one of the first years Joel even played hockey.  He got into the game much later in life, and has dramatically improved from those awesome days on the outdoor rink.  But anyway a team was scratched together by randomly opening an early 90s GDCI high school year book and picking someone on the page. 

It was lots of fun.  The age group starts at 35 to play in the tournament.  So there are a few people who are less then 40, many who are in their 40s, and then some even older then that.  There were 16 teams in 4 divisions.  We were in the second most competitive.  Given our record, we weren't the best, nor were we the worst.  But next time I'll have to get some pictures for sure.

Not much else is going on.  All of the snow has melted, but the weather reporter said not to get to excited for spring as snow and cold weather is still on its way.  But it really seems unusual to have such fluctuating weather. 

I switched up the front grill on my truck for something to do.  The instructions promised this was the easiest of easy things to do, so I choose this task.  Sure enough and true to form I could not get the old grill off the truck despite only having to unscrew two screws and remove two tabs.  By and by I got it....  I think it is a bit of a cha-chi move to post pictures about and to write about, but I do think the new one looks kind of cooler and better.

Old:

Halfway There:

 And Finished:

I don't know, maybe it looks kind of stupid still?  I've read that the original grill, the top picture, looks like someone wearing braces.  The funny thing, I think, about it is I order it from a knock-off vender in Asia.  The grill is as unauthentic as a Chibson Guitar.  It isn't Toyota OEM, especially at its price.  It was quite inexpensive.  But it fit!  It works.  I can't help but think "TOYOTA" isn't spelled correctly or something.  But all the holes lined up and it snapped into place.  This was supposed to be a spring project, but since the weather is so nice, I decided to get it done while the sun was shining.

Goderich's Winterfest Weekend

This winter weekend extravaganza has been happening for a number of years.  There is a candle paper-lantern moonlight walk on the Friday night in the town's bush behind the fire department.  Then on Saturday there are a few activities such as a chili cook off, many kids activities on the square, fireworks at night, and a dance at the arena.  It isn't city-esque excitement, but rather small town stimulus that gives families and people something to do.  It is just right, for the situation I suppose.

So Molly and I did the walk on Friday night.  They had a few fires lit and hot dogs were roasting, so it had that going for it.  Plus there was a cookies and hot chocolate station that goes over so well too.  The lanterns were okay.  The walk was okay too.  It is something to do, and I know the organizers put a lot into it, and think of it as very important, so for us to go and show a bit of support is fine.  I think having more would be better; more fires, more cookies, more lanterns, and such.  But it was fine.  It is a social event and we not only run into people we see all the time, but we also cross paths with those who we don't see too often.  Like going to the farmer's market perhaps.

On Saturday Molly, Wally, and I bundled up and went to the downtown Square area to take part in the activities.  There was a neat ice slide for the kids, there was a mini hockey area, there were thousands of ice blocks so kids could build and stack, and there was an ice painting wall.  Again there was a free hot dog station and hot chocolate was aplenty.  They had a DJ, and a juggler was going to perform later that afternoon, but we didn't stick it out to see that act.  The kids had fun and took a few rides on the slide.  Lots of people were there and it is also a very social thing to attend.

We had planned that the kids were going to have a sleep over at my dad's.  So Shelly and I went out to for dinner.  After that we went over to a friend's house as it was going to be a big night of arena dancing and drinking!  Yes, over to Sherry's for an hour or two were the party was so happening that it was a tough choice whether to stay or go.  Well, maybe it wasn't a tough choice, we were always planning on going to the dance.  My point is there was enough fun and music and drink and conversation there that if the arena wasn't going to happen, it wouldn't have been that big of a deal.  However, a number of us ambled over to the festivities and I had a great time.  I know everyone else did as well. 

There isn't really too much else going on.  It has snowed quite a lot lately and it seems that more snow is on its way.  Shelly has made as much of this as she can with getting out cross country skiing most weekends.  She is also busy enough playing in her bands.  I haven't been too busy with much.  Not too much running.  Not too much hockey.  Just minding the house I suppose and keeping out of trouble.