January 23

Had lunch with Jenny and her mother on Friday morning, she was supposed to come into town but the trip was canceled. It may actually work out for the best since there is nasty weather forecast overnight into Saturday and we're supposed to leave at 2:00 for our basketball game in Reading. Back in December Don and I had a meeting with a local sports complex about the possibility of moving our street hockey league indoors. Nothing definite has happened on that front as yet but the discussions led to the creation of a winter indoor "floor hockey" league. The complex is located about ten miles west of town, it opened in 2013 and is known as Spooky Nook Sports (or "the Nook"). The season began on the 16th, games are played on Friday nights and most of the eight teams in the league are players from our league at Reservoir Park. Fridays are obviously busy for me at this time of year but on this night I was able to attend and see what was happening. The games are played on one of the Nook's sport courts, an area used for various purposes like basketball and soccer. There is a padded wall on one side of the court, the other side is where the reserve players stand and the entire area is surrounded by protective netting. The games are played four-on-four plus goalies because it's a smaller surface than a regulation rink would be, the goal nets are the same ones we use at Reservoir Park. The whole environment is very different from what we're accustomed to but if it helps us establish a footprint it's for the best. The first game started at 6:00, there were four games played and we were done shortly after 9:30. Don was refereeing and his daughter Bri was running the scoreboard clock, I was not there in any official capacity but as the night progressed I ended up helping out as needed (I guess thirty-five years of experience in the field stands out). The season runs through March 6, basketball and the Royals will determine how often I'll be able to attend but I'll definitely be there when able. Light snow arrived during the evening, when I came out after the games there was a coating on the ground and on my car. The drive home was little trouble but when I got there I was glad to be, we'll see what Saturday morning brings. Take care, thanks for reading.