06 FEB 26

“Man of Constant Sorrow” inexplicably twanging through my head before waking early that morning... as Oxbear lightly knocks around the house leaving for his 7AM men's meeting at church...

During breakfast the Olympics are switched back on again about eighteen months later... curling preliminaries between the U.S. and Czechia... because when nothing else is on curling is still always on... and Patience is strangely fascinating by these rounded stones clacking into each other across the ice...

The lazy-ish morning continues for the kids as the world of winter sport is further explored by Patience... although Yali is more interested in experimenting with the power drill which leads to Patience and me shouting back and forth above the noise... “NO PATIENCE I'M NOT GOING TO BUY YOU A THREE HUNDRED DOLLAR SNOW CONE MACHINE FOR CHINESE NEW YEAR!” // “BUT WHY NOT??”... even with all the math classes this ten year-old still can't understand the value of a dollar...

Afternoon degrades into that weird zone of sibling fights that aren't exactly fights but aren't exactly not fights as they race around a soupy yard dribbling with melting slush under warming sun...

...until they return too early because they have copious questions for Patience's tiny tie-dyed Magic 8 Ball mostly focused on whether or not Puck will return from the Army in four months... “Signs point to yes... YAY! Signs point to YES!”...

But the Magic 8 Ball isn't the only seer taking questions that day... I have also been abundantly volunteered with the avalanche of inquiry throughout the afternoon including one of Patience's top picks of the day... “Will I become Queen of Ireland?”... should probably introduce some world government systems into their studies as well...

And we're back to evening again for the Olympics' Parade of Nations from Milan over boxes of Dairy Queen... it's kind of an Olympics tradition... and Patience's two hundred thirty-three questions about everything and everyone and all of it...