Pleep Kicks Off Mardi Gras Season & Wins The Baby

Mardi Gras is one of Pleep's favorite times of the year.  He loves the parties, the beads, the New Orleans style food, and, of course, the consumption of adult beverages.  He started off the season yesterday with a bit of single malt, in honor of Alice who always gives up alcohol for Lent.  Mike Power had given Pleep some excellent beads with eyes that light up and flash.  He donned those and mapped out his plans between now and Ash Wednesday.

First was the Mardi Gras party put on by Peggy's friends Nate & Jenny.  It is always a fabulous event with a huge vat of Hurricanes, wine, all types of other liquor and Jenny's authentic home made shrimp creole and jambalaya.  Mike & Ed (among others) joined Pleep in partaking of the fun and festivities.  Ed was a bit concerned about the consumption of Hurricanes but Mike diverted his attention whenever possible so Pleep & Peggy could return to the spigot and refill everyone's glasses.

One of the highlights of the evening was when Peggy bit into her piece of King Cake and bit into the baby.  In New Orleans tradition, this would require Peggy to host the next party in the run up to Ash Wednesday.  Pleep pointed out that there were already a lot of evetns planned: Texas Independence Day Brewmaster dinner, Boulevard Beer School, Barley's Mardi Gras Brewmaster dinner, and the Wil Jenny's Shoot For Cure Dinner.   He wasn't certain another event could be squeezed in.  However, Peggy said, "Laissez les bons temps rouler. No problem.  We will do a crockpot gumbo for Monday and keep the ball rolling."

To cap off the evening, Ed entertained the crowd:

Pleep Renames Groundhog Day As Monkeybutt Day

After spending all day yesterday watching the blizzard hit KC and Chicago, Pleep decided he was better equipped than a groundhog in Pennslyvannia to determine how much longer winter would last. He got up early this morning declaring, "It's Monkeybutt Day!  If I see my butt shadow, there will be 6 more weeks of winter!"   Heading out to the balcony where temperatures were in the mid 60's but it was cloudy, Pleep said he was not seeing his shadow and therefore it would be an early spring.

Pleep's friends on the ground in Kansas City and Chicago sent in pictures and advice.  Galen, our neighbor in KC, reported shoveling as much as a foot of snow and spotted the deer in our backyard where the snow was up to the deer's belly.  Coco, his Yorkie watchdog, spent the day stalking several deer from inside the house.  Chicago was hit very hard and George & Alice were lucky to make it out before the airports all closed.  Terry sent a picture from his house with advice that they stay where they were for now.   There does not appear to be as much snow as the 1967 storm where we were all out of school for several days.  Right now, we are all hoping Pleep is right and it will indeed be an early spring.

For those interested:  The Groundhog Day celebration is rooted in a German superstition that says if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on Feb. 2, the Christian holiday of Candlemas, the Feast of Jesus' presentation at the temple, winter will last another six weeks. If no shadow was seen, legend said spring would come early.  Delete pointed out monkeys are not hibernating animals and thus, Cubby Bear should have been the one outside making the prediction. 

Pleep Anxiously Awaits George & Alice's Arrival In Daytona Beach

Pleep is very happy to be safely back in Florida as he watches the blizzard hitting the entire middle section of the country.  With KC hitting sub-zero temps and expecting as much as 2 feet of snow the sun, the warm temps at Daytona are especially attractive.  

What Pleep is most excited about is the arrival of super Packer fan, George tonight.  Pleep has George's lucky hat from the last Super Bowl win by the Packers and is planning on making George wear it all the way until the end of the game.

George went to the recent Bears defeat at Soldiers' Field with Terry and Moon.  He was in full Packer attire from head to toe and all layers.  Terry and Moon on the other hand were a little less obvious in their outer garments.   George commented, "This is nothing compared to my trip to the Ice Bowl in Green Bay.  My beer isn't even freezing."  Of course it could be that having tickets on the club level where they could hang inside at half time was a help.

At this point, we are all tracking the storm and the Delta flights to watch George & Alice's progress.  They have already been rerouted from Chicago to Detroit then into Atlanta and finally Daytona.  It will be time to start an emergency travel novena very soon.

GO PACKERS!! Beat Steelers!