Now friend Redman would remind me that it’s December and suppose to be cold, but, I don’t care, it’s just to darn cold. Twenty-two and Nineteen seem pretty cold to me. That’s tonight and tomorrow night. Now friend Kim in Brainerd would remind me that the minus 12 and minus 4 for their next two nights is colder and stop whining. Plus they have the added joy of snow in the driveway, as pictured.  Earlier today I thought I might have seen a flake or two, and some Facebook friends in Auburn said the same thing.  But nope, just cold.  And on top of all that, COLD is a four letter word.  I’m done.

We’ve all watched the weather all week with anticipation of the Big Snow of the year. It was March of 2009 when we got that heavy early Saturday Morning Snow.  It was fun and gone by lunch.  Now the forecast has gone from 1 to 2 inches to 3 to 5 inches late this afternoon.  Snow on Friday!  Auburn Schools, Auburn University are closing on Friday, but Opelika City Schools were planning to open and let the kids go at lunch.  Now, that’s when the big weather is scheduled.  We’ll see how that works out.  If I get a note from Becky at Opelika Schools, I’ll share it here first.

I was over at the “Ack Steakhouse” (hey Redman, you’re right, that’s what it says! ) They’ve got a new Tortilla Soup that is the best I’ve had since I tasted the same at the Four Seasons Resort in Dallas.  Congrats to Emily, who is a fan of the soup as well, on word that she and that “Best” guy would have a little one join them on July 4th!  

Santa was in the restaurant with his  wife again this evening.  They are more regulars than I am.  I have been growing somewhat of a beard the past month.  I got to thinking, if he is doing the party with the little kids, I might be able to do the ones at Auburn University.  Soriety Santa!  What do you think?

And for my friends that like racing and the University of Alabama.  The folks over at Aaron Rental, who also sponsor the Aaron’s 499 at Talledage in the spring, have a special paint job going on the car for the race.  You can pre-order a die cast of the “Double O” car at the store with expected delivery in May.  I’ve got one scheduled. From the Aaron’s website: Every fan will want this limited edition, die-cast replica of the race car David Reutimann will drive at Talladega, in the Aaron’s 499 on April 25, 2010. This salute to the University of Alabama 2009 National Championship will be rolling off the shelves. Get it now.  Click Here to learn more!

And does another Alabama Race hold a surprise for those on the track that get passed by some local favorites in a VW or Audi.  Could be General! More on that later!

Ran by the coffee shop this morning before going into the office for a bit. Noone there, so off to work, only to get a text to come out a play with all my friends in the snow. So, back to Red Door June. Picture below, part of the group.

We got to the shop about 9:30 and that’s when the snow started really comeing down. The picture below is about that time.

By the time I headed out an hour later, the snow was sticking to the sidewalks and street and driving was getting to be more of a challenge.

I thought I’d take a look at the post for the past year and see if there were any items worthy of mention here. So here goes!

January 19th we had our Big Snow! Who can forget the snowman contest as they popped up on car hoods all around town. Remember it here!  The Historic District Street Signs started going up in the downtown area in February.  Mayor Fuller defended the City Council decision to increase their pay beginning with the next Fiscal year.  Downtown railroad crossings also got some work.  February started with a much overdue colonoscopy with friend Debbie.   March was big with the return of the Rocky Brook Rocket, Garden in the Park, the Unity Run and Lions Pancake Day.  The city installed LED lights in all the city traffic lights.  The Red Cross Heroes Take Flight was at the airport and remember the quick snow storm?  In April I posted that picture of Charles Barkley and his buddy Redman.  It’s worth going to take another look at!  The Gourmet Beer Bill died again in the Alabama Senate!  Kids from Opelika Middle School took part in a special Saugahatchee Watershed project in Monkey Park.  John Robert and Laurel got married, the Opelika Bulldogs Baseball Team almost won it all, Noontunes returned to Courthouse Square for the 2nd Year, Summer Swing Kicked off and Opelika’s Downtown got a new  upholstery shop when Kenny opened his shop downtown on 9th Street!  Moving to June, I adopted Mitch from the Shelter, I took a few days off to head over to Savannah, Red Door June Coffee & Floral opened their doors and I was the first customer.  On to July, City Council called for a study for Municipal Broadband, City Election candidates were getting ready for the August election and Buddy Redman with other scaled the walls of an out of town friends house and hung out at their pool. And I was officially appointed to the Historic Commission for the City of Opelika.  Opelika’s first ever National Night Out kicked off August,  my first run at politics ended on a Tuesday Night with a loss, and the Lee County Red Cross opened shelters for people heading north to get away from Gustav. In September, gas prices continued to rise and at one point local stations ran out of gas as folks emptied the stations tanks. I think I decided to run for council in 2012 and Google introduced their web browser “Chrome”. October saw the introduction of the cities newest newspaper, the Opelika Observer.  That was also my adventure at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. The City of Auburn cracked down on the evil Elks Club for having too many (that’s right) flags on their property. It was another On The Tracks filling the street downtown, great night!  November brought a new tree to downtown to become the City Christmas Tree.  Then there was that train derailment that was a somewhat non-event.  If you didn’t know the engine derailed, you couldn’t tell by looking at it from a block away.  I started writing a monthly contribution in the OA News, which normally appears the first Tuesday.  The City showed off a new fire truck!  Obama wins the race for president!  In December the usual Opelika events, Christmas in a Railroad Town, the Victorian Front Porch Tour, former co worker Captain Sandy (aka Joe Cox) died in Savannah.   I hope you take a little time and check out all the links scattered above to the stuff noted.