Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is still alive and well. His lower back is aching a little, but otherwise he is fine. As you may know, about 18 inches of snow fell on the Villainschloss over the weekend. As our good friend Skippy points out, he’s had less snow in Toronto than your Maximum Leader’s had in Fredericksburg VA. (NB to Skippy: Damn you Skippy! Having snowless sex with your girlfriend in Canada!)

At this point your Maximum Leader is sick of the snow. In fact he was sick of the snow on Sunday. He was sick of it after a few hours of shovelling. He is extra sick of it now. Your Maximum Leader’s street is now plowed or treated in any way. And the roads leading to your Maximum Leader’s street are not plowed or treated in any way either. It makes for fun driving!

There is not much else going on. Almost all of the Christmas shopping was done before the storm, so no worries there. We have made a run for some groceries, but we could have made it if we needed to.

Hanging over the whole holiday is what is going on with Kevin’s mom. It is not good news and it has me rather depressed. I have known how her story was going to end. But I find that perhaps I’d not mentally prepared myself for a sudden change in her situation. It is a sudden change that seems to have occured now. I don’t know what to hope for in terms of her health. I feel hollow and fake in saying that I hope whatever is “best” happens. I don’t know what “best” is in this case. I hope for strength for all of us who love her.

Carry on.