Snow, Basketball, and a Round Robin

Now what in the world do all the things in my title have to do with one another? Not a whole lot except that they all figured in my day yesterday.

I live in the Flint Hills of Kansas where winter can be very mild and often is, but now and then, we get a big storm blowing across the Plains. We were warned that we might be in for 4-8 inches of snow a couple of days earlier, then it was changed to 6-10 inches for our area, more farther north of us. It started around midnite on Monday and snowed off and on all night and all day yesterday and into the evening. We got all of ten inches, and then the wind picked up and began to blow the snow into deep drifts.
This morning, it's bitterly cold but bright and sunny and schools closed for a second day. Looking at it from my window makes me want to write a poem. There are lots of ways to describe the white stuff piled up out there.

Basketball entered into my day when we went to watch K-State play Xavier in an eight o'clock game last night. Snowing and blowing, but we bundled up and off we went through the unplowed roads of our subdivision out to the only once-plowed main road that leads to the arena parking lot, also unplowed. Happily, we live only five minutes away. Two years ago, K-State lost an embarassing game on New Year's Eve to Xavier on their home court in Cincinnati. The wound had only festered over time, and the guys on that team who still play for us had a score to settle. Xavier had only lost two games so far this season, and they have some good shooters. As I'd feared, there were far fewer fans than usual, but the student section was filled. The game started slowly and sloppily on both sides, but our team played super defense and hit the boards hard, ending up with a win by 15 points. The crowd was a factor, even though about half the numbers normally in attendance. They cheered long and loud. It was a satisfying win, and we were happy fans that walked across a snowy parking lot to our snow-covered car for the short ride home.

My online writers' critique group is writing a Round Robin story this month. One person writes the first paragraph and sends it on the next one on the list. She adds another paragraph, continuing the same storyline. On to number three and so on down the line. Last night, I received the first three paragraphs of what is already a rather riveting story, filled with suspense. In only three paragraphs! I'm number four, and I lay awake a long time trying to decide how to continue this story.

So now you know how snow, basketball and a round robin all figured into my day yesterday. My next job today is to write that paragraph and send it on to the next writer.