From one winter wonderland to another, let the games begin!

You know something must not be right when it’s colder and we’ve had more snow in Mountain Home than they have at Sochi, Russia, for the Winter Olympics.

Fortunately, the temperature has risen and most of the snow and ice has melted here during the past couple of days, except for the iceberg in my parking spot at Sixth &Hickory. I was astonished to discover there still was grass in our yard, and that our driveway really wasn’t a skating rink, except for the part that stays in the shade all the time and laid me low Thursday night.

For a little while, we were having our own Winter Olympics right here. There was team vehicle braking in which drivers in separate vehicles tried to avoid one another while skidding across the road. Slick shoe skating was popular as people tried to stay upright on icy sidewalks. Pet curling was particularly fun since you got to scoot your dog or cat across the frozen snow pack to go do their business. Naturally, that opens the way for yard hockey.

One of my favorites was an oral competition in which you find more descriptive ways to complain about the weather using words blue enough to freeze in midair. It’s also known as cross-country cussing. Instead of a gold medal, the winner gets his mouth washed out with soap. Lifebuoy.

What’s been good about this weather is it’s given folks an opportunity to stay indoors and become enamored with the balmy environs of Sochi, where the big question isn’t whether Americans will bring home the most gold but if Bob Costas’ pink eye will clear up enough for him to go back on the air. I’m not sure which is more frustrating for him —missing being on the air for the first time since the 1988 Olympics, or having pink eye.

It’s been fun to catch some of the events, although the back stories of many of the athletes have been enough to fill a complete season of Lifetime movies: A skier competes for the first time without her friend since childhood because depression finally overcame him. Another skier has a brother with CS who paints and always is there when he competes. Even locally there’s a girl from Springfield who has gone from in-line skating to speed skating on ice and her dad got to make it to Sochi in time to see her compete.

Then there’s been the Al Roker and Matt Lauer antics as they’ve worn the over-the-top uniforms of the Norwegian curling team; gone to the Russian equivalent of a spa to be massaged, beaten with laurel limbs and soaked in a giant kettle over a fire; and done a two-man bobsled run. It’s nice they have such a good bromance, although with the current atmosphere in Russia they’re probably being closely watched.

I’d really like to see more of Vladimir Putin at the Olympics. He looks like a James Bond villain, and his name sounds like one, too. He’d be a perfect successor for Ernst Blofeld. There even was a photo of him petting a snow leopard the other day, which really puts him in 007 villain territory. I keep waiting for Sean Connery (still the best Bond) to come zipping from the woods on the downhill run slope as a shirtless Vladimir Putin riding a giant polar bear bursts through the trees chasing him.

Not to be political, but you have to admit Vladimir Putin looks pretty fit in those shirtless photos of him while I just envision President Obama as looking like the “before” picture in a Charles Atlas ad.

Meanwhile, there’s still a week of events to go at the Winter Olympics. I’m not sure if it’s been on yet, but I’m looking forward to the skeleton, which has become my second-favorite event after the luge. It’s like the luge, only the people lie face-down on the sled and go down the track head first. Can you imagine what it must be like to slide head first at 70 miles an hour down a frozen water slide lying on a sled? That looks even more exciting than Vladimir Putin riding a polar bear. There’s still plenty of skating and skiing as well, and more snowboarding, too, and hockey, of course.

At least as the second week of the Winter Olympics begins we’re edging more toward Sochi-like temperatures and weather here at home. I’m thankful for that, and I know Lola the Wonder Dachshund is glad to not have to go curling.