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My thoughts released; a mind set free |
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These pages contain my thoughts, from meandering ideas and persuasions to deep cerebrations and serious mentations. Why, for what purpose? To release my mind and set creativity free. Somewhere inside the constraints of my mind dwells a writer, a poet, an artist who paints with words. In here I release those constraints and set the artist free. Perhaps, lost somewhere in the depths of thought, is a story or a poem, waiting to be written. ** Image ID #1701066 Unavailable ** |
| January is coming to an end; only four more days until Groundhogs Day. What will the furry little weather forecaster have to say? Sometimes I think the saying should be, "If the groundhog sees it's shadow, six more weeks of winter, if not, six more weeks till spring." In my neck of the woods, here in northern Minnesota, there's seldom a groundhog (woodchuck as they are known here) emerging in February. It's still too cold to awaken them from their slumber and the ground is frozen solid under a foot or more of snow. We would likely need a week or better of higher temperatures to warm their bodies enough to awaken from hibernation. But, that's not a good thing for any hibernating critters, large or small. We will still have a lot of very cold weather, and we are just starting to get to our snowiest months–March is when we get the most snow, typically. So, if animals awaken now, there is little for them to feed on, and after months of sleep, they need sustenance before they return to their winter dwellings to go back into their deep sleep. It has happened, but rarely. It's always a problem because critters get into garbage bins and come up to houses in search of food. Most don't pose much danger, but raccoons can be very aggressive towards pets and we all know the smelly problem skunks inflict when they come in close contact with people or pets. Trust me, it's bad enough to have a crazed raccoon jump out of a dumpster when throwing trash away, but upsetting a starving skunk when tossing trash will have you suffering for a week or more. Oh, and let's not forget the bears. We don't have many in this area, but were they're more abundant, they raise hell on dumpsters and trash cans if they cannot find food. On rare occasions, they'lll even break into homes in search of food if they're hungry enough. I had a friend (she passed away some years ago) who had a bear, awakened too early from hibernation, enter their house in search of food. No one was injured but the damage inside was horrendous! One of these days I'll have to share that tale with everyone. It's an interesting and somewhat humorous story. |
| I grew up in northern Minnesota in a little town on the Mesabi Iron Range about ten miles from Hibbing Minnesota, home of Bob Dylan (Robert Allen Zimmerman). Twenty miles in the opposite direction was Grand Rapids, birthplace of Judy Garland, you know, Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz. Although Judy was embarrassed by her birthplace, Dylan did acknowledge his hometown and even performed there a couple of times, one of which was an unscheduled concert at the high school in 1976. Our class was bussed over so we could enjoy the short concert he put on. The school tried to censor which of his songs he could perform, but Dylan wasn't about to be censored, he did agree to play the songs the school didn't think appropriate for younger students at the tail end of the concert, after a short break. Only seniors and older people were allowed to stay in the auditorium for the second half, the rest of us were filed outside to hang out and wait for the older kids to join us for the bus ride back home. A friend and I had slipped around the side of the building to smoke, and to our astonishment, there was the band! We stopped, but one of the band members signaled us over and asked what we were doing. Sheepishly we admitted our intentions, and to our surprise, he offered us a Marlboro and a light. We were in heaven getting to stand there and smoke with the band. Bob Dylan wasn't present, but shortly he opened the side door and called everyone back in. We stood in awe, staring until he said, "What the hell, I'm not going to hold this door open all day. And, if anyone asks how you kids got in, lie!" Without hesitation we ran in and found a spot close to the stage to sit and watch and hope like hell no one would notice us and chase us out. We enjoyed the rest of the concert and managed to be unnoticed until the middle of the last song, where we were herded out by one of our teachers tightly gripping an ear in each hand. We both got three days of suspension for sneaking back in, but after giving my reason, the principal added another two, stating I had a bad attitude. Dylan's final song was a new one he had only released the year before, and to this day it remains one of my favorites. I quoted a line from his song when I had to face the principle for our crimes. We tried to tell him we had stayed inside when everyone else left. After a pause to think about it, he asked, "Why didn't you exit with the rest of your class?" I smiled and sang out to the best of my ability, "I was tangled up in blue." |
| Today was a long day. I had to be up early to pick up my mother-in-law and drive her to her eye doctor (Ophthalmologists); she has to go in every six weeks and get an injection in her right eye. She lives about forty-five minutes away, but her eye doctor is another two hour drive from there, in the heart of Wait Park/St Cloud. She's ninety years old and has trouble walking, but gets around fairly well for her age. But this time of year there's snow and ice, so I have to assist her every step. I don't mind except when there are a lot of people who won't make way for us, and St. Cloud is always busy and it seems the people are rude, impatient, and unyielding. Her appointment was at twelve-thirty, so it was also the noon rush. I live in a rural area with small towns around, so I'm not used to city driving. The heavy, noon hour traffic makes it worse, and I had to take my wife's car, a little Chevy HHR. I would prefer to take my truck, it's big, heavy, and people tend to get out of the way, but in a little car they tend to push you right out of the way. But, my mother-in-law can't get in or out of the truck on her own; I have to pretty much lift her up into it or lift her down. With ice and snow it's just too likely her or I, or both with slip and I would feel horrible if she fell, so a little car in crazy traffic. To top it off, as I waited for her in the car, a guy walking around the parking lot decides to bust out a car window to steal a purse someone had left on the seat. This happened about four cars down from where I was parked, and I couldn't jut sit there and watch, so I dialed 911 as I stepped out and hustled over. He had opened the door but stopped when he saw me and heard me talking to dispatch. I stopped by the front of the car, a relatively safe distance from him, as I gave the address over the phone. He had a hunting knife in his had, I think he used the handle to bust the window, and pointed it at me! I put my free hand inside my unzipped jacket and told him he shouldn't bring a knife to a gunfight, even though I had no gun. He must have believed the bluff because he turned and ran off through the parking lot. A few minutes later a police car showed up and took down all the information I could give them then went into the building to find the owner of the car. I went back to my car and waited for my mother-in-law to text me when she was done, but I was ready to head back to my home in the woods and couldn't get out of there fast enough. I didn't say anything to her about the incident, no need to worry her, and after we were well out of the city I stopped in a smaller town and took her to lunch. After I took her home and helped her get settled in, then home to our dogs and relax. I lived in Wait Park for over a year before we moved here, it was rated the highest crime rate in Minnesota and I think it still is. If it wasn't for my mother-in-law, I would avoid that area like the plague! |
| I'm curious. I frequently get headaches, not migraines or severe headaches, just the kind that irritate until the Dual Advil kicks in. This has been ongoing over the years and I've mentioned it to physicians when I've been in for check-up or other reasons. There has been no explanation for the why or how. One Nurse-Practitioner, informed me that it could be caused by many different things and asked a lot of question. Since it wasn't seasonal, it wasn't environmental allergies, and since it was a daily occurrence, other factors were eliminated. But, there were still a lot of things that could be causing the headaches. Her advice was, keep a journal. Yes, journal my day with brief notes of what I'm eating, drinking, doing, and going. Also, add in notes of when headaches start, both day and time, so that we could look for a common factor. I did, but nothing seemed to be consistent with the headaches, not even what the weather was doing. After time, I stopped trying to figure it out; it was just a fact of life, and since any over the counter pain medication would get or at least reduce the headache, it wasn't a problem. A couple of years ago I put a new (to me) weather app on my phone. This app gives a nice breakdown of what's currently going on, UV's wind speed and direction, air quality, etc... It also show the barometric pressure and indicates if it's climbing, dropping, or holding steady. It wasn't instantaneous, but in a relative short period I started noticing that I had or would get a headache when the barometer was dropping. But, I had only noticed this a few times, so was it coincidence? I decided to keep a journal of barometric pressure in relation to my headaches. Instead of carrying a journal everywhere, I used the calendar on my phone and logged what days I got headaches and what the pressure was doing. There seemed to be a connection, so I logged the pressure as S.I.D. (steady, increasing, decreasing) every day as well as if or when I got a headache; the daily calendar made this easy to record days and times. It soon became apparent that if the pressure was steady, my headache was gone, but if pressure declined, I would get a headache. If it then became steady, the headache was soon gone, and if it started to increase I would get another headache. I also discovered that dropping pressure hurt more than increasing pressure. Yes, barometric pressure is directly linked to my headaches! decreasing pressure makes my head feel like it wants to explode, increasing pressure is less intense and more apparent in my sinuses. Steady pressure means no headache at all. I've moved to another state since I first started logging and watching this, so there is no going over it with that Nurse-Practitioner to share my results. She may not even practice medicine anymore. But, I am curious if anyone else has noticed the link to barometric pressure and headaches? |
| Yesterday I wrote about making an offer on a pull behind camper. A person my wife works with is selling it and informed us it needs some work inside. So, we were going to figure out a time to go look at it and make her an offer, as she had asked. From the outside, which I have seen, I was thinking maybe offering around one thousand and no more than two thousand, since that's about all we can afford currently. Last night my wife came home from work and informed me that she had talked to the person about us looking at it. She said that when her husband and her had bought it, it needed some work in the bathroom and a good cleaning, possibly some minor work here and there. But, she had let her kids play in it, and now it also has some water damage. She doesn't know how severe, but said she would sell it as is for five hundred dollars! She made an offer I would have a very difficult time turning down, even without looking at it. It looks very likely that we will be purchasing a pull-behind very soon! I still want to look and see how sever the water damage is and what it will take to use it. From what I understand, the damage is mostly cosmetic and it could be used as is. If that's the case, we will possibly be selling both the HiLo and the pop-up. We have talked, however, of setting the HiLo up on a relatives land and using it like a park model camper and continuing the repairs over time. |
| As many of you know, I purchased and have been working on a HiLo camper. It still needs a lot of work, but it's on hold for the winter because it's just too cold to work. However, a woman my wife works with has decided to sell her camper. Her husband and her had plans to fix it up (it needs minor work) but he passed away last fall and now she wants to sell it. I have only looked at it in passing, so I don't know how much work it needs, but it's in far better shape than the HiLo was. It's a pull behind (not fifth-wheel) about twenty or twenty five feet long. It looks good from the outside, and it's similar to what my wife and I had previously looked to buy. I don't know the price she wants, she wants us to look it over and make an offer. So, do I make an offer and purchase it? I have a lot to do with the HiLo yet, but I could put that up for sale and focus on the pull-behind. I'm leaning towards the pull-behind because it's a bit roomier, needs less work, and I can tow it without needing a fifth-wheel. Money is tight after the legal problems we had to deal with and all the costs we had to cover in that situation, but I can manage to come up with some. The plan right now is to wait for a warmer day and go look it over, consider what price to offer, and if we can get it cheap enough, purchase it so we have it for camping this spring (from what she has talked about, it's very usable, but needs minor work inside). The HiLo needs quite a lot of work before it's ready to use, and even then it's uncertain if it will develop leaks again as it flexes and bounces in transit. I've also thought about winter camping, later in the season after the extreme cold has passed. The HiLo would not be a good option for that, as it uses hydraulics to run the cable system to raise and lower the top. But, a tow-behind would work great for camping any season. It's something I'll have to put some thought into, look at the camper, and see how things work out. |
| Once again, Murphy has struck. I'm speaking of Murphy's Law, of course; if you're not familiar, do a quick search, there are a lot of them. What wraps them up the best is, "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong" . Such it was today. First of all, I slept well last night, but woke before eight. Now, I don't mind getting up somewhat early, and normally eight wouldn't be bad. But, my wife works swing shift and gets home a little after eleven, so we don't often get to bed before midnight; it's usually closer to one or slightly after. Last night, however, we stayed up until after three this morning, so waking before eight was not optimal. The forecast for the day was warmer, about ten degrees below the freezing point, which was good. Well for January in Minnesota, it's good. But, we were also to have sunshine, lots and lots of sunshine. I never saw it today, but what I did see was snow. Not a lot, a couple of inches at most. Yesterday, with the forecast for warmer and sunshine, I took it upon myself to shovel the sidewalks and put a bit of salt down. It's been too cold to do much outside, and too cold for the salt to do any good. But, like the saying goes, "wash your car, it will rain", so Murphy's Law states, "shovel snow, you'll get more". Also, ""Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong", like the shovel falling off the handle half way through the project. In the process of fixing that, the light in the garage burned out. I do have more bulbs on hand, LED bulbs, but after putting it in the garage, it only glowed. I've had this issue before with LED and florescent bulbs, not all of them will work in cold. I ended up using the bulb from the back yard light in the garage. Not to worry, though, I do have a 1000-Watt Halogen twin head work light that puts out about 16,000 Lumen. I put it on the porch to use for a yard light and it works great; I can almost see across the lake. I would be able to if there weren't houses in the way! |
| Years back, my wife and I had a pair of Golden Retrievers. I had a female, Klarissa, who was about a year old when my wife got a six-week old male. The people we got him from bred and sold Golden Retrievers, but they had a runt that was being starved out and they didn't think they could sell him. My wife offered to take him and brought him home. Klarissa instantly adopted him and between the three of us nurtured him back to a healthy puppy. But, he would not eat any kind of dog food. So, we started making up home cooked foods for both of them after consulting with our vet and getting some recommendations on what we needed to insure good nutrition. The recipe included some vegetables, sweet potatoes, brown rice, and chicken or beef. Both dogs did very well on this diet, so we started making a large stock pot of food and dividing it up and freezing it so we would always have plenty of food for them on hand. One particular day, while this big kettle of food was simmering on the stove, two of our sons showed up. We visited for a while, but had to run into town and pick up a few things for dinner. We turned the heat off and let the kettle cool while we ran to do our shopping. The two adult sons stayed at the house with the dogs while we were gone, probably about a half hour to an hour at the most. When we got home, the dogs greeted us as usual and the two kids were watching a movie. It was past time for the dogs to eat, so my wife went to dish up some food for them before we divided the rest and stored it, but the pot was almost empty! She asked the kids if they had fed the dogs. "No, we didn't, but we helped ourselves to the kettle of stew on the stove, hope you don't mind." The look on their faces when my wife told them, "It's not stew, that's dog food!" After the initial shock, she added that it was made from regular food, but was a special recipe we had gotten from the vet for the dogs. They were relieved that it was "real" food and even asked for the recipe before they left. |
| It was only in the teens today with a brisk cold wind, but after negative temps the last few days, it felt pretty nice. My wife has the day off, so after coffee we deiced to take the dogs out to a secluded area and let them run. But, as we drove over, I had a thought of driving over to Maplewood State Park and mentioned it to my wife. She was having the same thinks! Anyway, poor grammar aside, we drove over to the park. We went to the main camping area, now empty of any campers, and were surprised to see they had plowed out one loop of the main campground as well as the sites along the loop. I guess once the HiLo is finished, we can try some winter camping. But I digress; we stopped and let the dogs out and walked them around the loop. Then, before departing, I walked out on the frozen lake a short distance, called the dogs, and watched them run and frolic on the snow covered, frozen lake. After a few minutes of being out in the open wind I had to return to the vehicle, it's still below zero with the windchill, but it was enjoyable to get out in the fresh air and stretch my legs a bit. |
| I've always had a liking for black licorice, although it seems many do not like it. I also enjoyed Blackjack chewing gum as a kid, but hadn't seen it around for many years. The last time I had Blackjack gum was quite a few years ago; my wife had found it while shopping and gotten me a couple f double packs because she knew I enjoyed it. This was probably eight or nine years ago. While looking though some stuff in my desk, I opened an old tin I had stuffed some things in during one of our moves. I was surprised to see a couple packs of Blackjack gum in it. One had been opened and had three sticks of gum left in it, the other still unopened. I took out a stick and opened it. The gum looked fine, but when I put it in my mouth and bit down, I discovered it had become hard and brittle; it shattered like glass in my mouth. Also, the taste was not that of black licorice (actually aniseed-flavored) but more like biting into cardboard. I spit it out and threw the remaining two sticks in the garbage, after bending them in their wrapper and feeling them also shatter like glass. I still have the unopened pack and am tempted to open it to see if it is perhaps still good. There are no best-by or use by dates on the package, and it's sealed in it's original pack. Will it be brittle? I don't know. Will it taste right? Again, I don't know. I will probably open it and flex one of the pieces of gum to see if it's pliable or brittle, and if it still bends like gum should, I may just pop it in my mouth to see if the taste is also still good. On the other hand, I suppose I could leave it out on a counter at the next family gathering. I know someone will pilfer it, and if it's like the piece I tried, I would enjoy watching the expression on their face when they pop it into their mouth. Decisions... |
| I found myself wondering about blog comments today. Why? Because we all, or at leDast most of us enjoy getting comments on our blog entries; at least positive comments. It's nice to get likes as well, but hearing positive comments is always better. With that said, you may wonder if I leave comments for the blogs I read. Not always. Why? Sometimes it's an issue with time, I'm rushed and don't have time to comment, so I click like and get on with what's pressing. Other times I just can't think of anything to comment. On rare occasions, I disagree with the blog and don't have anything positive to say. But, even then I'll click a like simply because the author took the time to blog. the old adage, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." Today I wondered if awarding gift points for comments would increase the number of comments a person received on their blog. At first, I thought this would be a great idea, after all, most of us want more gift points, and it would be a great motivator. Especially if the GPs were provided through Writing.Com Support   . But after a bit of thought, I decided it would not be a good idea. Why?Because there are always those who try to cheat the system. It would in many cases motivate us to take a few minutes to comment on the blog honestly after reading it. But there are also those who would just post a generic comment without even reading a word. In fact, I suspect some would log in to the blogs and just pick some randomly, not read them, and post a short, simple, and meaningless comment just to get free GPs. So how can we get more comments on our blogs? Maybe by just taking the time to write meaningful comments on other blogs. I think I'll give this a try and see if it works. |
You know it's cold outside when you go outside and it's cold! Ha!  Actually, it's when I let Max out and he does his business quickly and wants back in. Max is a Siberian Husky and he loves the winter. Most days I put my boats and coat on, cap my head and slip my gloves over my fingers, then take him and Bellah out for a while. If I'm shoveling snow, he grabs the shovel and helps pull it (usually in the wrong direction), and if I try to sweep snow from the steps he pounces on the broom and tries to pull it out of my hands. He also likes to play chase; he runs past and I lunge to try and grab him, but he's always too fast as he stretches out his legs and races through the snow. But, soon enough It's time to go back in. He dilly-dallies around the yard sniffing things, marking every tree he passes, and tries his best to stay out a little longer. It's typical for me to call to him, wait for him to get distracted, then call again. We repeat this until he finally is standing by the door and even then takes his sweet time to walk in. Of course, once in he is eager and ready for his treat and praise. Today, however, it's a bit below zero (Fahrenheit) with a strong wind blowing. He came and told me (he does actually talk, a sound that sounds like Ouuut). Knowing it was frigid outside, I let him and Bellah out right off, then proceeded to put on my boots and outdoor clothing. I figured this would give them a little longer to do their business and I would have to spend less time standing outside freezing my biscuits off and breathing the frigid air. Once I was bundled up against the arctic blast I knew awaited me, I opened the door and stepped out. Max and Bellah saw me as soon as I stepped out, and before I was down the steps, they were standing at the door waiting to come back in. That's when I knew, it's too damn cold out. And, it's only getting colder. -10 currently and dropping to -22 tonight. Tomorrow will see a high of -10 and then drop to -21. For Monday, it's only supposed to reach a high (can one call it that?) of -17 and then drop to -24. These are the forecast ambient temperatures and do not include the windchill effect. Tuesday we finally warm up to a whopping 4 degrees and start our climb back out of the arctic cold. |
| Today I set up the air conditioner in the living room. Yes, you read that right, the A/C. Why? And, why didn't I think of this before? Every fall when the temperature drops down to a comfortable level, we clean the A/C unit and pack it away for the winter. It's a portable unit, on wheels, that vents out through a window. It has multiple functions; cooling, heating, dehumidifying, and fan. It also has an ultraviolet function to kill germs in the air. So, why not leave it set up year round? I suppose we could since it's also a heater (heat pump). I just never thought much about it. That is, until today when I noticed it tucked in beside the dryer. I pulled it out and set it up in the living room as just a fan, turned on the ultraviolet light function, and started cleaning the air. I don't know if it will speed up our recovery, or if it had been running sooner, prevented our getting sick, but after about an hour the air smells cleaner and fresher! |
| I need to find inspiration; I've been stalled in my writing far to long. But what should I write about? I know I have some good stories and poems but instead of them flooding into my mind and onto paper, I sit and stare at a blank page. I do start typing some, but it seems I use the backspace and delete keys more than any other and in the end, the page is again blank. I'm making some changes to overcome this disgusting rut of nothingness, but I need inspiration. I inquired of my muse, Leora but I think I pissed her off yesterday when I didn't believe her story about Quakers. Oh well, I can do this without her, I know I can, I just need to find my inspiration. So, I set out to do just that: (Inspiration) "Where is it at?" I asked of myself, "Perhaps in the cupboard or up on a shelf." I went and I looked, but it was not there. "Why is it hiding? It just isn't fair!" "Perhaps in the closet! I'll go take a look." Nothing but clothing and a misplaced old book! I looked in the junk drawer, sure it's in there, But all that I found was junk and despair. I looked behind objects and under the bed I sneezed from the dust and then bumped my head. I checked all my pockets, then looked in my desk, "Nothing but lint and my desk is a mess!" Leora came over, standing quite near She whispered these words, right in my ear, "You want inspiration, I'll give you a clue, Turn you eyes inward, it's hiding in you." Today Leora taught me a few very important lessons: First, don't piss off your muse, second, don't doubt your muse, and third, don't look outward for inspiration, look inside where it resides. |
| It's warm again! Of course, this is northern Minnesota in January, so warm is almost thawing, and it's only for a few days before more frigid air pushes through. It's a nice break from the cold. This weekend we are back in the deep freeze, but then it sounds like a stretch of above zero temps for a while. That is, if the forecast is even close. Another change that is miking the day beautiful is how I feel. I mentioned that we had Covid around again, first my wife and then me. Yesterday was by far the worst day for me, but today I am again feeling more energetic and it seems the fever has passed. I'm still resting and letting myself heal after this last bout with the dreaded bug, I know far too well how overdoing things can lead to relapse. Tomorrow, since it's supposed to be another beautiful day, we are hoping to take the dogs out to a secluded area so they can run and frolic for bit. Of course, it will depend on how well I'm feeling, since it requires a short hike to get back in away from the road. |
| Who is Murphy? I don't know. I suppose I could do some research and find an answer, but it doesn't matter, he just sucks. Perhaps you're asking, "Why does Murphy suck?" Because of his set of screwed up laws! Yes, I'm talking about Murphy's Law which states, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. It's often used to explain unexpected or unfortunate events in a humorous way. Only, when the law applies to you, it's seldom humorous. Year's ago, while serving in the United States Air Force, we had a poster on the wall of our break room. There was a picture of Major Murphy at the top, and under it was the phrase, "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong". Under this was a list of various laws that covered just about everything, for example: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.  If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. Corollary: If there is a worse time for something to go wrong, it will happen then.If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which a procedure can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse. And the laws went on and on. One section covered illness and stated that until you pass your illness to another, you can't get over it (I don't remember the actual wording). So, my wife had Covid and was sick for about a week. I did what I could to make her comfortable and aid in her getting over it. She did, but not until the day I woke up with a stuffy head, slight fever, and a cough; Murphy's Law! So, she's doing good, almost fully recovered, and I'm feeling like ick. It's been about four days, maybe five and I'm ready to wake up feeling better, but it just stays about the same. I'm not real sick, mind you, just enough to be tired and rundown with a bit of a cough, stuffed up, and a low fever. But, she's already had it and there isn't anyone I can pass this on to so I can get over it. Where's that damn Murphy when I need him? |
| Blite, bliting, etc... a coin I termed term I coined. To write in one's blog, or to be writing in one's blog. Of course, you probably shouldn't be writing/bliting in someone else's blog unless they invite you. That's my goal, to try and blite everyday; at least for now. Once spring hits that's likely to change, since there is always so much else going on. Of course, even in the winter there can be demands on time that could interfere with daily bliting. The problem, however, isn't just time. It also encompasses topic; what the hell to blite about. It's kind of funny, in a not so humorous way. In the winter when there's not near as much going on there is more time for bliting but less to blite about. But, in the spring, summer, and fall, there's so much going on there's little time for bliting but so many things to blite about. Maybe I should take notes through the seasons of life to blite about in the dead of winter, but if I had time to take notes I'd have time for bliting. Crazy? It's been rumored but I prefer eccentric. Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts where I may find bliting inspirations, it would be greatly appreciated. |
| As a spin off "no way". Since about a week ago there have been predictions of snow this weekend, but as I always say when looking at the forecast, "We shall see." It seems, most often anyway, that as each day passes the forecast changes. Also, as the days pass and the forecast becomes current, it's seldom what was predicted. The forecast has been for snow, six to ten inches, with a lot of high winds. I would call that a blizzard, but they don't usually use the "B" word until it hits. Yesterday the snow arrived, which by the forecast this last week, put the snow here a day early. Already the forecast was wrong. But, despite the early arrival, the forecast for today remained the same until this morning when it changed to three to six inches and fair winds. We received less than an inch yesterday and through the night, but it's been snowing pretty steady all day. How much will we get? So far it's a light, almost winter-wonderland type snow and I would guess about an inch. But, it's suppose to snow heavier this afternoon through tomorrow afternoon. I would say, at current conditions, we may see a couple of inches of snow if it continues like this through tomorrow afternoon. Thankfully, we are stocked up on pantry items and do not have to venture out in the snow except when we take the dogs out. |
| My wife has ow been feeling ill since Monday, although she is getting better each day now. With that said, Murphy's law of illness seems to be holding true: you will not recover until you have successfully passed it on to another. Yes, today I'm feeling a bit run down, I'm a bit stuffed up, and my chest is feeling congested. I think I'm losing this battle of not catching what she has. But I'm still hopeful that with proper care and precaution I can refrain from getting as ill as she has been. She works in healthcare for the elderly, so she had to take a Covid test and we found out today it was positive, So, we are quarantining and making sure we don't pass it on to others. In fact, just to keep you all safe, I'm typing with latex gloves on. |
| What's different? The weather. It's been cold, single digits above and below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, but today it warmed almost to thawing. We also are getting a bit of snow, but less than an inch—for now. It sounds like it's going to yo-yo for a while; some warmer days, some frigid days and the possibility of six inches or more of snow this weekend. What's still the same? My wife's cold. She called in to work again today, and since she works with the elderly, she doesn't dare go back to work until she is over this round of the Yuck. Another thing that has not changed is my overall health. I've felt like I may be catching the same thing she has, but so far it hasn't gotten rooted in and I'm feeling pretty good. I'm hoping that I can fight this off and net catch her cold, but we all know it doesn't usually work that way. |
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