Leap Day This-And-Thats

Happy Leap Day, if you celebrate such things.  Today, while sunny, has only just reached the freezing point.  There has been some snow and some melting since I last posted two weeks ago.  You can just see the upper row of blocks of the firepit in the back yard now.  Spring should be so close, yet is still so far away.  I won't go into it again because I did that in my last post.  Since then, I've felt I should write something yet there really hasn't seemed to be much to share, so you know what that means - time to start typing and see what comes out!

• We ordered new phones from Amazon the other night.  I don't want to say much yet because it's a new brand to us, and my wife will get hers in about a week while I have to wait about a month.  If we don't like it then things might change.  What was shocking, was the same phone was $170 cheaper in a less attractive color.  My wife got the cheaper color, and I feel like I should have, too, but I spent the money for the vanity black one.  This will only be my third cell phone ever, and I had to spend the last several years with a white phone, so I spent the money for black even though I will have it in a case.  There may be more to come on this, or else no news is probably good news.

• Last Saturday afternoon I was sorely tempted to trudge a path to the firepit, empty the snow, melt what was left inside with the garden torch, trudge a short path to the wood rack and then start a fire.  The temperature was about 40ºF, the wood was dry and I just miss being outside.  But I didn't, and I can blame laziness and sanity equally.

• I'm almost afraid to mention it, but we've only had mandatory overtime once (a week ago) in the last several weeks now.  If you've been reading for a while, I'd been on mandatory overtime (as much as union rules allow my employer to mandate) for over a year and a half.  It is such a relief to only work 40 hours, only 8 hours a day.  I want a regular schedule again.  I want to sleep later again.  I want to not be tired all the time or just not have time again.  You know, I just want normal life back, but I'm still not at ease yet.

• I'm very aware that I've not had a Latest Listening Pleasure post since Alice Cooper last summer.  I've not attended any shows nor have I heard anything that really, really grabbed me in quite a while.  Oh, there's been good albums and good videos that I've heard and seen and enjoyed since then, just nothing that I really dug enough to overflow my musical joy and spill over to share here.  I came close once, but while I enjoyed them there were things that annoyed me as well.  Highlight right of the arrow, if you want to know the band's name. >  New Years Day

• There are two 1' by 2' boxes full of albums in my closet.  I do have a record player in the closet, too, but no place to set it up even if I thought I would actually play the records.  These are mostly the albums I grew up with, either bought new, traded with friends, or sought out and collected.  Most are from the 1980's, and I've not even seen them in years now.  I should sell them, but first I need to go through them.  I may not be able to part with them all, but I really should part with what I can.  It's just one of those things I know I should do but keep putting off.

That's enough brain spillage for one sitting.  I've not really taken a lot of nice pictures lately, but I took a look and here's some views from here at the desk from past pictures.  To everyone out there, it's just that time of year - I've not been very outgoing, social, or even healthy and happy yet, but Spring is coming, and it won't be a moment too soon!

Alternate Side Snarking

This just happened.

We have alternate side parking in the winter.  This means that on odd number days you park on the odd side between 1 and 7 a.m., and vice versa on even number days.  This is designed for snow removal.

This afternoon, knowing the parking rules, my wife parked across the street in front of a neighbor's house - as everyone does, all the time.  This is not unusual, people.  Now, normally my wife doesn't happen to park in that particular spot but circumstances today made it so.  And a very nice parking job it is.

A few minutes ago, while my wife was out back for a smoke, the doorbell rang.  I answered, and it was the owner of the house in which my wife parked in front.

A little back story.  We seemed to like her when we met her, when she moved in not too long after we did.  Then we noticed, um, things.  Lets just say I call her "princess" when we talk about her.  She seems very entitled and we have many examples.  For one, she once asked me to get a motion light for my front door light because our light, and I quote from her text, "shines right in my window in my eyes."  Really?  There's more, but onward.

"Hi, I hope I didn't wake you up!"

Eh, I'm pretty beat so that's not a knock.

"I was hoping I could get my spot back?  I know it's not 'my' spot, but you leave so early in the morning that it wakes me up!  My bedroom's right there!"

Pointing to the areas in question as she goes.  And my wife leaves at a reasonable hour.

"I'm sorry to ask.  I'm asking nicely!"

Now this whole time as she's talking my only response is to say her name, 3 times total, while glancing down and shaking my head.  You know the tone I had, the 'I-can't-believe-what-I'm-hearing' tone.  I had to put a rather quick end to this nonsense.

Without using her name here, I said "Neighbor, it's time to start Adult-ing."  With that, I shut the glass door as she said something about that not being very nice.  And then I shut the front door.


What would you have done?

Sick Musings and Funny Videos

It's been over a week since I posted that I had the flu and I'm still sick.  No longer the flu, but the upper respiratory stuff, while much better, continues.  I still have a bit of a rattle in my lungs when I cough and still going through tissues like they're going out of style.  Other that, I've just been trying to stay rested and hydrated.  I really hope this goes away soon.

I've been around the internet while sick but haven't chimed in or commented anywhere.  Ghosting, you could say, as I've been feeling miserable and my attitude has often matched.  Best not say much until I feel better, I think.  With that thought, this will be a short post.  In fact, I'm not sure what else to say right now.  Let me take a quick look to see if I have anything to share.

All I can find or think of at the moment are two YouTube channels I recently found and have been enjoying lots.  They've both been around for a while now, but they're new to me.

First, the Manitowoc Minute.  A comedian from Wisconsin makes fun videos about, well, Wisconsin things, usually.  I featured one of his videos in a post last month.  Always fun to laugh at yourself, I find.  His channel is here, his latest video is below.



Second is a channel I'm still discovering.  It's by an ex-pat Englishman living in the Midwest U.S., currently Chicago, called Lost In The Pond.  That channel is here, and his most recent video is below.  But for a real good laugh see the video I first found of him called '5 U.S. States With Way Colder Winters than Britain.'  You just know Wisconsin is on his list.  In fact, that will be the video below, from just about a week ago.



Fun stuff.  Good times.  Hope I feel better soon.

Man Flu Is Real

Last week Thursday, and especially Friday, I felt a cough/cold coming on.  If I only knew how hard it was about to hit me.  I have been so miserable.  Everything hurts, I feel disgusting, have an abundance of mucus and everything smells like the sickness.  Now, if you've been properly grossed out then I successfully conveyed just how absolutely terrible I feel.  Man flu is real.

Man flu is the idea that men who contract the same virus as women suffer from it much more.  I truly believe this to be the case, and a quick search of google seems to confirm it.

But does it matter?  No.  Proof won't make me feel any better.  Nothing actually will, but time.

Try to stay well, everyone.

My Fall Vacation

Hello everybody, welcome back.  I hope you've been well.  I know I've been more absent than normal lately.  I had a vacation and, well, it was different for me so I guess I've just not been sure how to write about it.  But that never stopped me before, so here goes!

I took last week off as I've done for several years now.  Long after I had secured the week off my wife found out she was being flown out to the east coast for work for much of that week.  My first thoughts were that it would be kind of nice.  In actuality, I got kind of depressed and lazy.  Now, the weather had much to do with that, being overcast and/or rainy most of the time (despite the pictures I have here), and my back wasn't that good so I couldn't do much of what I had planned, but my mood certainly lifted when she got back home late in the week.

The weekend before was a pretty normal weekend, and I got up early Monday morning to take her to the airport.  That wasn't such a bad day, I made some rather large but necessary purchases (new bed and glasses) and grilled out brats for dinner, but scrapped plans for a fire due to impending rain.  Tuesday was much warmer and very humid, but the heat and humidity broke in the evening so I did spend a good amount of time by the fire that night.  Over the course of these two days I also got another piece of wood cut and painted for the cat box project downstairs, but with my back acting up I did not get any further on this project, disappointingly.  Wednesday was also hot and humid, even more so than the day before.  By this time I was sleeping about 10 hours a night and that felt good, but the weather was just so damn gloomy and if it wasn't raining then rain was coming soon.  I figured it was just a matter of time until water got in the basement, another excuse to put that cat box project off.  Thursday was pretty much the same, gloomy and wet, but the storms stepped it up a few notches that afternoon.  I felt pretty crappy that day, probably due to drinking too much and sleeping too much the previous few days.  I can see now I had fallen into a bit of a funk.

On Thursday night I was supposed to pick my wife up from the airport, but her first plane was delayed due to the weather in Chicago, then her next plane actually tried to get to Madison but the thunderstorms and lightning we were having here were too much and they had to turn back.  My brave wife ended up getting a rental car for her and her coworkers and made the drive from Chicago to Madison in the middle of the night and through the aforementioned severe storms.  The airline was of no help and the next plane was the next night so she didn't have much of a choice, unfortunately.  But thankfully she made it back safe and sound and the cats and I were very happy to see her.

All that, and before she could return the rental car and pick up her luggage on Friday a branch fell from a tree out front and smashed the rear window of the rental car as it was parked in our driveway.  Alas, just the icing on the cake of a very bad travel night and day for her.

Since then the weather got a bit nicer and I got a few more things accomplished, like power washing and water sealing the back steps and washing all the windows.  But the cat box project, the one I've been mulling for several years now and finally got a good start on, still stalled.  But that's okay, for now.  I have all the hardware, wood and paint that I need so I'm going to run out of excuses eventually!

So that was pretty much my week of vacation.  I wasn't at work and I got a lot of rest so it was still a positive for me.  One thing I didn't mention yet was the several walks I took up and down the creek as they worked on the steps and canoe/kayak slide.  It seems everything was completed on Saturday, so that will probably be my next post, with a pictorial of the process.  See you then!

More Snowblower, Winter Daze

Since there's nothing else to write about yet, here's a little more about the new snowblower.  On paper, the new snowblower is 208cc, same as the old one, despite the size difference you can see in the picture.  The new one seems better so far as I still have not used the electric start because it starts easily with just one pull, which never happened with the old snowblower.  Also, it just seems more solid, a better built product, and more powerful despite the same size motor as the old one.  My only complaint is that it's currently on sale for forty bucks less than I paid, but I needed it right then and couldn't wait for a sale.  I've only had to use it a few times so far, but there's still snow in the forecast.  We got an inch or a little more last night, too little to get out the snowblower.  It was the light and fluffy stuff, and my wife took care of it easily this morning with a shovel.

You can see where the auger separated from the axle on the old snowblower, and how worn down the rubber was.  In fact, metal was hitting the ground and peeling it back, seen at the bottom, so it was just time to be replaced.  I still have the old one in the garage.  I looked into leaving it out for pick-up with the trash and it will cost 15 dollars for a sticker so the city will pick it up.  I think I may set it out for a few days and see if someone will take it before I buy the sticker, which I can easily get a few blocks away at the public library.

I also took a spill last week in the driveway.  Ice has built up between the back door and the garage with the rain a week ago and snow melting and hasn't drained normally with the snow and ice and frozen ground on the side.  I'm okay, thankfully, I mostly hurt my pride and got a wet ass, but I still have an ugly, tender knot on the outside front of my right knee.  I didn't have to buy sidewalk salt last winter (and maybe the winter before) because what I had had been plenty, but I used up the last of it this morning and bought another two forty-pound bags today.  With any luck I won't have to buy anymore this or next year, but the way things have gone this year it has been needed often.

I wish I had more to say, but not a lot has been happening with mandatory overtime at work and being stuck indoors at home.  Everyone here is grumpy and tired of it.  It's March now, so we need a sign of spring to help us get through the last of winter.  Hopefully that will come sooner than later, but there's no sign of it yet in the foreseeable forecast.

Ice Ice Baby

As noted in the last post, this past weekend was warmer with highs around 40ºF/5ºC.  What it doesn't show is just how foggy it got that Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  Even the houses across the street were very hazy due to the melting of a lot of snow releasing water into the air.  The last couple days were regular winter days with highs still below zero.  That brings us to today, and why I'm writing this instead of working.

Freezing rain.  Ice.

We've had misting overnight that's left a layer of ice on already slippery surfaces, which will be followed by another winter storm.  Madison happens to be on the freezing line with snow north and west and rain south and east with freezing rain and ice in the middle before the snow moves our way later today.

I hemmed and hawed this morning as to whether I was going to go into work or not.  I'm ahead on hours for the week so I was in no rush.  After watching the weatherman for some time I decided to go in to work, even if just for a few hours before we got the next wave of weather.  As I stepped carefully down the back steps out to the garage I noticed the ice already covering everything.  I'm sure the main roads were still fine, but would be very messy very soon.  I stood in the driveway, indecisive for a few minutes before giving in and going back inside.  I hate to use up my banked time for weather but I just don't like to take those chances driving in winter weather like I did when I was younger.

And to top it all off, tomorrow's high temperature is 6ºF/-14ºC.  After that looks like another mixed bag of temperatures and precipitation for the next week.

Year after year, similar winter story lines.  I've heard it described as when a mother forgets the pain of childbirth and wants another baby.  The summers are so nice we forget what the winters bring.  It happens every year, and here we are again...

Ridiculous Cold

Okay, this is getting ridiculous.  Screenshot taken not long ago, about 8:15 pm.  Look at this temperature swing within a few days, lows -30ºF to 37ºF, and highs -11ºF to 42ºF.  That's a difference of 67 and 53 degrees, respectively, within 4-5 days.







Copied here for the convenience of my Celsius/Centigrade friends.  I can't do math right now, my brain is cold and tired.

This is not normal for here, this is serious cold. 

Sick This-And-Thats

There's not been a lot to write about so far this new year, but I've had some unexpected time off work again so why not start complaining typing and see what happens.

I've gone through hundreds of these.  Ick.

• Last winter I didn't get sick at all.  In fact, I don't think I've been sick in two years - until this winter.  I was sick with a stomach virus (I since learned that stomach flu is not an influenza, but a different virus) a week or two before Christmas and now I have something upper respiratory.  I was miserable Friday, but had no idea I was getting sick.  Waking up Saturday there was no question and I have been absolutely miserable ever since.  It seems to be centered in my right sinus, though both are plugged often.  Breathing has been a struggle.
• Cold medicine does not work.  I've tried many different kinds over the years to no avail.  Some may work a tiny bit, and I can remember at times thinking that I should remember this particular one - but I never do.  And there's only so many different kinds, anyway.  Still, I take them and hope for the best, but usually you just have to suck it up and let it run its course.  What do you use for a snotty cold?  Does it really work?  Really?
• Of course, being sick means I have missed more work.  It's been busy so I would rather not miss time but I also wouldn't want to sit next to me, either.  Best to stay home until I can keep all my bodily fluids in check, though I don't want to lose ground at work, either.  There's been talk of me moving up already, not quite six months into my new position.  While I do want that, I wouldn't mind some more time at the level I'm at now.  We'll just have to see what happens in the coming weeks and months.
• Wow!  I just started typing with my hands in the wrong place and discovered emojis.  Windows key + period = 😎🎶👌👣🦇🥓 and tons more.  Playing with it for a minute shows me that it's a windows thing, not just in blogger.  Not that I'm a big emoji guy, but how come I never knew about this before?  Did you?
• Now I forgot what I was going to say, so let's go with weather.  We've been relatively warm for January here, with no snowfall.  A week or so ago it rained and melted most all we had, so it is very gray and brown outside these days, not pretty.  On the upside, no shoveling, snowblowing or salting has been needed.  In fact, if the weather stays similar, the ground stays firm and once I feel a bit better then it may be time for a winter fire pit!

Okay, that's enough typing.  Actually, I don't feel well and want to wrap this up.  If you were paying attention, I asked a couple questions above.  Leave me a comment below, I've got plenty of time to read them as I'm just sitting home sick - if you haven't heard.  😩🤧

December This-And-Thats

December is slipping away, the holidays are almost upon us and I've hardly posted a thing lately.  There's not been much to post about, really.  Well, I'm sure I can come up with a few things so time to start typing again and see what fills the page.

• Somehow we seem to have had December weather in November and vice-versa.  There was only a trace of snow on the ground in spots yesterday and that's probably erased by the rain today, and with the expected temperatures we will not be having a white Christmas this year.  Lake Mendota officially froze over five days ago, on the 15th.  About normal, but that date can vary greatly year to year.  Lake levels are looking better, but still not down to where they should be.  I haven't heard anything on that debate lately but, like any other year, the further from the event the less people think about it.
• I've been sick all this week, probably a flu bug but I didn't go to the doctor.  Sunday evening I remember being especially tired, then Monday and Tuesday were absolutely miserable for me but I'm slowly starting to feel like myself again.  Today I worked a full shift for the first time this week and I am exhausted.  At least my boss is letting me slide on the required overtime this week and we have no overtime for the next two short holiday weeks.
• I have all my holiday shopping done and finished wrapping this afternoon.  This was a tough year to buy something for my wife.  I thought about jewelry again but she doesn't really wear any regularly.  She did mention wanting to get her ears re-pierced but she won't let me do it so I came up with a few other gifts that will have to do.  She has a birthday coming up in a month so I guess I'll have to make up for it then.
• Sadly, the pictures on my garden blog from August 13, 2012, to May 14, 2017, have been deleted.  It was a shame and I am not happy about it, but I had almost 1400 pictures on Flickr and starting soon they will only allow 1000 for free accounts.  Most importantly, I didn't want to lose anything from this site, so I sacrificed those pictures rather than pay a monthly fee forever to keep them.  You can read more of what I wrote about that here and here.  As for the future of that garden blog?  I just don't know yet.  
• I've been scanning the local venues' websites for upcoming shows that I'd like to see, and still there's only one on my radar.  On February 10, Marty Friedman plays at the High Noon Saloon.  He used to be a guitarist in the band Megadeth and then spent the last 15 years in Japan.  Other than that, there's a few things that slightly interest me and you never know when a new show will be announced.  In fact, it was just announced that Neil Young is coming soon to Madison on a very short solo tour.  Unfortunately it's on a weeknight and the tickets seem to be outrageously priced and may already be sold out. (Luckily, I've seen him before - but that was over 20 years ago!)

That's all I can think of that I want to share for now.  I'm sure I'll post a holiday greeting soon and I don't think we have any plans for New Year's Eve yet, so there will be more to come before 2019.

Needing New Picture Host?

Back when I started this site (and the garden blog) I uploaded pictures to Blogger to post without a care in the world.  Eventually I got the message that I had used up all my storage when I didn't even know I had a limit.  I needed a new place to put my pictures so I could post them on my sites.  I wrote about that on August 13, 2012.  Now, I seem to remember getting that message from Picasa.  I don't know if that's right or what the connection with Blogger is, but all those old pictures are still on the site (though many linked photos may not be) and come up as from Blogger.  Well, unable to post pictures I got a free account with Flickr and have used that to host all the pictures I post ever since.

Well, it wasn't long ago I got an email that Flickr had been sold to another company, and then on November 13 I received an email from Flickr about important updates to my account.  Basically, no more free ride for me.  They will allow free accounts with up to 1000 photos, or I may upgrade to Flickr Pro for an as-yet-undisclosed annual fee (but I can get 30% off the first year).  My problem is that I have almost 1400 pictures on Flickr, so after January 8, 2019, I will no longer be able to upload pictures and after February 5, 2019, I will have my photos that are over 1000 deleted, starting with the oldest, unless I pay.  What this means is that after that date my pictures on posts on both my sites from August 2012 to 376 pictures later will disappear from my sites.  My guess is that would go through 2015 and include some cherished memories, but I definitely do not want to pay - any cost, every year, forever.  If it becomes relevant again, I can always re-upload to my next picture host and update the post, but it is a terrible shame because I do look back to years past on my sites.

So what do I do now?  Well, I noticed that on my phone I have the old Picasa logo.  Picasa is now Google Photos.  It does not have all those original photos that I uploaded way back when, but when I take a picture with my phone it is now backed up there.  And there's even pictures saved there from my old (first) smartphone.  There does appear to be a limit, so I still have to figure out how it's going to work over the long haul, but I think it will work for me.  And I can still use the camera and upload the ones I wish to, but I will probably start using my phone almost exclusively for taking pictures.  And after getting the pictures off my phone and saved onto the computer I should "clean up" all the excess pictures I take out of Google Photos to extend my limit.

I have two more posts in mind for very soon that I will want pictures, so I will be trying this out probably later this weekend.  This should not affect normal blog viewing at all, unless it is an older affected post being viewed, other than the picture will open differently when clicked.  If anyone else has a better idea I'm very willing to listen!

Soooo, funny story:  I was re-reading and editing the above when it occurred to me I hadn't even tried to upload directly since that day in 2012 when I got the message about reaching the limit.  I  just tried now, and it works!  I won't need an outside image host after all!  Limits must have changed in the last 6 years?  How can I tell?  Well, Google is Blogger is Chrome is Youtube is Google Photos is Android is everything else I am, it seems.  I'll still have the loss of posted photos for that 2012-15 period, and that pains me greatly, but hopefully I'll never have to deal with this again.

The 2018 Flood VI - Enough, Already!*

I believe this picture came from here: https://cleanlakesalliance.org/

The lakes had been high all summer so far, see my pic from earlier this year here, then on August 20 western Dane County received the worst of a rainstorm and got 10-15 inches.  Surrounding areas, including us, also got many inches of rain but the double digits got the headlines.  Much of that water flowed to the Wisconsin River and much of it flowed to the Yahara chain of lakes, starting with Lake Mendota.

The Tenney Lock and Dam have been tested, but have held admirably.  Lake Mendota drains through that lock and dam (1), into the Yahara River crossing the isthmus to Lake Monona.  If the dam fails, this influx of water is what will flood many low parts of the isthmus and Lake Monona.

Lake Monona has gotten higher than it's ever been. It drains through another branch of the Yahara, one that has had to be weeded in the past because they slow the flow, directly into Lake Waubesa, which then has another lock and dam (2) before draining into Lake Kegonsa which also has a lock and dam (3) that then drains via a lengthy part of the Yahara River and a couple more dams (4,5) until ultimately flowing into the Rock River.  That's the basics, and this is a map to help you visualize it easier if you're not from here.

You can see how it will take time to let all that water flow.  If we were to get any substantial amount of rainfall in a short amount of time, any similar deluge as before, anytime before winter we will be having perhaps much bigger problems.  I should note that it has not rained since the last rain spell I posted of last week, and no real chance is forecast until later next week.  I've been paying attention to the forecast a bit more these days.

There are reasons to keep the lakes high and reasons to lower them to natural levels, and proponents for each have been heard in this renewed debate, despite the problem at hand continuing and expected to continue until at least winter.  I think they should be lowered below the level they've been kept despite the issues for boaters and pier owners.  In time, all would adapt.  Then the next time something like this happens there will be the capacity to hold and handle the flow of water without flooding.  Seems so obvious, why doesn't it just happen? [Insert political crap here.]

Random green fire pit picture.

I got out for a bike ride today, just down to the lake and back, less than an hour overall but my joints are feeling it now (and the reason I didn't go yesterday).  I got some good pictures to share, the first few are from a bike ride the other day and the rest are from this morning - except for one picture I stole a screenshot of from goggle maps.  It shows the rocks that should normally be visible on the sides of this stretch of Starkweather Creek.  Since they lakes have been kept overly full the last couple years a cursory search didn't find a similar picture in my albums of the last couple years.  But I have posted pictures of this and these other places in the past so you can seek them out for before and after shots if you wish.

Pictures and comments after the break!

*Originally titled with IV instead of VI - sorry!

Another (Last?) Bucky

As I ran errands the other day I saw the Bucky at Olbrich Park right by the road so I pulled off and took a few pictures.  This one is called Hip Buckster.  I almost didn't stop as the novelty has worn off for me.  See, I'd been using this picture of the Bucky "Grow" as a background on my computer at work recently.  A co-worker noticed and we briefly talked about it before this wanna-be goody-two-shoes pig we work with started gushing about collecting the Buckys.  This pig has complained about me and others several times at work, sometimes getting me into trouble, but is always so nice to me when she needs help or has a question.  I am disgusted with (and by) her and want nothing to do with her anymore and she pretty much knows it.  Since that original conversation she seems to have to bring it up to the group any time her family gets another one.  She disgusts me enough that it has seemed to ruin this for me, so I don't think I'll be going out of my way for any more.  I now have the four that are in my area, that's good enough for me.

EU Laws, Blogger & Microsoft

So as you may or may not know, laws changed in the European Union about cookies and data collection from websites.  When I sign in to my account I see the following message:


And when I click on Learn more, it says how I can check:

But when I do that - no matter what device or browser, signed in or signed out - it automatically redirects me to this .com site.  Thanks, Google, parent company of Blogger.  So now what?  Well, hopefully friends overseas Delcatto or Blue Witch can tell me if they got the message when they visit.  Please, guys?  Or else I'm just not going to worry about it, I guess.

I've just about had my fill of computer pains in my ass lately.  Really.

A week ago Monday there was a Windows 10 update on my computer.  When I got to the computer Tuesday it was a paperweight.  Seems that for a small number of users their antivirus stopped part of the update so it tries to 'roll back' to the prior OS but there is none anymore.  Last weekend I bought another computer, so I've had all that pain in my ass, restoring, settings, signing in from a new device so getting all those goddamn emails and security warnings.  And I still can't find a fix for the old computer.  There is a method using another computer at the link above that I can try when I get my patience back, but nothing else I've seen and tried so far has worked.  And calling Microsoft is not what I want to do, though I may need to.

I'm feeling old and pissed off and I want all you rotten fuckers (Google, Blogger, Microsoft, Yahoo) off my lawn!

No Spring This Year II*

I just took this picture.  It's pretty heavy at the moment, but has been for a while and looks to continue.  Yep, there is no spring this year.




*Update, Thursday 4/19:  We got 7.2 inches total.  Hopefully the last for the season!

No Spring This Year

No, this is not turning into a weather blog - yet.  If this was anything like last year, or the year before, or even the year before that then I would be writing about all the spring plans for outside and the cat's birthday (post coming soon).  Go ahead and click those links and you'll see how late spring is this year.  I could go back further but I think the point is made.  On a side note, looking back now to get those links I noticed that I missed my 9th Blogday on April 8.  I've now been writing here for over 9 years.  Happy Blogday to me!

Madison is dead center, the a in Milwaukee.

I slept in again today and when I got up it had already been snowing for some time.  This weather system started yesterday with rain, then sleet/ice until turning over to snow last night.  The snow has continued and will continue off and on until early tomorrow morning, it looks like.  The yard picture is from earlier today.  Not a lot of snow but it came down pretty steady for a long time and is the wet and heavy stuff.  Northern Wisconsin was forecast to possibly get up to 30 inches - that's two and a half feet!  When I look at the radar (screenshot from this afternoon) - and I'm no weatherman - this system, which has been slowly moving east, is a funnel of moisture coming straight north from the Gulf of Mexico.  When it hits the colder air it forms something like a mushroom cloud.  Today we have been in the center of the rotation on the west side of the mushroom cloud, so while we're kind of on the edge it just hadn't been moving, thus the constant light snow.  Again we get a late snowstorm and again we are luckily on the edge of it and not getting as much as we could have.  A rather fascinating look at the weather, actually, but I won't say that to my wife Kate who is out shoveling the stuff right now.

Yes, this may all melt by Tuesday afternoon, but we still have a chance of snow forecast for Wednesday evening, possibly mixed with rain.  There is no spring this year.

Back Shot, Weather and Lawn Rolling

I got shot in my back yesterday, a steroid (not cortisone) and anesthetic to my left S1 nerve root.  So far I feel pretty good, still getting random pains in my butt and tingling in my foot, but they said it may take a couple days and they want me to keep track of it daily for the next two weeks.  I think it helped for now but seems like a short term solution, but we'll see.  Meanwhile, I am to take it easy today and tomorrow I go back to work.  But taking it easy is hard when there are things to do.

I slept in today, but I've been doing that anyway lately, ran a few errands and made some calls.  The guy is supposed to be coming over soon to roll the lawn so pretty soon I can start on the fire pit as soon as my back is up for it.  Maybe if he gets here before I finish writing this I'll post a picture.  I have nothing left on my agenda today but a few little things and reading the newspaper.

The temperature is about 50ºF right now.  We still have a tiny bit of snow along the back fence and by the garage but it won't last long, even in the shade. Tomorrow it looks as if we may break our long streak here in Madison of not hitting 60ºF since December 4.  If we do we better enjoy it because it doesn't look like we'll hit it again for some time.  The good news is that it is starting to not go below freezing every single night, but look - there is snow in the forecast twice still.  Sigh.

Every year is different, we just have to roll with it.

Speaking of rolling, the guy showed up as I was finishing writing this, see a couple pictures of Jason and a perfectly rolled yard after the break!

April Snow and More

We woke up to a fresh blanket of snow today.  A quick check of the calendar confirms it is the month of April and is officially Spring.  Humph.  Yesterday afternoon I stopped at the local bar to have a drink and spoke with a city employee who said he has driven the snow plows for 20 years and he's never had to plow in April.  Well, I hope he didn't stay and drink too much because I'm sure he was out in the wee hours plowing snow.  This was a rather large system over the upper Midwest yesterday and last night, and we got pretty lucky with mostly rain yesterday and then overnight when the temperatures plummeted most of the snow went north of us.  The system was headed east, and the east has already been pummeled with snow this spring.  Good luck to 'em.  Our snow mostly melted by the time I got home, though I'm sure it will linger in the shady spots.

I took this picture as I set out to work this morning.  I've been taking vacation days until I get a steroid shot in the back next week Tuesday but I couldn't get today off so instead of finagling it off I just sucked it up and went in.  I got through it but I'm growing to hate my work chair lots, luckily we'll be getting new ones soon.  I usually take some vacation time in the spring anyway, normally sometime in May.  I'm just taking it early this year due to circumstances, I guess.

Another thing to note is that just a day or two after my last post the ice on Lake Monona was gone from view.  I'm not sure about the larger Lake Mendota, there may be a bit in the middle over there yet but if so it should be short lived.

Hang in there, people, actual spring will show up eventually.  We have a few plants coming up in the flowerbeds by the porch.  I'll have time, so I may post a picture tour over at the garden blog soon.

Back Again, And Again

I've had back issues for a long time.  This recent episode has been pretty much for all of this year.  I finally had to go to the doctor about a month ago, after nothing I tried was helping.  I spent over a hundred dollars on five different back pillows/rolls, and even gave away my very nice La-Z-Boy recliner to a friend and spent several hundred more dollars on an upright accent chair - that still needs a lumbar roll on it for me.  I've done my back exercises almost every day and have taken anti-inflammatory meds and muscle relaxers.  Still, it got worse, so I needed help.

About a week after I saw my doctor I had a real bad weekend.  Monday was just as bad so I stayed home from work and contacted my doctor's office.  My doctor was out that week, so one of the other doctors saw me and prescribed another anti-inflammatory and a drug for the nerve pain.  She also completed the paperwork for me to be off work until I saw the neurosurgeon.  While off work I continued with exercises, and started riding our recumbent exercise bike downstairs for 30 minute sessions every day.  Over the next two weeks the pain backed off a bit, I still felt it, but it was duller than it had been.  I was happy with the progress, but still very concerned about my well-being.

I saw the neurosurgeon about my back this last week, 3 weeks after the referral.  Our visit was very brief and he was interrupted 3 times by call or text as he was also on call with the hospital.  One of the things he did manage to clarify is that it essentially is a disc pressing on my nerve, the same disc I had operated on in 2000.  It was obvious that he knew the course of action he wanted to take, a 'Left S1 Selective Nerve Root Injection.'  A steroid shot to the back.  Now it can be up to two weeks for my insurance to preauthorize the procedure before I can even schedule it, and I was told they are several weeks out scheduling.  Wonderful.  Now, my question is, since he had to review the information to approve the referral, and he had been given no new information, then why couldn't we have gotten this going earlier?  The pace of the process is painfully slow, literally.

As soon as I left I contacted my doctor again.  At this pace I needed to get back to work, and I needed more help to be able to do that.  He essentially doubled my prescription for the nerve pain meds, and that has helped more than I expected.  I still feel when the pain shoots down my leg, but it is effectively dulled, mostly.  The side effect is tiredness/fatigue, and I feel it but it's not a bad thing, really.  It takes me down a notch, where I'm just generally more relaxed.  I need something like this for all the time, I think.

So, that's where it stands.  Far from over, but I am getting by much better.  I'll have to wait and see how the shot works and go from there.

Pictures of my 2011 MRI after the break, for comparison.  I don't have any pictures of my 2000 MRI.

It's Back Again

Pain.  I've known lots of physical pain in this life.  From breaking both forearm bones in my left arm as a kid to broken toes, wisdom teeth infections, a shattered femur, neck fusion due to a disc, rotator cuff issues and two prior lower back disc surgeries.  I'm sure I'm missing something and I am skipping lesser things but that should be most of the bigger stuff.

While I've been dealing with more back issues lately, my impression was that the L5/S1 disc was bulging and putting pressure on my nerve, but it seems I was incorrect.  I had an MRI on Thursday for the fifth or sixth time in my life, I seem to have lost count.  I fully expected another disc issue but the findings were no significant difference since my last (2011) MRI, yet the L5 nerve root shows a 'significant impingement,' I'm told, which is right in line with the pain I'm having.  My next move is to await a phone call to make an appointment with a neurosurgeon.

While the pain is not quite what it was the last two times I had back surgery, it is the same pain just not quite as severe - yet.  I'd been trying to move this process along as the last two times I could only stand for short times and in excruciating pain by the time I got to the surgery and I was hoping it wouldn't get that far this time.  The MRI results, though, leave me less certain of what's to come.  It's not that I want surgery, I just want to feel normal, but knowing it's not a disc has me worried as to what exactly the problem is.  I don't know how soon I'll see the neurosurgeon but I look forward to seeing the images and hearing what they have to say.

The pain sucks, and they're not handing out the good painkillers like they used to.  I've taken lots of opioids when needed, and very long ago I told my doctor that if I need a painkiller I'll take nothing less than, say, vicodin or oxycodone and such, as anything less never did anything to help me.  Popping them left and right at times and while I've never felt the slightest twinge of addiction you do need to keep up on your stool softeners while taking them!  And with nerve pain even opioids are relatively ineffective so I have been taking nothing.  My doctor did give me a round of prednisone that I finished today but that has done nothing for me.  I'm in a holding pattern of dealing with the pain as best I can until I can't anymore.  Welcome back, old friend.