20,000 Days Old

In exactly two days from when this posts I turn 20,000 days old, on Tuesday the 14th at 8:20 p.m. local time.   This is posted ahead of time due to the emails can take a couple days to go out now, but at least they're still going out.

Aside from being a nice round number this doesn't mean much of anything, except maybe that I like numbers.  I've had this site saved for some time and I look at it once in a while.  A couple months ago I looked and noticed I had this milestone coming up, and they also have a widget for a countdown so I added that in the right column of the website at that time.  Not sure if it will stop or go negative when it gets there.

I have an aunt that created this painted plaster memento for my parents after my birth and this is how I recalled what time I was born.  I know she signed up to get the emails several years ago, and her email still shows as active so I hope she's still getting them.  Thank you, Aunt M! 

Lucky 13 and Spring Plans

My blog is now a teenager, this being my 13th year as of today.  In some ways it seems much shorter, in other ways much longer, and it has changed a bit over the years.  I used to have smaller, more frivolous posts, then I began writing less often but (hopefully) more thought-out posts.  I've had my moments of wondering what I'm doing still writing here, but the occasional feedback has been nice and I still appreciate this as a good record of major events and milestones in my life.  But, while inspiration comes and goes at times, I have no plans of stopping anytime soon.

We've not had as nice of a spring day since I last posted, which was on the first day of spring.  Since then, it's snowed more often than it had all winter (including today) and the number of days with snow in the last 3 weeks is probably only outnumbered by the amount of days with rain.  The sun has shown up a few times, but we've not come close to temperatures we had that first spring day.  By this time last year I'd already had a few fires and grilled dinners while neither has happened yet this year.  But, there I go talking about the weather again.

There hasn't been much other than the weather to talk about that's been happening recently, but I do have plans for when the weather finally does turn and my attention turns to projects around the house.  

First, I want to paint the dark paneling on the porch and possibly replace the ceiling tiles.  And if I replace the ceiling tiles I'll take a hard look at insulating the rafters to hopefully retain more heat in the early spring and late fall so we can have it open longer.  Not sure the color just yet, but perhaps use up some paint we already have.  With all the windows there's not much wall space so shouldn't take much paint to do it, but lots of taping on the trim.

Second, I want to somehow rearrange our computer room, the room I spend most of my time in - by far now that I work from home.  I'm thinking of moving the dresser and the file cabinet to at least give the illusion of more space, and I want to flip the rug around the other direction due to a small stain on it and so I'm not vacuuming against the grain, so to speak.  To do this I'll need to move those and more to the porch so it should be warmer out so we can leave the door open.

Another thing we've been waiting on for some time now already.  We've had a sofa and ottoman on order now since last August but due to the pandemic furniture just hasn't been in stock.  Currently it is expected to be delivered in late May, and I really hope this will finally happen.  We could look for something else, but availability is an issue everywhere.  The plan is to move the living room rug a bit to better fit the space with the new sofa and the new buffet table we bought a couple months ago that replaced our larger TV stand in the living room.  The old sofa will then be moved to the porch.

I have another vacation coming up in May so hopefully I can get at least some of this done then, but as long as they get done I'll be happy.  I took a half day off today so I think I'll go out to lunch and relax a bit.  Happy blogday to me and have a nice weekend, everyone.

Coldest Week?

I was outside this evening after taking out the recyclables, pondering a recent pile of poop on the snow that had already turned white and the tracks of the likely culprit.  No rabbit or other small animal, but larger and dog-like, judging by the gait.  My wife thinks it was a fox, and while the dog population in the area is much larger you rarely see one off-leash.  The tracks disappeared among the rabbit tracks back in the corner of the yard by the lilac.

Then my nose started to hurt.  It was maybe 2 minutes of being outside, but only 7ºF (-14ºC).

They said on the news this morning that this week is typically our coldest week each year.  Not sure how they determine it since weeks change a bit year to year, but okay.  I like my interesting facts to be more definitive, I guess.  Either way, it's cold.  There is no high temperature in the 10 day forecast that gets up to the freezing point.  As I write this it is already down to 3ºF.

Not a reason to like where I live, but we take it as it goes.

Here's a cool picture of Madison that I saw on this website.  Appears to be late in the day during a warmer time of year, looking northeast over downtown.  One of the best city regulations is a limit on building height on the isthmus and around the capitol building.  That's our house, top right.  ;)

Happy birthday this week to my lovely wife, who hates having it during the coldest week of the year.

Happy New Year 2022

 A quiet night in with my lovely wife, a good frozen pizza and a few drinks.  Just the times we live in, let's hope for better this coming year.  Happy New Year, everyone!

Christmas, Fire and More

It's close enough to the holiday to say Merry Christmas, everyone!  Not a white Christmas here this year as today was relatively warm, dark, foggy and damp all day and I expect more of the same tomorrow.  It's a quiet evening in tonight and my wife and I will exchange some small presents.  We were planning on visiting my Mom tomorrow along with my brother and sister and their families, but with the Omicron variant being so prevalent and the hospitals bursting at the seams plus some family members' questionable decisions (I'd love to write more - maybe later) we will be staying home for Christmas Day.  There may be a Zoom call with all of us like last year, we'll see.  Here at home, my wife will cook a ham and bring her Dad over for a time and the Packers will play, but that's about it for us.

I did not get to have a firepit on the solstice like I have the last two years, it was cold and just way too windy to consider a fire, and that day the city picked up the stick pile before I could burn it.  Yesterday, however, the temperatures were above freezing and the winds were mild.  I started the fire about quarter to four in the afternoon and was out there until about six.  Long enough, and with sunset before 4:30 it was getting pretty chilly by then.  Last year my last fire was December 28, so we'll see what the weather does, if there's any more.  The fire picture was taken right about sunset, and I had to remind myself to take a picture.  I'm sure I have thousands of pictures of the firepit by now so I don't always anymore, but every one is unique.

About a half hour after sunset it occurred to me to also get a picture of the tree that was cut down as a follow up to the last post.  There was no more activity over there since and the trunk still stands, and stands tall.  It's twice as high as their garage and about as tall as their house, it was a very big tree to begin with.  You can kind of see the fences that would require the use of a crane parked in front of their garage to get the branches out.  But the biggest surprise is how this picture turned out.  Again, this was about a half hour after sunset, the first pictures I took were pretty dark so I tried using the 'night sight' feature on my phone camera.  Quite the difference, I thought, this fully looks like daytime!  But it was not quite completely dark out yet so turned out quite a bit brighter than actual.

Another takeaway is though I lament the loss of the tree, the dozen or more in this same picture, both near and in the distance, shows that we are not in any danger of being treeless in the area anytime soon.

Have a great holiday and stay safe, everyone.  Go Packers!

Thanksgiving Eve Fire Video

I recorded my fire the other night and edited it down to a 6 minute video.  A tedious process, but now done so I'm not going to waste it.  Much of the video is from the first part of the night, then I skipped past most of when I was on a video call with my Mom and niece, with an outro of a fire in the dark.  Air traffic was heavier than usual, not surprising with the holiday, and taking off generally south above me.  The sky was very overcast, the temperature surprisingly moderate at about 50ºF when I began at just after 4:00 in the afternoon.  There were lots of sticks that had fallen on the neighbors yards out front that I grabbed and burned up this night.  The extended forecast was much colder so I couldn't pass up the opportunity.

There is a squirrel distraction about 4:45 and plane lights passing through the trees about a minute later.  Otherwise it's just me relaxing, feeding the fire and being lost in my thoughts.  Sit a spell, relax.

Link is here for email readers.

Happy Thanksgiving Thoughts 2021

With what I've been going through with my health recently and work frustrations bubbling up again I've been pretty down and maybe even ornery lately.  As I sat out by the fire last night I thought it would be good to think of things I am actually thankful for, so I gave it some serious thought and started a list.  Let's see if I can expand on that this morning and maybe get to 10 good and meaningful things for which I am truly grateful.

1. My wife.  It's hasn't always been easy but I just can't imagine my life without her.  I don't know anyone stronger who could deal with me and everything else she's had to deal with the last several years and more.  I've been guilty of being self-centered, taking things for granted and not listening as I should, and improving myself will only help her, so I am determined to become a better person.
2. My health.  I've taken this for granted, too, for far too long and it seems to be catching up to me.  I need to eat better, drink less, exercise more and lose some weight.  Very much easier said than done, but increasing health issues is a good motivator.
3. Family.  My mother and sister, specifically.  I don't like my father and my brother has been pretty distant.  When my mother's husband passed and then the pandemic hit I started to get closer to my Mom and my sister is always there with a smile and encouraging words if I need her.  I love them both greatly.
4. Friends.  I don't have many left these days, more acquaintances than friends.  I want to continue to work on those relationships and in some cases not let the distance between us cause that friendship to wane.  It seems harder to make friends the older I get, but much of that may be me so I should work on that more.
5. Blogger friends.  Delcatto and Blue Witch have been friendly towards me for a long time now and I'm grateful they keep coming back.  I like to read their blogs about them and their lives, and have learned much along the way.  Knowing they are there has helped me try to write better and more interesting things here.  I've not reached out to other bloggers much in a long time now, but Nic has been a relatively recent breath of fresh air and as a bonus he creates music pretty consistently so I always look forward to his next song.
6. Our house.  When this blog started in 2009 we started looking, and originally didn't think we could afford a house right in Madison.  But the market was in our favor and we found a nice house with a nice yard close to whatever we could need or want, right here in the near east side of Madison.  Yes, it is very small, seemingly too small for us at times, but overall I think we found a good one and have improved it in many ways over the years.
7. Madison.  Related to the last one, we live in a good area and city with a majority of like-minded people as us.  That changes rather quickly and surprisingly when you get outside the county.  When we traveled to pick up our last quarter cow it was shocking the amount of pro-Trump flags and signs in the rural areas.  I don't remember such divisiveness before he came along and thankfully don't have to worry about that too much here in Madison.
8. Music.  Music continues to be a joy and an escape for me even as I get older.  I don't go to live shows as much as I used to and am pretty unwilling to travel longer distances for it anymore, but I still enjoy discovering new music and I'm always looking for my next 'latest-greatest,' even if at a lower volume these days. 

Well, 10 was an arbitrary number anyway and I don't want to add something lesser just to get to 10.  I may remember something good that I missed later, but I think I have 8 very good things to be thankful for here and it was good for me to consider and reflect upon these.  Now it's time for me to do some cleanup for Kate's family coming over to celebrate the holiday.  It's currently snowing big white flakes outside, and my wife has been busy cooking up the cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and other goodies while the turkey is already in the oven.

Happy Thanksgiving and a great long weekend to all!

Happy Halloween 2021

We weren't quite sure what to expect for trick-or-treaters last night.  Last year I hung a sign for covid, but I didn't hear much about it this year so I assumed everything was going to be normal.  And it seemed to be, except we got fewer kids coming by the house.  About 25 or so little monsters, pirates, princesses and bumble bees, and they all got a great big handful of candy since I could tell it was going to be slower this year.  I enjoy answering the door and have worn a Halloween mask for the last several years (but for last).  And again I put up the mummy in the corner windows.

But by far the biggest hit of the night was the mask I wore, parents and kids alike laughed and commented on it.  First off, I felt better answering the door wearing a mask, just the new normal now.  This one has an LED light display that can show several different colors and patterns, but the most entertaining is the green smiley mouth.  It's voice activated so changes up to a big O shape so when you talk it moves to match your voice.  Very entertaining for Halloween, though I bought as a goof on Amazin' sometime since last year as maybe something funny to wear into the office when I had to go in, or some other stupid reason.  Regardless, it was certainly a hit last night.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween!

October This-And-Thats*

Looks like I haven't done one of these posts since May, and I've not written a lot recently so I must have something to say.  Yes, it's time again to start typing and see what happens!

• First, Feedburner said the blog mails would end in July.  Then they said August.  Now, here it is nearing the end of October and the emails are still going out.  I'm certainly not complaining, but there has been nothing posted about it that I've found since they said August.  A change of plans, perhaps, I guess time will tell.
• 
  While our fall has been warmer than normal so far, we have become more seasonable recently.  We normally get our first frost about October 7 and this year we got our first frost and freeze the other day, on Thursday night/Friday morning.  It all goes downhill from here now until we come out the other side in several months time.  Yes, I complain but I don't move away.  It's another Wisconsin pastime, kind of like last post and probably a big reason for it!  Well, at least there's no snow in the forecast yet.
• Last weekend we did some yardwork and got the gardens ready for winter.  The back left garden has been fully planted with garlic.  The back right garden with the monster herb plant that the name escapes me now has the rest of the area planted with just an odd collection of bulbs that we had stored downstairs from planting and replanting things in the flower beds.  It will be interesting to see what comes up in spring; certainly some tulips, daffodil and hyacinth are possible, and who knows what else.  You can see here if you look close that the squirrels already dug one big bulb up.  That's also why we have that old makeshift cover over the garlic.  Then the strawberry and raspberry plants have been cleaned up and straw put down for winter.  All the compost soil has been emptied from the left side of the compost bin into the gardens while the right side fills up with yard waste.  Shredded paper to cover it all and the bottom of the empty side, we'll start using the left side only soon and let the right side break down to go into the gardens next fall.  The compost bin is one of my favorite things I ever built.
  
• I've not been walking as much recently, not because I don't want to walk but my knee has been acting up.  The right one, the one that I busted up the femur there back in 2010.  Perhaps it's the change in weather, but I don't remember this from recent years.  Not painful so much as uncomfortable as the patellar tendon seems tight and aggravated.  Hopefully nothing comes of it and I can continue my walks soon.
• My mouse broke yesterday, thankfully it waited until after I was done working.  The scroll wheel started making noise so after work I ordered another one, the mouse must have noticed and shortly after gave up the ghost.  I have the same mouse but wireless that I'm using now, but it's not as responsive and is currently driving me a little batty so I hope the new one arrives early, it's currently scheduled for Tuesday.  Come on, Amazin' Prime!
• Speaking of work, we are now required to be fully vaccinated by a date in December.  President Biden's executive order for government contractors.  That would be us, and it includes fully remote workers as well as those who go into the office.  I've already provided my proof of vaccination, and really no bother to me as I've been vaccinated for quite some time.  There are others I know of who are not, though, so it will be interesting to see what happens and who believes in not getting it so much that they lose their job.  
• I might give the impression that I color my fires more than I actually do.  Normally I save the color for when we have people over, but sometimes I do add it just for myself.  I'm thinking I may have one tonight, after the Wisconsin football game so I'd be out there just a bit before sunset.  It will be chilly with temperatures in the mid-40's F and falling, and I'm not sure I'm quite acclimated to these temperatures yet.
• 
  Speaking of the football game, I like to have a special football snack for games.  It can be almost anything, but today I'll be trying a recipe that I found.  Well, I'm not going to exactly follow the recipe, it will be my take on it.  Dill pickle, ranch and bacon pizza!  Sounds good to me, but disgusting to my wife.  We'll see how it turns out, but I have high hopes.
• I've taken a few pictures of neighborhood Halloween decorations when I have walked, but I feel kind of funny taking pictures of other people's houses, so I haven't got much.  There is one house that beats all the others, hands down.  It's dark and with a steep pitched roof so looks like a good fit for Halloween even without decorations, but their display is pretty impressive.  Not everything even fits in one shot unless I'm pretty far back.  I am impressed, and I'll have to make it back after dark some night because I know they have lights for it, too.

Okay, this wireless mouse is really driving me nuts.  I may have to get out the tiny cheap one that comes with the computer, at least before work on Monday.  I thought a mouse pad would help, but not really.

Well, there's football to watch and pizza to prepare so that's enough writing for now.  Hope everyone is enjoying your weekend, I'll let you know how the pickle pizza turned out!  Maybe I'll add a picture later, if it was as good as I expect...

*Updated after the game.  Pickle pizza pictures (say that several times fast) after the break!

Family Fire Pit and Labor Day

 The last couple months I've only had one fire, due mostly to the heat or sometimes rain.  Saturday was overcast and cool, a good day for a fire, and for all the in-laws.

Yes, we had my wife's side of the family over to celebrate her sister's birthday.  About a dozen of us, overall, so not too crowded.  We grilled burgers and I ran out of gas halfway through, so my wife had to finish them off inside.  But other than that things went about as well as expected and I think everyone had a good time, especially my 5 year old nephew.  He was so excited, and his dad said he's been talking about it for days.  I had a lot of fun playing with him, mostly the bean bag toss game as well as a 5 year old can, and did more than I should have as I've been paying for it ever since.  Not the smartest of me, but I don't often get to play with kids and we had fun.

I was feeling guilty for not going on a walk before company on Saturday, but I needn't have worried as I ended up with over 14 thousand steps.  I'm sure it was all the setup of the garage and yard, then the reverse after everyone had left.  Not to mention playing with a 5 year old a bit too much.  I've not walked now since Thursday, and I won't again until maybe tomorrow.  And that's okay with me, right now.

Last night I was tempted to go to my first larger show since the pandemic.  Tickets were still available, proof of vaccination (or negative test within the last 72 hours) was required, and masks highly encouraged.  It would have been different, but fun, I'm sure, but I was also still sore and out of 4 bands there was one I really would have liked to see and the others take or leave.  A ticket was only 25 bucks, but add in the fees, parking, and a beer would double that, and almost double that again if I got a tee shirt.  Tetrarch was to be the second band to play, so maybe a 40 minute set, maximum, I would guess.  I like them but not enough to go through with all that, but I'm sure there will be a show soon that I won't be able to pass up.

Happy Labor Day, everyone.  I'm celebrating by being extremely lazy today.  Aside from the shot on Wednesday I'm hoping for a very quiet week, then there will be more fun to come next weekend.

20th Anniversary

We celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary on Tuesday, well, no real celebration since it was a Tuesday, but we did have a few friends over for fire and cake last night.  This is the first time we've had more than just another couple over for a fire and socializing in well over a year.  In fact, possibly since late 2019 as it was early spring in 2020 when the shit hit the fan.  I put the word out to several friends that we've not seen in a very long time and about half showed up.  It was a little disappointing as we didn't even hear anything from the ones that weren't here, not even a congrats-on-20-years text.  Perhaps they weren't ready to socialize yet, but who knows?  Ever forward.

I bought cheesy t-shirts for the occasion, and also bought a digital picture frame that has a battery.  I went through a lot of old pictures we have in the basement and scanned in almost a hundred for a slide show of us through the years.  All pictures were at least ten years old and some 23 or more years.  It almost coincided with our full transition to digital, so only a couple of the 'newer' pics were already on the computer.  I think all found it to be interesting, and it was good to get those pictures in digital format.  It does take more time than you'd think to scan pictures, but it was also fun and interesting because even I hadn't seen those pictures in a very long time.

I also learned of Starlink, a series of satellites that fly single file across the night sky with the goal of bringing broadband internet to every corner of the world.  Currently there are at least 1,625 of these satellites orbiting the earth and, from what I've read, SpaceX wants as many as 30,000 of them up there.  I must say, it was interesting to watch.  I did try to get a picture of it, but none came out.  I'll be more prepared next time.

While it was strange at first to have multiple people over, we soon fell back into old habits and just enjoyed the company.  It's hard to believe how long it's been since we did anything like this.  I'm grateful for all our friends that shared in our special occasion and look forward to doing this again this year.  I'm also on vacation this week so my wife and I plan on finding a time to go out to eat to celebrate between ourselves.

Despite all this, the back is pretty much the same.  The prednisone taper helped a bit, but not much.  Tomorrow morning I have my first physical therapy appointment, then the next morning I'll see my doctor.  I fully expect a referral to the neurosurgeon and an MRI to happen in my near future.  Hopefully just a shot in the spine will do it and I won't need surgery.  As bad as it is now, I know I've had it worse in the past.   It just takes so damn long to work through the steps before getting much needed relief.

Blogday This and Thats

I started this blog 12 years ago today, shortly before we bought our house.  It's kind of funny how I use this site to refer back to when we want to know when something happened.  Usually, if it's worth writing about, then I wrote about it here.  Of course, I've written a whole lot of nonsense, too!  Speaking of nonsense, time to type again and see what happens.

• I'm ready for spring, now.  I shaved for the first time since last October and got a haircut for the first time also since October - but 2019!  It was just time to shave off the winter face coat, and of course it was cool for a few days so my face got a bit cold, but I'm used to it now.  I'll probably grow my little chin beard again like I usually do.  And I remember starting to think about a haircut in March last year, but then everything got locked down.  Once I shaved, I knew I had to finally get that haircut.  It's as short as it's been in a very, very long time now, but it'll grow out.
• We got some rain last night and today, and there's some more in the forecast, so hopefully they will lift the local burn ban and I can have a fire this weekend.  As long as it's not raining.  That might also throw a wrench in proceeding with the gardens this weekend.
• I've been enjoying the concert livestreams since all this started.  No, it's not the same as going to a show, but for live music lovers it's at least something.  I've lost count of how many I've seen now; a few from Code Orange, Xordia, Richie Scarlet, Stephen Pearcy, Pain, Diamante a couple times, Steel Panther, Wednesday 13, and many others I'm forgetting now, both ticketed and free shows.  There's a couple more on my radar soon, Bruce Kulick on the 16th and Poppy on the 24th.  Rock on!
• Aside from the new car, we made another big financial decision recently and refinanced the house.  We've been paying off extra for some time now, but now we knocked off a third of the years left on the mortgage and have a much lower interest rate, which feels pretty damn good.  It was a good time to buy the house back when we did, and now it just keeps going up in value. So again, good for us!
• I get my first shot two weeks from today, the Pfizer vaccine.  I'm very much looking forward to it, actually.  Fully vaccinated, I will have much more confidence going out and about and getting some semblance of 'normal' back.  Live music, dining out, gathering with friends and family, shopping and even just stopping off for a drink somewhere has been missed greatly, but I'm hoping it all gets better as we go this summer.

Well, I thought I might have more but that's all I can think of at the moment.  The cat's have been well, and have been loving the few times we've been able to open the windows so far.  Here's a recent video of them and, if you couldn't tell by the coloring, they sure act like brothers here!

Feeling the Easter Burn Today

First off, happy Easter!  To those that celebrate it, anyway.  I no longer get the day after Easter off, so it's just Sunday here.

I got a lot done yesterday, and I felt it.  While I got a pretty good night's sleep, in part due to the muscle relaxer, I was still sore when I got up.  Not just my back, but many other underused muscles from head to toe.  So no, we are not starting in on replacing any gardens today.  And this week's weather looks like we'll be wet off and on, so maybe next weekend as the forecast looks almost as good as this weekend has turned out.  Still have a few small things to do, but nothing is critically urgent.

One thing I had to do was make a quick trip to the store today, and along the way I noticed the banks of our section of Starkweather creek had been burned off.  My wife and I went on a short walk to go take a look, but also so I could try to work out some of the kinks in my muscles.  It was a relatively slow walk, and I'm not sure it helped but it surely didn't hurt.  Too much, anyway.  But enough of me whining!

We had been notified earlier this spring that they were planning a controlled burn, but we didn't know when, and were surprised to see it as we've been under a local burn ban for a few days now due to how dry we are.  That means I had no fires this weekend, though the weather would have been perfect for one, both Friday and Saturday evenings.  Anyway, for all I know, they could have done this almost a week ago or even more as I hadn't left the house in quite some time before today.  And with windows closed and working from home I wouldn't have smelled it or heard anything.

The water level is also the lowest I've seen it in years, see pics in this old post or that whole 2018 flood series here.  Probably about where it should be, actually, though it has normally been deeper since then.  And yes, work has been underway to dredge much of the Yahara river segments between this chain of lakes to help prevent floods like we had in 2018.  I've already seen canoes being carried or rolled up and down the street this year, to and from the creek and the canoe slide.  Plenty of headroom for them under the bridges this year.

The rest of the day will be spent mostly resting, sometimes with my feet up and catching up on the internet, other times sitting in the easy chair and reading the newspaper, among other things.  This evening I'll be grilling out some of the natural casing wieners we got when we picked up the cow last month, and they should be quite tasty.  Have a good week, everyone.

January This-and-Thats

We're well into the new year now and other than for a little insurrection review I've not posted in 2021.  We are entering the doldrums of winter here, and during a pandemic still, so there's not a whole lot going on for us lately.  Despite that, there must be a few things I could say so time to start typing and see what happens.

• First, let's get this out of the way:  I hope he gets the book thrown at him and dies alone in jail.  I don't care if it's from taxes to insurrection as long as he gets locked up.  He went from sideshow to embarrassment to disturbing to criminal psychopath and wanna-be dictator.  Enough said.
• That reminds me of a saying I heard recently.  "It's easier to fool someone than it is to convince them they are being fooled."  I thought that made a lot of sense, from what I've been seeing.
• Now, for a totally different thought, why does this rug seem so much harder to keep clean back here rather than when it was in the living room?
• I may have said this before, but I don't read books anymore.  Not really a conscious choice as I used to read every day on my breaks at work, now I don't go to work and I have different habits at home.  Probably just as well, I read mostly 'rock star' autobiographies and while some are very good some are very not.  I'm thinking of this because I was excited to see another one the other day and almost bought it - until I read the very unflattering reviews.
• I splurged on my computer setup.  I returned a 24 inch monitor to work and bought a computer stand with 2 heavy duty arms and a 32 inch monitor to match the one I already have.  It certainly helps for work having two same-size monitors, but my desk looks like a gamer station now.  I don't play a lot of games but I do watch a lot of videos, concerts and even sports on the computer.  Maybe concerts not so much anymore, but there hasn't been many new concerts now in a long time.
• And my 'good back' chair gave up the ghost recently, so now I work in lowrider style in my 'relaxing' chair to save my back until the new chair arrives in about a week.  Had to spend more this time for quality to support my back while I work and I want just one good chair that meets all my needs.
• Does it seem like I use too many commas and also not enough contractions when I write?  I think so.  I've been a little hyper-conscious of these things lately, for some reason.
• We've not gotten much snow since the last storm I wrote about, just a few overnight dustings, some of which was rime frost from the 10 straight days of fog and freezing fog we had.  Anytime now, though, it will start snowing and we're expected to get 2-4 inches through tomorrow.  We are fully in winter now, and this is what winter does.  On the bright side I got my vacation weeks for the year approved today, in May and September.
• While the Badgers football team had a disappointing and disjointed season during this pandemic, the Packers are the number one seed in the NFC for the NFL playoffs.  Hopefully two wins in Lambeau Field so they can go win the Super Bowl, starting Saturday afternoon.  Go Pack Go!

Well, only one workday left until the weekend.  With our new work contract we no longer get the christian holiday Good Friday off but we do get Martin Luther King Jr Day off now.  About time.  There might have been a few other changes, I can't remember, but this one just makes sense.  That means a long weekend this weekend so, for Monday, happy MLK Day!

Happy New Year 2021

The consensus seems to be good riddance to 2020 and that 2021 will be much better.  It's a nice thought, but I think it will be more of the same until we can get a majority of people vaccinated and work through the details of getting back to some sort of normality.  Going back to the office, dining out, having drinks at the bar and gathering with friends and family will likely not return to any semblance of normal until late in the year, or possibly 2022, I fear.

More important is that there is now actual hope for a vaccinated end to this pandemic.  Hang on to that, encourage it, do your part when called upon and let's work toward that future and it will come to be.  I believe that because I have to.  How about you? 

Happy New Year to you all.  The ones I read, the ones I love, all my friends and all of you who take the time to read me.  Whether you comment or not, I can see you're there.  Thank you.

Merry Christmas 2020

Yes, it's been a bad year.  Lockdowns, masks, sickness and death.  But we made it this far and there is hope with the new vaccines, but that doesn't help us yet this holiday season.  A basketball game on TV and a Zoom call with immediate family is pretty much all we have planned today.  My wife will see her dad, but that's not unusual as she's pretty much his full time caretaker these days.  Almost all our snow has melted so it's not even a white Christmas this year.  But we must to try to stay positive, and I do have hope for a vaccinated future.  It will take time and there will be more challenges yet, but we'll get there.

Wherever you are, I hope you're making the best of things today.  Merry Christmas, everyone.

Christmas Fire Video

Have you ever used one of those long, soothing background videos for something to put on your TV or computer monitor?  Like hours of watching fish in an aquarium, or a babbling brook in a woodlands setting?  Around Christmastime a full screen roaring fireplace is popular.  I've seen and used all of the above at one time or another, and now I found one for 2020.  Enjoy.

Solstice Firepit and Holiday Plans

Happy winter solstice, everyone.  Winter officially arrived at 4:02 a.m. this morning, locally.  While there has been some recent melting, including some today with temps in the upper 30's (F), there just hasn't been enough to get me out by the fire for this one.

I was hoping, it just wasn't meant to be, and I'm afraid there will be no more opportunities until spring.  In a couple days here we'll go south of the freezing mark and it looks like that's where we'll stay for the foreseeable forecast.  It was a good ride, and I had more fires this year than I ever imagined I would have in a season, but thanks to covid it was my only escape, my only real pleasurable time outside the 4 walls of the house for almost all of 2020.

I don't know if I mentioned it here, but sometime during the last several fires I noticed several loose bricks, so come spring there will be a little repair work needed.  Last time I used an adhesive specifically made for outdoor fireplace blocks.  It was more expensive, but I wanted it to last - and more than just a few years.  I think in spring I'll use Liquid Nails or similar adhesive and see how long that lasts.

So, dear readers, you won't have to listen to me go on and on about it and post mostly firepit pictures for at least several months.  Let's hope life gets back to normal sooner than later, or I'll end up doing it all over again next year!

*               *               *

Christmas is less than a week away now, and we don't plan on going anywhere or seeing anyone, probably just a Zoom call like we did on Thanksgiving. I've got gifts sent off to the younger niece and nephew, and some cash mailed to the older ones.  We've given mostly great gifts to all of them for many years now, but as they graduate high school and become adults this will end.  I was going to call it a day with their generous lump sum graduation gifts, but I think we'll continue to give token cash at Christmas for a couple more years until they turn 21, then I'm done.  I have a few more years of picking out gifts for the younger ones, teenagers now, but then plan on the same for them.

We don't really get gifts for the adults in the family, just a little something for my Mom, like a relevant puzzle or something fun she wouldn't get for herself.  My mom, of course, gets us all something even though I tell her it's really not necessary, but she enjoys it.  Things are done a little differently on my wife's side of the family, but certainly nothing too extravagant.  As for my wife and I, we didn't do much this year.  She told me what to get her and when I couldn't think of anything I wanted she just got me a little something, I guess.  But she has a January birthday, so I'll have to up my game pretty fast.

What are your holiday plans this year?

Thanksgiving 2020

 

Snow and Fence Weather

Last year by this time we had gotten about 15 inches of snow, this year only .1 inches so far - until today.  Neither is unusual for us, and today it started snowing before light and continued until around midday.  Currently it is raining, so most of this snow won't make it until tomorrow.  And if it does it will not make it much longer as through the weekend high temperatures in the 40's (ºF, 5-10ºC) are expected.  Which means I should be able to get at least one evening by the fire. 

Speaking of fires, I thought my last firepit of 2019 was between Christmas and New Year but I might have been mistaken.  According to my pictures - and I usually but not always take some pictures - the last fire was on the winter solstice, December 21.  I can only hope to have another for this year's winter solstice, but every fire now could be the last of the season.  

I think I mentioned here that our rotting back fence was going to be replaced.  That was supposed to happen on November 10, but they called that a rain day.  The next day I got a call that they only had the 4 inch boards and wanted to be sure I was okay with that rather than the 5 1/2" I ordered.  No, I was not.  See, there has been a shortage of cedar this year, so they can order all they want but they'll only receive a portion at best.  I only need 40 feet of fence replaced and I want the same as I have but new.  I don't think I'd like the look of 4" boards on the 6' dog-eared back fence.  Yesterday they finally called to reschedule my fence replacement for this Monday, after the holiday weekend.  It's forecast to be cold that day with a high temperature just under freezing, but I'll be out there keeping an eye on them often.  My main concern is that they do not attempt to move the compost bin, they'll have to pre-build that panel before installing.  Cross your fingers they set aside the 90 or so boards needed for me.

I'll put some recent, somewhat interesting pictures after the break.