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?

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.

Here Comes The Snow 3*

Last night we wound up with a layer of slush and ice that froze with a few inches of snow on top of that.  Mid-morning my wife and I finally ventured out and cleared the walks and driveway with shovels, her doing most the majority of the work.  It started snowing again around 3:30 this afternoon.  It seems to have moved further east, so while I haven't watched any weather reports (just online radars), I don't think they're expecting as much as they forecast yesterday.  The storm is still moving north and east, and that diagonal snow line you see right around Madison is expected to stay like that until after 10 tonight.  We're expected to stay right on the snowy side of the line so we'll see what we end up with in the morning, but south of us will have gotten the heavier snow.  Since I started this I will probably finish with an update after we get it cleared tomorrow.

Also, I was mistaken about the emails, both posts were sent in the same email.  Good to know.  I don't often post twice in the same day.

* Update: 7:45 p.m.  What a dud, hardly any snow, but I'll take it.  Still, the one time I blog about it...

Here Comes The Snow 2

Just because I can...  This is the current radar.  This one is moving north and east, kind of how it looks in the screenshot.  We've actually not seen anything outside but freezing rain and slush so far, despite what the radar looks like.  I have faith, this is Wisconsin, the snow will come.  This is probably an average one, tomorrow is the supposed to be the bigger one, they say.

Email readers:  This is the second time I posted tonight.  I think you only get the latest one of the day so click here for the previous one!

Here Comes The Snow

We started off the season around Halloween with several snowfalls but have not had much since.  Well, that will all change this weekend.  Tonight we are to get a few inches but tomorrow night we are to get several more, this morning they said 7-12 inches overall by Sunday.  With temps right around freezing right now I was considering getting one last fire in, but I'm just too tired tonight.  With the new year came the return of mandatory overtime.  It was nice not having it over the holidays, but the holidays bring their own kind of fun, too.  I don't want to think too far ahead, but hopefully we can get off overtime soon.  It's been a year and a half for me and over two years for the department of 50 hour weeks more often than not.  (The union requires a couple weeks off overtime after several on, thankfully.)  It's been so long and I'm so tired of 10 or more hour days.

Well, that took a turn.  Anyway, several weeks ago I made sure the snow blower started and it did easily.  I'm sure I'll be using it at least once this weekend, maybe more.  There's no way my back could take shoveling 7 inches, let alone 12, unless I want to end up in the hospital.  Overall, my back has been pretty good this last year, but all it takes is one snowstorm.  One movement, actually.  I have a spot in my lower back that has twinged a bit from time to time lately, just reminding me how close I am to having my back go out at any time.  Thankfully it hasn't, and I try to be careful so it doesn't.

The screenshot here is from a site I found that compares geographical sizes.  I found it a while ago actually, and for some reason thought of it now to share.  For my UK readers (hey guys!) I put Wisconsin over England with London right about where Madison would be.  It was a fun little waste of time, the site is here.

Sunday night the Packers have a playoff game and I intend to enjoy it fully.  I even took a vacation day on Monday to sleep in and relax all day.  Lose and it's over, win and they go to the NFC championship next weekend.  Win that and they're off to the Superbowl!  But one game at a time.  The Packers have had their issues this season but still managed to pile up the wins.  And the Bucks have the best player and best record in the NBA.  The Badgers are pretty average this year, but it's still pretty good to be a sports fan in Wisconsin.  Go Pack Go!

Happy 4th of July 2019

Happy 4 day weekend 4th of July!

Everyone has a 4th of July, but it's Independence Day here in America.  A day for grill fires, explosions and missing digits.  We don't plan on going out for fireworks tonight, but we do plan on grilling out later today.  Mostly a day for chores and errands, though.  I hope to get a bit further with the cat box project, make a run to the hardware store, and get the chain saw out and cut the wood I've had by the garage since last year.  It's supposed to be very warm and very humid with scattered afternoon thunderstorms today so hopefully all will get done and we'll still have time for relaxing.  Tomorrow night we're going to have a couple people over for a fire in the evening, otherwise no specific plans made for the rest of the weekend yet - but I always have a list that I can work on.

Be happy, be safe, and enjoy the holiday, everyone!

Planes, Planes, Planes

We live on the near east side of Madison, Wisconsin, just a couple miles south of Dane County Regional Airport and Truax Field, home of the 115th Fighter Wing of the Wisconsin Air National Guard.  The main runway is in line with a few blocks to our west, so we get a really good view of the air traffic.  The amount of traffic can vary at times, actually rather busy as I type this, and consists of very small to medium/large passenger planes.  Depending on the day and weather we either get take-offs or landings.  I like the landings as we get a better view of the planes, while the take-offs can be louder because planes are accelerating but they are also getting higher and can veer off to either side.

We knew about this aspect when we bought the house ten years ago, and it wasn't a concern then and it still isn't now as we really love our house, our location, and our proximity to work and local businesses (and the bike path though we need to take more advantage of it).  I've even grown to really like watching them - in fact, I think I always have liked it.  Sometimes the jets can get real loud, but they are somewhat fascinating as well - and nice to know we are so protected here in the upper Midwest.  And they almost always go in twos, so if you hear one, get ready for another one coming.  They also usually advertise when they will be doing extensive training, but that doesn't seem to stop some idiots in the neighborhood from complaining on the neighborhood farcebook page (I'm told).  Once, we even saw a military transport plane taking off over us - it was so big and so low it felt like I could throw a rock and hit it!

Pursuant to a conversation with blogger friend Blue Witch in the comments a few posts ago, I thought I would try to get some video to share to show what we see daily.  Now, I may hear scores of them go by on a single day, but I'm not usually in a good position to capture it on video.  In fact, the first one I took after that conversation may be the best of them all.  It's the first one in the video compilation below, in the evening with the plane's lights on.  Over the last week or two I've tried to get video and found it's not as easy as I thought.  First, I've not had a fire the last couple weekends so I've not spent that much time out in the yard and ready to record.  I've tried running out when I hear one coming, but to very mixed results, as you will see.  And I always seemed to miss the bigger ones, and the Frontier ones where I can try and make out the animal on the tail.  I've no video of the jets yet though I'll keep that in the back of my mind for future, but they're not just loud - they're freaking fast!

Total, I got over a dozen videos, 11 of which are compiled below, one of which I would take out if I wanted to spend more time on it.  Only the last video is of a take-off, this afternoon and right overhead.  I used Windows video editor for the first time to make one video out of all the clips and spent very little time on it.  Sorry, but it's good enough for this purpose.  It is posted to my YouTube account, but it is not listed for the moment, it's only posted here.



Yes, we have noise in the background here on the near east side; airplanes, street traffic, even and railroad tracks a few blocks away.  I've noticed this more than ever during this recent time of trying to get video of airplanes.  I do remember once several weeks ago, later at night out by the fire, hearing a plane, a train, and the traffic all at once and thinking that would be an interesting thing to capture.  Planes, Trains, and Automobiles!  We'll see, maybe that opportunity will arise this summer.

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.  😩🤧

Latest Listening Pleasure 32 - Scum Of The Earth

Last year I heard Scum of the Earth's 2012 release, The Devil Made Me Do It.  I had no idea who they were, and though I liked it I was very much listening to other things at the time.  Late last fall I listened to it again and really liked what I heard so I dove in head first to learn more about them and would up getting everything else they've released as well.  Even now I am still very much listening and enjoying it all, thus they are my latest listening pleasure!

Scum of the Earth, or SotE, is essentially guitarist and reluctant singer Mike Riggs.  Riggs was the guitarist in Rob Zombie's first solo band after White Zombie and before Zombie took a break to make some movies.  The resemblance is certainly there, musically and visually.  SotE is kind of like a poor man's Rob Zombie.  SotE may be a little darker where Rob Zombie is a little more cartoonish.  That's the best, briefest description I can give.  It's just the heavy guitar riffs, dark lyrics and industrial, sometimes electronic sound that seems to appeal to me here.  Greatly.

Riggs and SotE have released 3 full length CDs, in 2004, 2007 and 2012, with just a single released in late 2017 (aside from the streaming-only Munsters theme song, also released late 2017).  Not as much as I want, but the heavy grooves and chug-chug-chug guitars make me want to Death Stomp, despite my age and the fact I would get killed in a mosh pit these days.

I don't know how active a band SotE ever was, and they don't seem very active now, touring or otherwise.  And I know I've delved into the past on this one, but there's not a ton of stuff about them on Youtube to find.  Well, I'm very aware of Riggs and SotE now, so if they come up with anything new I will find it.  Rock on, Riggs.

Scum of the Earth - Dance Motherfucker


Previous LLP Posts...
LLP 1 - Pain
LLP 2 - Nightwish
LLP 3 - Die Antwoord
LLP 4 - Pain part 2
LLP 5 - Andrew Bird LIVE
LLP 6 - Nightwish part 2
LLP 7 - Paramore
LLP 8 - Newsted
LLP 9 - U.D.O. LIVE
LLP 10 - Nightwish Imaginaerum Movie
LLP 11 - Kiss
LLP 12 - Rick Springfield
LLP 13 - Hyrax
LLP 14 - In This Moment
LLP 15 - Faster Pussycat LIVE
LLP 16 - Sebastian Bach
LLP 17 - Cradle Of Thorns
LLP 18 - Amaranthe
LLP 19 - Lindemann
LLP 20 - Halestorm
LLP 21 - Garbage LIVE
LLP 22 - Arcade
LLP 23 - Nightwish LIVE
LLP 24 - Ace Frehley
LLP 25 - Darkc3ll
LLP 26 - Dementia
LLP 27 - Rammstein
LLP 28 - Marilyn Manson LIVE
LLP 29 - The Harp Twins LIVE
LLP 30 - Diamante
LLP 31 - Steel Panther LIVE
LLP 32 - Scum Of The Earth

Happy New Year 2019

Similar to the last few years, we will be ringing in the new year at home with just a couple friends, Terry and Becky, as long as the roads don't get too slippery.  My wife is going to cook a late dinner of beef tenderloin with those fancy little potatoes.  We'll play some games, have some special drinks and pop the champagne at midnight.  If we do manage to make it all the way to midnight that will be pretty much it, and I'll have to get a nap in just to help me make it that late.

Back on Christmas weekend we were going to drive to Mom and Dan's in Dubuque but Kate came down with the bug I had the week before.  Now we'll have to see about getting the presents to the nieces and nephews soon.  I may have to ship them to my sister and her kids, but it's a good excuse to finally drive down and see my brother's family and the house they built.  On Christmas Day Kate was feeling a bit better, well enough to not cancel her family coming over for some great food, presents and holiday cheer, so we did get one family gathering in for the holiday.

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.

Happy Thanksgiving 2018

Like most years, it's best known to me as a 4 day weekend with one day spent with relatives.  This year we're staying close to home and visiting my wife's side of the family.  Other than that I don't know if we'll be leaving the house much as this Black Friday weekend will make it a madhouse on the roads and at the shops.  Feast of the cash registers, as some might say.  I do need to start shopping for gifts, but that will probably be entirely online.


I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend and thank you for stopping by!

The 2018 Flood V - Rain Accumulation

The rain has continued this past week, as we watched nervously.  Water levels had been going down a bit until yesterday when we got more rain all day.  Nothing as drastic as what got us in this mess but yesterday was a very wet day, indeed, and on ground that is already water logged.  The good news is that the next several days look dry so hopefully we can get those water levels down a bit more.  I'd like to go down and get a picture of the creek right now but I just mowed the lawn so I already have enough mosquito bites to last me for a while...



Not a lot happening to speak of, otherwise.  We do plan on having people over for a fire pit on Saturday night and I have time off coming up.  Maybe I'll find something else to write about then!

The 2018 Flood II

I went down by the creek today to see how it looked, not quite as full as yesterday and there is a slight flow to it again today.  Yesterday it was fuller and stagnant, which tells me it was at lake level.  Still, it's going to take a while for the waters to go down, and we have a chance for rain and thunderstorms the next few days yet.  You can see here how the creek may be too full for canoes and kayaks to make it under the bridges very easily.

Across the city, many home and business owners are trying to dry out and assess the damage.  As far as I know there is still flooded areas and roads on the isthmus and all across western Dane County.  I have not heard anything about the Tenney Lock and Dam, so that's probably a good thing.  Reports can be found online pretty easily, starting with here and here.

We've had no water in the basement since the big rainstorm earlier in the week.  When we get water in the basement it just runs toward the drain, but there are a few areas where it pools so we squeegee it towards the drain and turn on the dehumidifier.  It is now dry again and I don't think we'll get any more unless it rains again soon.

Terry sent us some pics of the marina where she keeps her boat that I'll put after the break.  I don't think she'll mind me posting them - thanks Terry!  The water's edge is normally on the other side of the open structure you'll see, and now is right up to the buildings.

The 2018 Flood

We've had rain recently.  The other night we had 10-13 inches in the western part of Dane County.  Madison is in the middle of the county and it was literally down the center, and we are just east of that line.  We had several inches of rain here too, by the way, even had to bring up the rugs in the basement, but no major issues.  In other parts of the city that amount of water had an immediate - and in many places an ongoing - effect, and in the days after the water is running it's course, down the chain of lakes, starting with Mendota.

I don't want to write a lot, I'm tired.  But I haven't posted much and this is very significant to us.  Below you will see pictures stolen from the neighborhood farcebook group page along with pictures I took during a bike ride last year.  The Yahara/East Washington bridge below, a few of the Tenney Lock after the break, and a last tired thought at the end.

My picture, last September.

Recent farcebook picture

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!

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!

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.

January This-And-Thats

January is here and so are we.  Winter is not the end of times, just the end of warm times.  That's not even true - as I type it is over 40ºF outside.  All the snow we got earlier in the week is in the process of melting away.  Temporarily, I'm sure.  Well, enough small talk, time to type and see what happens!

• I have back issues.  I've had two surgeries on my lower back so far and at this rate there's at least one more in my future.  I do my exercises every morning but I still have days where I just don't want to move - or sit still, nothing is comfortable.  Recently it has been very uncomfortable and I've missed some work.  All I can do is keep on carrying on and try to keep it as best I can, until I can't.  Everybody has something and this is the monkey on my back, so to speak.  Sigh.
• Before the holidays I noticed a little leak downstairs when we ran the dishwasher.  It took some time, but the problem was finally diagnosed and it was not good.  The repair would cost almost as much as we spent on the dishwasher less than 6 years ago.  We didn't even consider repairing it and ordered a new one, hopefully a better one.  We took some advice from the repairman and have the new dishwasher ordered for delivery and installation in a few weeks.  The leak is too bad to run the current dishwasher anymore so until the new one is installed we have to hand wash everything.  Good times.  First world problem, right?
• When I was off work the other day I thought I would run past Ella's Deli right when they opened at 11 am.  I was thinking I could get some pictures before they got busy.  I grossly underestimated the local sentiment for the restaurant.  When I drove over I went straight past as the parking lot was full and they were lined up out to the street waiting to get in.  I was hoping to stop one last time before they close for good tomorrow, but I'm not willing to fight the crowds to do it.  I'll cherish the memories I have of this Madison institution - and there's tons of pictures already on google images.

I guess I can't think of much more to say right now, so just a short one.  Tonight we are going out to dinner, celebrating my wife's birthday at another great local restaurant, Cafe La Bellitalia.  Probably the best Italian restaurant that we've found in the area.  Just with friends Terry and Becky this year.  I'm understanding more how a winter birthday is unfortunate, and it happens every single year.  I must admit, summer birthdays seem more fun.  No matter what, it's still your birthday.  Happy birthday, Kate!

Happy New Year 2018

While we've had only a few light snowfalls so far the winter temperatures have sure arrived.  We've been hanging out in the single digits below and above 0ºF for some time with no end in sight yet.  On Wednesday Lake Mendota, the largest of the local lakes, officially froze over, helped by this cold snap and light winds.  Much earlier than I expected, and some years it never completely freezes over.

The cold weather will not be friendly to new year revelers out and about tonight.  We won't be leaving the house tonight, but we will be having a few friends over to keep us up until midnight.  Nothing fancy, though my wife will be putting in some work on the food.  I've asked her to not try to do so much, but she enjoys cooking and trying new dishes.  Who am I to complain?

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.