Apologies for the lack of blogging lately, we've been busy and somewhat distracted for several reasons I hope to touch upon here. Basil needed surgery, I'm getting the overtime blues yet moving up at work, and with spring comes chores that need to be done.
My last post had Basil feeling better but, alas, it was temporary. A week ago Sunday morning we had to take him in to the emergency vet again because his urinary tract was blocked once more. We had talked about it, and if this happened again we were going to go ahead with the surgery. Basil stayed at the vet, surgery got bumped on Monday due to another emergency so he wound up having surgery on Tuesday afternoon. The surgery was to shorten his urethra so when he forms crystals in his urine they don't get caught in the bend or near the tip. Now he'll pee like a girl cat, essentially.
After the surgery, they let him come home midday Wednesday, but he has to wear a cone, take medicine and use a special cat litter until he's healed. We also needed to keep the cats separated, which has not been easy. He'll have to wear the cone for two weeks following surgery, then he'll have the stitches removed and have to wear it for at least several days still after that. My wife has been able to get him the medicine in food and pill pockets. And our home has been divided into three segments; the back bedroom and porch where Basil has been sequestered, the living room and kitchen (and basement) where Hamish has been kept, and the neutral zone - the area in between that has our bedroom, the hall of doors, and the bathroom. At nights we've had to include the neutral zone in Basil's territory so he can sleep with us - he wouldn't have it any other way, as we found out the very first night. We've also been moving that barrier so the cats can see and smell each other but not physically interact. There's been some hissing and batting under doors, but overall it does seem to be getting better so hopefully we can have them together soon. But Basil does need time to heal without worrying about Hamish coming after him for smelling different.
Weather-wise it is definitely spring. Most of the snow has melted and plants are starting to come up. I got outside yesterday to get the yard raked but it's still a bit early for cleaning up the garage and getting ready for summer, though I could get the bikes down and give them a once-over at any time. Soon it should be consistently pleasant outside, but for now we still have temperatures bouncing up and down, above and below freezing. There has been regional flooding of some rivers and some communities but we have not had any issues with our lake system like last summer, and hopefully we won't at all. I should get down to the creek and get a picture, but maybe in a future post.
Work has been keeping me busy with mandatory overtime, but every few weeks they have to give us a break from it, so just regular hours the next couple weeks, thankfully. Also, I've accepted a promotion that will be effective tomorrow. I've only been back in this department since July, but they've seemed to be grooming me for this ever since. Although I'm not in a supervisory position (and do not want to be anyone's supervisor), it is a leadership position and I've already had to tackle many challenges thrown my way. I've also had to undergo several background checks to varying degrees - including a high level government background check. This had me being grilled interviewed by a federal agent because I had neglected to mention something rather inconsequential that happened almost 30 years ago! The government takes things like this very seriously. Hopefully soon all will be settled. I have nothing to hide, after all, and this will certainly prove it once again.
It's been a very stressful week here as we had to take Basil to the emergency vet because he couldn't pee. They got him sorted and he came home two days later with a cone, bandaged arm and medicine to take. I'm not going to go into detail, just know that he is feeling much better now and is cone-free and settled back in.
Enough stress has subsided that I can see the humor in some of our conversations!
No, not another milestone birthday. It will be a while until I turn sixty, though my half-birthday was a few days ago. Our temperatures reached 60ºF (16ºC) today for the first time since, well, seemingly forever. Let the melting continue!
A month ago, February 18
Today started out mild at 49ºF when I left for work a couple hours before sunrise. We had fog in the early daylight, sunny midday/early afternoon, followed by short periods of heavy rain, and now it is overcast and cooler than it was this morning. If it snows tonight it would be like all the seasons in one day.
This week has slowly warmed up, culminating in today's high temperature before it will get back to more normal temps for this time of year, upper 30's to low 40's. Then in a week we may see it start to warm up again. Yesterday I even noticed daffodils breaking through the mulch. This gives us hope - Spring is coming!
We can see the fire pit again, but it still may be some time before there's a fire.
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.
Assembling the new snowblower, old one is on the left.
I can't seem to get away from mentioning winter weather lately, but that's what's been happening around here. Last week Monday night into Tuesday we had another snow event and got almost 10 inches of snow. Tuesday morning when I was clearing the driveway my snowblower started jumping around making a loud thunking noise. I stopped the engine immediately and one look underneath told me there would be no easy fix. The auger underneath that pulls the snow in rusted through in the middle so it was no longer attached. Out came the shovels and out went my aching back. I needed to get this resolved as soon as possible as we still have plenty of winter left.
Works like a champ!
I briefly considered trying to get this one repaired. I bought it originally when we first got the house, so it made it almost 10 winters. If I remember right, it may have been a clearance item then - I know it wasn't terribly expensive. Several years ago a friend was trying to fix something on it and we found out the company no longer made gas machines, only electric. There were no spare parts for it to be found. So that's that, then.
The next day I looked online, pondered several, and ordered a new one, only to have them email me the next day and refund my money because they no longer had it to sell. A day later I went to the big box hardware store and there wasn't a single snowblower to be found, so I went online again. This time I found and ordered one from a different seller. The only catch was it could take up to 10 days to get here. Luckily it shipped pretty quick, but yesterday we got another 5 inches that my wife had to shovel by herself last night, and then it kept snowing another couple inches overnight. Thankfully the new snowblower was to be delivered today.
I got off work early this afternoon and rushed home to find the new snowblower had been dropped off by the back steps, and fairly recently, it appeared. I changed clothes and set to work getting it put together and immediately trying it out by clearing the walks and driveway. I purposely got one with an electric start, but I didn't need it as it started immediately on the first pull. Very nice. I was able to get everything cleared in short order - with a little break to talk to neighbor Dave and tell him the story.
I had always been thinking that when this one goes I was going to get a two-stage snowblower. They're generally more powerful as they have two augers, one to pull the snow in and one to throw the snow out. A single-stage only has the one auger to scoop the snow and funnel it up the chute and out. A few things factored into my decision. One was price, as 500 bucks would get you a higher end single-stage but only a lower end two-stage snowblower. Secondly, a single-stage gets right down to the pavement and has a partly rubber auger while the two-stage must be adjusted just above the pavement as it has a metal auger. It's not often I have to clear more than 10 inches at a time and I like it getting down to the pavement so I chose a higher end single-stage snowblower and I'm comfortable with that decision.
But now, really, it just has to stop. The roads are getting narrower and we're running out of places to put the snow!
*This post was flagged today, 3/27/2023, for violating Blogger's Malware and Viruses policy. I'm not sure why, but I removed all links to sites other than my own and my youtube and will be requesting review to keep this post on my site. If you see this, I was successful.
It snowed most of the day on Sunday, but had slowed by the evening with only an inch or two having fallen. No. this is not another weather update post, I actually have something else to write about for a change. The fact that we are presently getting another 8-plus inches and having to stay home for another snow day is totally beside the point except that it gives me the time to write this post sooner rather than later.
Now, back to Sunday, Sunday evening actually, when Marty Friedman came to town to play for a few hundred people at the High Noon Saloon here in Madison. A friend and I arrived a bit late hoping to miss the first band, a local act, only to find they pushed the start time back some because Marty and his opening band had not yet arrived - probably due to the snow. As if on cue, as that set ended crew started bringing in gear as the bus and trailer had arrived.
The opening band, Immortal Guardian, was pretty good, but something was bugging me about them. They play with a prerecorded tape and, as far as I could tell, the only reason was because the guitarist liked to play keyboards with his right hand as he finger-tapped on his guitar with the left. Yes, it can look impressive, but he is the only guitar player in the band and there was obviously chords being strummed. Check out my video of them here and make up your own mind.
Marty Friedman became well known as a guitarist in the band Megadeth from 1990 until 2000. He then left America and has been living in Japan for over 15 years, still putting out solo albums and touring all over. This month he is touring to support his latest release, One Bad M.F. Live. He said during the show that this was his first time in Madison, but in 10 years of Megadeth he may have been here with them, or maybe he just meant as a solo artist. I saw Megadeth on the Peace Sells tour in the late eighties here in Madison, but that was before he joined them.
He has a good backing band and put on an enjoyable, instrumental show. There was one microphone that was only brought out only for him to speak in between songs and the bassist (Kyoshi) and other guitarist (Jordan Ziff) did minimal singing on two songs. The 600-person capacity High Noon Saloon was probably half or more full, just about my perfect size and density. I'd like to see all bands in the same atmosphere, but I don't get to call those shots. My friend got a good spot leaning on the end of the bar near the stage and that's where we camped for the show. I took a lot of pictures that hardly any turned out unfortunately, and I got a lot of good video that I've been re-watching the last couple days. You can see all my videos on my YouTube channel here, also listed in the right column.
Marty Friedman - Ashes / Forbidden / Tornado
I took more videos than usual this show - 6, plus one of the opening band - for a few reasons. First of all, I like to watch them. Simple as that. Also, there was no one behind me but bartenders and the camera was dimly lit and in front of my face - I watched the show over the camera but still able to control the camera (except for the shaking - I was still rocking out, after all!). But mostly, I'm just not terribly familiar with all of his music and an accurate, recent setlist was not found online for me to know when to look out for the parts I wanted to get on video. Still, even with 6 songs recorded I spent much more time with the phone in my pocket enjoying the show.
Here's one that I'm sure was added to the set due to the popularity of Queen recently:
Marty Friedman (w/Jordan Ziff) - Bohemian Rhapsody
That's my latest live music fix, now to look for the next. I've not seen any upcoming shows that are to my taste yet, but I'll always keep looking!
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...
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.
Recently my wife was given company tickets to a Wisconsin Men's Basketball game. She's not a sports fan so asked me if I wanted to take a friend. Given the proximity to my brother's birthday I invited him to go to the game on Saturday. Now, I've been to the Kohl Center several times for hockey games and concerts, but not recently and I've never been for a basketball game. My brother got to town and we decided to head there right away and I'm glad we did as I underestimated the traffic caused by the game. We got there early, but not too early and got to walk around a bit before settling into our seats to watch the players warm up before the game.
It was a good game and the Badgers won their third game in a row. The most notable part of the game was that Ethan Happ had his second triple-double of the season (13 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists) and only the third triple-double in the long history of Wisconsin basketball. Happ, a senior, is the star of the team and will be playing professionally next year. He's a great college player but the only things that bother me about his game is his inefficiency at the free throw line - he was 1 of 5 this game - and I think he relies too much on the hook shot. That shot has made his college career a great one but it will be interesting to see how that translates to the NBA game in the coming years.
It was just above zero degrees that afternoon and when we left the game it was snowing quite a bit. Also, unbeknownst to me until we were going to the game, we would be bringing back my nephew and his friend from the game. Luckily we got there early and my brother called the other parents and they were able to park in the same ramp we were in, or finding the kids after the game may have been quite a bit more difficult. But I did enjoy briefly seeing the nephew, growing so fast the next time he may be taller than me! After the game I was already out of my comfort zone hanging out with 17,000 other people and then having to drive in slick conditions in heavy traffic while trying to make conversation on the way back was a bit stressful, but we made it okay. And then they made it back home safely, thankfully.
I do care for my brother but we are definitely two different people on two very different paths. Much of that is my wife and I chose to not have kids and they've gone the family path, and like most families these days, it sounds like they are always running from one kid's event to the other's, day after week after year. There's nothing wrong with how either of us chooses to live, it's just very different. Still, this was one of the few times ever I got to spend a little one on one time with my brother and I'm grateful he accepted my invitation.
Of course, now that I've been to a basketball game I don't feel the need to do it again anytime soon. There's the people, the traffic, and the time it all takes. A two hour game is like a six hour commitment, much of it sitting in traffic. I can watch the games on TV and see what's happening much easier and without all that added stress. So, I can scratch this off my list for now and if I do get another opportunity I will know better what to expect and be able to plan accordingly.
I just woke up a bit ago and it looks like a nice, clear day outside but it is -17ºF/-27ºC. We've had our milder weather, now we've been alternating between snow and deep freeze. We got about another 7" of snow on Tuesday/Wednesday, followed by this, then it will warm up (15ºF/-9ºC) on Monday to dump some more snow and then it looks like the rest of the week we will not get north of 0ºF/-18ºC for several days. Remember not too long ago when I said that it felt like winter had actually started? Oh, and Lake Mendota has frozen over now for a record third time this season.
Yes, the numbers are impressive but it's happened before and it will happen again. Life just goes on. I took this picture this morning, you can barely see where the fire pit is. Today should get a bit above zero eventually and I am expecting a rather good day out and about. My brother is coming up to town and we're going to a Badger Men's Basketball game at the Kohl Center. Should be a lot of fun - despite the weather!
I'm over 50, married and child-free. My wife and I have a home not far from downtown Madison, Wisconsin, since 2009. I like music, taking pictures and good humor - plus writing about it all here. I am still not on farcebook or other social media, only Blogger and YouTube. Email me at scoakatsblog@gmail.com. I check it every so often.
