This picture is similar to one I posted from the first day of spring. The ice cream shop is a popular place just to the right of the bike path here, while the community gardens are getting cleaned up and planting started with hay bales and fresh soil provided for the gardeners.
After the break are a few other pictures I decided to share because once the flora grows in earnest the views will be harder to see.
The first thing I noticed when I looked out the window this morning was how green the grass was. It was still wet out from yesterday's and last night's rain, and it seems to have done wonders. Temperatures rose steadily overnight and it's expected to get to the upper 70's ºF (about 22ºC) this afternoon for our nicest day of the year so far and since the first day of spring, a whole 5 weeks ago now. The trees continue budding and plants have continued to come up despite the cool temperatures and rainy/snowy weather.
The plan for the day is normal chores and Saturday relaxing this morning, mostly over by now, then I'm going out to lunch with a friend to a Greek restaurant I've not been to before but I think will be good. Early this afternoon my wife will be getting home from taking care of her Dad, so then we'll go for a walk, probably down to the Atwood area for maybe a drink and a snack. There will likely be lots of people out and about today so we'll see how crowded the bike path and businesses are, but I expect everywhere to be busy as many people like us will be eager to get outside and enjoy the weather today.
This evening I'll be grilling out for the first time of the season; natural casing hot dogs that I got from the butcher when I picked up our last quarter cow. And maybe, possibly, could there be a fire tonight? The weather will be good for it but it may depend on how tired I am by then. Today should be a good day to lift my spirits, and sorely needed. Have a great weekend, everyone!
(Edit: It's going to get way too windy this afternoon for a fire, but I think I'll manage with the grill. Windy like last post so I'll have to check out that wind map again.)
Mentioning the wind in responding to BW's comment on the last post reminded me that I saved the link to a site that shows the wind speeds on a map for the country, aptly called Wind Map. I've had it saved for some time but always forgot to look at it when it was windy or never found a chance to share it, otherwise, so here it is.
Screenshots were about the same time. This shows 20.0 mph sustained but around the Madison area I got from 19.9 to 20.7 mph. The weather map is from a local tv station's website. Much of the country looks very windy today, actually, not just our region.
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.
Happy Spring equinox, everyone. It was a beautiful day today, sunny here with temperatures getting up to the mid-60's. I slept in and we had a lazy morning but then early afternoon we took a walk down to the Atwood area for a lunch and conversation at Wilson's and a short stop at the Harmony. The bike path was very busy, as expected for how beautiful this Sunday was. There were lots of walkers like us and bicyclists trying to make their way, too. It is a bike path, after all, though on days like this and for summer events the walkers seem to outnumber the bicyclists by a lot. I got this picture looking back on the way down when few were around us for a minute, and it was much busier on the way back.
The green in the far right middle is fake grass, but still a nice outdoor area behind the ice cream shop that we will visit when it gets warmer. Otherwise, there's not any green that is noticeable yet, unless you look very close and in the right place. We do have a few things around the yard starting to grow, and you can now just start to see buds on the trees.
We had some new snow on the ground yesterday morning, but not much and it didn't last long before melting. The next few days will be cooler with a 'wintry mix' at times, but only a couple nights below freezing in the forecast and no highs below, thankfully. You can finally really feel that spring is in the air, so hopefully soon I can write less about the weather and more about going out and doing things when the opportunities arise. I plan to walk more now that the weather is getting better, and just try to get out to do more things. There will come a time when the heat of summer will force us inside, hopefully not too often, but working from home now for so long I know I need to make more of an effort just to get out of the house a whole lot more often than I have. Winter is not an excuse anymore and with the pandemic seemingly under control getting out and about should be easier to do this year.
Happy Spring, everyone. I have high hopes.
I can't remember exactly where or when I first learned of The Warning, but it was about 2 or 3 months ago and probably while in some Youtube rabbit hole. They are the Villarreal sisters from Monterrey, Mexico. Yes, sisters - Daniela, Paulina and Alejandra - and surprisingly young when you see some of their earlier videos as kids, but even then you could see the talent.
I found they first got some popularity from an early cover of Metallica's song Enter Sandman back in 2014, and they actually collaborated on that song for Metallica's Blacklist album that came out last year. They've been writing their own music now for a while and have a couple releases out there, and a new song coming out next Friday called Money. And they do seem to have lots of fans already, with several Youtube channels posting all sorts of videos with and about them, even livestreams of their shows.
There's a 5 minute documentary video they released a few days ago and shows their charm and growth, musical and otherwise, including talking with the parents. Unfortunately, though, it doesn't look like they allow embedding so you can see it here, I recommend it.
Instead, here's the latest video and single by The Warning, Disciple.
What seemed to catch me first was the voice. I like a strong, female rock voice (think Lzzy Hale or Liv Sin). Then to see her play guitar and sing live was impressive, while the younger sisters were no slouches, either. Plus, I must admit, I was intrigued by the novelty of what were young kids playing good songs well. They've grown up a bit now and play tight and loud and have some very good songs out. I think the best is their most recent EP, Mayday, but that's to be expected as its the first I heard. I have one earlier album from 2018, Queen of the Murder Scene, that is also very good and a little more diverse.
And if you know me, you know I love the live stuff. Here's a great livestreamed show I watched almost a month ago. Live, from Saltillo, Mexico; The Warning.
If they continue their current trajectory I think we'll all be hearing more of them in the future. They're just about there, and I think one 'hit' song just might break it wide open for them. Maybe I shouldn't have predicted that, I just know what I like and find interesting to listen to and lately this has been at the top of my list. It's always fun when I find my next latest-greatest!
When I got there this morning I saw firsthand what was left of the building that had burned. Most had been already removed, but there was an adjacent building that had been boarded off on that end and you could see the blackened remnants on it. They had a makeshift office and store in one of their production buildings and were selling sausage and other products from a nearby meat plant that had been helping them recover with use of their facilities to continue business for their workers and customers. The employees were in good spirits and looking forward to getting back to full capacity and the new building they would be getting built. We were glad to give them our business.
Otherwise, we've been teased with Spring weather now and again though it has definitely not fully arrived yet. We still have some leftover snow from several inches that fell earlier in the week and temperatures have still been mostly below freezing. Pictured here is how the back yard looks currently, still a smattering of snow and no thoughts of any fires or outdoor chores quite yet. Milder temperatures are expected this coming week and I hope this will be a definite turn of the corner towards Spring.
So that's about it for this vacation week, it was nice but for the medical stuff and I will have another week off in 2 months to look forward to. And I still have the weekend here before I must turn my attention to work matters again. Stay well, everyone.
The last few weeks have been extra stressful for me. Work has been very busy and I have so many extra projects on my plate and keep hitting obstacles in trying to accomplish anything. Home has been difficult recently but hoping to get that moving in the right direction again just like the weather will be. I was going to write about work in more detail last weekend, but it would have just sounded like complaining as I really can't give details. Suffice it to say that I took this whole upcoming week off on rather short notice, and they let me. I had to have off in the middle of the week for a medical procedure and my wife convinced me to just ask for the whole week off. A very good idea as I had time to use up and will get all my time back at the end of the month. And it will be very nice to have the time away from work, hopefully get myself a bit more centered again.
Tomorrow I go in for only my second Covid test ever, the first was when I was admitted to the hospital in November. That may seem strange to some, but I've been mostly holed up at home since I had Covid in early 2020, when you could only get tested if you went to the hospital (that was bursting with Covid at the time). The numbers have gone down far enough that our local mask mandate expired at the end of last month, though still required at medical facilities and some government buildings while private businesses can decide for themselves. Fitting to happen while Spring is arriving, but will still feel a bit strange when I do get out. It's been so long now, and I've spent the last two years on the over side of cautious. Anyway, I have to have the Covid test a few days prior to going in for a colonoscopy, ahead of schedule do to my recent diverticulitis. Good times. At least it was the impetus for a whole week off.
I've been watching while the whole world reacts to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and I like what I'm seeing. Not just governments and their sanctions, but private businesses shunning Russia in many ways. I don't like the unnecessary suffering because of this, both Ukrainian and Russian civilians, and I think this may end up being the downfall of Putin. We can only hope. It would be nice to see Putin and Trump share a prison cell. Sounds like a late-night television sitcom, doesn't it?
Enough for now. I'm seeing some sun peek out so hopefully there is a chance for a good walk sometime today between showers. Have a good weekend, everyone.
It's been mostly another slow, winter week around here. We're way below normal snow totals so far, and most days recently have been very cold, but there was one day that got above freezing and I took advantage by taking a good walk during a long work meeting. Aside from the weather (for a change!) there are a few things I'd like to touch upon, so time to start typing again and see what spills onto the page.
There was an entrance area by the parking lot made of old Christmas trees, then along the right side of the path to the labyrinth they had several different types of trees used as Christmas trees displayed and labelled, more kinds than I thought there were, actually. Then at the labyrinth I noticed small children making noise and running around as kids do. Parents stood around in the labyrinth talking, blocking the walkways, or else walking in pairs being anything but contemplative. And a dog walker taking several minutes to dig her phone out of her backpack while it continued to ring or more likely an alarm.
I managed to get halfway through, well, not quite due to people gathered in the middle, then stepped over the tree branches lining the paths to leave. There was simply no way to use the labyrinth as it was meant at this time. On the way back to the car I really noticed how cold it was. I had never checked the temperature before I left, but it was only 6ºF when I got home. If I realized that I might not have gone in the first place. Maybe I'll try again after work some warmer day this week, but this visit was not the experience I hoped it would be.
For Christmas I got one of those DNA testing kits for me and my wife. It had always sounded interesting to me and seeing it on sale and needing gift ideas I finally got them, the two-three and me one for health and ancestry. We submitted them several weeks ago and we both got our results recently.
I thought I'd find the health portion more interesting but thankfully I tested negative for all variants they look for, no predispositions and not a carrier. The wellness and traits section where they give you a percentage of likeliness I do find interesting, and while many do reflect my actual traits some do not. It correctly gives me a bigger chance of not being able to match a musical pitch or be bitten by mosquitoes, but also says I'm less likely to be afraid of heights or likely to have fair skin. Almost all with varying percentages. 99% chance I don't have red hair, 1% I do; 58% chance I do not have cheek dimples, 42% I do. Yes, interesting information upon first read but nothing that you can really do anything with our about.
The ancestry report was more interesting, but about what I would have expected. Growing up, I was always told that I was 75% German and 25% Irish (a simplified guess, I'm sure, but easy to understand), and the results weren't that far off and had a few other odd finds, like I have more Neanderthal DNA than 64% of their other customers at less than 2%, whatever that really means.
98.8% Northwestern European. Not surprising, I know I'm not Native American. Of that:
44.2% British and Irish. County Dublin and Greater London appear to be at the top, but it does list 18 other regions.
40.2% French & German. Not sure why they lump these together. A closer look shows all to be regions of Germany and Netherlands. No berets for me.
8.9% Scandinavian. I hadn't expected that, but it seems I have some roots in Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
5.2% Broadly Northwestern European. Apparently all the above but unidentifiable.
0.3% Finnish. This made me smile, but only because I'm a fan of Nightwish.
Then outside of Northwestern European it tells me I am 1.0% Ashkenazi Jewish and 0.2% of trace ancestry. Go figure.
There's also a section where I can connect with family members and lists several of my actual relatives who must also have done the same test. So it knows who I am and who I am related to now. And the other day I received an invitation to share ancestry from someone I don't know. You are given their name and after a quick google search I found she lives with her family in a town south of here. Likely a second cousin, but I have not responded and not sure I will.
I don't think I want to dive into this that much and make connections and start a family tree or anything like that. But I'm glad I finally did it and while interesting it does not change anything or is really of any help for anything. Maybe I'll change my mind in the future, but for now I'll just let this simmer for a while.
It was -15ºF when I got up this morning, and -5ºF when I took this video at 10:00 a.m. of the view out the window from my desk. (That's -26 and -21 in Celsius, my friends.)
Spike (of the Quireboys) sings Frankie Miller - Cold, Cold Nights
