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I feel like I'm hibernating, simply putting myself "on hold" until the next scheduled event comes to pass. It's not like I'm sitting, staring at the wall, or just eating and sleeping. Nope, I read, I watch movies and certain television shows, all streaming, I don't do the dish thing anymore. I listen to music, lots of music, and bang on the drum kit from time to time. I really need to get my six-string repaired and dust off my bass guitar as well. Music is in me, I'm not good at it, but I like the attempt.
Oh and games, I play games on the computer and I have a bunch of new board games I need to break out. I'll write about those later. When I get there.
Still I'm waiting, circling the field, and, well, just waiting.
Next big event is Finnegan's third birthday near the end of the month. I'm looking forward to going to Maryland again but this will be a shorter stay. With the kids in school and Tuttle and The Nuke both working there's not much to do during the day, so it wouldn't be much different to being home. Other than getting to see everybody in the evening.
We'll see, it's a long drive but I do enjoy it. Especially as I don't go through Moscow on the Hudson anymore. The drive up over the Tappan Zee adds twenty miles to the trip but the scenery in that area is lovely and it's not like I'm in an all-fired hurry to get places these days.
With all the travel lately I had an email from our pastor wondering if anything was wrong as they don't see us as much as they used to. I pointed out that now that I'm retired I can pull pitch and travel whenever I feel like it, so I do.
Freedom is awesome.
Rumor has it that there is the possibility of snow this coming weekend. Temperatures right now are in the mid to upper 40s so it needs to get colder. Other than a few parking lots, all vestiges of our last snow have vanished. I don't mind the snow as long as it isn't excessive, which here on the coast is seldom, and the larder is well-stocked.
Always amusing to go to the store just before a predicted snowstorm and seeing people buying enough supplies for a month. What's their plan if the power goes out? I'm not sure that five gallons of milk and twelve loaves of bread will keep for that long. I guess you could put the stuff in the yard, in the snow, and hope it doesn't freeze.
I once thought that anything with alcohol wouldn't freeze if left outside in the winter. Did you know that beer will definitely freeze? Don't ask me how I know.
Anyhoo, that's it for now.
Don't mean to be boring but hey, sometimes I am. (Some of you who know me well are probably rolling their eyes right now and saying "Sometimes?" Heh.)
Tschüss!
For us old farts.....er.....ummm....."well seasoned...ah... experienced" folks the trick is not to hit the grocery store the day before snow arrives but TWO days before. Power outage Sarge? Generators sir.....as far as the eye can see, a number of neighbors have them. Got to get ready, breakfast meeting with a couple of them/friends this morning, it's eleven above outside my back door now.....:)
ReplyDeleteI keep the larder stocked as best I can. Here the amount of snow we usually get isn't that bad. About once a decade we get something which someone in the Dakotas might recognize as a snow storm.
DeleteHey! Don't sell yourself short - you can make boring interesting!
ReplyDeleteI try. 😉
DeleteSarge,
ReplyDeleteAs I read through today’s post from you, I felt like I was checking things off a checklist. The only difference between your post and my checklist was the comment about your book. I have no plans for that. The rest however…struck the same cord. So, I think you and I are on the same train. We had been making the trip from the ‘Burg to CStat about as often as you and the Maryland trips. Moving here allowed us to 1) Save gas and wear and tear on the vehicle. 2) See the kids and grands more often and 3) be able to pitch in on short notice when they needed help on short notice. So win, win, win.
It’ll be better once the house is completed and the rest of our “stuff” is out of storage. That episode will be twofold in advantage. The stuff we need and the stuff we didn’t. The Good Will store has a pretty large truck they use to pick up donations. So……
It IS a change in lifestyle, but we’re getting used to it. I’m sure you will also.
Oh one more thing, DON’T stop on the book. The last time I checked there were over two million people on the waiting list for its release.
Probably.
Just sayin’
juvat
Two million and one.
DeleteJuvat, I think we will also have a "Great Re-sorting" at some point.
DeleteThere are no plans in the offing for a move. Part of the fun is the trip itself. When I can no longer drive, then it might be time to make other plans.
DeleteAgreed on the book. It was riveting as a serial, can't wait to read it as a book. Good stuff in a world drowning in slop.
ReplyDeleteSpare Droid
I do really need to get back to that, I plead laziness in the first degree. Premeditated laziness.
DeleteI read about the Yukon/Alaska gold rush miners way to judge the cold, 3 flasks outside the front door. The 1st was water, the 2nd alcohol and the 3rd flask was mercury. Frozen water was cold, frozen alcohol was be careful cold and frozen mercury was "go back inside" cold.
ReplyDeleteAn off the wall request... I have spine that's having disk problems and slippages, no pain, just a numbness that comes & goes. The Specialist just this morning recommended surgery to replace some disks.
Has anyone had disks replaced? Was it worse afterwards? I never see this mentioned by anyone who is not having pain problems & I'd love to hear about someone it helped...
I did not know that mercury becomes a solid at 38 below zero. Which explains why the thermometer I had as a kid only went as low as -40. And yes, I've seen that, -40, no wind chill, just -40. (Which is where Celsius and Fahrenheit are the same.)
DeleteDiscs- a family member had disc problems in the neck area causing numbness and pain in the arms. Had a disc replaced with some sort of titanium thingee, which is a relatively new procedure in the U.S. but used in Europe much longer. Counterintuitively, since the spine is in the back, they go in from the front and have to push stuff out of the way to reach the spine, which results in a bit more pain and longer recovery than approaching from the back, but apparently less risk of damaging spinal stuff. He is back to 100% after a few weeks and highly recommends it, as do a couple of his friends who had similar. Not sure if this is applicable to lower portions of spine, but we are blessed to live in an era where doctors can do so much good stuff.
DeleteJB
Thanks JB, I appreciate you're taking the time to answer.
DeleteSarge, writing (at least for me) involves a lot of intake from all kinds of sources and things. I can never tell what will spawn a story or post. As you say, these things cannot be forced.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine that not having to "rush" back and forth would be amazing. That is what travel to see our family seems like now, a series of dashes back and forth.
Not rushing is the best part. Especially as concerns the return journey!
DeleteIt's nice that your pastor noticed. Beer being mostly water will freeze, but Vodka won't- mostly (nasty) alcohol (if you ask me), but if I go cheap and buy my wife some bottom shelf stuff- it might. Just a public service announcement. Does vodka need to be put in the freezer? IDK, IDC, but that's what we do (I don't drink the stuff).
ReplyDeleteVodka will freeze around -27, much colder than your home freezer. Cold vodka tastes better, even though I rarely drink the stuff, being a beer and pretzels kind of guy.
DeleteI'll take your word for it! Pass the pretzels.
Delete😎
DeleteOne of the few times in my life, I made a "wise" decision and ended my seven year agent gig. The work involved walking on icy covered sidewalks and climbing icy stairs. Decided I was one bad fall away from assisted living. Ended the job last November 1st. We have the driest winter in memory with one light snow. Friends and family now blame me for our lack of winter.
ReplyDeleteWell, unless they own a ski area they should be thanking you.
DeleteHopefully all those super shoppers have alternative cooking methods in case the power goes out.
ReplyDeleteMe here in Flo'da, I have two butane-powered cooking eyes and a gas grill. As long as I have non-refrigerated goods to cover a couple days, well, we'll be okay. Being in the corner of my city that has really good response for downed lines and such, only a couple days need to be covered.
Up there in the potentially frozen north? Yeah, I've heard of people going 3-4 weeks without power, only to get it back and then lose it for a couple more weeks.
Butane-powered stove, aye.
DeleteAs for the potentially frozen north, you're thinking more of the interior of New England and more along the lines of ice storms. In 26 years we had one blizzard that knocked out power for three days and that was a bit of a fluke. A piece of gear that just happened to fail, not necessarily on account of the blizzard. Because of the large amount of snow, it took longer to find it, get to it, and replace it.
Ice storms are another thing altogether. Get everything wet and it freezes and the power lines will fall all by themselves. So bad luck is still a thing.
Sarge, Agree on ice storms. We don't get blizards down here often, some snow, but it's generally gone the next day. BUT....We do get ice storms. And that's bad. It is my humble opinion that NO ONE knows how to drive on ice. The biggest differenve between you folks up north and us down here is two fold. First, Nobody has studded tires, down here which help, but by no means make driving on ice a walk in the park. Second, we're Texans! We think we can do anything!
DeleteUnfortunately, that latter is a fallacy, because, NO ONE knows how to drive on ice.
Nope, Ice Stroms are the rallying call for staying at home, staying warm and hoping like hell the electricity doesn't go out. Which is why, the houses I've bought since retiring from the Air Force all have wood burning fireplaces. Not as good as functioning Central heating and aircondigioning (for summer), but enough to keep you warm.
I will now climb down from my pulpit and turn this post back over to the more experienced experts.
juvat
I've seen tanks slide on icy roads!
DeleteAs a youngster I was told by my venerable sire that "we" used to put containers of hard cider outside to let them freeze, then throw away the ice. As noted above, the water freezes first. A few repetitions of that would produce a sort of apple "brandy" without any obtrusive and incriminating distilling apparatus. (Mountains of N. Georgia in the 1930's and 1940's) Not long ago I even saw this referred to in Wikipedia as "freeze distilling". Humans are resourceful and inventive. (it doesn't want to let me use my Google account, but this is LoFan John)
ReplyDeleteNow that is brilliant!
Delete