Recent movies watched

Inside Man with Clive Owen, Denzil Washington, Jodie Foster. The general set up of this flix is a New York City bank robbery that really isn't becomes a hostage situation. The negotiation and swat teams are on the scene and what transpires from there builds as more variations from what may be a "typical" hostage situation develop. Truly this story was completely different from my initial assumptions. Carol and I were very drawn in as the pieces are presented right up to a really cool final outcome. I recommend this movie.

3:10 to Yuma with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. Since subscribing to Netflix we've seen several of each of these actor's movies we might not have chosen otherwise. This is a recent DVD release western and a remake of a mid-1950s movie. Crowe plays a ruthless and clever captured outlaw gang leader, Ben Wade, who has to be transported to a town some distance away from the town he has been caught in. Dan Evans (Bale) is a financially troubled rancher with a family. He gets involved and is hired as part of the detail escorting Crowe to the train to Yuma where he'll be tried for his crimes. The trick is to get Crowe to the train before his murderess gang catches up to them. Crowe is very casual about his circumstances and revels in the discomfort of his captors who are charged with the security of this dangerous and legendary man. Bale is driven to succeed by his families plight against the odds to get Crowe on the train and receive his payment for the task. And of course nothing is easy making it to the 3:10 to Yuma. Another recommendation to watch this movie. Decent westerns don't come along that often nowadays and this one does not disappoint.

the weekend review

Snow - before - during - and at the end of the weekend but that doesn't account for everything in the weekend past.

Because of the Sunday part of the series of snow storms blowing through we bumped up a day our plan to attend the RV and Campground Show. First we went to LL Beans as I wanted to see if I could find a pair of light winter boots on sale. Nothing my size in the regular store but Carol found a pair in the outlet store, kind of gray-light blue with velcro straps, just what an old guy needs. Carol bought some shoes and a new housecoat in the regular store. Afterwards we went to Lois and Jim's and had lunch, she had a chicken soup ready, then we all headed to the RV show. As usual lots of nice rigs but we didn't see anything we liked better than what we liked at Call of the Wild last weekend. We did fill up on campground stuff though.

One row of campground booths.

Here's Jim looking at the only camper we kind of like.

See how comfy we get when we're in a camper.

Scotia on weather patrol

Patches claims the high ground before the storm.

Scotia trying to avoid getting run down by Eowyn
as she walks along the backyard pathway.

Snow is not Scotia's outdoor activity of choice - I knew
there was something I liked about her.

Patches and his ball, he doesn't give a hoot
what the season is.

I still can't figure out why Eowyn does this, she gets cranked
up and then starts driving her head into the snow,
spazzes out some and repeats...all the while grinding
clumps of snow into the hair about her head.

a good man passes this way

Went to a funeral yesterday. Jimmy Y., 65 unexpectedly passed away Saturday. His wife, is a cousin of mine. Most every family gathering I've attended over the years Glady and Jimmy were two that I'd touch base with. I have a hard time keeping track of the spouses of my many cousins, Jimmy always greeted everyone with a big smile and a look on his face that he was truly happy to see you. In recent years he and Glady were quite attentive to Glady's parents, my Aunt Dot and Uncle Jack, who were needing assistance around their house even though they lived an hours drive away. They even were looking at a houses nearby to move to. Now I know I was extra fortunate to see and talk with Jimmy last summer at cousin Donny's summer get together. Jimmy will be missed by many people besides his family and I'll always be glad that I knew him.

Keepin' New Zealand time

It took a few days after Ian left for New Zealand but I finally wrapped my brain around how to keep track of what time it is in NZ. This is for EST, take the time it is, i.e. Wednesday noon here, subtract 6 hours, makes it 6am in NZ but it's the next day, Thursday there. Simple, eh? Regardless, it works for me and that's what counts. Now the only time we are in the same day as Ian is midnight to 6am, that's 6pm to midnight NZ time. Got it? There'll be a quiz.

Baby tis cold inside

Stirred from a less than sound sleep round 4:15 this morning, it seemed chiller than usual. Being a work day we'll be up at 4:45. Wait, what's that, quietness prevails throughout the house, that's not right - during winter heating season the heat begins to kick in a little higher around this time and baseboard heat pipes begin their morning symphony of pings, pops, clangs and groans...something not right. I kick in a couple of brain cells and stumble downstairs to the mechanical room and peer at the boiler. The LED display is dead, power is on in the rest of the house, the circuit breaker appears in working order. No boiler - no heat, no shower. I wake Carol to apprise her of the situation. House temperature is around 60 degrees. So I stay home, get the service tech over, turns out that the wiring from the panel has failed, I'll need to have an electrician run a new line to the boiler - in the meantime the boiler gets "plugged" into a wall outlet until the new source is installed but at least there'll be a hot shower waiting for us in the morning as well as PING, GROAN, POP, CLANG...