18 of one, half a dozen of another

Our overnight snowstorm didn't leave us with as much snow as the forecast claimed, 6 inches at least, maybe a bit more but this was snow with a high moisture content, dense and almost soggy on the bottom. The snowthrower struggles to send snow 5 to 10 ft so I end up throwing snow that's already been thrown, heavier now. In the mere two and half hours it took to clean up the estate I mulled over what might be a fair exchange for conditions I'd prefer. I concluded I'd rather have 18 inches of "dry" snow and a 15 mph wind then what I was working with this morning with no wind. Equal effort in half the time? Maybe. The Noble Prize in Physics... questionable at this point.

Funny what a little walking will get you

Plenty of snow coming down, maybe followed by rain but it's getting harder to write about when I've used up all the snow cliches I know. At least yesterday we were sun drenched for a change. I had walked across intown Portland to have lunch at The Crooked Mile Cafe, a terrifically eclectic sandwich-salad shop in the Old Port. Lately my favorite has been the Buffalo Chicken Wrap with crumbled blue cheese, carrots and tomato with mixed greens and balsamic vinaigrette. Comes with a small bag of chips and I added a large black dark roast coffee. Always worth the stroll, under $10. With a happy belly I retrace my steps back to the office and cross paths with one of the young engineers I work with, Ken, a husky built guy with a face reminiscent of a 14 year old, who tells me he'd taken a sick day to take his 3 year old asthmatic son to the doctor for a check up. In response to my questions about how a 3 year old deals with asthma he tells me about the medicinal routine he and his wife go through to deliver relief to someone so young and susceptible to pneumonia. Still, the little guy is like any kid that age and just wants to play, watch kids movies and be with Mom and Dad. If there is one thing I've learn through stories like this, kids are very resilient.

More than enough, and all I wanted was a little

After moving snow last night, this morning and finishing up tonight what do I hear on the forecast? More snow, Wednesday into Thursday, about a foot. Good thing I did some maintenance on the snowthrower Saturday morning. Carol was up earlier then usual for a work morning to meet up at Lois' so they and their sister Elaine could ride up north together for their Aunt Carolyn's funeral. They are returning tonight, over five hours up then back again. Fortunately the storm that just blew through was mostly in this region and had tailed off the further north you went. At least the forecast for the weekend looks to be quiet.

More than enough to go around

So here I am at the tail end of a "norlun instability trough" - a snowstorm formed between two low pressure systems. In this case once all is said and done there will probably be 10 inches of norlun trough. Three weekends, three snowstorms - it is winter, move it and wait for more.

In the week since I last posted, Carol's Aunt Carolyn passed away Friday, more than a week after suffering the stroke. The funeral is being held tomorrow. Additionally two of my aunts aren't doing to well themselves.

Meantime Ian and Ali are progressing nicely along in their Appalachian Trail hike and have reached Newfound Gap in Gatlinburg, TN where they'll spend a night or two. Find out for sure shortly as we're expecting a call tonight from Ian.

Nothing has changed about work, still busy. I think I may be reaching the end of my tolerance for winter. I'll keep you posted.

where did I leave off

Back to work today and I'm still out of my mind. The tasks/work itself is fine - still that problem of overlapping deadlines/expectations. The expectation that I nurture is that things will settle out any day now, maybe tomorrow. For now a glass of red, a few pages to be read then off to bed.

Looking for normal

Returned from the long weekend up north this afternoon, tired but none the worst for the wear. An inch or so of snow had fallen yesterday which ordinarily wouldn't been worth bothering with but strong winds overnight and today swept it around in places it could gather and pile up enough to gain attention. 10 minutes of snowblowing took care of that before I needed to retrieve the dogs from their sabbatical at the kennel. All's almost back to normal though a couple of days with the "normal" routine would be welcomed.

a Blogger’s bullet list

There I go again, letting just a little is enough sit idle while my life goes on its merry way. Not intentionally mind you, just that life as it is pretty well taps me out most days and by the time there are moments to reflect and write I go into veg mode. So let’s have at it and see what I throw into the virtual void.

• The main thing on my mind is that Ian and Ali are presently hiking the Appalachian Trail, south to north. They began almost two weeks ago and last Sunday Ian checked in with a phone call from where they came off the trail to restock, clean up and rest for a couple of nights. All seems to be going well as they are gradually getting into shape to push along as they increase their daily mileage. We expect them to reach Mount Katahdin by July. Next check-in may be Monday.

• I've written before in this space, work is getting busier and more complex than ever before. Hard for me to comprehend but true none the less. More tasks overlapping as I commit to several deadlines and more comes in that need to be done in the same time frame. Hard to pass off to graphic designers in other offices as either some of the requesters are in my office which mandates that I take care of them and others who want done the way I do certain things. Not surprising that I feel mentally spent by the time I get home and barely recovered by the end of a weekend. I admit to a bit of hyperbole about it all but it does come with feeling overwhelmed at times.

• One of the early topics of this blog was a successful diet plan I had implemented and adhered to for a couple of years – well as often happens with this type of thing I've been backsliding and gradually put back on 13 of the 25 pounds that I had loss and no discipline to do what was necessary to turn it around. Among a variety of reasons for putting on weight the biggest was lack of portion control at dinner and too often poor snack choices. A few weeks ago I came across an app for my tablet called “Lose It!”. It allows me to easily track what I’m eating, totals the calories which are compared to daily calorie goals set to meet the weight I want to be at by a particular  date. So far in 4 weeks I’ve lost 7 pounds on my way to reaching 175 lbs by the end of March. Once there I’ll reset the goal for maintaining that weight.

• With weight loss goes exercise, duh. I've had and use a basic membership at the Planet Fitness nearby where I live for about four years now. The company I work for with the new ownership includes among the benefits yearly reimbursements for health club memberships. One thing I haven’t been happy about was the direction I had to take to get there from work. Lots of congested intersections just getting out of the general vicinity of the city. I realized that I could upgrade and transfer my membership to a PF a few blocks from the office. The upgrade allows me to utilize other PF locations up to 10 times a month, helpful for weekends at the former location while still being fully reimbursed the cost. No brainer once I warmed up the gray cells on that train of thought.

• That seems to cover some of the main items that occupy my mind – Family and pets are doing well. One of Carol’s aunts had a stroke a couple of weeks ago which she will not recover from and sadly will soon leave us. We are in the area for the weekend as Carol’s mother has her 85th birthday and there will be a church dinner in her honor tomorrow after church services. One of my aunts recently fell and broke her hip, wishing her a speedy recovery. Meantime an acquaintance of ours from our days with the Boy Scouts is being treated for pancreatic cancer. His battle with this deadly disease is epic in the making as he has cheerfully kept his family and friend's spirits up with his sense of humor and love of God and family while enduring radiation and chemo therapy treatments. All my best to each of them.

More subjects to cover, sooner than later? you’ll have to wait and see.