computer to the grindstone

Running later than I should be to start desktop publishing of my town's annual warrant for budgets and elective positions. It's a good day to get up to speed as the weather is in a word "horrible". Heavy rain arrived over night, temps dropped to just a little over the freezing point, heavy winds from the north and forecast to bring in some sleet and snow later in the day, all coming to an end tomorrow morning. Now a little procrastination to put off the task at a hand a little further. Doing what comes naturally.

Bracket Fever

The NCAA men's collage basketball tournament has been in full swing over the weekend. Near the end of the first two rounds I'm close to having all four brackets in play for the office pool I'm in. The last game of the weekend has one of the teams I've chosen to be in the final four, I'll be asleep when that is settled. Been a couple or three years since the last time I participated giving away $5 and I'm not much of a follower of collage basketball but it sure does racket up my interest when I have a stake in the results.

Cooler than necessary

With winter continuing to keep us in it's icy grip I haven't minded spending the weekend indoors though with dogs, tasks and such I did have to venture out and about the yard. Yesterday was a treat, temps were close to 50 degrees so snow that needed to be cleared out of the dog pen was taken care of in shirtsleeves. Today it was back to cold with a stiff breeze and mid 20 degrees. At least it was sunny. The great accomplishment for the weekend was that I finally finished cleaning up and organizing my new desk space. after three weekends everything is filed, trashed or recycled, neater than it's been for ten years. We also managed to go out for breakfast yesterday (no eggs in the house) and later in the day

accompanied Carol to do the grocery shopping. Included was a corn beef and fixings for our St. Paddy's Day supper - there will be Guinness consumed.

Do the math

Snow + rain + sleet + road salt/sand + fast drop in temperature = ice rocks. Who knew!?! I didn't until a busted shear pin from the snowbeast's auger briefly halted tonight's clean up operation of the disappointing Winter Armageddon I'd been lead to believe was going to happen. About 3 inches total but it didn't help that the slush part and tire ruts once frozen complicated what should have been a simple task at the end of the driveway.

Ho-hum here comes Winter Armageddon again

I guess we can never get enough of a good thing or winter for that matter. Snow arriving tomorrow afternoon/evening maybe mixing with sleet and continuing through the night, winding down late  Thursday morning. Might get around 10 inches here on Ledge Hill. Gear is ready as usual, right through to April - and then some.

Late winter blossums

Well into pothole season, city streets and secondary rural roads are the worst for wear. Even the roads with or without potholes have their dips and heaves. Tonight's ride home from work brought visions of riding a roller coaster. In heavy bumper to bumper traffic the only warning you might get for an up coming shock to the suspension is a sudden swerve by the driver ahead. Conditions worthy of Mad Max.

Let the light shine

First day of Daylight Savings Time arrived and a splendid one it's been. Sunny, mid 30s, it will only be a memory though for the next few days we'll be getting some snowy reminders of what we had throughout the winter. For today Carol and I went to another RV dealer's open house. This one carried models from the manufacturer of our own trailer and except for  peeking in a couple of "Retro" mini lite travel trailers we stuck to looking at the Cougar 5th wheels made by Keystone. We then  looked through the parts department, checking out accessories we might be interested adding to the gear we already have and  managed to leave with a couple of freebies as open house prizes. Otherwise spent a good afternoon home working on some ongoing projects and Ian checked in from his apartment after returning from a week around Exeter, England, visiting Ali between her classes.

A good Saturday

Not surprising the forecast of a mild sunny Saturday was a wonderful change after the colder days earlier in the week and made for a good day to travel up the highway to meet my newest grand nephew. Born Wednesday morning to the son of one of my brothers and his wonderful wife. Looking forward to watching him grow up. It was a brief visit after which my mother, my sister Kathy with her son Jim and his wife Kelly and I adjourned to the Olive Garden for lunch. A Chicken Caesar Salad with a beer for me, keeping it light as I've consumed a few extra calories lately - not really much of a diet meal but at the OG it would be easy to go way over the top. Followed up lunch by giving my mother a ride home where I worked out some computer issues for her before heading home myself.

More than a grain of salt

I'm willing to go all in with the recent weather forecasts of a traditional early March weather and a continuing trend beyond that. The cold in the air has been so consistent that I'm always overdressed in lined pants or a set of long underwear, my heavy ski jacket and lined leather boots. My toes still bother me from the frostbite I suffered, it's not a winter I'll soon forget though I will try my best.

Swedish invasion

The activities of the last three weekends including this one have been in heavily influenced by the Swedish phenomenon of Ikea. Two weeks ago I chauffeured Carol and her sisters down to the Stoughton, Massachusetts store, its been a couple of years or more since I've been there - the sisters seem to make the trip about every 5 or 6 months which includes a stock up stop at the Portsmouth liquor store and lunch with Ian who lives nearby. This time I went to look over bathroom sinks and cabinets for a renovation project we're planning, by bringing the truck the trio were able to cart more stuff home. I hadn't grasped that Carol had planned to refurnish our den/office, tables, shelves this trip - sometimes I'm just not paying much attention. So that brings me to last weekend, We dismantled the existing desk shelving combo units, trucked it out to the transfer station for disposal, popped in to Cole Farms for lunch then back home to begin assembling the new arrangement. In the process we generated a large mess from displacing things in draws, cabinets files, etc from the previous arrangements. Once the shelving and desktops were in place Carol began setting up her workspace, I began the overall clean up that I finished up this weekend and began setting up on my own workspace.

Near finished but there is still plenty of things to sort through, throw out or recycle, repackage so the adventure will continue as I have time - gör det roliga någonsin att upphöra?