Bogieblog

Helping Out

We got a call last night from Karen asking what we were doing this weekend. "Sort of piddling around" was my answer. "Why?"

"I was wondering if you could help me move, just the big stuff though." came the reply.

We had helped Karen move earlier this year but weren't surprised by the call. Okay, we were surprised, but only because it happened much more quickly than we anticipated.

Timely Christmas Present

I had been thinking about getting a router for the cable connection. We have a second desktop computer, which Karen had given to us when she moved (no room and she didn't use it anymore anyway). However, the computer only has a dial-up modem, so it would need a network interface card to hook it into the router. But, with the cost of WS's last dental bill and him putting money into the sled, I decided now wasn't the time to spend the money on something that wasn't absolutely needed.

After Christmas Glow

We had a Great Christmas! I got up early for pet-sitting duties, got on the computer for a couple of hours while WS was watching staring at the news, then we went back to bed for a while. We finally got up, started a fire, piddled around a bit, then settled down about 11 to open presents.

We will not go hungry, nor freeze to death even if every grocery store closes for the the next couple of month, all propane/oil dealer go out of business tomorrow, or if every tree and stick of wood disappears from the state!

I'm Back

Sorry about that little disappearance (Sunday and Monday) - it wasn't planned. Sunday, I was on the computer at my usual time, early morning hours, and had written a long post ramble about the grand Christmas that we had. When it came time to post it, my computer suddenly started acting weird; clattering very loudly and not letting me send anything over the modem. I brought up Word to try to save the writing, but that was unresponsive. I checked system resources and it said 100% of CPU resources were being used.

I only had one internet session going, Outlook and Outlook Express going - it shouldn't have been using much CPU capacity at all (to put this in perspective, I currently have all of those things going, plus and extra internet session running and am only using 4% of CPU capacity right now).

I got everything closed and shut the system down. I was railing at myself because with the racket coming from the CPU, I figured my hard drive was fried. And, I hadn't backed up my stuff for 1 1/2 months. Now, that's not a complete disaster; I could recreate last month's info for Quicken, but I was extremely irritated.

Happy Holidays!

Hoping everyone has a

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

May you and yours stay safe and have a wonderful holiday!

Christmas Grinch

Some people where the Wonderful Spouse works are upset with me. It's not something I did, rather something I didn't do.

See, they didn't get Christmas cards this year and it's all my fault because I didn't make them out. WS tried to explain that it was his responsibility, but he couldn't get into the mood and didn't make them out, but they weren't buying it. "But my wife made out our cards", was the standard reply.

Sorry, I'm not your wife. I also have a job that keeps me away from home 11-12 hours a day - if I have no pet-sitting duties to tend to. I also take responsibility for getting cards to my customers, our friends, my co-workers, my family and "distant" in-laws (aunts/uncles, nieces/nephews). WS has the responsibility of getting cards for his immediate family and making out cards to his co-workers (I keep a ready stock of various Christmas cards he only has to get cards for his family).

Then of course, there is the day-to-day running of the household. Sure, I have all kinds of time to make out cards to WS's co-workers.

But that is beside the point. Why in hell do people assume that it should be my responsibility?

Snow-Less

We won't be having a white Christmas this year. After having several inches of snow/ice mix on the ground, and then getting 6" of snow the other day, one would think that we could accomplish a white Christmas. Instead, Mother Nature pulled a fast one on us.

After having cold temps, single digits to below zero at night and in the teens during the day, we had a warm day yesterday. It got up to 49 degrees in our neck of the woods, in the evening hours - some places got warmer. The high temps could not have melted all the snow so MN threw in heavy rain and winds. The added rain accomplished what warm temps could not, got rid of most of the white covering on the ground. Sure, there are a few areas, where the snow piles were from shoveling and snow blowing were, but those areas are at best 1" thick.

This morning we are back to cold stuff, but in the 20s, not the bitter cold we had experienced earlier in the week. Fortunately, the wind lasted longer than the rain, so most areas dried up. That means the roads, driveways and walkways aren't slick (I've already been out pet-sitting, so I know conditions are good).

It could have been worse, Mother Nature could have made me shovel to get to the truck this morning!

Carnival Time

I haven't been to the Carnival for quite a while, but Ravenwood is hosting the Carnival of the Vanities this week and I happened to have a post worth linking to, just in time. Go take a browse thru the long list of posts - there's a little something for everyone there (no kicking, shoving or grabbing the last doll out of someone's arems. Play nice, Santa is still watching you).

Weekend Update

WS and I went to the town barn Friday night and loaded up a truck load of sand. We sanded our driveway and had enough left over to make a good dent on the neighbor’s driveway (Chris works for UPS so he has had a lot of long days/nights). While we were throwing sand out on the neighbor’ driveway, Justin, Chris’ boy, came out and excitedly told us how his mother had been telling his dad that they needed sand for the driveway. He then grabbed a small shovel and started “helping” us while chattering at 90 MPH.

Saturday evening we were regaled by Christmas carols. We were watching a football game when we thought we heard something strange. WS turned down the volume to the TV and we realized it was Christmas music. At first, we thought the neighbor was blasting his stereo, but it was getting louder and louder. We looked outside and saw one of the town fire trucks moving slowly down the road, blaring carols out of the speaker. We got a good laugh out of it anyway!

Rocks are Us

The Weekend Pundit overheard a conversation between a husband and wife who were obviously flatlanders tourists. I guess they had no clue that this is called the Granite State for a reason!