I caught some of the 11 o'clock news last night. I wanted to see if winter planned to make an appearance here in New England (note that I am NOT complaining).

The weather is last of course - this way we must muddle through all the local drudgery. Apparently some Town Hall was going to redo their roof and residents were having a nit fit. In another town some folks are without power...again... tho really you would think we'd all be used to that by now.

Then we got to crime portion of the news.

In a town not to far from here it seems there was a store that was robbed. The newscaster described the robbers as 'two white men'.
A little farther north there was a bank robbery. These suspects were described as 'two black men'.

So people, please - keep your eyes out for either two white men, or two black men.

I suppose if you should see four men and two of them are white and two of them are black we can assume its a crime ring.

For that matter if you simply see one man and he is either white or black - you may have spotted one of them.

So if you see anyone at all - perhaps you should just call the police.

this can't be good

I turned on the Victoria Secret fashion show last night.
What's better than terribly attractive women in very little clothing?
Who needs in-depth programming or even a plot.
Simply eye-candy.

Oddly, its just made me hungry.

how to relax over the holidays

Go to someone elses house. heh.

After some 20+ years of hosting ... Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas morning or Christmas brunch or Christmas dinner, Easter even Mothers day - perhaps all of these in the same year.
We had the unique opportunity to ...not.

This year my attractively-aging wife and I were hosted by our daughter - who seemingly loves to cook and entertain. She makes it all seem so effortless (and tasty). Ah, to be young.

This meant there was no holiday pre-clean. No shopping or cooking or basting and stirring. We didn't vacuum ...twice (thanks Free dog). We didn't rent tables and set up rooms in odd configurations to handle the masses. We didn't create a space for hors devours or a makeshift wine bar.

Instead - we lingered over coffee. We watched the parade, and scuffed around in jammies like it was a Sunday morning.

Later that day, we ate, we drank, we helped clear some dishes.

Then we stuffed ourselves into our car, and rolled home.

Where there was no post holiday cleaning, no crumbs ground into the furniture, no mountains of empties to rinse and put out. No dishes hidden under the sofa. Not a wine spill to be found.

I felt so lazy.

I could get used to this.

does this make me look old

The problem, as I see it, with this 'my hair should look like I just woke up' look - is that I can no longer tell if a guy is lazy and unkempt or seriously fashionable.

Friday

tip-o-day

It occurred to me -- while squishing myself into a tiny attic crawl space with several tools in hand, wearing a face mask, goggles and gloves and stuffing insulation between the floor joists (vapor barrier down, of course) that not only should I be paying somebody to do this for me - but that I need to share some important advice with my children.

Do the best you can to plan your life well. Save money when you're young. Don't squander it all on fun and dinners out and fancy cars and trips and fine shoes (well... maybe fine shoes).
That way, when you get to be the ripe ole age of 50 - you can hire people to do things like lay on their backs with a staple gun and itchy pink insulation in spaces that should only be accessed by the occasional house spider.

Excuse me while I go find my checkbook.

Friday

tip-o-day

It's best to move furniture away from registers during the heating season. This is especially important with baseboard heat where it needs to draw cooler room air up under the register and release it from the top at toasty temps.

To help keep furniture from sliding back up against the registers from normal daily use - use a small board (perhaps 1/2 thick by 3 inch width) cut to about 6 or so inches in length. I like to use pine scraps from my workshop and if they will be visible, I apply a coat or two of poly so it blends with our wood floors.
Simply place the wood behind each furniture leg and tuck it under the register or push it against the wall. This way the sofa, bed or table won't be able to get any closer.

Got power?

As you may have heard we’ve been having some ‘electrical issues’ here in the Northeast or perhaps it’s only Connecticut. Certainly seems to be anyway. Or maybe we just don't hear the news from our neighboring states over our own loud complaining.

Now I don’t run a power company, nor do I have any knowledge of the inner workings of such a business… but most people in the state, and especially those without power are certain that something is not right. Currently there is a lot of finger pointing and complaining, while we still have several thousand folks going without power now for 9 days. I heard there is even a lawsuit. Eek.

Granted it's been pretty bad here. Roads are impassable, schools have been out for over a week in some places, homes are damaged, trees are just destroyed. There are parking lots where folks can get drinking water, and places opening up called 'warming stations' for those folks trying to stay with their homes ..but who just need to get toasty for a little while. The shelters are full, the hotels with power are full, and those of us with power are taking in family and friends.
(this was not a hardship for us mind you... as it was our nieces who we got to take in )

I do know that despite any missteps by management that the folks working the lines are out there in force, working long, long hours – in the dark, in the cold and now many of them leaving their homes and families in other states to come help us out.

It so happened that yesterday on the highway I passed some of these line workers – looked like they were convoying to either another outage location, or maybe back home to their families and warm hearths.
There had to be at least 20 trucks traveling along in the right lane. The emblem on their trucks put them all from Michigan. Michigan people… wow.

And so.. I pulled into the middle lane and traveled at a speed where I could pass each truck in the convoy. Each time I came up next to a truck I beeped and waved and gave at thumbs up out of my sunroof. Each truck in turn tooted back at me. I passed so many of these guys, that by the time I got to the front of the line they were beeping and waving at me first. Other 16 wheelers joined in and beeped too, as well as some drivers who caught on to what was going on.

Down at our house by the marsh, our power didn’t even flicker – we don’t get much snow down here. But I really wanted to say thanks. Thanks to the people that go out and do cold, and important work --despite issues with management, flawed media coverage, and a bunch of cranky customers.