🐚 bye the see

 🐚bye the see
by the biewtiful see

our weather has temperature at least 5 - 6 degrees warmer than average
however, Mommy Nature still has a wind chill of 5 degrees this morning as a reminder
still winter in the ' boro

update : the retro fit for our computer room / den. A mess ......
many volumes of paper needs filing and yes, some decisions seem inevitable
to wit. the computer table [ w/ pull out keyboard shelf ] is doomed.
Recall, this table was a 4 ft high computer table w/ compartments above the actual table top.
Those compartments were dismantled and repurposed [ and remain as shelves attached to the wall above the table ]
you really could not call this a big loss  ... its particle board and screws. 

now. what does this mean ?   ...... dunno. the actual positioning of the ' new ' tubular corner unit is undecided. 
it may be placed against the wall [ not in the corner ] almost where the computer table is now

We shall see said the Zen Master

🉐 there are places I .....

  🉐  remember, tho' some have changed  [ Judy Collins ]

yesterday. B/c I forget or get distracted - I needed a Monday trip to the Tiger. 
Sunday, I supposedly had on my list cold cuts and Swanson meat pies
then add tomatoes
the skinny : Swanson beef pies were $ 1.25 or about half price. Turkey breast was expensive and tomatoes were red

then looking to my Pixel phone - black screen
however, if you stared there was an image
nothing worked - so, I continued on to Real McCoy for a ' treat of the week '. A Mojo burger [ hand made beef patty, cheese and bacon ] plus a chicken soulvaki dinner = $ 35

at home. I grabbed M .. s phone [ Pixel, also ] and was able to navigate to brightness level and voila a living phone

we will be mild ish again, chance of rain BUT perhaps full sun tomorrow

In the computer room, the mish mash continues
in fact, I'm typing at the truncated version of the make shift computer table. No trouble and there is seemingly more room b/c the keyboard shelf is tucked in. Some minor re - location of bits [ mouse is on the sofa ] - no biggie b/c this is a laptop afterall , use the trackpad

this morning the re - think w/ both of us sitting on the awkwardly placed sofa
.... produced, not much
we did agree about some small issues, M  .. has aesthetic worries
me, I'd prefer to not spend any money and I enjoy sitting on the sofa
BUT it is a stupid place for a sofa

🌞 here comes the ......

 🌞

actually, until the yellow face pops out, you really don't know how much 
you can miss, light [ big light ]

today, maybe this week [ partly cloudy ], we get sun and mild

the junkman report : managed to get the tubular corner desk / computer or multi media standing piece in the house

the corner unit is in good nick. however, I jammed it in wherever that I thought it might be useful. this meant that the pullout couch, sits in the middle of the room - almost a room divider, where a room divider might not be needed or wanted.

the general situation is that we needed a computer table -so, I re - jigged a bought computer table w/ drawer keyboard shelf. I re - used the wood bits that were extra and not needed and made shelves above the computer.
now. there was a time where we had a tower PC and needed a full computer. then, we dumped the PC tower and used a 17 " laptop which is quite big also.
for the last, year or more - we have gone all Chromebook devices
puposefully, the Chromebooks are eleven inch models.
the beauty of the Chromebook is the ability to hook up peripherals
thus, TVs and monitors etc can be attached and increase the utility of a Chromebook.

in essence, the whole ' computer room ' has a ' make do '  format

- re - size the computer table which by the way is ' closed ' or minimized in size
- there is a writing desk and chair [ circa 1976 ] in good shape. I bought the desk as unpainted furniture.
- a ' desk ' made when I used a left over plank set on speakers

in reality, the writing desk and newly added ' tubular corner tower '
are the sole purpose built items other than the pull out sofa

🐉 as in year of

🐉

post # # 4 004

weather is mild for winter. here in the ' boro, again we dodge big weather brewing from West to East across the U.S. spawning flooding and storms, snow and crap

we have been melting for 3 days and seemingly, except for some off and on rain / snow and whatever thats due
we are holding on

reporting good news [ maybe ] Canada  is tapped as the next possible source of ground hydrogen. Thats correct - drilling for hydrogen gas. as in a well.

송 foggy mountain

 송 breakdown - is the song
and we have fog. close to freezing all day and chance of drizzle

entertainment news : in one week and 6 days, I watched ' the Mandalorian S 3 ' and ' Asohka ' and ' Andor ' and ' Obi Wan Kenobi ' and ' the Book of Boba Fett '

Wow ! looks a ton
enjoyment ratings : the whole lot, better than 90 % of whats on broadcast TV and Netflix and Prime Video
my favourite was  ' Mandalorian ' " this is the way "
however, ' Boba Fett ' gets honourable mention b/c you get to watch Ming Na Wen [ in armour of course ] 
hot chick in black 

a Saturday in the ' boro. we stayed in
did organizing for taxes
re - activated credit cards

cushion covers arrived from Amazon

good fit and rather fetching colour
Success !

🚰 water, water

 🚰  everywhere
and they call it a flood

our weather statement says ' more rain ' - avoid creeks and streets

☔☃ either / or

☔☃ 32 - 34 F this day

definitely above average temperatures

report: 

OK. Now we are ordering furniture from Amazon. well, sofa cushions.
we have a 1970 s teak furniture set for the living room
I refuse to get rid of it
1. on the basis of the construction which is solid wood
2. the furniture for sale is particle board and cloth, today

yes. we have recovered / replaced the cushions - that is 8 pieces on the three seater and 6 pieces on the two seater

ah. this time. we ordered a slab foam bench seat for both sofas. No more pieces for the bottom. Next we'll find back rest cushions etc and already have our eye on possible choices

now. we need to see the actual colour of the slabs. sometimes hard to judge the exact shade etc
as well, the fabric seems reasonable but from pictures - who knows

the good. reviewers who have had difficulty got helpful response form the vendor, SO XXXXX fingers

the down side. you see up to now, if a cushion showed wear - we flipped and switched [ a lot ]. This route means - one flip [ mostly ]

break out the scotch guard, boyo

❄❆ think mixed

 ❄❆ there wasn't a symbol for falling crap and / or fog
b/c that is what is falling or hovering now

rumour or anecdotal information says the ' inuit ' or eskimos or whatever native peoples -  have 100 words for snow

we needed one of those 100 for this period of time

to wit, the theme is mixed

well, already this morning

I activated my new VISA b/c the one that I used yesterday [ for Skyland ] expires in FEB and the new one arrived

online, I also told Netflix and Rogers [ Telco ] about the change.
however
Mr Amazon, already knew that the VISA needed updating. Thus, when I went to edit - da da - changes were there
SCARY that !!!

good things from this morning, I actually found passwords for those accounts [ yepper, doesn't go smoothly all the time ]

In fact, M .. goes thru' fits when dealing  w/  Instacart  [ delivery service ]. The culprit there is the VPN which scrambles the ISP and the Instacart algorithm doesn't acknowledge the switch

💎 on htis 23 rd of the 1 st Month

  💎 what sticks in your brain

random stuff
" the Lady Who Sailed the Soul " a short story by Cordwainer Smith
circa 1960. She was a solar sailor. A ' long haul truck driver ' who travelled between the stars. Using speeds, fractions of the speed of light, the aging process changed for these voyagers

This AM is 30 F and will rise. SNOW but not the mess that is sweeping up from the plains of the U.S. and  headed toward the Atlantic coast

our precipitation, this aft .... little snowy things, a cross of flake and drops... plus a temperature that hit 34F
actually, steady almost like a curtain

🚬 close

 🚬 but no cigar [ Ha Ha - a ciggy ]

as at now, the temperature is 20 give or take

the high is predicted at 30 along w/ some snow
wind is SW and that usually means warmer BUT of course
sweeping over the Lakes and on to us

SNOW

there is evidence, check the garbage bag in the basement - I finished off a family bag of tortilla chips. This since last Sunday. Definitely, not recommended

🃵marks the day

 🃵 for # 21 of January
waiting for the warmth ... supposedly we will touch 28 or 30 F this afternoon
and if so .... we will be 12 degrees warmer than yesterday
still freezer temperature s but a break
and .... if the trend continues, this week will be 32 or close

I did cruise the CBC online looking for good news
no luck

yesterday, was an exercise day. My monitor got glitchy on the previous exercise day and I did w/ out the data for that session
the monitor would flash for 20 seconds [ meaning detect and transmit ] and subsequently stop
to wit, I changed the battery in the chest transmitter [ 3 times ].    no joy !

Post workout, I took alcohol and wiped the contacts for the monitor and the belt. DaDa appears that contact cleaning was the ticket. 

Thus, I had full data for yesterday. Average BPM was 120 and maxxed out at 140 over the 45 minutes. Entertainment was the series ' Night Manager ' w/ Tom Hiddleton [ or Loki from ' Thor ' ]

🌞 oh ! welcome Mr Sun
yes blazing away out there

🔚 supposedly

   🔚  the end of the deep freeze for the ' boro

today is cold in the extreme end

tomorrow come the afternoon- close to 32 [ not there but close ]
only in the ' boro does close to 30  mean warm ish

perhaps the hibernation period comes to an end
however, in the f **** ing cold. I hauled home, 24 cans of Wells IPA or Eagle.
bitter as any ale but  ......

lets face it, its got an English name and ...

foreign [ means better beer than we make here ????????? ]

however,the Wells cost 2.70 a can - and the local IPA s start at 3.45 a can

the sea goat

cold out there

wind is down. coming is a warm up for some days. sub freezing or 32 ish for days

dashed out to top off the recycling and garbage. almost always some tid bit or other is forgotten, here in the house

update : I reported a tactic of aiming a fan toward the living room from the dining area. The thermometer showed a increase in living room temperature. Not a lot but certainly there.
Well, if one fan is good then ..... yes, add a second at the other side. I ordered 2 desk fans and these items have arrived 
plugged in and aimed as indicated above

NO, the thermometer didn't jump up or anything. 
but maybe, in the long run this attempt will be useful

🥶 not as a cold

 🥶   in fact

approx  10 degrees warmer than yesterday

🥶 🥶 🥶 🥶 same old, same old

   🥶 🥶 🥶 🥶 " you're as cold as ice "

our mini deep freeze continues
the story:

Our house is large ish. The insulation reflects the 1970 s quality and type of insulation
the point .... difficult to heat

thus, the thermostat is set for 70 F, however, the living room [ main floor ] is a degree or two colder
we supplement the heat w/ a radiant oil heater that runs pretty much all day
the temperature stays close to 70 
yesterday, as an experiment, I aimed a mini fan at the ceiling from the dining room [ all one room really w/ the living room ]
AND the little breeze apparently, re directed heat down and into the living room
the thermometer crossed into the 70  range

who knew !

we stay sub 20 F for a day or so more, get to 25 ish and drop for a night but seemingly we will be 32 or above for a week

hibernation is not all bad. unfortunately, come the better weather ... there will still be a lit of undone chores
naturally, right now, I can see doors that need painting etc
and in summer I' ll note indoor items that need

never fails

🥶🥶

 🥶🥶 🥶in the bleak midwinter

frosty winds do blow

earth stood hard as iron

water like a stone " this continues for the week

as is typical, the ' boro thinks its cold and wintry

other N American locales beg to differ

on the plus side - you can hibernate and wait

actually, there is a backlog of inside chores [that will not get done ]

thus, lots of chores to think about

and thats it - right ..... think about or fret or ........ 

🥶 me, this afternoon

 🥶 I venture out for an afternoon appt

a visitor this AM said ' 10 minutes to warm the car

air is still, [ yeah, the wind is frozen too ]

BUT the sun is blooming

a report from yesterday : guys from the cottage came over
the Whatsapp group QMH guys came over for chicken and fries and Scotch
not any scotch but Johnny Walker Blue [ expensive ]
glad we don't do scotch tastings too often
Whew ! not my favourite type of happening
Oh ! sorry, as well, we tried a sample from a scotch flight[ 8 mini bottles of Ka Va Lan ] from Taiwan.

We talked and watched the ' Mandalorian ' which I cannot find used and the new price is really nuts [ $ 80 a disc ]

I am really enjoying the ' Mandalorian '
unfortunately, episode after episode [ sad ]

I am having a fairly disappointing day

🧊 the app says

 🧊 6 degrees colder than yesterday

the big surprise, the snowplows came down the street
big deal.

well, this is the first big snow event and those guys sit there getting paid
so, send them out

more contentious is the sidewalk plow
yes, they should do sidewalks for safety BUT the folks on Neighbourhood watch gripe about the dug up lawns

❄❄❄ the story

 ❄ yes there is no other story here in the 'boro
the lawn service dug us out at 5 AM
streets white w/ tire grooves
and the sun blasted out for 10 minutes [ that was a charm ]

unless the weather dudes meant all of the weekend, we got less than the max predicted

📣 this is it .....

 📣 .... make no mistake
                about it

still dark. unsettled weather is on the way
starting this afternoon, snow begins and continues

Yes. we will be white and buried   .... but how much ??

we shall see said the Zen Master

the lyrics from Lyricfind

There've been times in my life
I've been wonderin' why
Still, somehow I believed we'd always survive
Now, I'm not so sure
You're waiting here, one good reason to try
But, what more can I say? What's left to provide?

Are you gonna wait for a sign, your miracle?
Stand up and fight

Make no mistake where you are
(This is it)
Your back's to the corner
(This is it)
Don't be a fool anymore
(This is it)

and this is definitively a mondegreen or worse
' worse ' ? b/c I not sure that I even knew the words   ... at all

I'm going to go and listen to the song

dynamic, man what a tune and the harmony   ... Michael McDonald singing

This Is It " just rose about ten points in my ' favourites ' list

䷡ wash [ ??????? ]

䷡ wash ??????

the theme for the day is ' powerwash '. On a Chromebook as previously alluded to, the owner can ' powerwash ' the system.
the platform Chrome OS, is cloud based. Thus, very little ' management ' or control data is stored on the actual device. For me, right now, that is a Dell 5190.
The 5190 was meant for institutional use, i.e. schools.

The 5190 claims to be : drop proof from 6 ft. / resistant to spills up to 4 oz on the keyboard
and the Chrome OS platform is easy to oversee from a central admin device

research pre - purchase suggested that if I planned to operate ' 5 or 6 ' windows at one time - meaning multi tasking gone viral, then the 5190 was not for you [ note : I can't keep track if 3 windows are open   ... so go figure ]

During the last 5 yrs, we have gone from one Windows laptop and an E machine Chrome OS to three Chrome OS machines. The 5190 is the oldest

In the last 3 months, I have powerwashed each machine. As you may have seen, Gmail has developed a glitch such that only one email account can be accessed
oh, the machine recognizes that the account is there but will not display that account

Thus, powerwash. In my terms,
I get a new machine wiped clean of any add ons [ both wanted and unwanted ].
Warnings appear before you powerwash to back up important files.
In my case, files that are sent to me - go straight to cloud storage.
The cloud storage is not affected b / c cloud memory is not in the machine [ 5190 say ].

the bad.
If you powerwash, any custom features that you have managed often revert to default.
So, for me, I need to re - sign in extra accounts [ 2 ] by signing in w/ G mail.
 And a feature that I depend on is ' sticky keys '

Lets go.

 Sticky keys .... means, as I type, if I need ' shift, control, alt or search ' - I touch the key and it stays active until I type the letter or character. Example : to type uppercase, you would touch and hold ' shift ' 
Not me. I touch ' shift ' and shift stays active until I finish typing the next letter / character .
Sort of lazy man s shifting
OR / if you have trouble using 2 hands ' aha, touch the shift key and even 3 seconds later, shift is still active waiting for you to type '

䷡ means ' great power '

weather is dank and drear, we are going to see snow / rain / crap for three days. Type and amount will vary by a lot.

cruddy weather, made up of rain, snow and everything in between

We had our senior s Thur lunch at the Magic Noodle. I'm the only senior and A .. puts up w / me. Today, the special was ' beef Magic Noodle '. Then you get to pick a noodle type. Mine was the old traditional ' knife cut ' noodle. Instead of regular organized noodle shapes, knife cut is random resembling fragmented lasagna.
Anywho delicious, a fine meal

🌬 we'll rant and .......

🌬 and we'll roar
like true Newfoundlanders .... goes the shanty

thats what we heard all night

hard blowing and noisy out there. However, do not complain overly b/c the snow all melted
there is a snow producing weather pattern developing and we will  turn white w/ snow

a productive day ?
organized some receipts that were sloppily arranged [ or not ]
got in the exercise routine [ still a positive activity ]

💨 what its meant to be

 💨 this is the ' dash ' symbol, as in got to ..........
however, the image explains what s going on out there 
a major snow dump / rain barrage is limbering up

south of us, the northern states is prepping for a veritable deluge in a short span
this is happening as the same areas dig out from the snow - meggedon of a few days ago

our temperature will be above freezing but we will get snow that turns to rain [ or sleet ..... or some other bunch of crud ]

while exercising Monday, I used YouTube to dull the boredom
' songs of the past ' or somesuch
but I realized that Dan Fogelberg snuck in ' forest primeval ' in the song ' Longer than ... '
I figured that when the BeeGees got ' universe ' into a song that was pretty good

' just my dog and I at the edge of the universe ' 

way to go Dan

ah, events. yesterday, I had lunch w/  a former colleague and former students
now you can amend that to ' 4 friends ' met for lunch

the young'uns are from the class of 1975 

its pure crud out there. Our street is white w/ tracks in patchy black ruts

😻 cats are the theme

 😻on Neighbourhood watch
' watchees ' have been posting photos of semi feral cats that roam the area [ and are fed ]

warmer by a bunch, likely sub 40, dreary and moist
snow could fall really anytime

according to Ryan Hall, the next front is looming w/ arrival over the Great Lakes around Jan10

the U.S. stations are predicting lots of rain and snow if Arctic air is drawn down

sometimes
sometimes
people are good and good hearted

💢7 th of the New Year

 💢  💢  💢 this  is the ' anger '  symbol

the Dell Chromebook won't go to gmail [ our server ]

I snuck in by going to ' browse as guest '

the last treatment is to ' powerwash the device '

snow - we got snow as predicted say, 2 inches

haven't been out but the ground looks fluffy

the update :
my Chromebook glitch
Powerwash, worked. Understand that it means re - formatting from square one
things that you customized are gone
therefore, the next three weeks, you re - jig your Chromebook to suit you

but, the glitches go away

further updating. the drive out was slippy unless you were careful
the main roads tho ' cleared and grippy

of course, the trip out was to Giant Tiger
the essentials : milk, oj, tuna, bacon and 3 bags of ripple chips  

wallowing in self pity
heard the expression
but I think that I'm living it

👾 purple

 👾 people eater

the snow track went South of us. Snow in large amounts has fallen and will fall over the weekend for Pennsylvania, New York and the east coast
Some areas of higher NY state were looking at 22 inches at max

Here in the 'boro, snow flurries for 24 h
a dull gray day

update : we have snow -supposedly the values say 1 - 3 in
as at now, a dusting and a bit more

but cold feeling [ damp and bitter, maybe ]

our new humidifier arrived. the misting machine can be App controlled
I couldn't get the link to happen between phone, router and humidifier

however, if you press the buttons on the plastic box, yes it works

can't register the device for the warranty w/ out the connection it seems

crap

☝ starting w/

 ☝ silliness ?  Cdn polar bears are testing positive

for Avian flu. The CBC blurb did not say that the bears have Avian flu or symptoms
however, yes, the bears test positive

I'll need to look into this narrative a bit closer

Next : gadgets in our house

here we go : I ran coils to the roof to prevent snow mound build up. The thinking was that snow accumulation started ' damming ' and the water got under the roof tiles [ metal ].
The coils seemed to work last year b/c despite snowfalls, after FE in 2023 - no drips inside
last year, I used an outdoor remote timer controlled from inside the nearest room to the timer
A... hearing me talk of this, bought me a remote timer that is WiFi ready. The picture means, use your phone to turn on the Smart Outlet outside

Nope. then A .. buys me a Wifi extender [ router amplifier ] to reach outside to the Smart outlet. This AM, I tried the Voice Assistant and got no result
Ah, but the App for the Smart outlet does work
Oops ! might be the Voice Assistant that can't reach outside

Well. Got the thing working

If you'd told me ten years ago [ wait ! 2 years ago ] that I'd be playing w/ Apps and Voice Assistant - never would have believed you

Thats me - kicking and screaming all the way to modernity or idiocy

💢💢 all thats allowed

💢💢💢💢💢💢 💢💢💢💢💢

and then some

we are colder today than yesterday. a tad below normal BUT

we see sun w/ a high pressure blob sitting over us

when the prognosticators get it right
as I watch the full sun day, bluebird sky

BUT that wind, bites ..... sharp and meaningful

at Shoppers Drug Mart, the cashier said ' your one of my favourite customers '

be advised, she is a very kind person and ... .likely has a slew of favourites

💢the third of the first

 💢 our weather is gray and 32 - ish

the prediction says much the same for 5 days
some rain and chance of snow

however, ' Ryan Hall, Y'All ' the Youtube weatherologist, foretells a possible trend to a snow track that moves from West and Southwest toward the Great Lakes and onto the East Coast
these movements can be greatly affected by Northward push of moist Gulf air
and dips [ large and small ] of the Polar Jet stream

for us, lower Great Lakes Basin, it seems that Jan 6 then 10 then 16 hold possibility of a snow dump

dump meaning at least 1 or 2 inches
of course, elevation, proximity to water on the West side and influence of the dropping down of the  Jet stream will cause regional and local variations

if there are changes, I will update

update for Wednesday : ramen at Magic Noodle[ really, the name ]
I chose the won ton and silky cut noodles [ American s choose this ]
scallops and jelli noodles on the side
ran to Costco and bought potatoes and skin cream

retail and friend therapy [ I needed that ]

📹 inside the house

 📹 we haven't really tested the Tapo indoor video camera. more or less, it would be an added security feature

the Tapo does work remotely, i.e. a video can be accessed from an out of the house internet system

today is above freezing but dull. rain is possible

I spent the morning hooking up the in gutter heating coils. I turned on the roof cables but I decided to try to melt ice and clear the gutters. The temperature even w/out sun may allow melting

We shall see said the Zen Master

water galore, spilled down the drain pipe [ I'm assuming almost total melting in the gutters ]

🔔 🔔 🔔

  🔔 🔔 🔔 ring out the bells

bring on 2024 [ its a white New Year ] 
more than a dusting and not a snowfall

w/ 25 F could be dicey driving

I was awake at 12 and did see the ball drop
heard Frank Sinatra sing ' New York, New York '

we had a sparkling white BRUT wine for 12 o clock DE 31

today. Asian style
fried shrimp, appetizers - sort of a casual brunch type thing

a family tradition developed at home WHEN my brother decided that he could make the best southern fried chicken

and he did. he was meticulous about this job
the best policy was to stay out of the kitchen

results were stellar

I'm making the fried shrimp and hoping for at least decent results
going in my favour
its shrimp
its battered and fried 
ADD salt   ?????

WE shall see said the Zen Master

the house has voted
shrimp.dipped in egg wash
rolled in flour and  some Shake n' Bake

moist. tasty.
a fine coating [not puffy or heavy ]

plus. sausage rolls [ we think its a wiener ] and egg rolls  ...... a lot of rolls