😺😺😺

😺 the sign of the cat

we are cold [er ] today, hovering mid 20 s w/ brilliant sun

and then we rebound to 40 or more in two days
' hang on sloopy ' we will be OK

💤 or not to 💤

  💤 yepper - up at 5:30 AM

and the call for the day, rain and cold

thus, the day starts w/ 42 F but falling through the day. As the noon rolls around, rain and drizzle begins.
As noted, the temperature falls [ quickly ] by late afternoon 30 F THEN as night comes on, maybe 28 F or lower.
Flakes are possible [ plus icy and slick roadways ]
BTW, we rebound within three days

🎇 🎇 🎇

 🎇 that kind of day
yes, showers but the temperature will be 42 +

from Bath Spa

 one of ' our ' pubs. The 'Star ' was on the way home from our digs, Camden View, in upper Bath [ meaning 

above the valley floor 

the weather will be 40 F. combined w/ sun and light ish winds

alright ! what is the picture all about. I needed a daily image. When I tired to access photos, a window showed ' gallery '  Yeah, 9 pictures, this one was the winner

and this was ' pan bread ' day. the goal was to get bread set to eat by 10 AM. I managed to finish by 9:30. Plus, I didn't burn the bottom.

the difficulty is that there is no temperature setting on the burner. at least in the oven, you can set the temperature
whoever, I'm figuring out how to judge the done ness. 
today, I lifted the edge and checked the colour three times - finally, flipped the loaf over and waited til a toothpick came out clean

🗣 whats on your mind

 🗣 thus, spent the last 45 listening to YouTube [ w/ commercials ] 
the list : ' What a Fool  Believes ' Doobie Bros
' Love Theme from Cinema Paradiso ' various artists [ piano, violin ]
' Orpheus ' Sara Bereilles
' Once Upon Another Time ' Sara Bareilles
' Love Song ' Sara Bareilles

the last 2 were part of a Kennedy Center special including the NSO produced by BEn Folds

plus I ' discovered ' Caroline Shaw [ singer, violinist, pianist and composer ]

the day 

hovers above freezing as the sun blazes out
no, not spring but you could be fooled

actually ' Orpheus ' was a solo effort w/ guitar sent out on her own feed

🌅 🌅 🌅 🌅

   📛 but its way colder

lights up. and the wind blew last night

a slow day in the 'boro - hope that you weren't expecting much.

the Kings of spring, the lax guys are into week 5. Hopkins is 4 - 1 w/ a win over North Carolina. Now, NC is ranked 15 th but gosh darn, they play lacrosse down there
thus, never an easy win

🌅 🌅 🌅

  🌅   highlight of highlights

we will get cold - er as the day progresses
and very cold tonight [ like winter ].
but there is a slight rebound coming up to 30 + F

A busy day starts at 7 AM, shopping at Superstore. Only the essentials ( beer, Triscuit, cheese ) and autre chois

I began pan bread at 11 A then exercised, punched down the dough and did the second rise. 

Mayhaps, a little too long on the front side. A teeny bit dark ish brown ( OK - burnt a touch)

👈 there is some finger pointing

 👈 I missed a day ?
big Oops !

a sunny, non winterish day
the highlight was a 8 AM trip to Tim Horton s for ' retro ' donuts.
Timmi s brought back favourite styles of donuts from the past

OK. I fell for it. great donuts

today, weather might be warmer and wetter

wrong ! breezy but unbelievable [ spring ish ] day

unfortunately, we were chasing imaging labs trying to get an X ray for M ..
place one : we don't have a technician available
place two : there are no spots showing, let me ask - no dice
on to
place # 3 : same entity as place 1. called ahead, yes, you'll get in before 3 PM 
 we get there and no sign for the lab
OK. phone call. didn't they tell you that we moved ?
Finally, in the new location for place 3.

done in a jiff. figures 2 hrs to find a place
and in and out
the bad: place 2 was my choice. the other people wanted place 3

🌄🌄🌄🌄🌄 emphasis

🌄  just letting you know

this dominates the day AND boy, Did the sun do a job

🀄 tile piece

 🀄the symbol for ' red dragon '

a cold but sunny day in the boro'

reporting : the ' Kings of Spring ' are in week 4 of the 13 week season. Johns Hopkins MLax is 3 - 1. the season opener was a loss out in Denver. Since, tho' the Jays have rebounded by defeating Towson, Georgetown and Loyola.
JHU mLax gets tough now. Games versus North Carolina, Virginia, Syracuse AND then the B1G conference games. Ohio State, Michigan, Rutgers, Penn State, Maryland

Good Luck, Go ! Jays 

🐲🐲🐲🐲 FE 18

 🐲 [ this icon is dragon face ]

as in " you've got the cutest little dragon face" 
oh, my, another mondegreen

a dull day out there, plus cold and the wind will kick up as well. Snow flurries throughout the day.

🐉 🐉 🐉 triplets

 🐉 the year of the Dragon

well, the goal this morning - pan bread by 9:30 AM
this is bread, EZ PZ, compared to the ' real ' bread

two bowls and one pan
double rise 1 H and 1 / 2 H on the stove for 24 m

DANGER ! too high a flame. I'm getting much better at guess - timating

NOT going to make it by deadline, more like 10

a little dusting of white and below freezing
slight wind and big sun [ TG ! ]
that light makes everything tolerable

Bread done

and tasty. touched w/a bit ' herbs Provence '. Yes, I'm getting quite deft at the ' pan bread ' system

❄ ❄ ❄ ❄fell

 ❄ FE 15 day and into the early evening
total, approaching 2 inches, little blowing, the stuff was wet and loose

the snowplows came before 8 P and did a bang up job
snow service finished  the drive etc overnight
I went out and cleaned the driveway approach 
so, that there would be no ice at the street

reporting : our new sofa cushions are in place
the two seater has decorator cushion covers stuffed w/ the foam from the original cushions

I was frugal w/ the foam and chopped [ cut is too precise a word for what I did ], thus, one back cushion supplied the stuffing for 2 new back cushions and 2 arm cushions. Not exactly perfect but sufficient

The 3 seater is a hybrid. The cushion covers are the kind that go over existing cushions [backrest and armrest ]. Thus, we are running a comparison study.

🌨 the return of white

 🌨 the prediction is for snow today. How much ? really depends. 

We shall see said the Zen Master

report : We are re - Amazon - ing our living room furniture. We decided to keep the teak wood frame and replace the cushions and backs and arm rests.
as mentioned we ordered the seats [ 2 and three seater length ] and yesterday the rest of our cushion covers arrived. Previously, last week, I used cushion covers over the original cushions and covers.
BUT [ there is always a ' but ' ]
this meant that the you can see the original blue print from the back. Not terrible, distracting tho'
so, I ordered cushion covers that zipper up. Oh ! that meant tossing the original covers and cutting the foam.
I went to YouTube and watched ' foam cutting '.
Right ! its never the same
to wit. ragged cuts and my pieces were much bigger than the ' demos '.
After sweat and toil [ no blood ], I re - stuffed two back cushions and two arm rest cushions. This made up the two seater. After the first go at a back cushion, I figured that no one is even going to know what the inside looks like. Thus, for the final pieces, especially the arm rests, I stuffed the remaining back foam and arm rests

No, this is not professional BUT its used foam and looks not bad. Maybe, in the future, a deal on foam would mean that I could re - cut foam to fit the way its supposed to
for now, ' sufficient for the day is the evil thereof '
Say what ! Well, a friend went to a Catholic school and a Brother would say that. Not sure if I got the meaning right

WHITE, right on the time. like a drizzle of little white things
exercise done. hit all the marks, Av BPM 116, cal burned 570 and 46 min

🚧 skipped a day ??

 🚧  somehow FE 13 got left out

it was a mixed day. a little sun, a little flurries, a little cold

again, tho' we missed the big storm track across the continent from South South West head Nor' east [ or SXSW to NE ]

re - jigging our computer room which is becoming / has become less computer room. As pointed out earlier, the need for a computer  desk is fading and the footprint assigned to a ' electronic communications. hub ' is much .

Alright ! then - what is the room. Well, clerical. Files and storage for paper and, of course, a tubular corner 3/ 4 desk w/ multi levels

Sunny. Is the by word for the day. Booming sun

here we go. our Valentine s Day dinner was a meat pie. not any meat pie BUT a beef ala ' over ' ome ' or British style. Thick top crust and loaded w/ meat.
this wan't a $1.25 Swnson special. an eight inch by four inch pie is $ 45. delish !

we will get two meals and a snack from the piece

plus. since this was But' Ben, M .. got her favourite treat of Empire Biscuits [ shortbread cookie w/ jam filling and icing top ]

🏃 running naked

 🏃 ..... there was a partial streaker during the Las Vegas Superbowl

NO ,that wasn't me HOWEVER, in a dissimilar vein, I'm using the Chromebook minus ' Ad Blocker and Nord VPN '

AND the wait times for loading programs [ windows ] is slight.
To wit, each of those layers, ad block and VPN, slow the loading by a percentage [ of course, that generally means a percentage of a percentage or slow ]

㈹ when the show goes South

 ㈹  well, reprise. there are 3 Chromebooks in the house. AND for the second time in three days
a Powerwash or ' hard reset ' for a Chromebook was needed.

the cycle time for loading gets into the 20 second range which is pathetic

report : a Powerwash represents a hardware update and a removal of added apps [ or the working of these apps ]

the Chromebook is plain and requires customization ....
for me, as mentioned that means sticky keys
and setting up an access account,gmail address and password, log on to a network

DONE 

🍹 you got

 🍹trouble in  ..... River City [ ala the MusicMan ]

well, I got trouble right here, on this laptop.
the story: 
this morning, a slow startup. the Google home page was slow
like in molasses, slow.
fiddled w/ restart. then clear browser cache
then again

Oops ! last resort or best resort
Powerwash --->>>>

pain in the fundament BUT

for me, some minor add ons
I use two accounts on Google, so I needed to add an account plus my ' go to ' accessibility feature is sticky keys 
having said that ..... over the next few days there will be other annoying little discoveries

BUT the slowness is gone [ or seems to be ]

We shall see said the Zen Master

alright. the processes seem back, response is solid and timely

🚠 travel the sky

  🚠   I figured that this would be different

been up since 3 AM, watched the paper girl deliver her ' bad news ' special

this will be a rare winter type day when the temperature gets to 50 F

recap : got back to sleep and slept fitfully
exercised - hoping that normalcy would do the trick

the day as forecasted : sunny / warm / and lovely

👐 on FE 8

 👐 this is day 2 of decompression or re - inflate time. Our new sofa bottom cushions or the seats for our two couches came vacuumed sealed and flattish w/ lumps.
Over the two  days, the foam has grown or filled out from 1 1/2 inch to 3 1/2 inch. Where 4 inches would be the ordered thickness.

We have gone from almost futile to almost there. Creases in the fabric cover remain but not overwhelming. Supposedly, given 3 - 5 days, the foam will be 4 in and the creases stretched out.

I am not patient enough for this process. Thankfully, we still have the current cushions and really can wait til the 9 th or tenth of the month

Weather is ultra mild for ' boro winter. BUT fishing friends are saying that the rivers are low. In fact, rivers are low now but there is no snow pack to bolster the resevoirs.

🕰 FE 7 MMXXIV

 🕰 time keeps on slipping into the future ' Alan Parsons Project 

Again, I'm using the new arrangement in the ' computer room '. Not uncomfortable just squeezed in a bit

but if thats the only complaint, the new setup is worth the agro

on the exercise front, my new philosophy is ' people are content to go for a walk ', this is healthy and keeps the body moving. Good.
For me, I'll ride the rowing machine for 10 min and the elliptical for 35 min plus the free weights and calisthenics.
So, what difference has there been in the data that the Wahoo Tickr produces. 
None. Average BPM is 117 - 120, max BPM is 125 - 133

Thus, only attitude for philosophy has changed. BUT I do approach the workout, much more casually - hey !, like going for a walk

🍘 ' let my love open the

 🍘 ...... door
to your heart '

sing it, Peter Townsend ' let everyone keep repeating that yo'll never fall in love '

the price to be paid
our mild snowless winter will mean lower rivers. Guys who fish already claim even the big rivers show signs of falling levels - and this was last fall and now

Thus, we are re - jigging the ' computer room '

At one time, the PC tower and monitor and keyboard setup really needed a full size desk. As mentioned in previous posts, well, the Chromebooks are all eleven inch models. These Chromebooks are stand alone devices however, I do seem to favour a monitor or TV screen.

So, the corner tubular [ free ] writing / computer apparatus likely is  the ticket. Prior to this afternoon, the sofa was sideways, dividing the room [ clumsy but neat to sit and think ].
To expedite all the changes, I took apart the cut down computer desk and slid the sofa against the wall.

The arrangement has the sofa on the east wall [adjacent to the open door, next is the tubular component unit ]. In truth, I am tight to the sofa [ in fact the sofa right arm is under the table top of the component unit].
Perhaps clumsy but recall, the Chromebook really doesn't need a desk top - just old habit and what I'm used to. B/c the saving in width is a minimum 1 1/2 ft.

I thought that I'd give the setup a Alpha one test. The other minor annoyance is that the rig to connect to the monitor hangs over the tabletop if I place the Chromebook on my knee [ faster typing ]. 

to quote  Gloria Gaynor ' I will survive ' 

✒ ... the moving finger

 ✒ having writ moves on ....

still gray out there, cloud cover
some sun is due today

🔊 " all we are saying .....

 🔊  ..... is give Peace a chance "

our trend is supposed to continue, close to 32 F and sun for a good part of the day

" Everybody Wants to Rule the World " by Tears for Fears

and the day is colder than it looks. Failed to check to for wind speed.
However, the Giant Tiger beckoned [ this was Sunday, afterall ]. Not crowded, and stocked fairly well.
A subsidiary trip to Canadian Tire [ Walmart w/ more car stuff ] yielded a $ 22 coffee maker. Same brand as the one that failed. Less features [ non digital, non everything ] ' off and on ' button, c'esso far t tout

We are running water through to clean out debris ahead of the inaugural coffee try, tomorrow  ...... so far so good

AND, new for us  ' potato and onion crisp '. Take the spuds and use a mandolin or such to make thin slices. Onion gets sliced a tad thicker.Onions higher in sugar will cook and burn if sliced too thin.
Season w/ Kosher salt, cracked black pepper and rosemary. Or substitute Herbs de Provence [ b/c thats what we had ]

we shall see said the Zen Master

🌞🌞🌞Feb 3

 🌞🌞🌞sun

and this is for days coming too !

bad luck [ bad news ], our coffee maker does not make hot water. Lights go on but no heat

consumerism at its best $22 and the coffee maker lasts past the 1 yr warranty [ it made almost 4 yrs ]

so, buy another

and another [ disposable appliances]  ... and you can read how the tar sands oil projects are less climate friendly
BUT disposable appliances are a composite failure

Bath - ing time

 

Not sure
if we will ever go again. Bath, Somerset, UK

what is this. I thought quintessential Bath, a street view. Why not. Would you recognize this ? I said
Yes
for sure

there you go

Our weather for FE 2
close to freezing but above, clearing and part sun is due

memories are made of ........

 

the pic is from Bath, UK [ my favourite - go to place ] Of course, we visited many pubs while in the UK
This door is entrance to the Couer de Lion.

the signage is accurate. quaint and intimate [ three tables and a bar 6 ft across ] 

Why ? this image. Well, I've been trying to upload an image but it seems that I can only access files from ' photos and not ' My Drive '

the problem is that all downloads go right to Drive [ the cloud ] Very little material is in ' Photos ' or non - cloud files

Couer de Lion is located in a passageway minutes from Bath Abbey. We were there, one lunch when 30 people got in
Ugh. too many !