Glacial

Wow, what a slow blog-week for me again! My puter is still a bit messed up, n should be fixed more thoroughly, but is presently allowing me to type, - so here it is!
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Today was a beaut, 50 degrees n sunny. Well, quite unusual for January this week again. The weather guy this am. said it's the warmest here ever on record!
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The related news story was that Burlington Vermont had to call off the ice-fishing contest to be held in February, because the ice has never been thinner up there on Lake Champlain this time of the winter season. Oh well, maybe next year, they're hoping...
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When I was little, about 7, we used to take two-week summer vacation in a cottage on the shore of that Lake. I remember spending alot of time playing and swimming there with my cousin John, who was born on the same day, same year as me, but up there in Burlington. (Now he lives near LA of CA.) My Mother grew up in that lake area, n met my Dad there at UVM before he was shipped to Korea, then they married n moved to the Massachusetts- Boston area where I was raised with the other four sibs.
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The fun story about that glacial Lake Champlain, which is miles deep n located between up-state New York n Northern Vermont, is the legend of "Champ" the sea-monster, who is reported to haunt the waters. Like "Nessie" of the Loch Ness in Scotland, it's got the odd reports of sightings n obscure photos, n rumored to be a hoax or Sturgeon fish, which can grow to six foot lengths. Like Nessie, it's also theorized as possibly being a surviving underwater Plesiosaur from the dinosaur era. It's interesting that both of the lakes in different continents are near the same latitudes, with the same un-proven legend mysteries.
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I haven't seen the lake's Champ yet, but my first dog as a child that was a boxer, was named Champ!
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What I did notice in that lake way back when, were tons of those little baby, striped muscles, with such pretty shells. I saved some of those packed in a box somewhere.I remember a news story from just a couple years back, that they're not natives of the lake, but are an accidental foriegn, hostle, take-over species. The native shell-fish were reported to be almost completely gone. Now the striped renegades are spreading through fresh-waterways throughout the continent, clogging up fish spawning-grounds n all sorts of man-made water contraptions, like piers, bridges, n hydro-plants.
The good point brought up about the new muscles clustering everywhere, is the surprizing fact they appear to be cleaning up water pollution, as natural filters, purifying the water as they take over all available space from the other fresh-water species.
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The eco-system is changing, n it's uncontrollable. Glaciers melted n formed the lakes n the land we live on. Now there's a volcano in Alaska, the perma-frost there has melted for the first time, the northern hemisphere is warmer, longer than before. Scientists state the polar-ice-caps are shrinking. Species are changing food sources or dying out of existance.
Another pod of white-sided dolphins were beach-stranded on the Cape late this week, only 5 out of 20 were saved. The number of strandings this year here is unprecedented! The news reported the initial animals tested the past few weeks were starving, n had no other apparent physical afflictions.
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The positive I get out of this warmer day is I'm warmer, n don't have to pay the heat for today, it's shut off... n my puter seems to like warmer...

Long Time, No Post All Week

I'm way busier now than before, n tied up off-line most of the time.
So I'm sorry to report to friendz, family, n reader's that until my puter begins working better n faster, I prob won't post as often. In case you're wonderin, I'm reading more than typing. It's becoming far too time consuming with the constant freeze-ups, n the keyboard still needs replacing. Been spending lotsa puter time tryin to get what's slowin me down to a snail's pace here, still not there yet. I'm sure you'll all notice when I'm repaired. Occasionally, it decides to work awhile, after many reboots
(like now)...
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After realizing the older keyboard I have has the wrong interface n number of pins to use on the newer puter here, I hooked up the old 98 machine, typed a mile in it, went to save to a floppy to transfer to here to post n guess what, the hhd just quit- bye, bye. Won't detect on restart. Now gotta open that box up (no time to do) see if maybe the wire connector got jostled, or maybe the blank floppy I inserted was infested... again no time for the messin around anymore! Totally going in reverse now, I've resorted to pen n ink writing again, which will still have to get typed up sometime to get used... All because lotsa cash first would help...
Grrhhh! Apparently my life isin't aggrivating enough yet...
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My week started shakily with a scary, multible-tornado dream. At least they missed me...
The very next day there was a very wild wind n rain storm here. Lots of power out n trees down in the area. I drove by a few n wasn't home for most of it.
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The next day I noticed the neighbor's upstairs deck furniture, which shouldn't be out there off-season with no one living there anyhow, flew into the maple tree out front breaking some dead trunk pieces off, n lots of stuff landed in my yard. The tree has had some hollowed out parts due to the handiwork of a few "Downy woodpeckers." Greatfully, I didn't find any holes in the side of the house. More large wood pieces from across the street were in the road infront from the woods across the street. I spent some time clearing the road n moving furniture back to the R's yard zone.
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Seems I've wasted tons of time cleaning the yard this fall, cause now ya can't tell I did anything at all. I must've raked about 25 times already, there's leaves all over the walk again... Seems I wasted tons of time tryin to get lotsa puter stuff done which didn't pan out... still eating up all my free time, takin all the fun outa it n quite aggrivating. I'm sure I'm the only person I know with this kind of "reluctant patience."
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Also my oven, which I love baking things to eat n to keep warm with, now doesn't work- since last week-end, right after I bought baking powder n wanted more muffins for breakfast, too. I've got all kinds of food I can't make now, like pizza n potatoe skins. I've been eating PB&J sandwiches all week. I'm very greatful it's been warmer than normal for winter this week, but we're about to get back to icy weather again. I'm goin to be hungrier, colder, n broke from turning the heat way up to 55 degrees! It's been a long week already... Now I need more of my limited free time to pull the stove out from the wall n see if I can figure out what may fix it, fuse, wire, or element-
n pay for it...

It all boils down to cash n time... n lack of it.

Scores

Football update:
The Patriots got trounced by the Broncos tsk, tsk!
Denver recovered several fumbles n intercepted passes to grab the points, n had the most questionable judgements ruled in their favor...
I noticed the scoring tunes sound like the Pats tune... hmm
DEN Broncos 27
NE Patriots 13
Tom Brady's just figured out he's not superman after all...
No Superbowl for the Pats this year ... Awwww
Mile High Stadium may have sucked too much oxegen out of the atmo for them to think clearly, some big guys were observed with the O2 mask on...

Pittsburg Steelers 21
Indianapolis Colts 18
Many dramatic turns in the last 4 minutes of game play, when I began watching.

* It'll be the Broncs vs Steelers for the AFC Championship contest next week.

Augustine Volcano

Mount Augustine here on an island off the Alaskan mainland hasn't had any activity in 20 years. There's a good AP article "Volcano Eruptions Have Alaskans On Alert, Airports, Schools Close" about it at http://www.thebostonchannel.com/weather/6085693/detail.html if ya care to know how the Alaskans are dealing with it. In the past 24 hours, including today already there've been many small magnitude (between 1 to 5) earthquakes in that zone n in the Pacific off CA too.
Here's a world view showing the north pole in relation to this action.

I don't remember a time in my life when the planet and weather didn't concern me. I always did well in Biological n Zoological studies, Earth n Ocean sciences, n Astronomy during High School n University years.
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Back in the '70s, I had an arguement in front of my class with the Junior Biology teacher, Sister Cathleen. It was rare anyone would ever dare express a dissenting opinion from a nun's teachings n thought of as being disrespectful... We'd been learning about current events on excavations just discovered in PomPei, where an entire town had been preserved in lava deposits in the middle of their regular daily activities. She claimed that there hadn't been any active volcanoes except for Kiloweha in Hawaii for over the past 50 years, n none of us would probably ever need to worry about any violent eruptions in our life-times.
I raised my hand n argued that we would, according to what I'd learned about moving tectonic plates, hot-spots, n how eruptions occur, n on my gut instinct. She then screamed at me that I was incorrect, n there was no need of us ever being concerned about it! I shut up n didn't speak out in her class again. I always knew she was very wrong, n shouldn't be teaching Science with such a closed mind. (I only went to the State Science Fair twice, the only student in the school until that date to ever go).
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I've often wondered how many of the old classmates remembered that arguement when Mount St. Helens blew her lid, and took so many unprepared n complacent people, towns, homes, forest, n wildlife so suddenly. No one can afford an attitude of complacency about the state of the planet Earth again. It's a choice we make to be prepared for it, n to re-evaluate situations based on new data, to form a plan of action, n to do your best not to get caught unprepared.

Seismic

There was a siesmic event and volcanic eruption reported in Alaska yesterday, in the very active Pacific rim region. The news had a long distance dramatic ariel of the large smoke plume. Usually volcanic discharge makes for more colorful sunsets until the ash n gases disipitate months later.
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In the middle of doing kitchen chores I'd had that feeling n knew it, too. Just never know where it's happening til I look it up or hear about it on the news. The tell-tale feeling I get is physical n emotional. It seems like all the fluid inside my body is mini-mixing although nothing else around me is moving. Because of it I feel kind of sea-sick, then dread.
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Once years ago, I awoke from a memorable, vivid close-up dream featuring a large n heavy open-top box with a layer of lumpy, brown-skinned potatoes in it, being violently n quickly shaken back n forth, causing the potatoes to roll loudly, roar, n rumble. The shaking was deafening. I'd suddenly awakened to the TV news map reporting a large earthquake which took many lives. At the time of the Mexico City Event, I'd been studying Mayan Meso-American Art History. Many pieces of antiquity n architectural structures I'd learned were lost for-ever.I always remember those potatoes rumbling every time I feel that inner shake.
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The weather couldn't be nicer for a winter day on Cape Cod. Very mild breeze, warm in the upper 40 n 50 degree range almost all week, a real beauty. Shut the heat off, opened the window, n spent as much time outdoors as possible. After the past several years of coldest n snowiest winters, I'm not complaining. I'm sure this won't last.
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I've been keeping busy sorting through clothes n stuff. In things from my parents house I was surprised to find an old, well-worn, crumpled Marvel Spiderman comic book from my childhood I'd no idea was here. It has EBay written all over it, if I could just hurry n get the machine to work with me. Spent all night to do this, see below.

I'm looking forward to the Patriot's play-off game Saturday Night against the Denver Bronco's at Mile-High Stadium.

Selective Science

How to leave a comment when ya can't even type in anything using the keyboard:
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Using the mouse, open previously done text files, or have mouse-drag selectable text on the page where you are entering into the message box. Drag-select wanted letters n word fragments, then right click over selection and copy, then click in cursor where you want it in the text-enter box, right-click and paste in the box, include spaces and punctuation marks.
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Ya can also do this to enter the username n passwords, n in the text match-up box. That's how I left a short message on Neo's blog today after the keyboard had died again.
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One letter at a time is a kill-joy, tho- Just a tad tedious. Methodical n meticulous. Things other people have zero patience for. Wish I was getting paid for this patience...
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Ya can also do this to emergency name a file to save it, all without ever using any keys at all, just the clicker!
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A method to keep in mind if ya ever encounter this type of problem, n wanna save or finish what ya started.

Method n practice...

Tally Up

The sun finally showed up here, to brighten my day, along with some crisp, cold, Canadian air. After the uptown mail trip and then feeding the squirrels it actually felt warm in here after I came in. Difficult to just sit here lately, I've been movin around a bit to keep the blood stirring, n chasing the lazy cats into action..

It's def soup season again. Everyone seems to be dealing with flu n viral symptoms the past few weeks. My 3-day sore throat left today. Hope it stays away awhile. I still don't dare sing in case it leaves again. Tough to do phone calls that way...

It's amazing that I'm posting this at all, considering how inconvenient n repeditive this machine is mal-performing. I'm too dedicated to the punishment, it seems to me today. The expert opinion about tossing it may be the wise thing to do, except then it would be a very long time until the next post!
Or I could back-step n hook up the ancient machine, with the 24000 bps modem n wait hours to do things anyhow. Oh well! I've only restarted (tallied) 4 times to type this far into notepad, because the keyboard stops working. hate all the wasted typing that never shows up, wasted time n energy, n think I can remember what I was about to say after waiting for boot-up again? So If posting takes me longer than usual to update n answer commentz in the near future, ya know why. (tally-7)
I've got things to write n type, but NOT like this!...

Tonight AT 8 on ABC the Patriots are dealing with the Jacksonville Jaguars (#3 defence in the League, zone runners) in the playoffs....

No Team has ever won the Superbowl 4 out of 5 in a row yet, I heard on Sports Spotlight, so most folkz (except the fans of course) have decided the Dynasty labeled Pats probably won't win. They haven't done as well this year, having more defeats and injuries. They're in the 4-spot, so If they lose this game, they're out of the running. They still have most of the key player's who did all the work the past five years, however, I've noticed alot of their plays have been picked apart by the other teams for a change this year. They'll have to fight harder for the fame this round.
(tally-10 restarts n not even online yet...)

GO PATs!
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UpDate:
11:04 pm after the 4th Quarter
JAX 3
NE 28
WOW! Think the FL defense is frozen because of the 20 degrees factor... They've looked uncomfortable since the 1st Quarter.
The Patriots move forward!

As The Slush Flies....

Yesterday I got all my christmas lights down off the little deck trees n all the other Holiday decs put away. I moved stuff up near the side of the building to protect it all from the wind which was forecast to arrive with the latest storm.

I saw on the news that California n Nevada are getting rained away this week. At least we've been spared the flooding so far...

It's been alternating snow n rain all day long, n I cancelled most of my plans for the day. Slush had finally built up at the point when I decided I needed to get uptown for the post office, so I hiked it up there. Wish I could find my scarf I put away too well last year. I know it's clean n in a sealed baggie somewhere... Really coulda used the thick polar fleece scarf MB made me a couple years back today, yep! Which reminds me...

I watched the "Serenity" movie again last night on the puter, which was totally annoying due to audio interruptions every few secs, because of the speed problem I've been havin. The official Universal studios "Browncoats" Firefly Blog officially shut down for good today. So Last night I visited one last time, did the last poll n quiz, got it correct, of course. Mr Universe had a Jewish wedding... Didn't everyone see that? Of all the items they'd had earlier to redeem points for, there were only 15 of the travel mugs at 50,000 points each left! I didn't have that many points, n never will... I wanted that Zong Da Yi baseball hat... oh well!

They did post links to local online groups to hang at after they went down. I wonder how much that dude got paid to run the blog...

The Year, The Day

2006 01

yippee, yahooee... zzz...
I'm tired n alive n a year slipped by me while I've been keepin busy.
Was up til 5 am doing a scan in slo-mo. Caught a browser-highjacker, but there must be more cause my settings changed again, n still not up to speed, so here we go again.

It occurred to me no one called at the countdown-time. I was online a half-hour past the turn of the year, due to down-load-slo-mo, so if anyone tried to call the line was busy, (that's what the cell is for)... just a "Sorry" in case ya tried!

This is really cutting into my blog-time... but a holiday so been readin a few new ones again. Baked some goodies n gonna go make pizza dough next, well, I'm usin up some tonz of flour this week, still got lotz more...
It's been spittin melting snow since the pahty-time until today, but not stickin, yay... I don't wanna shovel today zzzz... !

Hope ya all havin a good first day of the rest of ya life!
(mine's still in Slo-mo, tho!)...