We ended up with 6-8 inches of snow. Took me an hour to shovel the steps/sidewalk/driveway, but they are clear. The sun is shining and everything is melting. I hop the roads clear & dry by sundown or tomorrow will be treacherous. Frozen pile of slush are no joke. Be careful and have a great Thursday!

 

Evening Mac, Theo, Dutch and Gene

-The Great

 

Happy Friday and Valentine's Day to everybody! Hope that your bodies and hearts are warm today.

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Happy Monday!

 

Going to be a BEAUTIFUL Tuesday----sunny and in the 60's. Hope everyone has a chance to enjoy it.

 

It hit 72 up around my patch of woods, but I spent the day indoors after wearing myself out cutting maple logs up yesterday. Left arm and shoulder are still stiff and sore from having to cut up under several big pieces of that stuff - no choice but to use the undercut technique either, coming down in a cut would have bound the saw bar in the cut for all eternity...

For a 3 horsepower electric chainsaw, the thing has impressed the daylights out of me, and I never have to mix gas!

The internet has been out here for the last four days, something about their net itself having a problem. It's supposed to be all good now.

*You know - it's strange the way things work out sometimes. Theo really missed a bet with Woola.
I have never in my life seen a puppy so cool, trainable, and intelligent as she is. Active and loving and at times so RIOTOUS, but also so snugglie and quietly wonderful.
I'm glad she is mine - and even if it was Theo himself changed his mind and wanted her now;

HE'D HAVE TO FIGHT ME FOR HER!


My red puppy from mars....
Fuzzy kiddo


I need Woola, and she needs me.


Even if her breath does smell at times like the Shelter Island Fishing Pier in San Diego

 

It's supposed to hit 70 today & tomorrow down here. Have a great Wednesday!

 

There's going to be some ROUGH weather tonight!!! Tie everything down and seal the rest up. Everyone stay SAFE!

 

Oh....I guess I should give an update on my Dad. He is STILL in the hospital. His pneumonia is gone, his EKG and blood tests are all normal EXCEPT for the red blood count that continues to stay a little low. His tests for cancer/leukemia all came back negative. However, he is still short of breath and can't seem to sleep very well. He has the doctors stumped. Hopefully, he will get to leave the hospital by the weekend. I appreciate all the positive thoughts and prayers sent his way.

 

Buddy of mine across the street just got back from the hospital after going in on new years eve. Looks like he lost dang near forty pounds, and all because the meds he got from the VA caused more trouble than they helped.

I wonder some times about doctors and hospitals. All the stories I've heard about people getting on meds that they can't ever get off of, and things that go wrong because of the meds and treatments themselves.

At my age, I remember my Poppa wasn't really doing a whole lot. I wonder if country living and simple foods have helped me more than I know - but then, I also built the dickens out of myself when I was going to the gym all the time in my thirties. Even with all the time I waste on silly video games, I still can't avoid an occasional hardcore workout just doing what needs to be done around the place.

~I think that helps a lot. When we challenge our bodies I think it makes them become strong in ways far beyond muscle - it also affects the immune and restorative systems built into them from the beginning.

In spite of all the smoking and drinking I have done in my life, I'm still reasonably strong and capable. I can't think of much else that accounts for that. I haven't been near a doctors office since 2004, and they told me that except for high blood pressure I was about healthy as a bull back then...

 

I agree Wolf....being more active is helpful, even if you don't do a "real" workout at a gym. I use yard work and gardening to help keep healthy (but could definitely walk more often).
My Dad was very active until about 2 years ago when he first started with pneumonia issues and twisted his knee in a fall (he was 75 at the time). It took a long time for him to get over both issues, and the pneumonia issue keeps flaring back up. His 25 years in the Navy, and the smoking and drinking over the years were not beneficial. Thankfully, he stopped smoking over 20 years ago, and now only has a beer occasionally.
I spent a good 20 minutes this morning picking up branches/debris from around the estate. The winds were so strong here that everything I had up against the west side of the house was hoisted up and out into the yard----including my gas grill. I'll have to check it this weekend to see if I can salvage it. The rest of the stuff was gardening pots, planters, watering cans, etc. No real damage to the abode thankfully. I hope everyone else made it through the storms unscathed.
It is going to be a GLORIOUS weekend! Get out and enjoy it.

 

I've got to think of a good way to reduce the smaller branches of the maple tree to kindling, and a chain saw ain't the right answer! *snikkkerrrezzz*
(Don't need to ask how I know, do ya?)

I think tomorrow is going to involve "MACHETE PRACTICE", and that will build even more muscles back...


Do any of you remember my body builders advice threads? All about nutrition and recovery cycles?

I see an opportunity in all of this, and think I will exploit it. I will come out of this at the far end much stronger, if I work it right.

2 days are needed to recover from over-stress
Good nutrition is essential
Another hard workout is also required....


Hmm....

Eggs are cheap!

 

Finished raking the yard and cleaning up the bushes in the front of the estate.

Also have several sprouts up in the seed plantings.

Hope everyone has a great Monday!

 

I spent most of the day figuring out what I want to do about a few changes around the house. ~Re-arranging things, setting things up for more improvement over time.

And how do I want to make the most of this little old place I call my home.

As the summer heat relentlessly approaches, we can say bye-bye to ice and cold (and undoubtedly think better of it as the temperatures go up later).

I tend to migrate from the warm end of the house in winter - to the cooler side for the hot months ahead. I still want to run a second layer of insulation in my attic, which is insulated with blown-in insulation on top of the ceilings (Nasty stuff to get on you - it itches like all get out, and can ruin clothes permanently)

I want to staple up pink panther roll-out insulation directly up under the roof planking, so that the roof itself is prevented to some degree from transmitting heat in or out of the attic, leaving the ceiling-top layer in place.

~ and probably deck over the stuff between the rafters to seal it away from making the attic such a nasty place to go into.

The FOOL who thought to just dump fiberglass all over the top of the ceiling drywall between the rafters was such a good idea - ought to have a double handful of it dumped into his washing machine with his danged underwear!

 

Hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday!

Dad update: He is home! He has doctor's appointments scheduled over the next 2 weeks plus a home health nurse checking his blood counts 3 days a week. He is feeling better, but is about sick of medical peoples and their needles. I believe he was using his 25 years of Navy training to teach some of them a few choice words they may not have heard before....