Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday Bullets

• All set for the storm when it comes… it’s just a matter of how bad it’s really going to be.  Will I be going to work in the morning or not?  – that is the question.  Nothing is happening around here yet, so I guess we’ll see… 

 

• Have you seen Carrie Fisher in the latest Jenny Craig commercial?  I didn’t recognize her…  Yikes.

 

 

• I went cross country skiing this past weekend for the first time in a looong time – I had a blast.  No pictures tho’ – my camera is too big to carry around for something like that.  My next phone is going to have a camera.

 

• Other that, it’s been a busy week – nothing earth-shattering, but I’ve been getting a lot of little stuff done.  And that makes me happy 

Wordless Wednesday

Future Mess

When I woke up this morning, there was about a foot of snow on the ground.

When I got home from work, it was was up to almost two feet.

My tractor did an admiral job of clearing it out of my driveway 

The patches on the hoses are leaking a bit, but they held good enough to get the job done. (hopefully they will hold for the season!)

I’m dreading to see what my yard is going to look like come springtime…  With the blade on the tractor, you can’t let it “ride” on top of the driveway – that is going up and down over the grade of the ground… you have to set a height and go with it.  Unfortunately, either my driveway is very uneven or the three-point hitch isn’t level – either way, I’ve been digging up a lot of dirt, stone and grass.

Whatever mess there is tho’, it will be worth cleaning up as long as I don’t have to shovel for the rest of the winter 

When the weather gets warmer, I’ll have to see if there is a way to adjust the level-ness of the blade.  Until then, I’m going to try to minimize the mess as much as I can…  

Hosed

I hope everyone had a really nice Christmas.  I felt very lucky this year – I have a job, I’m relatively healthy and I got to spend the holiday with my family and friends.  It was perfect.

It’s funny how priorities change as we get older 

 

On a not-so-wonderful note – last year my snowblower died.  When I took it in to get it fixed, I was told that it would basically cost as much to get it fixed as it would to buy a brand new one.  I opted not to get it fixed.  Instead I went for a cheaper solution – I decided to get a blade for my tractor, which not only saved me a lot of money, but it also gives me more use out my tractor than just brush-hogging.  It is working out great for clearing out my driveway – once I figured out a good pattern.   Plus I’m practically able to make a five-lane highway out to the chicken coop – no shoveling or lifting involved!  There was a bit of a learning curve to get the blade at the right height where I wasn’t tearing up all the gravel in the driveway, but still removing as much snow as possible – but I think I have it figured out.

In theory, I had the perfect plan. 

In reality, something always goes wrong for me. 

The power-steering hose broke, so until I fix it, I have to hope that we don’t have any significant snowfall.  I was hoping it would have warmed up a bit this weekend – I don’t have a garage, so I have to wait for the weather to cooperate before I can work on it.  My fingers are crossed that I will get the tractor fixed before the next big snowfall – I really don’t want to have to shovel if I can help it…

 

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

This ‘n That Thursday

• Tonight was the second episode of the new season of Survivor – the 20th (hard to believe, isn’t it?)  .  I think that Heroes vs. Villains is going to be the best season yet.  I’ve loved Boston Rob in every season he has played in and I’m rooting for him again.  If I have to pick a runner-up to Rob, it will be Russell.  We’re not seeing a whole lot from him yet…  but I think there are going to be a lot of surprises to come.  What does it mean when I’m rooting for the Villains? 

• Not having a snowblower anymore this year, I want one of these!
  
  

  
  Who can resist a robot snowplow that eats snow and poops out snow blocks? 

  As a side note, I was talking with one of my neighbors who is going to set me up with a snow blade for my tractor.  Next winter should hopefully be a lot easier when it comes to snow removal over here – I’ve been doing quite a bit of shoveling… 

 

• If you and/or your family made less than $49,000 last year, you can get your taxes done for free at the University of Buffalo by IRS-certified accounting students from the School of Management.  I think I might take advantage of this.  I usually do my own taxes, so it would be interesting to see if there are any tax credits I’ve been missing out on.  Dates and details are here.

• Please Rob Me – I’m not sure if this is such a smart web site to have.  In theory it’s a good idea to raise awareness of the information that people put “out there”, but what’s going to happen when someone really does get robbed?  If it’s found that the burglars found information on the internet that helped them rob a house, regardless of whether or not it was from this site, they are still going to get blamed.  It will be interesting to see what the legal implications will be.  And they will happen.

• How cool is this?

   

  … However, this guy has waaaaaaay too much time on his hands!

 

This ‘n That

• Since The New York State Golden Snowball Award site has expanded and now also brings us the Golden Snow Globe site (the snowiest city in the United States contest), things have gotten even more interesting in the world of snow…  It’s hard to believe that Baltimore, Maryland is at the top of the list with the most snowfall to date in the U.S. -  More than Buffalo or Syracuse.  More than anyplace in Colorado or Maine.  More than even Alaska   

 

• Psychologists at Cambridge’s Autism Research Center created a test to measure autistic traits in adults.  A score of 16.4 was average and eighty percent of those diagnosed with autism or a related disorder scored 32 or higher.  I scored a 15 – I guess I’m OK 

 

• What English sounds like to people from other countries. This was really interesting… (to me, anyway!)
  

 

• Which organs can I live without and how much cash can I get for them?  This might be an option to consider if the job market doesn’t improve soon   

 

• I’m guess that I’m probably the only person in the world that didn’t know that duct tape had help save the lives of the astronauts on the Apollo 13.  I was only six years old at the time, but you’d think I would have heard the story sometime during the three-plus decades that followed  .  Anyway, I guess that duct tape was standard equipment for the Apollo missions.  Check out this page to learn more about the symbiotic relationship between NASA and duct tape.  Good stuff.

Wordless Wednesday