Posted 9:00 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

Nope... not a "snow day"

For all of you who look forward to being snowed in a on working day, this ain't it. Mother Nature rudely dumped a load on us on Saturday night. Unless you shoveled yesterday, it looks to be about a foot of stuff, and there's some drifting. So, we're relieved of leisure activities, replaced by scraping, shoveling, and cursing.

I like snow, but that's fairly easy for me to say, since I no longer have to shovel as I did for so many years, especially in "the driveway from hell" on James Avenue, as several people referred to it. It was long and steep. Even with a snowblower, it was serious work; too steep to control the machine on the down-slope, and steep enough to require hard pushing to get it back up. If there was much snow, it was easier to shovel.

This morning, I got up early, donned my snow boots and cleaned off the car... for no good reason except in case I wanted to go somewhere later... like to get a new snow brush to replace the one that broke yesterday (of course I had a spare). With plenty of food, enough smokes, internet connection, and loads of books to read, I can wait. Oh yeah... it's a good day to write too.

Posted 9:26 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

Happy President's Day

Back in town after a fine 6-day holiday in Florida, thanks to a friend. Got a couple of quick snatches of tan amid mostly cloudy weather, and got re-aquainted with the ocean, the power of which I learned to appreciate during my Navy years. My changed eating habits and increased exercise have resulted in about 8 pounds weight loss, but some of that is actually an increase due to adding a smidgen of heavier-than-fat muscle.

Unlike most people, I've never been very concerned with the flavor or style of what I eat, so changing foods has not been very hard, except changing shopping habits. For a long time, I've tried to keep my meals "less than yummy" as a way to keep myself from eating too much. I'm poor at restraint once a meal is in front of me (Mom's years of 'clean your plate' sermonizing), so I exercise control in what I fix and serve to myself.

Low cholesterol food... most of it... is quite tasty enough, except for the special breads available. Eating fish has been an easy part of the changed diet, and switching from coffee to tea (I drink copious amounts of each) has been easy too, which surprised me. I brew loose tea a pot at a time, so the routine isn't that much different, except for forgetting to stop the water when it boils. I gotta get a whistling teapot.

Looking forward to the next week of WARM weather... walking without long johns and my ear flaps down. I adore Spring, and even getting close is exciting to me.

Today... think good thoughts about George Washington, the man who twice turned down becoming King of America. If only our current career politicians could turn down anything.

Posted 4:13 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Bully finally backs down

Government can be a royal pain in the ass, and in the pocketbook, by taking actions viewed as wrong by most of us. Often they get away with those actions, simply because the victims don't have the time, energy, and resources to fight them. Occasionally, citizens put up a damned serious fight and win a victory for all of us.

After officials in the suburban Atlanta city of Stockbridge tried to condemn the Meeks' tiny flower shop and supplant it with a town center, the couple spent two years and more than $200,000 fighting the move in court.

Their battle became a symbol of Georgia's budding movement to rein in the government's power to seize property. And this week, the owners could finally claim victory: The city said it is dropping its battle to condemn Stockbridge Florist and Gifts.

Read the full story from the link on the PATROL website.

Posted 8:54 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

Yep, this is cold

S'funny how temperature is so relative, depending on what we've become used to, and for some years now, we just haven't had really cold weather. All of us old-timers will say that we remember lots of days this cold (-10 as I write), and we're not joshing. It has gotten warmer... thank goodness for a little global warming.

I just got out a coffee cup commemorating our coldest temp ever in Minnesota, an official -60 in Tower, MN (it was -32 here in the cities). Remarkably, that record was set exactly 10 years ago today, on Feb. 3rd, 1996.

I've long said that anything at -10 or lower is really cold, but that lower doesn't really seem any colder. What I haven't experienced for a long time is the squeakiness that walking on really cold snow makes. Maybe today. I'll be working at the Museum of Russian Art today, where the main exhibit is "Colors of a Russian Winter". C'mon over.