Ian Abel

Chewsday... Uneventful yesterday, though Brendan stopped by to pick up Whitney. Jemma managed to feel well enough to get home from London, glad to not have another day feeling miserable in a London hotel. -1c and overcast first thing, 3c the expected high with rain/sleet/snow forecast for later in the day. BAH!! Carry on.

Moaning!!! PAH!!! Friday evening, we enjoyed a happy-hour to celebrate an indictment. During the evening it rained, then we got hail, THEN THE SNOW STARTED. By Saturday morning we made the dubious distinction of reaching the THIRD SNOWIEST WINTER on record. Currently at 89 and a bit inches. It was some very wet heavy snow, 6-8 inches around the area, clogged all the plows and our street weren't cleared till after 1pm. Minneapolis proper was and still is a mess. They only cleared snow-emergency routes over the weekend and won't start sorting out the regular residential streets till today. Saturday news of Jemma being STUCK in a hotel near Mar Blarch, having arrived at Heathrow at 6:30am, they got the crew hotel, and about an hour later she came down with either a stomach flu or food poisoning!! NOT a happy camper. That has put her on "out sick" and waiting to feel good enough to then get a deadhead back home! Saturday evening a Zoom happy-hour with friends in Arizona - they are re-thinking when to return here, waiting to hear there is NO MORE SNOW!!! Could be a while. Sunday services for Palm Sunday went well though the street around the church were nuts parking difficult and some impassable. Most unusual, but due tot he snow being so heavy and wet, harder to clear quickly. Also, resulted in a lengthy departure after the services, grid-lock for 20+ minutes, such a mess. Was sunny most of Sunday afternoon and the snow started to recede some. Hopefully, with warmer weather forecast, it will possibly disappear EVENTUALLY!! Today, working, of course. Weather a mild -1c getting the newspaper, high overcast and a high of 3c expected. Supposed to be 20c for a high by next Saturday!!! GOOD GRIEF 🤯 Carry on.

Very late check-in...POETS, doing that. Whitney dropped off yesterday afternoon, as both Brendan and Jemma are in the air. Busy last evening with choir rehearsal which went as expected, i.e. LONG!!! We did have our post-rehearsal happy hour, managed to squeeze it in, and raised a special glass due to some breaking "news". Today, we're having a neighborhood/friends/family happy hour, again prompted to celebrate "things that apparently can't be mentioned here...". Weekend will feel busy, tonight the happy-hour, tomorrow much rushing around with apparently a large to-do list (what I don't know yet, I've just be alerted is all!), then tomorrow evening a Zoom happy-hour with our friends in Arizona. Sunday, up early, two services to sign at, and then HOPEFULLY, a chance for a nap mid-afternoon. The seaweed twirlers are forecasting/threatening we're getting 6+ inches of heavy wet snow overnight. That was SUPPOSED to be preceded by a day of rain and falling temperatures. NOT MATERIALIZED, and it really doesn't feel like a lot of snow is coming - we live in hope... This am -1c and light drizzle, tapered by 10am. High of 2c and no more precipitation, YET. Carry on.

Daffs in MinneSNOWta... With A LOT of luck the area shown MAY produce daffs in 3-4 weeks, we live in hope! 😒🤪 BIN day. Yesterday quiet with little to comment on/report. Today, BINs out early (well last night in the s00ding cold -12c!!) and serviced quite quickly this week. Later, choir rehearsal, will doubtless be a LONG ONE, as we prep for two Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, and two Easter Sunday calls for the choir! Hopefully we will be released in time for a post-rehearsal happy hour. -10c tracking down the newspaper, ZERO the forecast high with rain turning to snow later... oh YIPEE!!!! <insert MANY expletives> Tally ho.

Chewsday... Busy over the weekend starting with the drive to Iowa for the funeral. Sunday managed to get back in time for a great concert at our church. Band, the "Fabulous Armadillos - "What's Going On" featured music from the Vietnam war era and was excellent. Guitarist played "Purple Haze" as if he was Hendrix himself, not a note wrong best anyone could tell, he was incredible! Yesterday, work reared its ugly head and dealt with that. Today, work again but slowing after the requests yesterday. Later a need to run to the grocery store AND the falling-down water store are required, I'm all out of GIN!!! Weather over the weekend and last two days has been sunny, snow still disappearing, but slow as the temp highs only around +2c, overnight down to -8c still Onward.

POETS, but not today, taking the entire day off. Yesterday, quiet, then rehearsal, all good followed by a nice relaxing happy-hour over munchies and drink. Today, leaving in an hour or so to head 3 hours down to Iowa for the funeral tomorrow. We'll only be staying overnight, and returning tomorrow late afternoon. Sunday, who knows, nothing planned. First thing -4c bright sun. Expected to reach 4c for a high. No precipitation in forecast until Wednesday, and highs for next 5 days in the 3-4c range. Continuing to lose the snow cover slowly. Tally ho.

BIN day. I am convinced the BIN services have all, in unison, changed their trucks to some clever QUIET variety. I know it's not my hearing as I can hear the morning dog alarms quite clearly, the BIN trucks however seem silent! Yesterday evening service schola singing was, reported by many, excellent, so we'll take that as a suggestion we can actually hold a tune or two 🤣 Following that "success" re repaired to a watering hole for an evening light celebration <hic> Sadly, we received news last evening that our friend Sue, who was in hospice care, had finally succumbed. A blessing in many ways as she was in a lot of pain in her final weeks. We'll be heading to Iowa tomorrow for a Saturday funeral. Tonight, ramping up again with rehearsal as the Easter singing marathon draws ever nearer. Per and/or post rehearsal happy-hours will be welcomed. -5c and sunny at BIN time, high of +1c expected. later.

I did already do that, thanks for suggesting though. For what I can probably get, including having to make the items more presentable, i.e. clean them up some, AND mess around with the time to do the listing and then shipping them, seems not a lot of real worth. Decided it's a better way to go to let a charity group deal with them and provide as a result funds to get other items into the hands of those who are low income and could benefit someway. Also, I do get a tax write-off for the items, so that also is an offset. HUMP day, moaning!! Yesterday quiet overall, but one significant RANT to bore everyone with. RANT ON - another chapter in why US-style for profit health care/health insurance should be banned, blown up or otherwise removed from the planet! Dr: I want to switch you to a newer medication from the one you're currently on, check if your insurance covers it <-- PROBLEM #1 Me: calls Insurance company, notes required -> Insurance is with "CVS CareMark", wholly own/owned by "CVS Pharmacy", which I HAVE to use per employer. CVS CareMark: Yes the new one(s) optioned are covered. Me: What would the cost be? CVS: All are ESTIMATED to cost $30 monthly for the usual dosage. Me: What's "ESTIMATED" mean, what's the actual cost going to be? CVS: We won't know until it's prescribed and you pick it up at the pharmacy. Me: WHAT THE ACTUAL @$!$!#$!#@$ how is that even possible, you ARE the insurance provider AND OWN the dispensing pharmacy?!?!?!?!??! CVS: don't know what to tell you. Loonies running the for profit health system insane asylum!??!?!?! RANT OFF Today, should be quiet work-wise it seems, then this evening off to a Lenten Soup Supper as we're (the schola) are singing post supper at a Lenten Reconciliation service. -2c first thing, a light rain looks like overnight. Overcast and 2c for the high today with no precip forecast. Tally ho

@TheQ Condolences on the loss of your brother, remember the good times. Chewsday... Weekend replete with a variety of happenings; Saturday, took a "significant" load of old electronics, that had been part of the attic storage, to a repair/restore/recycling place. They were over the moon when they saw the array of stuff, even the 20+ year old laptops. Hardly call them that as they must weigh 30lbs each! These folks figure they are refurbishable treasures so much so, I was invited into the "back room" to meet the geeks that repair/restore the stuff. Once I told them I also have three original Mac machines to bring over they almost dropped to the floor to praise me!! The evening saw us at dinner then a play with friends, most enjoyable. Sunday, took myself off to Jemma and Brendans to watch the F1, they're fans as am I though I don't often watch as the Mrs has little interest. Since it was in Jeddah the timing for a live watch party was perfect. After than more to-do back home. Yesterday had a "wellness check" at the Drs. I have decided they need to throw their scale out as it never makes sense! I KNOW I'm down in weight with all the biking I'm doing on my Nordictrack, AND the fact my trousers/jeans are all loose now. The Dr office scale says I've GAINED 2lbs in the last six months - boLLOXXXX. Then some client work, kept me from trying to post, so AWOL as a result. Today, not much planned after the normal work event. Weather somewhat improving here, expecting highs in the mid-single digits all week. Yesterday was bright sunshine and a high of 3, starting to make a dent in the snow cover. -5c first thing, but headed for 5c and partly cloudy today with a chance of light rain late afternoon. Onward.

POETS, may NOT happen!! Yesterday, enjoyable rehearsal even though it was !@$!@$!@#$ SNOWING all evening. Very slick roads due to the temperatures forming icy patches. Today, panic ensued at the client as they can't get their Cash Flow statement for the auditors to balance, only a $1M off! Frantically having me try and find what account(s) they've managed to miss from one side or the other ... arrggg... Weekend includes tomorrow evening going to dinner and the theatre with friends. Sunday I'm off to Jemma and Brendans to watch the F1 race. Mrs, as yet, undecided if she'll tag along. Sodding weather down in temperatures -13c first thing, sunny, -7c the expected high. No precip forecast until Tuesday at the earliest. Carry on.

BIN day. Yesterday was devoid of anything worth noting/posting. The only activity, after work, was me rummaging through the storage unit to identify the aging PC carp that I'll be taking to be recycled/repurposed. Having thought long and hard about it, since almost all of it is 15-20 PLUS years old, bothering to fire it up seems a waste of time, so I've opted to just bin (recycle) it all. Much to the Mrs pleasure. This evening we've happy hours pre and post choir rehearsal, though the "post" one may not happen as the schola have been "invited" to sing at next Wednesdays Lenten Reconciliation service. This means we're rehearsing for THAT after regular rehearsal. Last time that happened we didn't finish until 9:45pm and that's frankly too late for any of the ageing happy hour attendees to want to be awake!! BINs processed fairly early today, as I was getting the newspaper. -5c at the time, overcast and we've been forecast light rain much of the day, high 6c. Onward.

Like this??? 😃 I couldn't pass it up. Sadly it's not exactly state-of-the-art now and even with high-speed FWD/REW can't easily find anything you may want to skip too. I got the NAB hubs and always used some higher end 10.5 inch tapes for the music. HUMP day. Yesterday a very enjoyable lunch with Trevor before I had to cut it somewhat shorter with a panic call from the client re: more report changes! Today, expected to be pretty quiet. Weather, -2c first thing, partly cloudy, expected to reach as high as 4-5c today.

Chewsday... Monday was nothing to write home about, or even report here! It DID stay sunny all day, a miracle perhaps. Today, much of the same although we are having lunch with Trevor as he's got the week off, spring-break, otherwise known in other worldly parts as half-term. If the weather could manage a modicum of WARMTH, the snow would begin to disappear. -19c getting the newspaper, another bright sunny day, but high only supposed to manage ZERO. What use it THAT in starting the great spring thaw!! Carry on.

Happy birthday @New Haven Neil Moaning... The weekend... IT SNOWED... ALL BLQQDY WEEKEND!!! Friday, battled the snow to a very enjoyable happy-hour at the neighbors. General consensus was that EVERYONE was/is done with snow for this season. Saturday, Jemma dropped off Whitney, a few to-do items then, battled MORE snow driving to a Supper club for an "Oscar winners and runners up songs" sing-along and dinner. Excellent music and company of friends. Clocks changed - Spring ahead style here overnight Saturday/Sunday so now we're blessed with it being lighter later in the evenings. I'm still confused/unsure how it really makes any soDDing difference in the grand scheme of things, and once again Congress (yeah, that august body of incompetent aresholes!!) are debating/weighing whether to stop p!ssing about with the clocks twice a year. Probably will result in the same as always, status quo. Sunday... yes, IT SNOWED!!! Theme here it seems. Decided on a lazy day, with the unfortunate exception of driving to the grocery store as we needed some essentials. The totals so far - this snow season we've had 80 inches and are now in EIGHTH place for snow since records have been taken, a billion years ago probably!! Another 5 inches, quite probable since the season lasts well into April, will put us in the top five. Weather today, surprisingly and AMAZINGLY, NO SNOW!!! -9c first thing BRIGHT SUNNY DAY, -2c the expected high and sunny/clear all day. Carry on...

POETS... Yesterday the light snow continued pretty much all day, but the failed to accumulate due to prevailing temperatures. The evening saw me driving in the same mess both to happy-hour/rehearsal and then back again. The return was slightly more fraught since the temperature had dropped and the snow starting to accumulate. Few folks on the road at 10pm and careful/slow driving sufficed. Awoke this morning 4 inches closer to the "top ten" snow accumulations everyone (the idiots that is) is hoping we manage. Given we're supposed to get the "right" amount tomorrow starting early evening, I'm sure some nut-cases will find the opportunity to see it as worthy of celebration. 😒🤯 We've a neighborhood happy-hour this evening, and a supper club dinner musical performance on the cards for tomorrow evening. Jemma will be off on a six-day back and forth to Heathrow tomorrow so we'll have Whitney for a few days starting tomorrow morning. Nothing else PLANNED, so far... -3c searching for the newspaper in 4 inches of snow first thing <grrr>, zero the expected high. More snow tomorrow. Did I mention I'm REALLY, REALLY done with snow this winter !@$!@$!@$$ !$@!@$!@$!!@$ !$@!@$!@$!$@ Add additional expletives as needed. Onward.

BIN day, also <pah> <buqqer> Yesterday, CONTRARY to the forecast stating snow starting today, it snowed almost all day! Was fortunately, light and since the air and surface was warm, no accumulation, just a nuisance since the Mrs had made/scheduled herself to provide soup for "soup supper" at church, we sallied forth and delivered as well as imbibed. Today - yeah, SNOWING, mostly light but given the Mrs and myself had said we'd drive Megan and her dog Otis to a vet specialist 16 miles away for a heart check, we were off once again in the snow. Pretty much shot the day as we weren't back till after noon. Recording it as a day off. Tonight, choir rehearsal, not been called off yet and looks like it'll not get bad/measurable snow on the roads till late tonight, I expect the rehearsal to proceed. We'll see. Zero c and snowing at BIN time, snowing all day forecast with the temperature remaining steady at ZERO. Snow IS picking up now and windy. Yawn, onward.

HUMP day... Yesterday relatively quiet, and the evening saw us at Jemma and Brendans for a very nice evening meal. Lasagna prepared by Jemma from the family recipe her grandma, the Mrs mother, had been making for "ever". Nice review of their vacation in Scotland, pictures and an acceptable narrative from both of them. We may well visit Edinburgh and Scotland ourselves for our late summer/autumn vacation. Looking into details. For those "struggling" with the inch+ of snow, we're now at 98 CONSECUTIVE DAYS with more than an inch of snow on the ground. Currently measured at 9 inches on the ground at the official measuring spot! Probably another 6+ inches coming in starting tonight/tomorrow, and more over the weekend also. Somewhat calm before the storm here, -1c first thing and overcast, +1c the expected high. Tally ho.

Somewhat, but this year has been excessive -> "At 74.7" in the metro area this is now the 13th snowiest winter since 1884." If we continue, especially with the potential 4-6 inches later this week/weekend, we're now shooting for being in the TOP FIVE!!!! 🤯 NOT the sort of top list I'm in favour of participating in... Yesterday, another panic round of report changes/updates at work. Jemma stopped by and went with the Mrs to let Trevor/Meagans dogs out - both T & M at work and needed someone to do the task, usually M's mother does it but she was preoccupied with something. We then went for a visit/glass of wine with one of the neighbors, very enjoyable. This evening, we're off to Jemma and Brendans for dinner and to see their vacation (Scotland) pictures and hear their travel tales. -2c partly sunny and like a skating rink out there getting the newspaper, 2c the expected high - NO SODDING snow in the forecast, YAY!!

Morning... Slow weekend, especially to start. Mrs still under the weather and as a result not doing much other than resting. Jemma returned from Frankfurt late afternoon and stayed for dinner Saturday as well as picking up Whitney. Sunday we did manage a "birthday brunch" for me at Trevor and Meagans. Delightful especially since all I had to do was transport myself and the Mrs over there 🙂 Then in the evening we had a Zoom happy hour with our friends in Arizona. I'm officially DONE with snow this winter, got 3-4 inches overnight, heavy/wet and then the city plow rolled by a couple of hours ago and basically blocked our driveway, until our snow removal guy gets over here 😒 NOT HANDY as the Mrs is supposed to go over and feed/check on Meagans dogs around noon. -1c first thing searching for the newspaper in the snow - did find it - high of 2c expected with snow off and on most of the day. Bah... onward.

Afternoon... Yesterday/birthday came and went with minimal fuss, we get together as a family Sunday since Jemma is on an out-and-back to Frankfurt, returning tomorrow. Good choir rehearsal, kept thankfully shorter than expected, appropriate congratulatory singing for my birthday recognition, then even better, the post-rehearsal happy-hour I was rewarded with not having to pay for my drinks 😀 Today rather quiet, will POET as the Long Island client seems asleep. Mrs still suffering some respiratory lurgy so will be a slow evening also. Re: Ferranti Pegasus - blimey, the first machine I programmed on a technical course. Donated to the local technical college by BAC Weybridge, took up half the blqqdy room the newly formed computer department had as a classroom. Interesting seeing ferrite core memory on a large circuit board about 15" square. probably held a stupidly small amount of data, and I actually don't remember the capacity. Also, using punched paper tape for input AND output was bizarre by todays standards/methods. -5c and partly cloudy first thing, 3c the expected high. Weekend will depend somewhat on the Mrs health... tally ho.

Awkwardly AWOL too long with a raft of miserable half-excuses... Work went into overdrive/uber-panic mode as they are heading into full-on audit season. Much manipulation of end-of-year data/report formats and new sub-totals required, has kept me way busy! Home front, arrival of the storage unit, moving carp from rental attic and MUCH sorting started by the Mrs, requiring me to help. Meagans oldest dog had a seizure at the weekend and has needed much care, testing, and Meagan needing all the support available - Otis is doing well, but she was very scared for him. Large snow event (15+ inches) last Wednesday/Thursday required cancelling of Ash Wednesday service, addition of "ashes" event at the Sunday service, choir director in panic trying to get some rehearsals for changed schedule. <phew> Mrs got bronchitis, or so it appears, late in the weekend and through this week so far, recovering but required me to do much running around for household chores. Tuesday night main drain/sewer backed up, NO WATER USE until yesterday noon, when it was sorted... Last evening we had an impromptu calling to sing at a Lenten soup supper service due to the past week being a shambles. I'm exhausted!!! There you go! Today seem me having circled the sun another time, and all I can say is; This evening off for choir rehearsal for the entire Easter season services, will be a doozie I'm sure. Both pre and post rehearsal happy hours will occur. As I share the birthday date with our accompanying pianist, we'll both get a choral "Happy Birthday" which is quite delightful. Weather has been everything from cold to much snow (as noted above, light snow yesterday, -5c and overcast at BIN time today, expecting -1c for a high. Onward...

POETS. Yesterday rather quiet, works for me. Today we eagerly!! await the arrival of the storage unit we're using as temporary storage for the carp in the rental property attic, due in around 30 minutes. Still unclear, from the dimensions of the unit AND the description/dimensions needed for the delivery mechanism to place said unit, as to whether there'll be enough room to get past the thing and get the car into the garage. Failing that, we'll probably have to leave the car out, at the end of the unit, until we're done - estimate by the Mrs one month or less. I truly hope we can manage to get the car in the garage, I HATE having to get snow, ice, etc. off the thing as we're still in the midst of our inevitable/eternal snow season. Oh well. Tonight we Zoom happy-hour with our Arizona snow-bird friends. Tomorrow the service that will extract said CARP from the rental attic and place in above mentioned storage unit will arrive around 10. Expecting to have it all done in one day. We'll see. Sunday peaceful until the evening when we'll be off to the Black History month concert, choir singing/backing, so Mrs has a friend taking my seat in the audience as we are "now" supposed to be on the risers for the entire concert... Weather a sunny and VERY cold -16c first thing, only expected to reach -2c for the high. EDIT: As I was typing this the storage unit arrived... Tally ho...

BIN day, morning. BIN trucks, as best I can tell, must've installed some noise quieting apparatus as they seem MUCH quieter than they used to be. Also of note, at least one company has moved to smaller trucks, not sure why! Yesterday was quite an extensive choir rehearsal as we're prepping for a concert Sunday, Ash Wednesday and the first Sunday in Lent <phew> 2.5 hours in all! Needed a well earned drink after that, onward to a late happy hour <hic> Had a delivery also, though not of any parallel metal related items. New SQUIRREL PROOF bird feeder. I was down to my last non-squirrel proof one and they've finally destroyed that, so sourced another of the deterrent variety. That'll keep the buqqers confused for a while as it's in the same location they've been destroying the previous one! Hah, I win. Today, work is busy, otherwise will be unusually quiet as I'll not be headed off for choir rehearsal. Weather decided to return to the cold range for a day or two, -14c and partly sunny first thing, only expecting a high of -7c today. Carry on.

HUMP day. Yesterday another very pleasant Valentine's dinner at the local Conservatory. Weather was carp, raining all the drive over there, but had relented by the time we left. Jemma and Brendan headed to Heathrow on vacation, plane was so empty they might as well have just said "why don't we just fly it over..." at least that meant they got excellent seating in Delta One. Today, choir rehearsal, one day early, to accommodate the musician's schedule. We're accompaniment for much of the Sunday Black-History-Month concert, so plenty to rehearse and need to coordinate with the musicians and featured singers... At least that means tomorrow off, unless the choir director decides we have to also show for more Ash Wednesday et-al practice. Taking the Mrs to a friends group get together at late-lunch time, they'd planned it so she'd have the car as it's not a choir rehearsal day - HAR HAR, that fooled them! Fortunately, she can get a ride back with one of her friends. -8c first thing, sunny and breezy, expected high of 3c. With luck the sun and breeze will get rid of more of the snow cover. Tally ho.

Chewsday and Valentines Day Little to report from yesterday, Mrs went with Meagan and Otis to the Vet and they seemed happy with the recommended ongoing care for him. Not sure why he had the seizure but watching and monitoring, as well as close check on his diabetes. Today will be departing early as we have a regular tradition of a Valentines Dinner at the Como Conservatory, a mini-Kew Gardens place. The dinner is put on as a fund raiser for the conservatory and we're happy to support the place. 2c and overcast retrieving the newspaper, light rain started and a high of 4c expected. Rain tapering off later but supposedly light snow overnight! Carry on.