Ian Abel

HAH!! That rodent, and more importantly/accurately, the idiots that continue that farcical charade are only right 40% of the time anyway, would be simpler to toss a coin. Adding insult to an already shaky scenario, how'd they manage to decide on "Gobbler's Knob" as the site of such a travesty of weather forecasting, I would expect to discover that the caretakers of the creature could well be "Incontinentia Buttocks" and her hubby "Biggus Dickus" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

BINGO! I WIN! Outside temperature this morning retrieving the newspaper... -25c - a dubious win for sure, but I don't expect any other ERs can beat that. POETS, will give that a shot, but going outside NOT in the plans. Quiet yesterday, just a couple of us at the pre-rehearsal happy hour, others AWOL in warmer climes. Rehearsal was brisk with a full attendance, and the schola are on for another funeral next Thursday afternoon, mother of a choir member and one of the post-rehearsal happy hour group. Leaving rehearsal, it was -19c, didn't see much traffic about, everyone else not stupid enough to be out, I guess! 🤯 Managed to get the bird feeders topped up and the bird bath serviced also first thing, much to the appreciation of the feathered contingent, how they survive I have no clue. Today looks to be quiet all round, so we head into the weekend with plans for time to indulge in hobbies - until a to-do list appears, I'm sure. Whitney will be dropped off tomorrow morning, Jemma off on a JFK-DUB-BOS-DUB-JFK jaunt over several days. Reports that Trevor and Meagan have a new car, not sighted yet, but I'm sure we'll see it soon enough. They've been needing to replace both their cars and this is the start. As reported -25c first thing, mostly overcast, headed for a high of -19c. The weekend picks up some with low tonight of -13c and highs next two days +1c - +3c, YAY!!! Onward towards the weekend.

BIN day... considered not bothering since we've only two days of carp. The MANAGEMENT decided it all has to go out anyway! Yay, long walk in the VERY COLD. Other than that (was accomplished late yesterday evening) nothing to report from yesterday. Today, I'd be staying IN due to the temperatures, however, we do have choir and a pre-event happy hour, so I will brave the cold for it. 🤯 -22c and sunny first thing, -9 the expected high, will be -19c forecast around happy hour time!!! Tally ho.

Morning... Back home after a week vacation in Arizona. Haven't, and probably won't, manage to go back and see all the posts for a WEEK!!! More on the trip with some pictures once I get some time, suffice to say, some enjoyable hikes, a visit to a railroad/model museum, and a wine festival. 😃 Weather was fine, for us, though the entire AZ population was moaning about it since it was below average, you'd have thought it was even approaching "cold" <sigh>. Most of the time was in the low to mid 12c - 18c, but they expect 20c - 24c so were all kids of fretting about the weather! Now needing to get busy with some work as the "client" has found some things for me to do in my absence. Weather here is COLD with a CAPITAL C!! -19c and sunny first thing, high of -6c expected THEN, -22c overnight with tomorrow a high of only -11c. Carry on.

Morning all. Very busy weekend <phew> Don't even REMEMBER Friday evening, Zoom with plenty of chat and wine... Saturday, singing at the funeral/memorial celebration for a long time church/choir member. 17, yep SEVENTEEN grand-children there, just wow! Evening we were at a supper-club to hear some local musicians, great evening excellent music and food with a couple who are neighbors. Sunday, was going to be quiet, turned into a support gathering for Meagan, as her older dog has been diagnosed with diabetes and we all decided she needed sort of an intervention to help her with the issue. She was grateful and has a better idea of the path now. Vet has explained it can be managed but as he's old (14) anyway she's having to confront the inevitable. It's a lot of stress on her as Otis has been there for a lot of her ups-and-down a while back. Today, last day of work before we take off for a week in AZ. Some sorting of various items before we leave, scheduling feeding for Bob by various folks used to the task, and of course deciding what to PACK! Not going to be as warm (hot??) as one might have expected/hoped, with highs only around 16-18c and lows 4-6c. Shant be taking shorts this year! -12c and overcast, supposed to remain overcast all day, high of +1c if we're lucky. Onward.

POETS, Doing that. Yesterday, not much, Whitney dropped off, Jemma headed to Heathrow, Mrs moving the last of the Christmas decoration, all I have to do is haul the large boxes to the basement. 🤯 Then, on to choir happy=hour/ rehearsal and that was about it! This evening a Zoom happy-hour with our Arizona friends and probably discuss some options for when we're out there next week. Somewhat busy weekend, tomorrow morning singing at a funeral for a long-time choir members husband. Evening we're off with a couple of neighbors to a dinner/supper-club to hear some great local artists. Sunday "MAY" be quiet, though I'm sure we can find some items requiring attention, especially since we're leaving Tuesday. Planning cat sitting etc., already done but always last-minute things to attend to. -7c overcast but no expected precipitation today, high around -2c Later.

BIN day... they appear to be back on schedule as two of the three services picked up by 8am already, recycle us usually later in the day anyway! Another day gone and still no contact with the "pest control" barstewards about the double billing. May have to visit in person!! Yesterday, all quiet, nothing to report of any interest. Today much of the same work-wise Jemma will be dropping off Whitney soon, she's off again to Heathrow, couple of turns over the next several days. Tonight, choir rehearsal, provided it's not "called" due to weather We're expecting 3-6 inches by the end of the day. The schola are supposed to sing Saturday at the funeral of a long-time choir member at the request of his wife. We'll rehearse the necessary pieces after the main choir practice, so a later than usual evening. Snowing already and -3c and BIN time, zero the expected high, snow most of the day. Tally ho.

and if you check items to "quote" the "quote" tag covers the top of page arrow so you have to use the scroll bar to get back to the top of the next page if you're needing to move to the next page. Seems something is broken, it used to be that when you used the next page navigation or any selected page # you'd be automatically placed at the top. Now you're placed at the bottom of the page...

Not wanting to be too insensitive but isn't a waiting list to be dead rather pointless, unless they've come up with some way for you to stay alive beyond your "due date". If they HAVE, I'm sure lots of us would like to know how to do that!! 🤯🤪❓

HUMP day... Not much to report from yesterday. Mrs spent time with a grand-niece, somehow the schools had TWO days off for MLK observance this year, no !@$!@$!@$ idea why that was/is necessary! RANT ON The story (so far!) Rental property scheduled for some pest abatement in late December. Renter had identified a company to perform task, contacted them, had them inspect/quote. Company sent email contract to renter to electronically sign, she said NO, contact/have landlord create account as they(we) want to be billed directly. Company have me set up account, send me email contract, I sign and return. Work scheduled and completed. Company extract charge from RENTERS credit card as they had it on file - NOTE: Even though she had NOT signed anything! No problem, had her deduct from January rent. Company send her invoice stating PAID, she provides it to me for our records. done deal, right??? NOOOOOOOOOO... I'm NOW getting email reminders to pay the outstanding invoice and the possibility of a late charge. My "account" with them shows the charge and the service provided. I've called "support" who sound like they're based in the expected/ubiquitous "foreign location". After 20 minutes on the phone with them, including on hold TWICE while the individual checked with a supervisor, I was informed the local office needed to handle it. Can't get them on the phone, they're never there. Left voicemails, no response, sent nasty-gram no reply. How is it possible for a company to have the explicit data for the same service done on the same day/time at the same address, by the same service tech., not realize they're double billing!! BOTH invoices show exactly the same datag with a photo of the same tech! They're IDENTICAL! If you hear of a pest control company building in a Minneapolis suburb mysteriously catch fire or have shite thrown at their door, it wasn't me 🤣🤣🤣 RANT OFF -2c overcast and windy first thing, zero the expected high. Carry on.

CHewsday, AWOL, and late posting <phew> Busy working days and weekend was busier than expected for reasons known only to higher powers! Saturday a great dinner out with Trevor and Meagan at a local Korean restaurant. Sunday up 'o crack sparrow to sing with the schola at the MLK services, THAT was tiring. Quick nap early afternoon then a trip to the rental property to review the attic carp. We want/need to have the attic re-insulated and that means all the carp we decided to leave/store there after we moved has NOW to be sorted/chucked and/or stored here. Wasn't as bad as expected, so we're starting to determine when to start on it. Given we head to AZ for a week next Tuesday, there's probably not much will get done before that trip. Weather all over the charts here, we had above zero temps the latter part of Sunday and yesterday, including some rain, until the temp dropped then it turned to light snow! -1c and overcast first thing, supposed to remain overcast all day with a high of +1c. Onward.

Arrrgghhh... AWOL from posting yesterday too panicked. Been crazy busy with large amounts of "panic additions" to client reports due to end-of-year and the need for departments to suddenly add all kinds of new accounting data, resulting in new lines, to be added to myriad reports! That was my Thursday "work time". BIN men didn't come again, no clue as to WHY, they showed up before sunrise TODAY! Also, schola rehearsal last evening, with the "pre" happy hour, fist of the year. Today still in busy/panic mode with reports. Later, who knows, nothing planned but some relaxation post work. Tomorrow we're taking Trevor and Meagan out to dinner at a very good/authentic Korean restaurant. Celebrating his "arrival day" as we do every year. We get to remind him that we were almost snowed in at the airport waiting for his arrival that year as it was mid-blizzard! 🤪 Sunday the schola singing at the MLK services so up early for me. -10c first thing a lot of very slippery roads as it thawed some yesterday. -5 expected high, the weekend will be "warmer" the dizzying heights of as much as +3c!! WOW. Tally ho.

Actually, a few places here recycle old light strings, I used BIN rather too liberally, for BIN, read recycle 🤪 I think - though can't confirm as of right now, that Home Depot take light strings for recycle. Whether any of the places truly recycle them or not is up for discussion

No, but what it DOES do, is determine if I'm going to BIN them or not. Often with some older strings of lights, they'll end up broken/damaged simply as a result of getting them untangled and off the tree. Since I'm moving over to all LEDs anyway, if a string deems itself "temperamental" it gets BINNED. 🤣

Amusingly, I can recall WAY TOO MANY times, where I've been called from various levels of client staff over the decades, and the fix has actually been to turn it off and back on again. This is notably a very popular and frequent requirement with the last zillion updates for Winblows 11!!!! 🤪🤯 HUMP day. Yesterday pretty much nothing to report other than Jemma picking up Whitney and hanging around for a chat for an hour or so. Work entailed some minor report changes. Then I was instrumental (read: given the task of) in removing the lights from the christmas tree, testing before storing same, and then heaving the tree out onto the pile of snow next to where the BINs will reside this evening. Tree will be taken by BIN folks, thank you. Today likely quiet also, with the Mrs spending some time with one of her grand nieces. -3c first thing, high overcast, forecast for a high of 1c and expecting some snow later Onward.

Have to agree, the prices are starting to get way stupid IMHO. As my dad would've said - "I don't want to buy the entire bl00dy factory!"

Chewsday and little to report. Long Island client rousing and posting some minor requests for changes <yawn> Jemma due in this morning to collect Whitney after her London trip. Seems they were 2+ hours delayed out of Heathrow yesterday evening, so not into NY until past 10PM. Will be interesting to discover the reason for that delay... Christmas decorations being removed gradually by the Mrs yesterday and today, with my primary role being the removal of the lights from the tree, testing and storing same for next year's deployment. At my grammar school the irony of the English department was that the head of department was a Mr. O'Donovan, such a broad Irish brogue that it was impossible to understand him 60+% of the time without him repeating himself! 🤪 Separation, AND REQUIREMENT TO TAKE, were language and literature, required until 'O' level. The most boring (apologies to any fans of same) and uninteresting read we had IMHO was "The Canterbury Tales", a true yawner if ever there was one. Only other thing I remember from the deluge of "literature" presented, was "A Tale of Two titties Cities" (schoolboy humorous title revised)! We waded through endless Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens and Burns as I recall. Weather first thing overcast and gray/miserable looking, -6c with a high of -1c expected. Tally ho.

Monday... Successful weekend overall. Friday, Zoom with friends now winter-relocated to Arizona, planned our trip there for the end of January, a week in a warmer climate (at least temperature wise!) Saturday, enjoyable dinner/movie night with neighbors, very excellent Indian take-out obtained, and plenty of wine consumed. Sunday, Brendan dropped Whitney off, both he and Jemma now out on trips. A few to-do items handled, then late afternoon and evening spent at the Mrs sisters' birthday gathering, Actually for both her AND her hubby, my BIL. Just family and a very nice get together. Working today, quiet so far. Weather all weekend has been sunny but cold, -14c first thing, expected to make 0c if we're lucky! Onward...

POETS/BIN day! No BIN trucks yesterday, everyone waited/watched in anticipation, to no avail. <sigh> Nothing much else happened. The snow is actually becoming a problem here (horrors!!) mostly because there's less and less space to pile it up as the plows come by. Today they have additional equipment out pushing the snow onto the front garden areas, to get the streets wide enough for the school buses room to navigate. Jemma finished her OE on the 767-400 yesterday and since her January schedule doesn't start until 17th., they tagged her (her choice to accept/pick it up) for a round trip to Heathrow tomorrow as they're short of pilots, lots calling in sick with this winter weather. I don't even want to tell you how much she'll get paid for the overtime-type flight, it's staggering!! 🤯🤪 She'll drop Whitney off tomorrow morning before heading to JFK to start the trip. Tonight, our first Zoom happy hour evening with our friends who've now deserted to Arizona for the winter, whimps 😀 Tomorrow, a concerted effort to get all Christmas decoration down and packed away. -14c and sunny first thing, high of -8 expected. Enjoy the start of the weekend

BIN day PAH!🤪 Last week, having missed the BIN day as they'd NOT shifted it one day due to the holiday, and they arrived almost at sunrise, so NO CHANCE to get the BINs out once I heard the trucks. Fast forward to this week - we got over a foot of snow in the 24-hours up to late last evening and had to wait until our "guy" came to plow the drive etc., which we didn't expect to happen until late at night. Yours truly, needing the facilities around 1:30AM then moved the BINs to their required spot, this was planned, I'd just check if I got up and move them once the driveway was cleared. GUESS WHAT!!! It's now closing in on 11AM and the BIN trucks have not been heard, even though all the schedules say they will pick up on the regular day i.e. today. I'm sure its snow/weather related, but last week was pretty much the same/as bad, and the buqqers were here o'crack sparrow!!! <GRRRR> That's MY rant for the day. Otherwise, fairly quiet here, especially given we had a 24-hour+ continuous snow event, so we weren't going ANYWHERE! The Mrs did take a short walk during a break in it yesterday and reported it "looks lovely" out. Pretty much up to our bums in snow as can been seen from these morning shots. -11c first thing and sunny, high expected to reach -1c Tally ho.

Happy New Year, one and all... Been quiet here since I last posted, a few days of little activity much relaxing and a lead-up to NYE which was just the Mrs and myself enjoying our own company. Yesterday was the scheduled "family Christmas", time when everyone could get together this season. We had a lovely time, plenty of food, drink and chatter. Fun with the dogs and even Bob, who was most appreciative of his catnip presents 🤣 Star prize (which everyone had already known about EXCEPT ME!) was a wine chiller/mini fridge for the bar for me. Been considering using muddling tokens for one of those for a LONG time, so now I've spare tokens to fritter away. Back to work today, quiet so far as I'm sure the client staff are all recovering from being gone over a week and need to get their proverbial ducks in a row before bothering me too much. Weather here has been mild-ish (for this part of the country!) but summed up today best by a picture; That's not dust on the lens, whopping snow flakes, and forecast to get 6-8+ inches time it ends tomorrow morning. Jemma is due to drive to the airport in this carp to do a 3-day trip!! 🤯 -5c first thing and wasn't snowing then high of +1c possibly. Tally ho.

Wednesday... (not HUMP as only a 4-day week here as most places I suspect). Quiet day yesterday, nothing really to report. Slowly working up the changes for Long Island client, otherwise, nothing! Today we're supposed to take the Mrs grand-nieces for holiday lights drive/viewing, that's scheduled for after 6pm. -3c and overcast first thing, supposed to remain cloudy all day. High of 2c expected. Carry on.

Afternoon... Good Boxing Day, slept in, then mid-afternoon Trevor and Meagan came over, plenty of nice things to eat and drink a played a couple of games they had with them. Today, back working, pretty slow pace as the client key contacts are off until Jan 3rd. I've a few things to untangle for them but plenty of time to do it and take it slowly 🙂 Nothing else happening, I think the Mrs may make a grocery run, otherwise a relaxing evening ahead. -16c and mostly sunny first thing, high of -1c expected. Later.

Christmas done and dusted, though to be far given it was just the Mrs and me, it was very low key! Sore throat still playing a major roll in anything being done 😒 Nice simple meal of some ham with a glaze the Mrs made, some green veg and a salad. Plenty of egg-nogg with lashings of Amaretto, probably could have just done with the Amaretto 🤣 Watched "Love Actually", one of our regular Christmas fares and also "Grumpy Old Men", somewhat a Christmas movie and given it's set in Minnesnowta, has some handy colloquialism to get a laugh. Today, as always, we do Boxing Day, Trevor and Meagan will be over, with their two dogs, so Whitney will get a playtime with friends. Weather is becoming "winter normal" -19c at newspaper time, sunny no wind, expecting a high of -11c "LOVELY"!! Happy Boxing Day

Merry "Eve". Yesterday was relaxing but did include a trip to the grocery store to assure ourselves we have enough comestibles to tide us over for the couple of days we will pretty much be on our own. Plenty of stuff we really should avoid, also plenty of nice cheese, and a small ham to cook tomorrow. We've decided having a quiet time will be excellent, so long as we don't start imbibing TOO EARLY 🤣 Friends were over for dinner and the Mrs made a very passable Shepherds pie, though with no Shepherds available at the store she opted for beef instead! Watched the "British Arrows Awards". A LOT MORE public-service/charity commercials this year than most taking the prizes it seems. Still very nice to be able to stream it in the comfort of home. Today, a bit of cleanup after last evening, and preparing for guests tonight. There's a RUMOR we're going to make mince pies shortly, I'm hoping so, as mum always used to make the Christmas Eve and we do that pretty much every year. Besides, I really, REALLY like them <yum> Tonight we're off to the Christmas Eve service followed by a few friends and Trevor & Meagan returning here for our traditional "eve" Chinese take-away. NOt singing, as the choir aren't this year, and also since my sore throat is still in full swing, I won't be getting up at 7am and braving the blqqdy cold morning to sign tomorrow. Still brass-monkeys cold here with a first thing temperature of -24c, sunny (OF COURSE!), and a high of -19c forecast. Merry Christmas/happy holiday/bon chance, whatever suits you.