So, if you’ve been paying attention to the weather news, you’ll have probably heard there’s a big old nasty winter storm sweeping across the US of A. It’s supposed to hit my neck of the woods later this evening, though it’s actually snowing out there already. They seem to have us penciled in for about 14″, though it could always be more. Or less. Usually more at my house, since I’m on the western side of a gorge and the wind tends to come sweeping down the plain, as they say, and dumping everything on my house. A foot to a foot-and-a-half is what we consider to be a pain in the ass around here, rather than some sort of Snowmageddon. Especially when it happens over a weekend (really sucks when we get dumped on in the early morning on a weekday, just because you have to get out there and fuck around in the snow to get to work). About all I do it make sure I have enough diesel to plow the driveway, enough gasoline to run the generator, and enough kerosene to run the heaters if all else fails. I should probably go run the gennie for a while just to make sure it still works.
The real hassle is the cold. It was in the twenties when I got up at my usual stupid time of the morning, but it’s down to about 12° right now, and it’s expected to be below zero and not much above for a few days. And really windy. Plus the wife is working this weekend, which means I’ll have to get out on the tractor tomorrow morning to plow. Not that I won’t be up anyway, of course, but getting out there in the dark kinda sucks, and my fingers and toes really have a hard time with the cold these days. I’m good for about half an hour, but then things start to hurt. And when there’s a lot of snow, even a quick and dirty plow job can take well over an hour.
It would be different if the rest of my life was all fun and games, but, well, let’s just say, it aint.
I’m also getting really tired of reading “Trump is toast now” or whatever. Or how Mueller has this awesome plan and Trump is playing checkers while Mueller’s playing three-dimensional chess and is 10 moves ahead and all that. Yeah, but Trump is still there, isn’t he? And Yurtle McConnell has has back and that, pretty much, is that.
Until I see them back the paddy wagon up to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and frog march that whole band of thieves out the door, I don’t wanna hear what Buzzfeed or Atrios, or anybody else has to say. How about we just focus on getting these Republicans (and the Republicans masquerading as Democrats) out of control? Not that I’m going to personally do much of anything, of course. I’ll vote – and I may even re-register as a Democrat to vote in the Primary, though that’s always already decided before NY gets to vote – and I’ll maybe even donate money, but that’s pretty much it.
And how’s about we just try to decide which candidate actually stands for and will try to accomplish the things that are important to us, and not play the “who’s electable” game, or the “I don’t like this one because they were mean to that one” or any of that other nonsense?
Frankly, whoever legalizes pot and lowers the retirement age to 55 (or even 58) gets my vote.
PJ, I understand what a pain snow is and that’s why I’m thrilled that we’re not getting any…I hope. But that;s what the forecast is. Unfortnately they seldom get snow right.
As for Trump, I am at a loss. In NYC he was not a respected or feared businessman. He was always known to not pay workers. He’d just keep their law suit going until they ran out of money. He was a loud mouth and a buffoon. Now he’s president loudmouth buffoon. But he was and is greedy. I have no doubt he’s doing Putin’s bidding and he certainly doesn’t hide it well. I fear for what he will do next.
Before Mikey died we learned that he was a Canadian citizen because his mom was a Canadian citizen when he was born. Now his brother has gotten his certificate of citizenship so I hold dear the idea that if he goes we can all visit for as many years as we need.. I just hope we get Trump before he gets us.
Cuomo has announced that he wants pot legalized within months. Its a Cuomo plan so it must have stupid drawbacks but at least he going there. It’s also easy to get a medical Marijuana card. You can talk to a dr on line and the card is deliverd that day. It must then be registered with the gummint which may present some unease.
Lola, my Labradoodle turned 10 on Dec 25. This year she developed arthritis and colitis. We’ve Solved the colitis (excuse me while I find some wood to knock on) and after a lot of glucosamine pills and chewables caused her belly problems I found some powdered glucosamine and I have been amazed at the difference. From a limping dog who couldnt get up on the couch she now leaps on the couch and bounds off the porch. She encounterfed a possum the other night and both animals, equally shocked turned around and walked away from each other.
I started this wanting to wish all a happy and healthy new year. I hope everyone’s year is better than Trumps.
Hey Sue, glad to hear Lola’s doing better. My three get their glucosamine chewies and whether or not they’re doing them any good, I don’t know – but they like them and it doesn’t seem to bother them. My old guy and my little girl (who frequently tweaks her leg getting rolled around by her two brothers) get something called CanineActiv morning and night. It’s supposed to be an alternative to NSAIDS (some kind of blend of Amino Acids and other stuff). I was pretty dubious about whether it would do any good, but much to my surprise it seems to make a big difference, and I up the dose when anybody gets limpy.
It’s tough with these bigger dogs. Fortunately my other varmint (who’s the biggest of the bunch – 95 pounds last vet visit, and I swear even at 7, he’s still getting bigger) seems good, so far.
I eagerly await the legalization of pot here in NY. The medical stuff requires a lot of hoops to jump through and from what I hear it’s expensive and not all that good. I just want something to take the edge off and let me get some sleep (and either get rid of all my old man pains or at least make me not care about them for a little while).
All work and no beer makes me a very unhappy boy. I don’t see how I can be expected to live in a world with Trump as President and Mitch McConnell running the Senate and stay sober.
My friend just recommended cbd sleeping piolls she gets them on the internet They’re supposed to help joint pain too i’m going to look for soime tomorrow
I keep hearing about that. My brother-in-law says it helps him. I keep meaning to try it. But I take a couple of fistfulls of supplements every day, and I don’t know if any of them are actually doing anything for me. All I can think is what if I stop things actually get worse? I’ve learned not to mention anything to my doctor – all she basically says is “you’re old, what do you expect?”
My friend says to read labels carefully. !5 and 30 units of cbd are what she found available. But some jars say greater amounts but they count some other stuff that I didnt quite get. But she and her mom have had great success. So I’m going to try. Thank goodness for Amazon because it is very cold here and I’m sure it’s colder where you are, PJ. It’s windy too. A 20 ft spruce tree in the back yard is now leaning about 20 degrees. I have no idea what , if anything I can or should do about it. The tree withstood the worst wind last night. If it were to fall as it leans it would land on the grass and not hit anything. I think I can leave it ’til the spring and get the landscape guy to do something.
It;s warm inside.
If it’s leaning away from any structures, you shouldn’t have much to worry about. Just the hassle of dealing with it. I hate to see trees fall – they were some of my closest friends growing up. Trees and dogs.
Yeah, today was a cold one up here. It didn’t get up above 6 degrees, I don’t think. Tough on the poor doggie paws. Just a few minutes outside and they’re trying to to figure out how to keep all their paws off the ground. But at least the snow more or less stopped. A foot and a half or maybe a little more at our house. Very well timed, being over the weekend, though.
Even with that, we’re still a couple inches below normal – at the halfway point. Five feet down, and five more to go.