It's been a good week

Got some work done, it is only 92 degrees now and it will cool off nicely this evening. While posting a picture I noticed a picture I took on January 17th - how quickly we forget.

That snapshot made me think to take another one right now from the same vantage point:

What a difference five months makes.

No particular reason but I do like the Staple Singers.

Weather or not

AllenS has requested warmer weather. I have, too. I imagine that even those of you who have not piped up would appreciate a break in the weather. 

It has been too cold for me to work. Sure, I can do a bit of yard work, but today when I went out to work in the shop I came back inside before I got anything done. Went to the store - if I can't pretend to make money at least I can spend some. My poor Honda barely cranked over. It misses the warm weather too.

Anyway, I have been using my indoor time to do some reading. Here are my reviews:

Candide, by Voltaire - tend to your own garden. 

Schlachthof-fünf by Kurt Vonnegut - so it goes.

Good Clean Fun by Nick Offerman - The teacher and the student walk the same path. Wabi Sabi. Domo arigoto gozaimashita.

To sum up - it is easier to read about world travel than it is to actually travel the world, especially if you are in Lisbon when the earthquake of 1755 hits. Vonnegut was a nut. Offerman is a decent stand- up comedian who pays attention to the philosophy of woodworking and uses his show business money to employ other craftsman. 

What else could I include as my musical selection, eh? 

And for those of you who find Bernstein's conducting arrogant, indecipherable, opaque or otherwise misleading, you are correct. I knew a guy who was conducted by Lenny and this is what he said "Worst conductor ever!"

Edit - speaking of arrogance - dude thought he could write an operetta that encapsulated Voltaire's novel - ha - did you ever read the book, Len? Sprawling ain't the half of it!

I just checked the forecast - it will warm up here starting Sunday, we will go above freezing and get some rain. All good things.

I don't like it

How cold is it? It's so cold I saw a lawyer with his hands in his own pockets.

I hope that wherever you are you are managing to stay warm. 

Maybe some music that suggests the tropics will help.

"Punxsutawney Phil sees shadow, predicts six more weeks of winter"

Groundhog Day 2015

"While no one questions Phil’s dedication to the seasonal outlook, his accuracy is an enduring source of controversy."

"In 2013, Phil issued a forecast for an early spring, but bitter cold and snow gripped the eastern U.S. into March that year. The prosecuting attorney in Butler County, Ohio went as far as to seek the death penalty for Phil for “misrepresentation of early spring” before a Pennsylvania law firm came to Phil’s defense, claiming the Ohio attorney had no jurisdiction to prosecute the Groundhog."

Update... VIDEO: Jimmy the Groundhog bites Wisconsin mayor's ear: http://go.wgntv.com/1K4iQMt 

News From Down The Lane

I took a walk down the lane this afternoon, all the way past the road to the boat landing, and out to the County Highway, then back again.  Lord, it's still cold here in the northernmost part of Wisconsin.  The temperatures are below zero and the harsh winds today gave birth to wind chills near thirty below zero.  I walked fast, my face covered so the cold air couldn't harm my nose and lungs.

There is more snow here than any winter in the twenty years we've owned this place.  There is so much snow that we don't know what to do with it.  The piles around the perimeter of our drive now reach above six feet.  The snow along the lane became so deep that the town plow couldn't move it.  The boys at the town garage started up the road grader and ran it up and down the lane to push the snow farther off the shoulder.  The lane is passable but drifts over each time the wind picks up.

We had to shovel our way DOWN to the back stoop and back door to get into the cabin when we arrived Thursday afternoon.  The piles of snow on either side of the back stoop now tower above my head.