AllanThinks

Fob

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Sorry for the lack of posts. We've been very busy preparing for a gathering of friends here next weekend. There is still much to do.

I try to take a photo or two every day. You can always see the latest on my Flickr photostream. 

For those of you who use RSS Feed readers, my latest photo uploads are fed here.

Mike is in town for the UK-LSU game, so I will be attending the game with him. It's perfect football weather, and despite the fact LSU (the #1 team in the country) is likely to win the game, I plan to enjoy the day.

I hope your weather is just as good, and that you have a great weekend.

al fresco

Click image for a much better view. Really. Click it. You won't be disappointed.

It's (almost) summertime, and the livin' is easy.

Here is a view of our ersatz patio. Ali and I are sitting here with our laptops, the speakers attached to the Roku Soundbridge pointed out the window, with tasty adult beverages.

The temperature is in the upper 70s.

Life is good.

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Click image for a much better view. Really. Click it. You won't be disappointed.

You can see this and other photos I took at the arboretum on my photostream.

I Have A New Hobby

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This morning, Ali and I attended a basic knitting class at a nearby yarn shop. Both of us are complete noobs, but we both picked it up pretty fast.

This photo is of my needles, the free ball of yarn we received, and the 4 or 5 rows that I knitted while there.

We have plans to go somewhere this afternoon, but it has started snowing here and we are under a winter storm warning. We could get up to 6 inches of snow by midnight.

I might end up with a lot of free time today to practice my knitting.

A Different Side of Winter

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This is what we awoke to yesterday morning. We got a couple of inches of snow.

Then the temperatures dropped, and are expected to drop further. By Monday morning, the temperature should be in the single digits.

It is currently sunny and in the mid 20s, but it is very windy. But it is enough to melt the ice off the sidewalks and driveway. Hopefully the melt will evaporate before the temperature drops again at sunset.

In Her Icy Grip

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"Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice."*

This is what I awoke to this morning. This is my new worry. Ice.

The last ice storm we had here was four years ago. It was called a 'storm of the century'. It crippled the city for weeks. The cleanup after the storm took almost a year.

I lived for 4 days without electricity or heat. Many people did not get their electricity restored for up to three weeks.

It was awful. A nightmare.

Our forecast originally called for snow overnight. Snow I can live with. But before going to bed at 1:30 this morning, I looked outside and saw that it was raining. I also noted that the temperature was 30ºF/-1.1ºC.

I turned on the weather radio to hear the new warnings of freezing rain. It's a wonder that I slept at all. But I did.

The forecast claims the rain will end by noon and that the temperature will rise above freezing.

I hope they are right.

*Robert Frost

Office Space

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It was a beautiful, sunny day here in Kentucky. A one day respite from the clouds. The forecast calls for snow this weekend, so we were determined to get out and enjoy the day.

My sister had called last night to invite us to meet her for lunch today, and to ask for our help in finalizing the configuration of her new computer.

So after lunch we headed to her house (just a few blocks from the café where we dined). There wasn't much left to do. The new laptop came loaded with a three month trial of Microsoft Office, a suite of programs which she uses for her business. She could not find the registration key to activate it.

After a bit of searching, it was found and the trial activated. Since she can't do without it, we went ahead and upgraded it to the full Standard Edition.

Once it was all set up, I then exported her contacts from an old computer and imported them into the new setup. I also configured her email so Outlook would poll her mail server.

Before we left, I took this photo. Her workspace is a lot less cluttered than it was before she bought this new computer. Before, she had a monitor, keyboard, mouse and mousepad, and way too many cables connecting everything together. Those cables also snaked down below the desk to the huge tower case that held the CPU and all the drives.

She had been considering an expensive remodeling of the office to make it more efficient, but know she is reconsidering, since the area is much roomier and comfortable to use.

After we left her place, we stopped by home for a bit, then grabbed our cameras and headed out into the surrounding countryside for some sightseeing. I took Alison to see parts of Central Kentucky she had yet to see. We drove down to Boone Creek (named after Daniel Boone who established Fort Boonesborough near it).

I wish we could have gotten some photos while down there, but Grimes Mill Road, across which we drove was very narrow and winding, and there were no places to pull off that weren't private property.

We'll head back out there again soon, and see if there is a different approach we can take to that part of the creek where we can stop for photos.

Time to close. I'm hungry, and we have some Greek food for dinner this evening.

Originally posted on my Flickr Daily Photo Diary.

Unrelenting

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It's raining here. Heavy rain. There are flood watches and warnings all over the state. This is the third straight day of steady rain.

It is also unseasonably warm. I was still awake at 3 in the morning, and what did I see fly across my computer screen? A mosquito! It's January, for goodness sake! It's supposed to be winter. All the mosquitoes are supposed to be dead.

The temperature is forecast to drop tomorrow for a few days. More in line with the norm for this time of year. And the rain should end as snow flurries. I hope the forecasters are right.

I guess I shouldn't complain about the rain. The plains states had several days of freezing rain and over 20 people lost their lives due to this storm.

But still, the relentless rain and dreary skies will suck the soul out you after a while.