December 2024

Weather: Cold, 25° high temp and snow in the forecast. Moderate wind, making it feel even colder.

Exercise: none today. Too damned cold and windy. I have to make sure to keep it up, though. Four weeks before we make it south for the rest of the winter. Cannot wait

Musing

Got my new Kindle Scribe today. Not a hell of a lot of difference from the old one, but better at the margins. Giving Lauren my old one (old = one year old). Ok. Not so old.

Weather: Cold and in the mid-twenties. Two inches of powdery snow.

Exercise: none. Well, I used the snowblower and the shovel for the edge work. It's supposed to get into the forties tomorrow. My fear factor is high after breaking my ankle a few years ago. I'll go outside tomorrow and do a five miler.

Reflection

Long Term Memory Loss

Weather: Hovered around freezing or just a bit below and gave us two more inches of snow.

Exercise: Not much. Hand shoveled the drive. Took an hour flat and I worked up a sweat.

Weather: 30° and cloudy. Very light winds. Clouds are threatening snow, and the prediction is two inches.

Exercise: five miles on the Causeway path, sans Teddi.

Musing

The sidewalks that get me close to the Biscayne Heights neighborhood, the residential street I take to Airport Park, were clear of snow. The town plowed mid-day yesterday. But the park and the Causeway path was very crusty, alternating between untouched snow, with a light crisp veneer that crackled when stepped on, and long streaks of ice, clear, black and much of it cloudy white. Just the kind of walking surface that I have come to fear after breaking an ankle several years ago. The doctor, and potential surgeon, said if the bones and the associated connective tissue was deemed damaged enough, he would have to operate, but thankfully it was not hurt so bad as to necessitate going under the knife. When I asked him how long I would be laid up, he said, "Twelve weeks to heal and twelve weeks to forget about it."He added, "In a couple of weeks, it would take a hammer to break it again!”

Love that guy. That is: I love a doctor who gives a straight answer to a question. Hard to find anyone in healthcare who isn’t afraid of being sued.

I can't wait to get down south. Today, while I carefully picked my way over the ice and frozen snow, I was constantly on my guard. Lest I fall and injure an ankle. It was 65° and sunny with a light wind in Beaufort, SC.

Weather: overcast, moderate winds, 40°. Expecting significant rain tonight

Exercise: three mile walk with Teddi on the causeway path. Soft, almost mushy, snow on the trail. No real ice today left.

Weather: 43° and rainy. Calling for an inch of rain. Sucks. 65° with a gale warning in Beaufort, SC.

Exercise: none outside. Pouring rain all day. Did three miles on the treadmill and watched a goofy sci-fi with Megan Fox. Like I said, goofy.

Musing

Took the car to the dealership to get its first service done and to prepare it for our trip south. Used the trip out into the rain as an opportunity to go out to breakfast, something I rarely do.

Weather: 35° and really windy. Grey and cloud covered, with brief outbreaks of sun.

Exercise: None. I am such a knucklehead about the treadmill.

Weather: 26° and cloudy. Moderate wind. Felt like 16°. Weather in Beaufort, SC is 57° and fair. Feels like 55°. Give me some of that.

Exercise: Three miles on the Causeway path with Teddi.

Weather: Bright and crisp. Calm and 25° My favorite kind of winter weather.

Exercise: five miles on the Causeway path. Cold crunchy gravel surface. Got a little windy as I made it to the lake.

Observation

A Drone is a Drone

Weather: partly cloudy and 29° with moderate winds.

Exercise: three mile walk on the Causeway path with Teddi.

Weather: Cloudy and 48°. Moderate wind. Beaufort SC: the 70's

Exercise: none. I have a dentist appointment today.

Musing

This morning was certainly out of the ordinary. My neighbor, Karriann, texted me photos of footprints in the snow coming up my driveway to the passenger side of my vehicle. Then the footprints made a hard left towards her yard and up to her truck that is parked under her carport.

I immediately sat down on my bed and began checking my camera feed from last night. Through the blowing snow squall, a figure wearing a hooded parka walked up my driveway from the street, phone flashlight on. For whatever reason, the way the person walked reminded me of a female. She tried my car door, to no avail, then my garage spotlight flicked on, and she immediately moved away toward Karriann's house.

After nailing down the time on my camera feed, 5:52 am, I looked out my bedroom window, it now being 8:10 am, and saw my neighbor across the street talking to a Colchester police officer. I quickly dressed and went down to join then in my neighbor’s driveway as they conferred, standing by one of his two vehicles. My neighbor had his truck broken into and he captured images of two people rifling through his stuff. While we were talking, another neighbor, Chris, drove up in his truck and showed us images of his truck being hit, too. His truck was unlocked, and they did not get anything, but they did break the glove compartment lock to get inside.

Chris' camera caught the face of a bearded man, which he posted on Front Porch Forum. There is so much drug addiction in rural Vermont and the junkies are desperate and apparently unafraid of the cameras. This pair hit the entire neighborhood, walking up each street and down both sides of the road. Balls.

Weather: 50° and overcast with a moderate cold wind blowing across the lake.

Exercise: three mile walk with Teddi on the Causeway path.

Weather: 40° and overcast with a cold win.

Exercise: five mile walk on the Causeway path sans Teddi

Musing

I saw the Barred Owl again. Across the road that separates the wetlands from the approach to the actual causeway, a ditch runs up both sides of the path. I have been sighting him during my five-mile walks since early November. He hangs out in the oak trees that line the ditch, usually on the left side of the ditch. Today he looked right at me.

After I walked past him, he dropped off the long narrow horizontal oak branch, almost perpendicular to the tree’s trunk. His perch tallowed him to hang over the ditch. Suddenly, he dropped off the branch, flapping his wings, appearing to fly straight at me. He careened left, turning his body deftly, and settled onto the water's shallow surface. Then he focused on digging out frogs from the cold mud, submerged barely two inches below the surface. I was able to get a photo of him swooping toward me, but the image is a little blurry, because I was startled, and I could not decide to stand my ground or skedaddle.

Weather: 30° and a really cold wind.

Exercise: three mile walk on the Causeway path with Teddi.

Weather: 23° and a light wind. Very cold. Snowed mid-day

Exercise: five mile walk on the Causeway path sans Teddi.

Weather: snowy and 17° with wind gusts. Beaufort, SC: 55° and cloudy.

Exercise: none. Cleared the driveway and the sidewalks of snow.

Weather: 9° and mostly sunny. Light wind.

Exercise: none. Too damned cold; 50° in Beaufort, SC. I need to get on the treadmill.

Weather: mid-twenties and overcast. Snow developed in the evening.

Exercise: none. Guess I forgot about the treadmill. Easy to do when you hate getting on it.

Weather: mid-twenties and snowy.

Exercise: Removed four inches of snow from the driveway.

Weather: mid-twenties and mostly sunny. It's a beautiful day with a light wind; 55° and sunny in Beaufort, SC, with a small craft advisory.

Exercise: none. Again.

Musing

Exchanged Christmas love and greetings with family and friends. It is lovely having adult children. Colyn is here for the week and Lauren is with her husband Chris and his family in State College, PA.

Now, for something completely different.

Last night I had a dream, from which, I awoke suddenly. It rarely happens that I remember my dreams. This was not only unusual, but my memory of it is so vivid. In my dream I was given the chance to win, acquire by mere chance, great wealth. All I had to do was make the correct response to a prompt, answering a multiple-choice question, from some mysterious source. The way to indicate my selection was to read a selection of possible answers on my smartphone, which I held in my hand. Then make my selection known on Jill’s smartphone by touching the corresponding letter on her smartphone using the correct lower-case letter that was displayed next to the correct answer as it appeared on my display.

Jill was seated in a low backed leather club chair holding her smartphone with the screen visible to her face. It was visible to me, too, as I stood behind her, leaning my lower body into the back of her chair. I decided that the correct answer to the mystery question was the lower-case letter "p." I reached over her shoulder and moved my hand to the phone in her lap. Jill was holding the phone in such a way that the text was upside down to me. I leaned over her shoulder from behind and I, unfortunately, selected the lower-case letter "q" by mistake, thinking it was the letter "p."

Well, anyway, a buzzer sounded, and I clearly did not secure a fortune, because I selected the wrong letter. When I told Jill the story about my dream this Christmas morning I said, "That's the story of my life... a day late and a dollar short."

Jill said, "Do you know what your dream was trying to tell you?"

I said quizzically, "No. I do not."

With a smirk she intoned, "You better start watching your Ps and Qs."

A perfect message for Christmas with Santa's admonition to be a good person - or else. I love my wife . . . and my family, so much.

Weather: 20° and partly sunny. 45° Beaufort, SC.

Exercise: three miles on the treadmill. I hate the treadmill, although it is a nice treadmill, as treadmills go. What I really hate is walking in the snow and ice. Did I say that I'm totally gunshy after breaking my ankle, years ago.

Weather: 24° and cloudy. Light wind. Beaufort, SC: 55° and rainy.

Exercise: 3.0 miles on the treadmill. Grin and bear it.

Weather: 40° and partly sunny.

Exercise: none.

Weather: 50° and sunny with a light wind. Beaufort, SC: 65° and fair.

Exercise: 5.0 mile walk on the Causeway path. Beautiful day. All the snow is gone. Gave me a taste of Beaufort, SC coming next week.

Weather: overcast and a light wind. 45°.

Exercise: none. Ran errands in preparation for our upcoming trip.