went for a walk around the park

and when I got back, UPS had left my new boots on the porch....and the mail had come too, just junk mail.....the pair of Wolverine Wellingtons I bought at Boot World back in 2006 were pretty much worn out.....these new Wolverines have a different sole.....anyway, they seem to fit well enough....I'll put some mink oil on them sometime.....the sun is starting to come out, and it might get close to 70 in the afternoon.....that's fine with me, a break from the cold a bit.....I watched the Heels-Vols last night in some bowl game from Nashville....it went to two overtimes, and was a real crazy game.....kept your attention.....at noon today Clemson plays in Charlotte, and then Carolina plays tonight at 7:30 from Atlanta.....and after that's over it won't be that long until midnight....I'll find some count-down show to watch I'm sure.....Happy New Year!

32F at sunrise

and it's clouded over with a cold front pretty close by to the north-west, so at 9 in the morning it's still 32F.....the rain is predicted to start after midnight Friday, so people will have dry weather to shoot off their skyrockets and cherry bombs when the clock winds down for the new year....there's been some random explosions going on for the last couple of days already, what with the kids out of school.....I watched part of some bowl game last night, but it wasn't very interesting.....N.C. and Tenn play somewhere tonight I think, a game of sort of local interest....call it regional interest maybe.....I've got chicken corn chowder for tonight, the store brand was on sale, and it's chowder weather for sure.....and then I can start the black-eyed peas on New Year's Eve.....the paper today had an article that said that this December has been "one of the coldest, if not the coldest, on record".....it was about how people can expect high electric bills.....I've already paid my electric for most of December....they read my meter on the 20th.....

got warm enough around noon

to go ahead and walk around the park, for the first time this week.....the Brahma Boots I've been walking in for cold weather for the last two years are wearing out.....they need more Shoe-Goo on the left toe, because my left leg doesn't swing right.....but my new Wolverine Boots might get here tomorrow....the UPS tracker said they left Lexington today and arrived in Spartanburg....I got them through Amazon from something called Bargain Outfitters....they have camping and hunting stuff.....the same Wellingtons in a store were $110, but I got them for $59 plus $7.99 shipping on an after Christmas sale.....I've got that leftover pork roast, and pinto beans were 88 cents for two cans.....so I'm thinking pork-pinto chili....Martha Stewart had a recipe for that posted.....

back from shopping

ready for the weekend with black-eyed peas, cornbread, collard greens, champagne.....popcorn for watching the Rose Bowl.....I've been eating wheat bread and muenster cheese for a couple of weeks, so this time I got rye bread and swiss....and some deli sliced roast beef for lunch sandwiches.....got the weekly Clinton paper while I was out, and a Guitar Player mag was my mail for today.....still cold and snow on the ground.....still pretty harsh out to go on a walk for pleasure....might warm up some tomorrow, and then for New Year's another weekend storm, but just rain this time, not snow......

north facing roofs

squirrels

little bundles of appetite and agility.....dashing through the snow, carrying pecans.....today's "Wake Up Weather" said "clear and bitterly cold"......was 21F at sunrise....."windchill" said 12? Snow in shady places hasn't melted....like on north facing roofs.....stayed up until the middle of the night watching Falcons-Saints, that was a good game.....I'm reading a book called The Princes of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd.....subtitled "The Dublin Saga".....one family in the book live at Rathmines, which means the farm of the Mines family.....like Grandma Mines.....Rathmines is today still a district of Dublin.....anyway, it's one of those thick historical novels that goes on for generations......I've still got a lot of pork roast leftover, it's easy to heat up for more dinners.....might make a sandwich out of that for lunch too.....

scenic north america

that's the theme of the calendar for 2011 that I found in CVS for six bucks.....that will work, it has the one square inch of space to write something in to remind yourself....I love it because those are always blank in this current life phase.....I also got two years worth of senior vitamins for $20, on one of those CVS two-for-one deals.....after spending money in the drugstore, I didn't go into the grocery store across the parking lot to get chili dog stuff.....maybe I'll get some on Wednesday.....the snow-melt is still dripping off the eaves.....at 37F, you can sit on the front porch, if you don't mind being pretty chilly.....last Monday of the year? The calendar has scenes of mountains and lakes etc.....and it comes with a desk calendar and a wallet calendar and some other kind of calendar, but those will just go in the trash.....

windchilled 20 degrees at sunrise

there was a big patch of ice on the sidewalk in front of the pharmacy school, but you could walk around that easily enough, otherwise the footing was good after the snow refreezing overnight.....bright sun, blue sky right now.....I've started a load of laundry....I might go over to the store later, I find myself thinking about chili dogs for some reason....but I don't have the fixin's for that.....

not hungry for dinner

after spending the afternoon with the Good sisters and other relatives.....meatballs, sausages, cookies right out of the oven, chips and insane "hot sausage dip"......peppermint bark and other Christmas candies, home-made and store-bought.....lots of stuff.....they had boxes of photos of Tingle family holidays going back for decades.....it was a pretty drive over there and back through the snowy landscape......some snow flurries and temps in the teens going on tonight.....watching the Giants-Packers.....

going over to Laurens

the snow has mostly stopped, and a bit of sun comes through from time to time.....cousin Cindy is having "family over for snacks".....might be the usual Tingle food-fest, who knows.....the streets look good, no snow sticking on the asphalt right now.....37F, a little wind....I got hungry in the middle of the morning, so had ham-scramble with a little salsa and wheat toast with apple butter for brunch.....we'll see how hungry I am after "snacks" later, as regards dinner plans....just been sitting around reading with the radio on, with the snow swirling around outside most of the morning.....

snowed during the night

and it's snowing more right now.....the front should move out of here by noon, and then wallop the eastern seaboard is the prediction.....

Christmas evening

well, I got in contact with everyone during the day....everyone I wanted to talk to.....the roast pork with little crunchy wedges of roasted potatoes was excellent, as was the creamed onions dish.....egg nog gravy worked well also.....cousin Cindy is doing Boxing Day tomorrow, so I'm going over there in the afternoon.....snowing in Gray Court they say, but just rain in Clinton right now, but it should turn to snow as it gets colder later.....whatever....a very nice warm comfortable Christmas all in all......

Merry Christmas!

No snow yet......but the front is on the move from the west, so what they are saying now is mixed rain and snow this afternoon turning into all snow during the night, and more snow during the day Sunday.....so maybe a white Boxing Day instead of a white Christmas? Can boxing day fall on a Sunday? The weather service statement for Laurens airport says maybe 5" accumulation of snow into Monday.....just cold so far here today, no moisture frozen or unfrozen.....fixed egg nog french toast for Christmas breakfast.....plenty of food in the house, staying warm enough.....can play the nice ukulele from Dan and shuffle around the house in the nice slippers from Caroline.....there will be basketball games on TV, and I'm looking forward to the creamed onions later with holiday dinner......

egg nog day

December 24th is egg nog day? works for me....

watched the Aztecs

beat Navy.....that was a good game.....stayed up late for that.....21F this morning....I'm going to go over to the dollar store 'cause I saw gloves in there real cheap....the gloves I've got now somebody gave to me free at the swap-meet years ago, and one of them is worn out....from walking with a cane, looks like.....maybe the ice will be melted off the windshield by now.....or maybe not, it's still below freezing.....sunny but cold....I should drive the Jeep around enough to warm it up, since I probably won't fire it up over this weekend, if it snows....or even if it doesn't snow......

try this

a little egg nog in the gravy

need to vacuum and stuff like that

Clear and cold, 29 with the windchill on the early walk.....really light traffic this morning, I think a lot of people are already off work or gone out of town or whatever.....I don't plan to go towards Laurens today though, I bet there will be lots of traffic in the Wal*Mart area.....I was reading in the sports section about Navy-SDSU tonight from Mission Valley.....the field was under 10" of muddy water yesterday? Build your stadium on a flood plain, the land is cheap.....up in the Presidio, they used to have a big photograph taken from there of the valley below with waves from the Pacific rolling over where the stadium is now, during some big rain event in the 1930's or some early decade or other ......

back from the store

and I did get a small fruitcake and a small carton of egg nog....and a boston butt cut of pork roast and a package of smoked turkey drumsticks.....and now they have the dutch onions in a bottle....so my Christmas dinner can be pork roast with little red potatoes (called red-skinned potatoes around here?).....and creamed onions and new peas as the other veggies....all with gravy. And fruit cake and egg nog with dark rum after dinner....should that be Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day? The other holiday weekend dinner will be heated up turkey leg with mushroom cornbread stuffing, probably some leftover creamed onions, and broccoli in cheese sauce.....there will be leftovers from all this to last at least until next Wednesday, when I'll look at how to do a small amount of ham and black-eyed peas for New Year's....and we'll see what price they have on champagne by then.....my city utility bill for November was in the mail box when I got home.....looking at the electric usage and adding in the extra from the natural gas bill, would say the November deep freeze this year cost me a little over $100 in energy ....well maybe $75 over a "normal" November.....the sun is starting to come out, so I'll think about a walk around the park after lunch.....

fruit cake, egg nog

I wish they wouldn't show pictures of these things in the newspaper on grocery shopping day....now I will have Christmas cravings.....I still don't know what to look for holiday dinner wise....I'm tending towards pork roast, if I can find a small one....clouded over and fairly chilly this morning, but they say it should clear off this afternoon and get up to almost 60F! wowser And the weather service is still saying there might be a white Christmas.....there was 1.4 inches at the airport in 1963, that was the last official white Xmas around here .....well, I guess I'll go head on to the market......

clouded over, warmer

I didn't wake up to look for the lunar event....and I guess it was obscured by clouds anyway....the storms hitting SoCal should bring a front this far East over the weekend....perhaps leading to a White Christmas.....the weatherunderground says 50% chance Saturday afternoon, 30% the night before Christmas....the local Clinton.com says "slight chance"....whatever....it looks mild enough right now to go on the park walk, so I'll do that shortly.....and later I guess I'll go over to Laurens for a guitar string.....when I was over there the other day, the guitar store guy failed to open at 11, like it says on the door.....maybe today I'll try around noon, see if that works.....I had chicken and sweet tater for supper last night, today I'll have beef and gravy and peas.....still have stuffing left too, a box of that goes a long way for the "starch" side.... I don't think I'm doing Xmas turkey or ham.....

took some time in the library

to find much anything to read....but I did find some things....and I went over from there to the grocery store for a loaf of bread, and a package of those things you put in the toilet tank to bleach the bowl....clear and cold today, was 25F early on.....so I ate my oatmeal and had my cup of black tea and then bundled up well to go get the newspaper.....had to scrape a little ice off the windshield before driving to the library at nine, when it opens....nothing in the mail today except coupons for Domino's Pizza, and an ad for high-speed internet from the cable company.....yesterday I made a hot beef melt with muenster cheese for lunch, today it will be fried baloney grilled muenster on wheat, with a hand full of bbq potato chips and a glass of Madera County California red table wine....I might also eat one Mary Jane candy.....

California storms?

looks like the wet weather is in the bayarea this morning....32 and clear here right now....was 30 and fog for the sunrise walk.....had french toast with ham for breakfast....Saturday supper was chicken wings, cornbread stuffing, peas, white gravy.....wasn't much to watch on TV last night....Fresno St. was losing on that horrible blue turf in the rain with empty stands in Idaho....so I only watched a couple of minutes of that mess.....it looks like San Diego State plays Navy on ESPN, from San Diego.....sounds interesting maybe..... that's on Thursday.....only thing on today any good might be Falcons and Seahawks from out West....a game with playoff implications, as they say....

later in the morning

the storm got here....I thought I saw like one snowflake, and then it just started pouring rain....cold and blowing rain outside now for the last hour or so.....I got the e-mail that my AT&T bill was ready to view and pay....but the thing looked different than usual....I couldn't just click on the "pay now" line and pay....it took me instead to some screen where I had to submit a new password....why do these idiots do that? A new password for the new year or something? How the hell are old farts supposed to think of and remember fucking new passwords all the time?

rain or snow showers

that's what the newspaper says for this morning....so far that hasn't happened...at 9 o'clock....but there is a storm coming from the direction of Athens on the radar, which might hit here pretty soon....or it might just angle up towards Laurens instead....31 windchill degrees on the newspaper walk, overcast, north wind.....yesterday I ate that big dinner of beef, baked potato, and sprouts....and got so stuffed I fell asleep sitting up watching the evening news....about half an hour there is lost as far as I can recall....and I watched the Knicks and the Heat....it was tied at half-time, but the Heat pulled away in the 3rd quarter.....Fresno St. is in a bowl game tonight, from Boise Idaho....is that where the grass is painted blue? Those games are hard to watch, the blue field is enough to give you a headache.....there are 35 bowls over 23 days, it says in the sports section.....

I'm thinking baked potato

with thin slices of london broil heated up in bbq sauce, with brussels sprouts.....

went over to Laurens

and got a nice heavy flannel shirt at Tractor Supply....my old best flannel shirt was a Dickies that I bought in Escondido, but it finally got a tear in the sleeve.....this new one is a Tractor Supply house brand....should be comfortable and warm....I also walked around the Square in Laurens and that downtown area, for a second morning walk....the weather is actually nice today....so now I'm going to eat some lunch.....oh, the shirt was 25% off....holiday sale....

googleing my memory

I think oven-fried chicken is 425 degrees for 45 minutes, turning once....I'll make white gravy with the drippings....serve with leftover onion-cornbread dressing, and the last of the baby lima beans....that should work for a cold weather supper....continues cold, wet, gray....34 at one in the afternoon.....the cold beef sandwich for lunch was tasty and satisfying....I had a chunk of pecan roll for dessert.....took a little nap after lunch, 20 minutes or so....with the rain outside and the electric fire inside.....I might go over to Laurens tomorrow, I want to look in Tractor Supply again....

light rain, freezing rain

weather moving west to east across the Upstate pretty much all day....warmer than it has been, with the moisture.....I see that it's raining in Escondido too.....so I drove and got my newspaper, since walking in freezing rain seemed a little radical....during the cold snap the humidity was much lower than it had been, and this old house changes with the humidity.....one door starts sticking, and another door becomes looser.....I guess Christmas break has started at the college, and starts for schools on Monday? The City takes a four day weekend for Christmas it said in the paper.....none of this will vary my routine, I don't imagine.....so I've got cold roast beef to make a sandwich for lunch, with mayo and german mustard....I think I'll oven-fry the chicken wings today in the trusty iron skillet, and then alternate beef leftovers with chicken leftovers almost all the way to next Wednesday......

london report

that london broil is the most tender and flavorful I've ever done in the kitchen....I mean, over charcoal it would be better .....but when it's freezing outside, it's too chillin' for grillin', I think....three bucks a pound, what a deal....it's been so long since I've done one, I can't remember what I've ever paid before....anyway, my compliments to the Bi-Lo meat department for a nice cut of beef.....it was part of their "12 Roasts of Christmas" promotion....I don't think I could list the other roasts, without getting the ad out of the trash.....

the dollar store

over across from the ABC has incense, which I'd been looking for....they didn't have a box of pine cone style which is what I really wanted, but they did have a pack for $1 with some pine sticks in it.....so now the living room smells like there's a pine fire going in the electric woodstove....there's even a little smoke blowing around....very authentic....also for $1 I got a small pecan log, or pecan roll they call it....anyway, for my holiday pecan candy fix.....I rubbed the london broil with that mesquite seasoning I got for the ribs last week, and it's in the fridge now waiting to get broiled for supper.....there will be plenty for several meals.....lunch sandwiches too....I'll do the broiling in the big iron skillet.....still right at 32F at 1:30 in the afternoon.....

with a mighty effort

the starter did crank over the dang cold motor and the Jeep fired up OK on another subfreezing morning.....and I drove to the grocery store....I got a piece of London broil... haven't done that in a long time....and I got some chicken wings and a russet potato and a sweet potato....frozen brussel sprouts....and this and that.....the mail was here when I got back, so I can pay the gas bill ....some clouds today, and wet weather on call pretty much into the weekend, starting tonight.....

with the windchill

it never got above freezing today.....I went out on the front porch once, but came right back inside....so I didn't do my second walk again today...getting lazy....it should be a little warmer Wednesday they are saying.....I took a couple of half hour naps on the sofa in the nice warm living room.....no noise in the neighborhood at all today, too cold for people to be out leaf-blowing or whatever....even the dogs just stayed hunkered down on the ground in the sun, instead of running around and barking at anything.....

windchill feels like 6 degrees F

so it was a very bracing sunrise walk.....I stayed up fairly late listening to that Paul McCartney show on Sirius XM radio.....that was entertaining.....similar to the Hyde Park concert I saw on some TV channel towards the end of the Summer, but with a varied playlist.....had leftovers last night, and tonight might just do breakfast for supper.....ham and eggs, grits, wheat toast with apple butter.....something like that, since I've used up my meals from last Wednesday, and will get more stuff tomorrow....we'll see what's on sale.....time for meatloaf? Chance of snow tomorrow night, or sleet.....

well

Several studies have arrived at a fractal dimension of between 5 and 8 for human EEG data. This suggests that the brain operates in a higher dimension than the 4 of traditional space-time. These extra dimensions suggest that quantum gravity may play a role in generating consciousness. (from an abstract on the NeuroQuantology site)

windchill of 16 degrees

6 mph west wind on my sunrise walk.....I've got the central heat running so the bathroom can warm up enough to take a shower in....then I'll probably just stay inside most of the day, it's sunny outside and looks nice, but that "Arctic blast" breeze justs blows right through yuh.....and they are saying the real cold will be tonight, maybe 13F.....minus windchill off that too I guess.....and freezing rain by Thursday? There were snow flurries across the Upstate yesterday, but I didn't see any here myself.....

"cold air rushes into the area"

that's how the weather service describes current conditions .....pretty accurate....nasty outside, looks to me....I'm staying in....been watching Bengals-Steelers....last of the ribs for dinner I guess....

most of the storm

had gone through by the time I finished breakfast, so I was able to walk and get the Sunday paper....right now it's sort of a windy drizzle outside.....looks like a good day to sit inside in front of the electric fire and watch football.....I-85 football is on this afternoon.....Falcons and Panthers....might be more interesting if it wasn't between the best team and the worst team around....

Lipton onion soup gravy

I have leftover sausage and leftover mashed potatoes, so I was thinking "bangers and mash"....and reading online it said that in pubs the sausage and taters is often served smothered in onion gravy....well, there's a packet of onion soup mix in the cupboard.....and sure enough, Google yields up an onion soup mix gravy recipe.....pretty simple....packet of mix, 2 tbsp. flour and two cups water.....that's what I was going to do if I couldn't find a recipe, just wasn't sure about the amount of flour.....I don't have the traditional pease to go with the dish, so I'll use baby limas as my veggie side......no second walk today, just too raw outside to do that when I've already got a runny nose and somewhat scratchy throat.....staying in watching App State and Villanova......

a little light reading

"Most of the time we live an illusion. We put the worst possibilities out of our thoughts, and live as if evil is a neutered beast, incapable of the horrors described in stories of old. We see ourselves as strong, and lucky; the weakened beast is no more than a shiver in our spines on a blustery evening---and this is a good way for us to live. For to be fully conscious of the potential horrors of existence would quickly destroy existence, as a raging stream will level the mud castle a child has made upon its bank." dang (Linda Nagata, Memory, page 277)

only freezing

early on, not that cold.....you don't see many Lakers games on back here, but since they are on an east coast swing they were on last night playing the Bulls.....and they lost! I think they said that the Bulls hadn't beaten the Lakers for the last three years.....the Fakers blew a huge lead in a few minutes when the subs came in.....they lack depth? Oh well, it's early in the season, and other such sports platitudes.....I need to go buy a loaf of bread, and maybe a bottle of wine.....

a little warmer?

it said 36 this morning, but with a windchill of 31....that's warmer than 19 anyway....but the cold must be getting into my back, because walking didn't loosen it up like it usually does.....still feels like a kink or a knot in the spot that bothers me....by Sunday more "Arctic air" is predicted, this time with a 50% chance of rain or snow.....if the front gets here at night, it might be snow.....some clouds today, broken sunshine....when I was out walking near the mill, this girl in a little old Toyota or something didn't even stop at the stop sign at Academy and Sloan, and crashed into this guy's Dodge pickup.....she stopped for a minute and he wrote down her plate number, but she never got out of her car to show insurance or anything, she just drove away.....the guy speculated that she was drunk, and maybe didn't have insurance, since she didn't wait for the police.....last night I had sausage cooked with sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes.....today will be leftovers.....ribs, rice-and-gravy, and the last of that can of kernel corn.....watched old spy movies until bedtime, there seems to be an endless supply of them on this one channel.....

19 degrees (again)

Cold snap continues, without much relief on the horizon.....we're running 15-20 degrees below average for this particular time of year....so it's hard to get up the gumption to go outside for a walk around the park.....maybe later in the day it will warm up a bit.....rib report: I hadn't done ribs with just a rub in a long time....I used a McCormick Mesquite Seasoning that was marked down to $1.29....about half of the little shaker bottle on 2.5 lbs. of baby back ribs.....that went into the iron skillet with the iron lid from my camping dutch oven which fits perfectly and I did the 3 hours at three-hundred.....fall-off-the-bones tender, fat all cooked out of 'em, flavorful from the rub.....enough of them left for two or three more meals....oh, I used oregano on the bottom of the slabs, rub on top....Celtics were playing Denver last night, and beat them....Celtics are on again tonight vs. the 76ers.....you see lots of Celtics on the East Coast I guess.....I can hear a train going by....I think it's about time for the coal train.....

3 hrs. at 300 degrees

that's how I'll do the baby-back ribs in the oven, with a mesquite rub.....on these freezing days, may as well run the oven....baked potato with that, and corn I guess....crock-pot beef sausage and sauerkraut will be another supper option this week, and I have leftover ham, and rice-and-gravy....enough stuff for a week anyway.....19F this morning.....put some Heet in the Jeep, and filled the tank on the way back from the grocery store, to prevent freezing gas lines .....slept well last night, with the bedroom heater on low.....the forced air heat kicks on some in the night, and the ducts in the crawl space seem to give off enough warmth to keep the pipes from freezing, at least so far...knock on wood.....

factoring in the wind-chill

it was still well below freezing when I did the mill park walk around noon.....I had a load of stuff in the dryer, I did get something useful done today.....the grocery store ad says they will have Ocean Spray Cranberry Cocktails two for one, so I'll get a couple of bottles of that tomorrow .....and I'll get gas on the way back, it's getting low.....and we'll see what there is for dinners that catches the eye....no more chicken this time, maybe I can find a good deal on ribs, or one of those pork-butt roasts....Boston butt, they call 'em.....

19F, sunny

it might get all the way up to 38F today.....got up to 39 yesterday.....I got a 1 lb. DAK canned ham at Wal*Mart, and I have a potato I need to do something with, so supper will probably be pan-fried ham and sliced potato.....with either green beans or corn.....when I ordered the electric heat stove, it was $99 delivered.....but over black cyber weekend they had it at $89, so I asked them if they would give me 10 bucks back.....and danged if a $10 credit didn't show up in my account today....cool.....there was an American Pickers episode last night where they were in South Carolina, but it didn't say exactly where, that I saw anyway.....Pickers and Pawn Stars is about the bottom of the barrel for me evening TV wise.....something until an 8 o'clock movie comes on, or until I just plain turn it off and read a book until I get sleepy enough to go on to bed....I think tonight, Tuesday, there should be a game on NBA TV.....

they didn't have

what I was looking for at Wal*Mart.....a 20x20 filter for the forced air heating....I went over there because they usually have the best selection and prices, but they had shrunk the filter section or something.....they did have a good price on orange juice, so I got some since I was almost out of that.....as I was leaving Clinton, I had to stop for a coal train....there was snow on top of the coal....I guess those trains come from Kentucky, where it was snowing last night....I came the back way home, and deer were crossing the road out in the stretch through the woods.....I didn't hit any...

23F, clear

so the dawn walk was pretty chilly.....now I'm going to go over to Wal*Mart and look for a couple of things.....the Jeep has a good heater....if the Jeep starts in this cold...I think it will.....it's supposed to be even colder tomorrow......

Carolina got whupped

but Oregon won.....windchill of 29 walking just after sunrise, predicted high of 44 later today......maybe there will be some interesting NFL game on this afternoon, otherwise I do have some books to read ......I've still got one pork chop to cook, and leftover stuffing and green beans too, so that will be for today.....I'll figure something for Monday, probably involving chicken and rice-and-gravy.....might go to Wal*Mart tomorrow......

back from the parade

it was great, as usual....high-lights this time in my opinion would be the Corsa Club for one thing....never seen so many Corsas and regular Corvairs at once before....there was even a Corvair powered Chevy Greenwood van bringing up the rear of that parade unit....I remember WB wanted a Greenwood, before he bought the VW bus.....the other new thing this year was those Shriners doing the precision go-kart drill, that was trick.....and of course the hillbilly jalopies are a fan favorite.....one jalopy this year had a guy standing on the front running board with one flap of the hood open, adjusting the carb as they went down the street.....the hillbilly Santa was a nice touch....and lots of church and civic groups throwing candy to the kids along the street....I even picked up a Mary Jane....somebody there had a dog with them that was going nuts snarfing down candies, wrapper and all......anyway, I came back to the house and fixed myself a grilled swiss on wheat with fried baloney.....Carolina plays Auburn for the SEC Championship today at 4.....if the Gamecocks win, it will probably be declared a national holiday in SC tomorrow.....it's clouding up pretty good now, a front coming this afternoon....

snow?

20% chance of snow on Saturday.....later in the day if it does happen, no snow predicted on the parade in the morning....it was another subfreezing night, but the idea of leaving the space heater on in the bedroom is working pretty well.....I have the ceiling fan in reverse and turned to the lowest speed, so any warm air up close to the high ceiling should be directed down to bed level.....yesterday for supper I fixed chicken, stuffing, and green beans sauteed with diced sweet onion....I watched old movies until 10, no basketball on .....

the joy of language

poking around on the net.....I fixed myself an afternoon libation of rye and ginger ale with a dash of bitters....it tastes good, so I Googled that....and found out that a "rye-and- ginger" is simply a "high ball".....scotch and ginger is sometimes called a "Presbyterian".....one obscure drink-naming website said whisky and ginger ale with a dash of angostura should be a "bitter Presbyterian", or maybe a "Calvinist"......one post from overseas said that when Americans came into the bar and ordered "whiskey American" he gave them the rye-ginger-bitters highball.....one post was from a guy who said he would go into bars and order a "highball" just to see what he would get.....once the waitress came back and told him "Honey, you've just ordered a type of glass." A highball glass is a tall thin glass, to better keep in the bubbles....from the ginger ale.....could go on with this, but that's probably enough for now.....I'm going to go get another highball with a dash.....

28F, calm

so the early walk was cold, but that biting wind was gone today.....so I did the park walk after reading the paper and looking online, and then drove to the store for the things I forgot to get the other day....eggs, peanuts, butter....I also got half-and-half for my oatmeal, natural almonds because they were on sale, and swiss cheese this time, because the cheese is almost used up, for my grilled cheese 1/2 sandwich at lunch.....bought some thick baloney too, 'cause the Spam is almost gone too....that tornado Tuesday night hit the main street in Easley, and closed their little business district right in time for the holiday buying season....that's what it said on the evening news, anyway....and it was in the paper this morning too....store owners were saying that one thing could leave them in the red this year.....acts of God.....

bitterly cold night

that's what the weather lady says....a "hard freeze", in the 20's....air from Canada.....there was in fact a tornado in Gray Court last night, around the time I was going to bed....nobody hurt, but lots of trees down, sheds and barns knocked down and around, and the one mobile home blown off it's jacks.....the deep freeze nights will probably continue for a week or so looks like....will be time for the ski jacket and muffler on the morning walks....

31 windchill

early this morning, after being 68 around the time I went to bed last night....maybe a tornado touched down briefly in Gray Court, a mobile home was blown off it's foundation....and there was lots of rain in the middle of the night.....the Clinton Christmas Parade is on Saturday, the tree lighting is tomorrow evening.....I won't go to that, but I will go to the parade....I forgot to buy eggs in the store yesterday, but I have one left for Thursday breakfast....Wednesday breakfast is oatmeal....there's a strong cold WSW wind right now, I'm trying to decide if I really want to go walk around the park or not.....