27 January 2010 Going where the climate suits my clothes

27 January 2010 Going where the climate suits my clothes


Actually, the climate here suits my clothes rather well. Footwear might be problematic if long periods without power were to happen, but otherwise I can layer up with enough clothing to rival the Michelin tire character in appearance. That tends to limit mobility and some levels of dexterity. Keeping warm wins out over appearance any day and over dexterity unless I’m playing with sharp or other dangerous tools.

There is a period of chainsaw work on the near horizon as much of the remaining wood is inches too long to fit into the wood stove. I have very good, very warm, LL Bean boots that have everything I need but steel toes for protection. I have very good steel-toed engineer-type boots that protect from oil, shock, moderate weights dropped on toes, small amounts of external water, but not from cold. Thick wool socks provide some degree of added warmth and I like the feel of merino wool socks, so that helps a bit.

Also a concern with sharp, heavy, and dangerous tools is the effect of vibration on my left arm and right shoulder. An hour or so using the chain saw will provide at least 24 hours with diminished grip and greatly decreased mobility in both arms. 24 hours with no heat might result in no grip and no mobility. The trade-off is painful but obvious.

I’ve tried the ETSU Wi-Fi connection again. I am still unable to connect to the network. I guess I’ll go back to the help desk again and see if there is some arcane secret I’ve yet to discover or be made aware of. There doesn’t seem to be any point in asking my classmates for help with this problem.

This morning brought about ½ inch of snow. I dragged the dog, grabbed the newspaper, and cleaned windows on both vehicles; then brought up the computers and handled some household business between 0600 and 0700. I left about 0855 and found that there were some decidedly slick spots on a few of the Cassi Road curves. Once I hit TN 107 there was no snow on the highway although the ground on either side was snow-covered. TN-67 took longer than usual to negotiate as there was one group of tree trimmers working and another utility repair crew working. Both had traffic reduced to one lane but the over-all loss of time was less than five minutes. This departure/arrival time seems to be a good combination as I had no problem finding a parking spot again this morning.

Gloria should be at her glass class in Limestone by now and then will drive into Johnson City for her metal-smithing class at ETSU. I’ll finish my classes for today, see about this log on problem, and drive to Greeneville to pick up her meds before going home. The dog will be very happy to see me when I get back.

There was an accident in Jonesborough near Engles on US-11E. From what I saw as I passed the scene, it may have been a fatal accident. Too many people get hurt trying to cross multiple lanes of traffic while turning left instead of heading for a traffic light and using it to turn safely. One has to wonder if a cell phone was involved as well. We need some way to disable cell phones in moving cars. No one’s phone conversation is worth the safety or life of someone else.

I did manage to find someone to solve the log-on problem. Some minor setting, apparently, that the last person did not notice or feel important. Or maybe I created the problem. Who knows? This computer picked up the Wi-Fi net at ETSU.

We have Chinese take out for dinner. Gloria has a seafood-tofu soup; I have hot and sour soup. We have steamed dumplings and mu-shoo pork to round off the meal.

Obama is to deliver his State of the Union address tonight. I should listen but probably won’t. The substance has been leaking for several days. The Democrats will applaud, most grudgingly, and the Republicans will applaud only at statements that I object to. I would prefer to form my own opinions about the speech, from a transcript, rather than to have either party’s canned commentary fed to me by commentators and pundits. I’m still capable of political thought despite not walking either party line.

The thing I want most to hear from Obama and the Democrats is to lay the blame for the near-economic melt-down on Reagan, Clinton, and Bush. Then I want to hear him say that we are pulling all troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan to allow those countries to fail on their own, without help from us. Let the Arab states help them. They’ve stirred up much of the mess in the region since 1936. It will be good when their oil is depleted and they will return to nomadic obscurity.