7 March 2013 Make a blind man see, lame man run

Cassi Creek; we received a total of 2.5-3 inches of snow between Tuesday and Wednesday. Most of that is quietly melting into the ground now as the temperatures top 32°F for the first time in 3 days.

          This was a heavy, wet snow that easily compacted to ice if it was stepped or driven on.  The roads are clear although black ice is a possibility tonight, as the melt-refreeze cycle becomes a factor.  

          I’m waiting on repair estimates for the Pathfinder.  Its handy little high-end push button climate control panel shed three buttons and threatens to shed three more.  This leaves me with no way to engage the defroster, no automatic setting for climate control, and no AC.  There is a limited temperature range that can currently be engaged.  This is hardly satisfactory as the defroster and automatic setting is the main features I need and use.

          The Pathfinder is a 2001 model.  I doubt that the repairs will be of the cheap and easy sort.  The electronics panels for all vehicles often wind up costing more to replace than the vehicle is worth.  Follow up follows.

          “shore missed plenty…”

6 March 2013 Now is the winter of our discontent

Cassi Creek:  This is, indeed, a foul and bitter winter for much of the nation.   Northeast Tennessee is included in that partition.  Our snow, forecast to begin last night or early this morning picked the latter onset time.  From half an inch on cars and other ambient temperature surfaces at 0650 to the present, 0901, we now see two to three inches on those same flat surfaces. 

          The road is yet  unplowed and unsalted.  Schools are closed.  

          When I woke up this morning at 0500 the snow must have just begun.  The silence and stillness I associate with falling snow was evident  I piled back into bed but was unable to do anything beyond twttching, tossing about, and dozing fitfully.  I finally gave up at 0620.  Still, 4 hours setter than the night before.

          This winter may well go down in history as one of the more’ brutal in  recent history.  No one wants more snow this winter except for, perhaps, the ski resort owners.  Natural snow for them means more open trails, a thicker base, and reduced expenses  for making artificial snow.   If it snows too much, or in the wrong places, the owner operators have to deal with avalanche risks nod people unable to drive to their local  and/or favorite ski areas.  People farther away miss flights and buses as the ripple effect broadens. 

          This is also the time of year many people develop cabin fever,   This is not the season when one is well advised to engage in arguments or fights with other family members.  There is a long history of men and women simply “snapping” about this time of year and disposing of their spouse or partner in some grizzly manner often involving a neighborhood chili supper.  Be careful if invited to dine in. 

 Anger and resentment that has remained sealed up like a pressure cooker often blows off the lid in late winter.  Imaginative and irony filled murders abound in this season.  Some of us may be well advised to hide all sharp and blunt objects from the reach of a partner or companion who is openly approaching the detonation point. 

Now is the winter of our discontent  If for aught else it provides more interesting and amusing articles in local newspapers.

  

5 March 2013 Skin in the game

Cassi Creek:  Sleep seems to have left the building; or at least that space which I fill.  Another in a series of broken nights caused by q change in medication. 

          I had to be up and moving by 0530 this morning.  So I woke up at 0230 and managed only about an hour’s sleep before the alarm demanded my attention. 

          The purpose for rising early was a dermatology appointment at the VA Mountain Home facility.  It was raining when I took Loki out this morning at 0630.  It rained on me all the way into town.  I was running close to the appointment time when I pulled into the feeder street for Mountain Home. 

          Smack in the road was a railroad repair crew.  The tracks were closed, the access to VA was closed, and I still had to engage in the parking lot dance.  My GPS was waiting patiently at home.  I attempted two quick and dirty efforts to cross the tracks that were thwarted, running the clock down some more.  Ten I drove about two miles north and cut through the JC Med Center’s campus to get into VA by the back door, at the opposite end of the VA campus. 

          Fortunately, I found a parking spot quickly, hoofed it into the hospital complex, and made it with 4 minutes to spare.  Then the clerk at the cheek-in desk pointed me to the other end of the hospital.  Right time and date, wrong clinic. 

          The suspect mole that initiated today’s trip was declared an atypical nevus, of little interest and no concern.  Good outcome.  But I have a somewhat speckled skin with other atypical nevi and even more typical moles.  Therefore, I have added another semi-annual exam to my VA experience. 

No film at any hour.

4 March 2013 From the northwest corner of a brand new crescent moon

Cassi Creek  Comet Pannstars is coming to a piece of sky near you.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=comet+panstarrs+finder+chart&id=EB611272C60ED060CAD99B4904504F36FE04F0D6&FORM=IQFRBA#view=detail&id=1601D49AA140AA3C0D6A28E847459D658D552A40&selectedIndex=5

          The latest reports indicate that this comet may well be visible to the unaided eye in March, in the northern hemisphere.  I think we will make the effort to drive up to Liberty Church parking lot so that we can eliminate the blocking effect of the valley walls.    Of course, that will require a relatively clear evening and night sky, a rarity lately 

          Hope we can see it; hope everyone who wishes to has clear skies and limited light pollution.

          Broken night last night slept between 0230 and 0500.  Hope I can catch a nap this afternoon.

3 March 2013 Look out of any window…

Cassi Creek:  Look out of any window and you’ll see snow.  It snowed Friday night, yesterday, and was still snowing this morning at 0900. 

          The sides of the road are icy, slick, and crunchy; all of the above simultaneously.  Taking Loki out for a walk required dressing for 24°F weather.  Fortunately, there was little wind.  What there was would cause going out without hat and gloves dangerous to exposed flesh. 

          I could tolerate cold weather, work or play in the cold, when I was younger.  These days, I don’t tolerate it well at all. 

          More wood to be brought in.  This particular batch is short enough to fit our wood stove but is too thick to ignite and burn easily. 

          That’s all the news from Cassi Creek.

Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.

2 March 2013 Lookin’ out my back door

Cassi Creek:  The crow actually isn’t present today.  However, looking out the back door, we are besieged by birds of all sizes and colors.  The temperature is hovering near the freezing point and snow showers continue to fall.  The ground and deck have a thin layer of frozen sleet that fell overnight beneath a layer of pellet snow.  Bushes and trees have a layer of snow on their branches.

          I scraped what I could from the deck and steps about 0730 followed by an application of ice-melt.  Gloria got up, dressed, and immediately took food out to the birds and squirrels.  They were eating before she got indoors.  They seem to wait for her in the morning. I tease her about becoming the central figure in some bird/squirrel legends handed down through generations of animals she has fed. 

          Shabbat shalom.

1 March 2013 Only essential employees are working

Cassi Creek:  It is 34 °F.  It has been spitting snow since about 0700.  The deck and steps are partially covered with pellet snow.  We have no obligations today, no appointments, and no necessary trips to town.  The morning has proceeded at its own pace. 

          I’ve moved about 100 lbs of oak firewood into the house for today/tonight.  There is another 50-75 lbs, on the deck under cover.  It can be retrieved without venturing onto slick steps. 

          The various video tapes that aired yesterday and today showing the members of the House of Representatives leaving the Capital building was and is absolutely infuriating.  The men and women we have elected to serve in our government have betrayed the nation by allowing party dogma and ideology to become more important than the well-being of the nation and its populace. 

          This Congress seems to specialize in obstructing the processes of government, abdicating responsibility, and awarding their selves with days off and vacations that they have most decidedly not earned.  There is no backbone left in the Democratic Party and no understanding that the nations does not approve of the GO”P”’s reactionary, bigoted, and hate driven policies.

          The Members of the House should be brought back to their offices and made aware that they are expected to work at least 40 hours per week if they are to be paid their salaries.  At this point in time.  I’m willing to have them arrested if they try to leave D.C. I’m certain that there are sufficient available barracks in the D.C. metro area to house and feed the Honorable Members.  There are, no doubt, military buses available to transport them from barracks to their offices.  These men and women need to understand that they are not elected so that they may be enriched by the lobbyists who currently buy their votes. 

          The voting public is going to have to overlook party affiliations and find enough common ground within itself to evict any member of Congress who is complicit in the current attempts to negate the Obama presidency and to destroy the economic recovery.  Most of those who should be removed from office by defeating them in election, by recall, or even by impeachment if cause exists, are GOP/tea party fanatics.  However there are also Democrats who are equally unworthy of their elected offices.  It is time to revamp both major parties and build new parties that may be more relevant and less fanatical than the two non-functional parties we currently allow to control or lives and the nation.