My New Year’s resolution this year is to take a little bit more time to spend with my friends and family. I think I’ve been spending too much time at work. I know I need to make a living, but I also have to have a life! So, I’m starting out by spending extra time with my nieces and nephews outside giving them rides on my snowmobile this holiday week since they don’t have school. We have plenty of snow, so we’ll be making snowmen and going sledding as well. I’ve always liked playing in the snow, and I’m going to take some time to do it!
My friends and are tested the lake yesterday to see if it was frozen enough to put our ice fishing shack out on the ice. We’re looking forward to snowmobiling and ice fishing! The lake isn’t quite frozen enough yet; we don’t dare drive our trucks out on the ice to place the shack in its customary spot. Oh well. The camp roads are good enough for some snowmobiling though, so we’ll have to keep ourselves happy with snowmobiling for the time being. This is actually a good time for that – the temperatures aren’t too bitter cold yet, so we can have a good time without getting too cold.
I hope everyone had a good Christmas. Mine was a busy one, I ended up spending a lot of time plowing and sanding my customers. They were all anxious about their guests and customers being able to get in and out of their dooryards. I told them before the season started that if I had to plow or sand on Christmas that I was going to charge double time, and that they would have to call me to get me to come out; that I was not going to “assume” they needed me.
Well, the phone started ringing at 4am! I didn’t get to stop plowing or sanding until about 6pm, which is when I went home and had Christmas with my family. So it was a busy one, I hope that everyone pays their bill when they get it!
My sister arrived today, along with her hubby and kids. I haven’t seen them in a few months, they’ve been so busy moving into their new home that they haven’t had much time to come by and visit. They brought their dog with them, a lovable old keeshond that just loves everyone. They’re planning on spending the night and tomorrow here with me to have an old fashioned family Christmas together. I’m really glad to see them, and glad they came here instead of me going to their place. Their place isn’t set up enough yet to have a family Christmas. It should be fun having them here! They helped me to decorate the tree, and we played Christmas music and drank hot apple cider and hot chocolate while we decorated. We had a great time!
Merry Christmas to all of you!
I was reading an article on Time.com about how a disgruntled reporter in Iraq threw two shoes at President Bush this past weekend during a press conference, exclaiming “This is a farewell kiss you dog!” Wow! I understand that is just about the worst insult you can utter in that culture over there! I read that the reporter has been retained by police. I wonder what will ultimately end up happening to him, I wonder if he will get jail time or just a fine. I watched a video of the shoe-throwing and I saw that Bush avoided being hit by the shoes. I was surprised that he wasn’t behind some kind of bullet-proof glass! It seems to me that almost everywhere I see him out in public he is behind bullet-proof glass! Very strange! Anyway, if YOU are ever planning to kiss ME, please don’t kiss me like THAT!
Well, we DID get hit with a pretty bad ice storm up here! I’ve been busy coordinating with the other plowers and sanders and our men how to get to the folks that need to be rescued from their homes. So many trees are down that we have to cut our way into most of the places that we are trying to get to. Our customers have been really happy to see us, and want us to stop and visit with them, but we have to just wave and accept their coffee to pour into our thermos and keep on going! It’s a lot of work out there! The “experts” say this storm is worse than the storm of 1998, but in this area I’d have to say that’s not the case for us. And I’m glad of that, because that was a real doozy!
I hear that winter weather is moving in on us later today. Everyone is running to the stores to stock up on their batteries, milk, and other basic survival needs. I’m glad I’m already all stocked up! I hear there is a run on generators, which is not a big surprise; that happens quite frequently. I’m sure glad I already have mine, all set up and ready to go at a moment’s notice! To live in this area, you need a four wheel-drive vehicle (preferably with studded snow tires) a generator, and a good chain saw! I put my snow tires on my truck two weeks ago, to beat the crazy rush of people who wait until snow is actually in the forecast to do it. I expect we will have a major power outage and treacherous traveling by tomorrow!
I was so excited that my new camera arrived only four days after I ordered it! It sure seems complicated, though; it’s going to take a while to read all of the directions and figure out how to use all of the functions. Apparently it can shoot video too! I didn’t realize that when I ordered it! Cool! Another thing I didn’t realize when I ordered it is that it only stores five pictures on whatever storage “device” or “hard drive” is inside, so I have to go buy a storage chip the next time I go into town so I can take more pictures. I love how I can download the pictures immediately onto my computer! This is the first digital camera I’ve ever had, so this is a big deal for me! I think I’m going to have to buy some storage media to keep all of my pictures on, or I will be filling up this computer in no time at all, and that would be a bad thing; slow it right down to the speed of molasses!