MARCH-SO FAR BUSY

WOW. So far March has been busy. At the end of February I was having problems with my car. Spent a week trying to figure out why I couldn't start it with the remote thingy from inside the house. Short version, I took the car in (Hyndai Accent 2002) and it needed a new battery, new front brakes, a cord to the block heater (no heat overnight) and a new fan belt. All of these were working at 5% capacity and the car WAS STILL RUNNING great. It should be super now. I bought this little baby in 2001 and I swear it gets 45 miles to the gallon. I haven't even gotten to the first level for major parts check and the tires still look good!!!!! I also had a new house furnace installed on Wed. That procedure took about two weeks of prep to make sure the basement was totally clear and they had plenty of room to work. Boy what a difference in the comfort level of the house. The old furnace was easily 30 years old and I had the fan motor rebuilt twice - I knew it was time and there is some kind of tax break this year, so voila, new furnace. I have been cleaning up after the install for the past few days.
Since I had to clear the basement I went for an all out throw away and once in a lifetime cleaning. I bought floor paint and dri-core tiles to put in a new floor and plan to put the shop vac to work from ceiling to floor next week. I finally located a charity that would pick up the load I had to get rid of - believe it or not the charities are picky about what they want. Goodwill is coming Thurs. to cart away my stuff. Just so you know, if you call "I got junk" they charge $80 minimum and still give the stuff away! The world is a funny place.
I drove to the North End of the city Fri. to meet a girl friend for coffee as she is working in a hospital there. Both of us have limited time so that worked out well just for a catch up conversation.
The big Curling championships are on TV currently and I enjoy watching them. When I moved to Manitoba in 1977 I learned how to curl and have loved it ever since. In the Fall I follow college football - my former schools, Louisiana State University and The University of South Florida. Remember to turn your clocks forward, you all.

MIDWAY THROUGH FEBRUARY

Made it half way through February. The weather has been extremely weird this year. Mostly very cold with a few days of a melt-down with rain, then it all froze over. Locals were actually skating on the sidewalks and roads all over town. Luckily we had some more snow on top of that so we could get some traction. When I first moved here in 1977, I couldn't understand why the weather was the number topic of conversation, now I understand. In the winter it really dictates what you can do and when it's not winter everyone is so damned happy about it they talk about it with glee! Sun is up around 7:30 a.m. now and is giving us a whole day until about 6:00. The daylight increases about two hours each month until June 21 when the sun is up about 4:15 and sets about 11:00 p.m. - love those long days.
I took a one year break from this climate during the school year 81-82 and taught some classes at Louisiana State University in the Speech department. Then in June of '82 I returned to Manitoba. Have been here ever since. I travel often to the South to visit relatives in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida. I retired in Jan. 2005 and walked away from the profession (Speech/Language Pathology). I haven't missed it one bit.
I have been using the internet to search for former classmates and colleagues and have located a good many of them. As a military brat, I have searched for people is the U.S. and overseas. Still looking for many of them. I had hoped posting a blog might draw out some of them if they remember my name - this blog is in my maiden name.
My son and his family, wife and three kids, live just north of Jacksonville, Fla. actually in Georgia. My other relatives are in Louisiana and Mississippi. My mom and my sisters are gearing up for Mardis Gras next week - the parties and parades have already been in full swing. My parents took my sister and me to our first Mardis Gras parade when I was three years old, so we had a long history of visiting or living in and around Louisiana over the years.
I'll log onto one of the many web sites in New Orleans and watch the festivities.
Here's hoping for an early meltdown this year.

JANUARY ACTIVITIES

Click on the picture so you can see that I have a cord plugged into the block heater of the car so it will start in the cold weather. This is my backyard in the winter.

We had the coldest January on record this year - many days below -40F. Even so I have been busy. Had a once week call to spare for the bowing league, was asked to play drums for a musician's group and met friends a few times for social gatherings. I did find something that was fascinating to me - the street view segments on Google Maps. Since I was a military Brat and moved about 30 times before I graduated from high school I spent some of my hibernating days finding the houses we lived in and the schools I attended. Couldn't access all of them as the streets in England and Germany had not been filmed, yet. I did find the Paris hotel we stayed in the summer of 1959 ($5 a night) which was two blocks from the L'arc de Triumph. Not all of the streets I was searching for in the U.S. had been filmed but I was able to take a "drive" up every little road along the Gulf Coast that had been affected by hurricane Katrina - of interest to me since that is my family's home and all of my relatives live on the coast between New Orleans and Jacksonville, Florida. I didn't have addresses for all of the places and my Mom is trying to remember some of them. I had report cards from Kindergarten so I was able to find the school sites. I was flabergasted at the memories that popped into my head as a result of seeing these places. It was truly just likely driving by them in a car.
I shall have to put this activity aside for a while as I could spend countless hours "driving" to the cities I have either lived in or visited. I have lived in this house since the Fall of 1999 and never thought it possible to be in one spot for this log - a record for me. I guess you would have to be a military Brat to fully understand all of this sillyness.

MY CAT PLAYING

This is my second day and third try at posting this video of my cat. If it works I'll add more information.
Finally - success with the video loading.
This is my cat, Dixie, playing one of her favorite games. She will be 14 years old this year and is still as active as a kitten.

MY HOUSE

I did a test using a picture on file. This is my house in August, 2008. I now have to get it in the right position. AH got it. You can see that my house is very small - just under 800 square feet. I will play with pictures I have on file for a few days before I take new ones.
I spent the day baking four loaves of bread to put in the freezer. I recently started to eat more healthy foods after re-reading Adelle Davis's book, "Let's Eat Right to Keep Fit." She goes over board on the vitamin cures, but gives basic good nutrition information. I bake bread and add ground up flax seeds which contain about 50% protein. I began organizing a notebook for setting goals - not just for this year, but long term, also.
I'll add more information on my personal history and family members as the weeks go by. I live alone, but have relatives in the States.
I want to keep to positive content on this blog and not get involved in negative dialogue or complaining unless I can provide useful information for others. I have read in other blogs that it is best to have a few blogs with different topics, so this one will be for my personal lifestyle stuff.

KEEPING WARM TODAY

It's -35 today with the wind from the North. I plan to just stay in today, waiting for the city to clear all of the streets. It was a real white knuckle drive coming home last night. The snow on the streets had been polished to a smooth icy surface. The play was quite good, really funny. The funding raising was slow, but I was just a volunteer and glad I am not worried about raising the money for the prizes. I called my mother a few times this past week. She lives in Mandeville, Louisiana, and is doing really well. She had a bit of a rough year last year - she moved into a senior apartment complex and she just loves it. Moving at her age is quite a project. Gotta get something to eat and then start learning how to post pictures to this bloggy thingy.

Out tonight

Just came in from cleaning the snow off of the car and making a path so I can get into it this afternoon with dry pants. Will be volunteering at the Manitoba Theatre Centre and seeing the play, "Jitters."
Had to work on my remote start button that allows me to start the car from inside a building. I thought the battery was gone, but turns out it was just sitting wonky in the container - slid in a shim of folded paper and, voila! The city won't begin the big snow plowing until tomorrow night, so I hope I don't get caught in a snow drift tonight. Got out a bottle of gas line antifreeze to put in with the next gas fill. I repaired a couple of necklaces for my friend so I will return them to her tonight - she is very hard on her jewelry - actually the one I made from scratch survived better than the one she purchased at Winners - don't expect that one to hold up even after substituting stronger wire! Have to wear black and white colors tonight, which is no chore in the winter. I got out my digital camera so I can start posting some pictures on this blog - one step at a time. Time to dress from the venture downtown.