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First Snow of the Season

It’s funny. 

Yesterday I was hiking around in 50° F weather. There are even some plants that started blooming again. I was wandering around in a sweatshirt on the hike and even that was too hot.

Today, I got up and there was a little moisture on the deck. But over the past 5 or 10 minutes the snowfall is picking up. Oddly it’s still not that cold. 37°F 

We’re starting to get some accumulation and the snowflakes are big and fluffy. I admit I like snow, I just don’t like 8 feet of snow at a time. I’ve described the snowfall I like as “Decorative” snow.

Jesse is snoozing on the couch, he’s occasionally opening his eyes to check on the snow level out on the deck. He’s happy because he loves playing in the snow.

The weather app is showing decreasing probability of snow throughout the morning. I’m sure there will be enough to make the dog happy.

What remains to be seen is how much snow I’m going to have to clear.

At least the two dead trucks that were parked at the side of the house are gone, so I’ll have more space to pile snow and the winter is like last years.

I’ve got all the window shades up, sitting in the living room, I can be comfortable and enjoy the show.

The house is currently on the transition line between snow and rainy slush. If I look to the front of the house, I see big puffy snowflakes, Looking toward the back of the house there are less, and smaller flakes and more water droplets. 

On the one hand this is pretty cool and interesting on the other hand it means that the snow, when I get around to clearing it will be heavy, wet, and sticky.

When It comes to snow clearing… I prefer dry powder. 

When I first moved here, I had no clue that snow came in different styles. I don’t think I’ve seen all the different types of snow, but I’ve seen a pretty wide variety. I think it’s the Inuit people that have 300 words for snow.  I don’t want to learn all the names, but I understand how you’d get 300 words to describe the various textures.

I like the sound of snow falling. Most of the time folks don’t notice it. But there’s a white noise hiss as the snow hits the ground. For some reason, I’ve always thought it was neat and it’s comforting, like the sound of rain hitting the roof. 

I better fuel up with breakfast. I might have some shoveling to do.

I hope your Saturday is a good one.

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I absolutely HATE my Apple TV now! Thanks Apple!

I honestly haven’t been thrilled with Apple TV+. The content is sometimes interesting. Navigating Apple TV+ has always been, uhhh annoying. The most recent updates have made it so annoying that I’m tempted to not even bother trying to use it.

The most egregious example is the dross they’ve pushed upon those of us with actual Apple TVs.

The Apple TV app on apple devices sucks too, but not quite enough to make me super pissed off. For at least the last year the Apple TV app randomly pulled up the spanish titles and covers of movies that I’d purchased.

Before you ask, yes my system settings are all ENGLISH… Oh and the movies in question were produced in America. I could see it if the movie was a foreign film and the title and cover art were indicative of the country of origin.

The AppleTV+ app on the Apple TV is beyond frustrating. I’m finding that just trying to navigate the app to MY Library, I’m inadvertently starting some movie that Apple’s produced in which I have ZERO interest. This perhaps is attributable to my not having the latest and greatest Apple TV. They’ve changed the remote control since I purchased my model.

All I know is that I had no trouble using the previous iteration of the User Interface and since the change. Not only am I unable to easily navigate, I’m frustrated by trying, to the point that I’m yelling at the fucking device. Shortly after that I’ll power it down via the menu if I can get there OR by pulling the power which ever is easier.

Major FAIL APPLE! If I could roll the software back to something that worked on my Apple TV, I would!

It’s frustrated me enough that I wonder about cancelling Apple TV+ and Dumping the Apple TV devices entirely. My PlayStation can access my movies and shows and play them in surround sound just as easily as the Apple TV.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve been trying to adapt to the POS software Apple shoved out. It’s not getting better, and I’m not figuring out the U.I. So I’m not turning on my Apple TV as frequently. Situations like these always lead me to wonder if I actually need a device that I’m not using or that is not a pleasure to use. I mean why keep something that pisses me of in trying to use it?

The PlayStation 5 works WAYYYY better anyway. Since I’m not now and never have been interested in Apple Arcade losing the Apple TV device wouldn’t cause a hiccup.

I know it sounds like I’m over reacting. I’m pretty patient with software but in this particular instance it really seems as if the Apple Software folks are trying to over complicate what should be a simple thing.

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Happy Boxing Day!

Christmas Day was great here.

I did get back to sleep, Jesse let me back into the bed with a minimum of grumbling. An hour or so later, Jesse was laying on his back with his head on my shoulder. What woke me up was that my shoulder and arm were asleep

When I finally got up I started the day with The Jethro Tull Christmas Album playing throughout the house. Apple Music had a pretty nice medley of classic Christmas Tunes so I fired that one up. It’s nice to not have to worry about music.

It was Die Hard day!!!! 

I feel at peace for the first time in a year. Yes, there’s stuff that I need to get done but I’m not freaking out about it and it’s all going to be fine!

I found the infamous Frog Star the day before Christmas Eve. In a strange turn of events I also found my large Tumi briefcase.

Honestly, I thought I’d lost it in the fire. I’m sure that Jerry told me he’d found it, but I was focused on looking forward and not interested in picking through the ruins at the time. It’s also possible I thought he was talking about another briefcase that I hadn’t used in years. Either way, I wasn’t paying attention because there was so much going on at the time I couldn’t be concerned with “Little Stuff”.

The briefcase was in really good shape. It looks like Jerry had wiped it down, and put it in a box, no doubt thinking he’d remind me about it later. Then he and I both moved on to the 10,000 other priorities in front of us, forgetting about a lot of “Little Stuff”.

So there I was, standing in the basement, holding a briefcase that I loved and had forgotten about. I opened another box and right on top of all the ornaments was the Frog Star. 

I brought both items upstairs. The Frog Star was installed on top of the Christmas tree. The Tumi case I took to the counter and really inspected.

It was mostly undamaged. There were some scuffs but nothing bad, I started checking the zippers and as they opened I found receipts from 2007, I found a hardcopy of an email from my (then) new job, and a set of nice wired earbuds. Without thinking too much I got a leather conditioner and started working on the bag. 

When I was finished, the case looked great. There are some character marks but the briefcase is completely usable. It’s like I got a Christmas present from Jerry. 

Oh I’m sure I’d have found the case going through the basement, but the timing and reason I found the case seem intertwined at least circumstantially.

I’ve got a neat, smaller Tumi briefcase that I picked up 3-4 years ago and have been using.

Now, I have another briefcase should I ever un-retire and return to work where I need a larger size. I like the “character” the case has. It reminds me of one of my Stetson hats. That one survived the fire too. I was amazed when I pulled it out of its box. The box was burned and charred but the hat inside was just dirty. I cleaned it up and have been wearing it since. There are a couple of character marks but you have to really look hard to find them.

I appreciate the “survivor” items from the fire. Most of the Christmas ornaments are in that category. I could have set up the largest of the trees we have, then all the ornaments would have been out on display. But this year the smaller tree just felt “Right”.

Next year, I’m thinking I’ll do a big tree. Hopefully I’ll be wherever I’m going to be… Perhaps I’ll host the family get together.

I’ve got to get busy craving out that future.