Tools and Software - A Busy Weekend Moving Into a Busy Monday

Happy Monday to all. After my run this morning, I grabbed my point driver and set about anchoring the small kachina paintings I've been framing into their frames. I cut the glass on Saturday, so I was ready to finish things up. EXCEPT ... *sigh* ... the Framedriver tool I'm using doesn't have enough power to penetrate the frame. *sigh* I'm picking up my next frame on Wednesday. I'll have to ask Rook if he has any suggestions for me. It might just need a tension adjustment, but I'd like to get the pieces finished and ready to sell. 

I know there is a tension adjustment knob at the back 
of the point driver. I may have to adjust that to get 
enough power for the points to insert into my frame. 

DH was in a "Clean this house" mood yesterday, and we did get a lot accomplished in the small bathroom as well as the living room. There's still a lot of clening remaining, but I feel better about Sharon's visit at month-end now. Of course when DH "helps", it often leads to more mess than had originally been there, but in the long run it's beneficial. 

We've been playing "Lord of the Rings Online" since the 
original Beta, so many, many years now. DH still plays 
regularly. I simply don't have the time to play these days. 
But, that doesn't mean I'm abandoning my characters. 
My world is being eliminated, so I had to move my 
characters over to a different world. That was accomplished 
yesterday afternoon. 

DH also spent most of yesterday getting characters moved from the "worlds" we had been playing in over to a different platform. The software company is eliminating several worlds from play at the end of the month (or maybe even a bit sooner), so we had to get our characters moved over. I haven't played LOTRO for quite a while, but DH still plays almost every day. But the transfer went fairly smoothly after some minor panic about our houses (we own several houses each, spread over Middle Earth). I think everything is now resolved, but I'll have to check later this week to make sure. 

So, I'm going to sit back, drink my tea, have a small breakfast, and head to the shop. I hope all of you have a great Monday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Running Late - Running Thoughts - Fencepost Day (Unless the Rain Interferes)

Hello one and all. I was awakened at 1:15 am by a massive rain - water pouring down from the sky, flashes of lightning, and a minor apocalypse. I guess DH might have awakened enough to check the gutters and downspouts to make sure they weren't clogged by autumn's leaves, but I merely turned back around and went back to sleep. I live in hope and faith, I guess - LOL. But when I awakened when my alarm went off at 3:00 am this morning, DH was awake and playing LOTRO in the computer room. 

I've gotten back into playing LOTRO. We'll see how long 
that lasts, although I'm playing on my laptop this time, so 
I can get a quick 15-30 minutes in at the shop before I 
open in the mornings. And I'm playing new characters - a 
Rune Keeper (love it!) and ... well, I forget what type 
of character my second new elf is. 

Still, I'm running a bit late for a swimming day, so today's post will be short. I'm almost done with the sheets for our Swarovski sale. I think the way I've figured it out will work, and that's key. I'll be attaching sheets to a clear cover sheet that can be marked and re-marked with chalk markers. I'll have to run a test run or two to make sure my vision will be functional, but I think it's the best shot we'll have at being efficient while trying to make a major dent in our largest department. 

I've refined my master lists, and gone through and entered 
all of the items I'm planning to have available for this 
first Swarovski sale. It's such a huge department, I have to 
put it into two different sales. I think I'm almost at the point 
of holding this sale within the next two weeks. 

Yesterday was rather run - nice people, and a pickup for a repair I did last month. She was very happy with her two necklaces and one bracelet, although the bracelet might be coming back to me for one more re-do. She like asymmetrical patterning, and I made it rather balanced. So she'll wear it for a week and if she doesn't like the pattern, she'll come in and I'll re-do it at no charge. 

She didn't tell me that she wanted it restrung 
in an asymmetric fashion, so I made it quite 
symmetrical, because that's what most people 
prefer. I told her to wear it for a week, and if  
she wanted it restrung, I'd do it at N/C. 

I had fun with my customers yesterday, though. Everyone seemed to come one on top of the other in the mid-afternoon, and I was also trying to get a mail order together to be shipped today. I didn't get all of the mail order completed, but it will go out today - just maybe tonight on my way home instead of on my way to the shop this morning. Timing - slightly later but still within parameters for a late afternoon order. 

I'm running a little late today, do have to get 
going to the swimming pool. Have an excellent day! 

So, I'm off to the pool. I hope Rosemary will be there today. I haven't heard back from her after last week's phone message, but I'm hopeful that her back is feeling better today. Today is Fence Post setting day (except it might be raining for most of the day, which may postpone the concrete work). Hopefully I'll come home to a VERY open back yard and setting concrete fittings for the upcoming posts in our second appointment. I REALLY want my fence back! Have an excellent Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow for my "day off". Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל. 

A Busy Day Ahead - Monday, Monday

Today starts out quickly, with an Orthodontist appointment at 7:30 am. From there I scoot to work. Since I'm gong to the Ortho, I'll skip breakfast until after my appointment. Therefore, no "toast" for me today. I'll grab a container of cooked fruit for my breakfast, and that'll just have to do. I'm sure I'll survive - LOL. I'm really hoping he can make some adjustments that will make my brackets stop ripping the interior of my mouth to shreds. It's painful, and I'm not to happy when this happens. It seems to happen more frequently a week or two before my visits with him, and then skips again for another 6-8 weeks. 

Dr DeVoe and some of his staff. It was a tough hunt 
to find photos of him and the clinic, but I finally tracked 
him down on Facebook. I suppose I should send him 
a "friend" request - LOL. 

Yesterday was a fun day of playing "Lord of the Rings Online" and the ice hockey playoffs. There were some really fun games to watch, and I hated having to go to sleep, but I would be a Zombie for the entire week if I didn't get my Monday sleep-until-5:00 am slumber. I do tend to push the sleep envelope by the end of the week, there's no sense in starting the week on a deficit. 

Those of you who know LOTRO will recognize the 
"Prancing Pony" immediately. Those who only have read 
the "Lord of the Rings" books, may not recognize the 
building, but will certainly recognize the name of the inn. 

We would have spent Sunday outdoors, of course, but it was cold and rainy and we simply didn't want to be outdoors. DH did check the garden out first thing in the morning. It's his ritual and not to be missed. I, however, did my own ritual load of laundry and kitchen clean-up. So exciting, our lives are! LOL 

We're continuing to watch whatever games we can 
catch in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. There have been 
some REALLY good hockey games - very entertaining, 
with fast action and tremendous goals. Fun! 

If I'm really lucky (and I doubt I will be), I can continue working on my Crystals mastersheet today. It's unlikely, since DH really doesn't deal with customers. But, I do hope we'll be busy enough for me to keep the laptop in it's backpack until tomorrow. So ... today will be semi-boring, "normal" and nothing exciting. In many ways, I rather hope I go to sleep tonight thinking about absolutely nothing. That will make it a very good day indeed. And so, I wish for you - all of my readers - a wonderful Monday. I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל. 

Hobbits and a Recommended Book

Yesterday was a lovely "day off". I decided I needed to relax, so after general housework and a run to the grocery store, I made my weekly rations of "Ogre Juice" and settled down to the computer. I did a few necessary things, then set up my laptop and went back to playing my current "new" character on "Lord of the Rings Online". It's always fun to play new characters. You're not fighting a never-ending battle against the Dark, you're helping Hobbits and other free peoples of Middle Earth. Instead of going against the Servants of the Dark, you're just killing goblins and wild beasts. It's much more user-friendly at the starting level, and less depressing. 

The Shire, in "Lord of the Rings Online" is a lovely 
place of rolling hills, lots of houses and hobbit holes 
and green - very green and verdant. Things start 
changing quickly when you leave the Shire. Bree isn't 
nearly as green or welcoming, although it's still quite 
benign. I've been playing LOTRO now for 17 years, 
and I still love it - although I don't play it consistently. 

I think what always seems to stop me at the upper levels is that thought that I'm going against a Great Evil - the Dark Lord itself - so the lands are also dark and depressing, the dungeons are dank and filled with dark corners, and generally, that bright sunshine that I get in the Shire and the other free lands isn't there any more. I have enough darkness in my current world - battles here and there, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and idiots who are horribly short-sighted in positions of power throughout governments. That's depressing, so seeing that I can do a little bit of good for a Hobbit's life is a positive ray of sunshine in my life. 

I highly recommend this book. It's got all 
of the medical information, but it's presented 
in a way that's VERY readable and interesting. 
I'm finding things out about nutrition that I 
suspected, but didn't actually know. Now I'm 
learning new things, and it's fascinating. 

I've been reading a book called "Grain Brain" by Dr David Purlmutter and it's fascinating, easy to read, but big on details. I can't put it down, and I highly recommend it to all of you. I know everyone reading my blog has times when they wonder if they are doing and eating the "right" things for their health - physical and mental. He goes into the science of what may contribute to "brain fog" and other brain-related conditions, and can tie them directly back to food choices. One of the major culprits is sugar. Are you aware of how much sugar you actually eat? I'm not just talking about the spoon in your morning hot beverage. There's sugar that you add to things, and there's natural sugars - both play into brain issues, and I'm amazed at how much mental acuity is influenced by sugars (and not in a good way). 

It's time for breakfast, then onward to the shop. I'll probably 
kill a few goblins in LOTRO before starting a day filled 
with entering and printing out price tags. At least I'll be 
busy at the shop - LOL. 

So, I'm wrapping this up, eating my breakfast "toast" and baked fruit, and then heading to the shop. I've been told that I have a LOT of price tags to enter and print out today, so I'd better get to it. Have a fabulous Saturday and weekend and I'll be back on Monday - at least, that's the plan. *Hugs* to all! Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל. 

Snow, Lord of the Rings Online, and Freezer Burn - Lots of Cold Stuff

Good morning, one and all. I'm hitting the ground running today after a rather lazy Sunday. We're getting snow - somewhere around six to eight inches total from yesterday through today. DH shoveled yesterday and was surprised at how much we had already gotten. It's my job to shovel today before I leave for the shop (and also at the shop), so I'll be making a shorter post today, so that I can catch up with all of you and still get to my work before work - LOL. 

I have quite a bit more snow than this cartoon girl 
has. I can't figure out why she has snow on the shovel, 
but is standing on dry ground with her boots. Hmmm ...

The City was requiring us (actually, requiring everyone) to check the metal of their water pipes inside their homes. For us, that required DH pulling a lot of things from an almost-unused corner of his workshop area to get to the pipes and do the scratch test required. He wasn't super happy about it, but it wasn't horrific, just a lot of pulling things out and then putting things back. The pipes, as we suspected, are copper, and he did take photos, but since they were optional, I didn't include them in my report back to the City. If they return with a request for photos, I'll be able to provide them. 

The City is trying to get rid of the last of the lead 
pipes, so requested all homeowners to test and 
submit the results of the test to them by the end of 
the month. We know ours are copper - we've had 
leaks in some of them over the years. But, copper 
is still a good component for water pipes. (The 
photo is NOT my pipes, but it's a good one for 
copper pipes in general.) 

I started two new characters on Lord of the Rings Online. I haven't played the game for a long time because it had lost its' fun for me. But, I might enjoy these two new girls. The one I was playing yesterday was a Elven Rune-keeper. She's still doing her intro stuff, but she's rather fun to play. It's been forever since I last bothered with LOTRO, but it didn't take long to get back into the groove. DH, of course, plays constantly, and he's been playing my girls as well as his own dwarves, keeping everyone up-to-date with periodic software downloads and weaponry changes. 

I should probably read this - I have never played a 
Rune Keeper character before, and she plays quite a 
bit differently than the character types I've known in 
the past. Still, I don't have a lot of "excess" time, so 
I doubt I'll be able to play a lot. 

The plan had originally been for me to head over to our local Chinese restaurant for dinner yesterday, but the snow kept on coming and the roads weren't that great, so we skipped it. I was just fine with that - I have a refrigerator full of stuffed peppers, roasted squash and roasted carnival carrots, not to mention a lot of lettuce and salad stuff. My meal was delightful. DH, on the other hand, made a microwave dinner that was 18 months past the "best by" date. It was pretty awful and he ended up tossing it out and eating a salad instead. Lesson learned - eat what's in your freezer before it gets freezer burn. LOL

In this case, the problem wouldn't have existed 
if he had eaten his meal before the due 
date of sometime in 2022! OY! 

So, I'm starting my day a bit early today since I need to shovel the driveway and walkway before I leave for the shop. Time to get moving. Have an excellent Monday,  Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל. I'll be back tomorrow.

Taxes and Ants - Huzzah!

So, to start things out. The ant traps, of which DH had set up several, seems to have been successful. Yesterday morning I had a teeming number of stacked ants on the one trap, nothing on any of the others he had set out. Yesterday in the early afternoon, there was some movement around the one trap, but not the frantic activity of earlier in the day. Today, when I awakened and checked the traps, there was NO movement. None. We'll keep the traps in place, of course, for at least a week, maybe more. But it looks to have been successful. The live ants carried the poison back to the nest, and it has passed through the nest now, affecting all of the living ants. 

This is NOT one of my dead ants, but it is 
a lovely photo of a dead ant for illustrating 
the paragraph above. My ants are too tiny 
to get a good photo of. 

Taxes - Aearwen had to cancel our afternoon chat yesterday, and I was fine with that. I still had to get a few things in order for the accountant. So I sat down at the computer and compiled a list of my charitable contributions for the year. These are contributions - one time or ongoing monthly donations - to a variety of charities - not personal gifts of this or that just to help a friend out in a time of need. I still came up with a nice long list of contributions to the tune of more than $1100 for the year. I'll have to continue working on that. It looks like animal welfare is high on my list - two animal charities, and then people - LGBTQ and others who need a helping hand. I'm pretty happy with that - there's no sense in having the ability to help others and not doing so. 

I'm a big believer in donating to charities. I am fortunate 
enough to have funds available, and so I make sure to 
spread some around to help others who are less fortunate, 
or animals - near and dear to my heart. 

Today it's back to work for a day. I have to get focused and use the checksheets I've been developing to get a handle on our Swarovski crystals. DH still wants those to be our next week-long clearance sale, and I know what I need to do to make that posssible. Now, to try and think of a way that won't be impossible for my customers or my staff, and keep things moving throughout the week so that we can easily find each product the customer wants to buy. It's going to be tricky. 

If I can pull off making a workable checklist for this 
upcoming sale, it will be excellent. I've been getting 
practice in how I want to do this by working on the 
inventory sheets for our clearance boxes. Now to 
see if I can apply those lessons here - LOL. 

I actually slept until my alarm went off this morning - something that's fairly rare. Lately I've been waking up before my alarm (which is set for 3:00 am - so a bit crazy, right?). I had just settled down to my morning meditation when I heard DH come down the stairs. Fortunately, he has learned to NOT disturb me in the early mornings, and the sounds of him moving around disappeared quickly. When I was finished with my meditation, I headed downstairs and found him at his computer, playing "Lord of the Rings Online" - a game which we've planed for a LONG time since we were part of the original beta group for the game way back more than 20 years ago (I'm pretty sure it's been more than 20 years now - can't swear that for sure, though). DH has been playing my characters lately - trying to get them more caught up. I haven't played for more than a year, just no time or inclination. Maybe after I retire I'll reclaim my characters for myself. 

We've been playing Lord of the Rings Online since 
the beta and that's a long time. More than twenty 
years now. DH plays almost daily, I haven't played 
for quite a long time. It's a good thing he's keeping 
my girls up-to-date for me. 

So, I'm wrapping this up and heading out to the pool for my third and last swim of the week. I'm really looking forward to being in the water, even if the book I'm listening to is dragging on a bit. Still, it's keeping me occupied and in sync with my swim routine, so I can't/won't complain. I found out a long time ago that listening to books while I swim allows me to have the best workout, so I embrace it whether I'm in love with the particular book or not. I might not love the book, but I do love the characters, so I'm moving along with the plot. Rather like life, sometimes - LOL. We just move along, in spite of the fact that not all days are stellar. Have an excellent day, Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל. I'll be back tomorrow.

Mis-Steps Dogged My Path on Wednesday - Chickie Returns Today

Yesterday was a series of mis-steps. I arrived at the YMCA in plenty of time for swimming and knew I had a 5:00 am slot. But, when I checked in, my Gate Gargoyle, Ed, said I wasn't on the list! I was shocked, said a few bad words, and stormed out. I was LESS than pleased. I returned home and pulled up my reservations booked app. It turned out I did have a 5:00 am reservation ... but at the wrong YMCA location. There had been a hiccup when I was making the reservation and I hadn't noticed the location had defaulted back to alphabetic order. I thought I was reserving Shoreview, but I made the reservation for Andover - WAAAAY far away. 

My temper is a bit volcanic, but it's a quick, fast eruption 
followed by a quick calm. I don't hold grudges and I 
don't hold onto anger for long periods of time. I'm also 
more than willing to admit when I'm wrong and to 
apologize. DH, on the other hand, can stew over a 
slight or a fault for years and bring it up time after time. 
That's immensely frustrating and too extreme for me. 

After wrapping up my home tasks, I put my stuff into my car, and before heading anywhere else, I drove back to the YMCA and apologized to Ed. I told him that he was right, but that I was also right. That I wasn't on his list because my reservation had mistakenly been made for a different location. I laughed about my stupidity and apologized sincerely - making sure to express it several times. I really like Ed and have known him as my 5:00 am Gate Gargoyle for many years. We laughed about it and I think all is well. I know my swim time tomorrow is at the CORRECT location, and I'll make Monday's reservation when I get home from swimming tomorrow and will be very careful again. Modern technology - a plus in many ways, a minus in others. 

LOTRO hasn't had a major weapons upgrade/change 
for many years. The Legendary Items have changed 
dramatically and it's going to take me some time and 
some reading to really get it all nailed. Thank goodness 
some dedicated players who write playing guides have 
come out with policies and procedures to follow so that 
we're not all wasting a ton of time and effort. 

Lord of the Rings Online underwent a serious upgrade on Wednesday. We usually have a Wednesday update, but this time they pushed in a whole new weapons system which will take quite a bit of work to truly understand. DH has immersed himself in all of it - he dives in deep ... it's the Dwarf in him. I have much more limited time to spend on the game, so I only play four characters and it'll take me more time to understand what's going on and how to upgrade my weapons appropriately. I'll let him make all of the mistakes first - LOL. 

We have a TON of Swarovski crystals 
still in stock. Since Swarovski decided they 
are no longer making crystal beads, and 
have forbidden retailers and resellers from 
using their name when selling a product 
that has used their discontinued crystals, 
I've taken to branding them as the "Evil 
Empire in Austria Whose Name Shall 
Not Be Spoken". I'm still going to be selling 
their product, though. I own far too much 
of it not to sell it. 

So I'm wrapping this up and getting ready to go to the shop. Chickie returns to day after her one week of vacation. It'll be a relief to have her around again ... DH is OK with helping on the sales floor, but he's not as good with the customers as Chickie is. Then again ... she tends to be a bit of a chatterbox, sometimes forgetting that the customer should have the last word. She's excellent with color, though, and I'm midway into a major project that will challenge her color sense and allow her to exercise something she really enjoys - making color mixes of the "Evil Empire's" beads for our sales buckets. 

Have an excellent Thursday. I'm already looking forward to tomorrow - my first day off in more than a week (except for Sunday, of course). Enjoy your day and I'll be back early tomorrow before heading out for my CORRECT swim time at the CORRECT YMCA - LOL. 

Window Repair Progress and a Lord of the Rings Online Update

It's been a week since the window at the shop was cracked. DH's temporary repair seems to be holding up, but the weather is getting colder and since it will be a minimum of 3-4 weeks before the new glass pane is available for installation, I think I'll go ahead with a "temporary repair" in the meantime. 

This is how our broken window looks right now. Duct tape 
isn't going to do much against colder temperatures, but the 
guy who took the estimate and measurements of our window 
suggested a temporary fix that would paste a second piece 
of glass over the hole, closing a stone in front of the 
cave entrance, in essence. I think we'll go ahead and get 
that scheduled. It sounds like a wise idea to me. 

Our insurance company is coming through for us in spades. If we add the temporary fix to the actual new pane replacement costs, we're looking at almost $2600, but the insurance company will cover all of it except our deductible of $500, so that's not too bad at all. I'll toss the final numbers at DH tomorrow and he can make up his mind how he wants payment to be handled. Insurance is offering us a few different scenarios and I'll leave it up to him. 

Waist beads are an African tradition and are often worn 
by women of color in the US. I have several customers 
who make these for sale or gifts, and I admit there is something 
lovely about beads around the waistline area. A person 
can wear one strand or many, their choice. I think it 
emphasizes femininity and beauty. If you're interested 
in finding out more about waist beads, here's a 
link for you.  
https://www.healthline.com/health/beauty-skin-care/waist-beads-modern-uses

We had a very busy morning yesterday, starting out with a customer who makes Waist Beads getting a large variety of products, while two other customers came in at the same time. It was a backup at the cash register, but eventually everyone got their stuff and was happy. I did make one error, undercharging a customer on some feathers, but I'll put the $10.68 in out of my pocket today to balance the books. It was my error, my bad, so I'll make it right. In the meantime, the gentleman got a deal on a lot of feathers and he was very happy, and so was I. It was a bit of a relief to get some feathers sold - I have a bunch of them. 

As a reader of my blog, you certainly realize I'm a long-time 
player of Lord of the Rings Online computer MMPOG. DH 
and I were part of the original Beta almost two decades 
ago, and once it went live, we moved over to it and haven't 
been away since. There's a new campaign being introduced 
in a few weeks and this complete revamp of the 
weapons system goes hand-in-hand with that. It's 
going to take some work to get into the new scheme, but 
it was certainly needed. 

Yesterday was the first full day after a major upgrade in Lord of the Rings Online, and it was a serious upgrade. Legendary weapons have been completely shifted to a brand new system. I didn't get time to update some of my characters' weapons before the shift, so I'll end up missing out on some abilities that could have been important for the new system. But there's nothing to be done about that. I'm disappointed, but I'm disappointed in me, not in the system. Now I get the "joy" of learning how to operate in a new framework. I hope I understand it relatively quickly. 

The legendary weapons overhaul was the first step into 
a new area and quest arc - Gundabad. LOTRO has been 
exploring more of the Dwarven race and their own 
quest and lives throughout Middle Earth, with Gundabad 
being the latest of these areas. Want to know more? 
Here's a link for you. 
https://www.mmorpg.com/news/the-lord-of-the-rings-onlines-next-expansion-is-called-fate-of-gundabad-coming-fall-2021-2000123008

So I'm off to catch up with all of the posts of friends, maybe grab a sweatshirt because I'm cold, and finish my morning breakfast (a lovely apple for today). Have a wonderful weekend, be kind to others, and please relax. Enjoy life. It's actually a wonderful experience, even if it is a bit trying every now and then. I'll be back on Monday morning before running off to my swim. 

It Was A Video Weekend - LOTRO During the Day, Avengers at Night

I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend. DH and I spent a lazy Sunday playing Lord of the Rings Online for hours. He's been working on my character, trying to get her weapons improved and her skills improved, and I'm totally in favor of his help. The evening was spent watching "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame". Of course, I still missed the final hour of "Endgame" since it is a four hour movie and I go to sleep at 9:00 pm. But, it was entertaining and a lot of fun, as most of the Marvel movies are. 

I've only seen "Avengers: Endgame" through to the end twice, 
although I've caught the end on its own a couple of 
times and watched the beginning and middle several other 
times. The problem with a four-hour movie (or slightly over 
three hours without commercials) is getting the time booked out. 

This morning started out with a bang. My alarm went off, I picked a guided meditation and immersed myself for 30 minutes of chakra balancing (always love working with the chakras). I then did a couple of quick chores in the kitchen before changing into my workout gear for my 1-75 miles on the treadmill. Thank goodness I'm listening to a book I love, it's hard to get enthusiastic about the treadmill without a good book loaded into my iPod. 

Some guided meditations have me working from the sacral 
chakra up through the crown chakra. Today's guided 
meditation took the opposite approach, starting with 
opening the crown chakra and allowing that light 
to illuminate the remainder of the charkas, working 
from top down. A slightly different approach, but 
equally effective. 

I suspect today will be OK - a bit slow, since we're into Spring now and many of my customers have their gardens on their minds instead of their beadwork. I haven't checked to see if we'll have rain today. If we do, we'll have very few customers while the rain is falling. For some reason, up here in the Frozen Northlands, people will come out on nice days, windy days, even snowy days, but rainy days won't be braved. People will stay indoors if it's rainy. It's not as if they'll melt, but they certainly seem to be under that impression. Crazy! 

This picture of baby owls sheltering from a rainstorm 
was just too cute to not share with all of you. Were 
you aware that unlike most other birds, owl feathers 
don't have a layer of oil on them? That's one of the 
reasons why owls can fly silently. It also makes 
repelling water from rain impossible, so owls 
hunker down and suffer through rainstorms. 

So, as you can tell, there's not a lot on my personal agenda today. I have a new class in my "Energy Medicine" lectures today which I'll listen to as soon as I get to the shop. I'm very much looking forward to it. But except for that, life will be semi-boring - LOL. Sometimes boring can be a good thing, though, so I'm not objecting. Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow. Please remember to be kind, stay safe and wear your mask. Namaste. Mitakuye Oyasin. 

Progress - It's more Than Just a Word

By the time DH got home last night, I was pretty much finished getting the new computer set up and functional. I'm still stumbling around Win 10, it's not built into my fingertips yet, but the data is moved and the programs have also seemed to move well. It's not my desktop, it's a laptop, but it's a fun one and after a bit more massaging, it'll be just about perfect. 

I'm still very undecided about what to name my new 
laptop. It's being shy, and hasn't shown its personality 
to me yet, but I'm sure it won't be too much longer. 

My "Lord of the Rings Online" game will need some more tweaking before I can easily play it on the laptop. but DH and I worked on it in tandem last night and got some of the tweaks completed. That will probably take a bit longer, especially because I play it on my laptop as well as my desktop and the two settings have to be identical for it to appear on-screen properly. That's not happening right now, so I'll have to figure out a work-around. I suspect, for this game, I'll have to change my pixels from the 3840 x 2160 down to 1920 x 1080. If I can do that, it will look great on both computers and I won't have the issues I was having with the higher resolution. 

I've been playing Lord of the Rings Online since the original 
beta, more than 13 years ago. I'm not as intense about the 
game as DH is, but I enjoy it. I need to get things arranged 
so that I can play it on either my desktop or my new 
laptop with ease. That'll require some tweaking. 

So the actual migration might be over, but the murmuration of linking my programs between two different computers still needs a bit of work. That wonderful synchronicity that can exist when working in two different locations needs a bit more tweaking. I'll try to get that resolved, as well as understand the laptop and Windows 10 a bit better, at the shop today. 

Windows 10 might be a learning curve, but the wallpapers 
they have for it are stunning. I have been enjoying flipping 
through those, although I'll end up loading my own 
wallpapers down the line. 

So thanks all, for your patience during this long period of indecision and jumping into the dark pond. I think I made all the right decisions, and now I have to find a way to live with the result. Moving forward - LOL. Meanwhile, as we expect another snow of 2-3 inches today/tonight, I'm out of here. Have a wonderful weekend and please, be kind, stay safe, and wear your mask. I'll be back on Monday morning. 

Growing Grass and Farmers' Markets

I'm really happy to say that it's Saturday. It's been a heck of a week, and I'm glad I just have one more day at work before my "day off" on Sunday. DH managed to get the angled roof boards around the second shed structure attached yesterday. It's only a single bolt (there should be two), but it's not going anywhere. He also cut the boards for the first floor level, but they're not attached yet. The grass seed he's been nurturing on the base of the shed berm has started sprouting. Hopefully, if the weather holds, we'll have a healthy growth by the end of next week. 

The grass is starting to sprout on the woodshed berm. Once it's caught
hold and gotten thick, we'll be safe from erosion and rain damage, but
until then, we need to be careful and cover it with tarps when the
weather looks like rain is imminent. 

Tomorrow's schedule is to get the roof beams attached to Shed #2 and the plywood roof onto both structures. It's a lot of work that needs to be done, but if we get the plywood onto the top, he can start the actual roofing next week - tar paper, drip guards, shingles, etc. Don't ask me specifics, for this, I know absolutely nothing. I'm just a body helping, I'm not the person doing the work. 

I used to love shopping at the Farmers' Market, although I
rarely do any more. There are local markets, but they open
a little bit too late for me to shop at before I have to go
to work. I'll probably start shopping them again after I retire,
though, since I adore the fresh produce. 

My cherry tomatoes are doing beautifully, at least my "grape" tomatoes are. I haven't had to purchase tomatoes for my salads for a few weeks now. I just harvest every night and it's been fabulous. I do love this season of harvest. The stores and farmers markets are filled with lovely fruits and veggies. I've been enjoying grapes for lunch, cherries for breakfast and blueberries on my salads and oatmeal. It doesn't get much better than this time of the year. 

The inability of FedEx to deliver packages to the
shop during our working hours is really making
me angry. I can't understand the difficulty
in actually coming by a business during
operating hours. UPS and the Post Office
seem able to do it without a problem. 

I have two packages being delivered via FedEx, that I'm having NO luck actually getting. Apparently their driver likes to be in my area before 9:00 am, and refuses to even come to the shop door if he/she sees the CLOSED sign. If the driver actually came to the door and rang the doorbell, I'm usually there and could accept the packages. But no. It doesn't happen. One is more than two weeks late by now, the other is starting well into it's first week of delivery purgatory. I've phones FedEx Customer Service several times, but I'm getting nowhere. I don't seem to have this problem with UPS or the Post Office. I'm starting to really hate FedEx. 

We've had serious server issues for almost a month now. The
developers have been trying their best, but it's like trying
to stop a flood with a paper dam. It isn't working. 

Lord of the Rings Online is having some major server issues, acknowledged by the Powers That Be in the Dark Tower. It's been frustrating to play for almost a month now - ebbing and flowing, but never truly fixed. Yesterday the following came my way and I just had to share. Too "precious"!!! LOL

On that note, I'm out of here. Have a fabulous weekend, enjoy whatever activities you have planned, and I'll be back on Monday. 

Black Dirt Leads My Thoughts to Construction - Real and Imagined

Yesterday morning Fra-Dor delivered a 1/2 ton of black fill dirt to my front yard. DH snapped a picture and sent it to me, and I'm sharing with you. If you never knew what 1/2 ton of dirt looked like, now you do - LOL. It took him more than 25 wheelbarrow loads to get it moved from the front yard to the backyard where it's now all happy under tarps to protect it from the rain we should be getting tonight. He's already using it, of course. The first thing he did was start working on that stone drainage which now has been extended and given extra height to avoid spillovers. 

A half-ton of black dirt doesn't look like much in the yard, but it
actually is a LARGE pile of dirt and took DH more than two
hours to get moved from the front yard down to the back, one
wheelbarrow full at a time. 

When dealing with large piles of dirt and many man-hours of shoveling and moving dirt, it makes me have great admiration for the construction of places in our past. Mankind has lofty ideas when it comes to architecture, and some of the most amazing structures were made long before the equipment we have today. No machinery, just sweat and brawn. 

Gobekli Tepe in Turkey is widely considered to be the world's first
temple and predates Stonehenge by more than 6000 years. It's
an amazing place and would be awesome to actually visit, although
I doubt I'll ever get the opportunity. 

Just think of it - the great Pyramids of Egypt, the vast cities of the Mayan people, Gobekli Tepe in Turkey, Petra in Jordan, and several mountains that are really tombs in China. All of these places built by human beings (unless you subscribe to the "Ancient Aliens" school of thought), one shovel at a time, one rock at a time. It's one of the reasons why I became an archaeologist those many years ago. I was in awe when confronted by the achievements of our distant ancestors. I still am. 

Many of you are familiar with Tikal and other Mayan ceremonial
centers, but were you aware of what LIDAR is now showing us about
Mayan civilization? Take a look.

LIDAR reading over the jungles show vast cities of the Mayan
civilization still uncovered and waiting to be explored.
Sometimes modern technology can be so amazing! 

So I'm peppering this post with a few posts of the more famous places I mentioned above, and admit that I also think of the huge effort put forth by the Dwarves in the halls and mines of Moria. I know Moria is fictional, but what an incredible place. It took the Fellowship three days to walk from back door to front chasm and bridge through hallways, passages and vaulted rooms of immense size, all excavated by hand. 

Getting through the Mines of Moria isn't easy, but of the many
areas of Middle Earth I've wandered through in my 13 years of
playing Lord of the Rings Online, Moria is my favorite. I'm
always a bit sad when I leave it behind, even though I miss the
open skies and the fresh breezes. 

Have a great Friday and be kind to one another. I'll be back tomorrow. Be well, stay safe, and please, wear a mask.