Category: General

I’ve disabled trackbacks and pingbacks due to receiving truly vile spam. I learned about it via PhotoMatt and immediately checked comments and trackbacks, finding some stomach turning entries which I immediately deleted. Evidently, Spam Karma has been updated to deal with trackback spam, so I installed it on both my weblog and Jack’s weblog. The trackback spam was sufficiently upsetting that I will just leave it turned off for a while, until I see if the Spam Karma fix works for other people.

Just in time for another cold snap, our furnace quit working again yesterday morning. The furnace guys worked on it an hour or so yesterday, consulting extensively on the cell phone, and when they left it was working. They are testing something for the next week or so, to see what the underlying problem might be.

I had planned on making Hot and Sour Soup last night before the furnace quit working, and it really hit the spot since the house was still warming up. I used a recipe that the NeonNurse provided in response to my request. I had always been intimidated by traditional Hot and Sour Soup recipes, but hers uses ingredients from standard American style grocery stores. Jack and I both enjoyed the results. I did skip putting in the shrimp, and will use less vinegar next time.

I am glad we didn’t put the space heaters away, though we haven’t had to resort to them again. It was two degrees Fahrenheit when I woke up this morning.

Sunday, while my mother was at Mass, I walked along Cottonwood Creek again. I was hoping to photograph some elaborate ice flows, but it has been too warm to develop them. However, I did get some good glimpses of Pikes Peak in the background.

Jack came up this idea for my Christmas present and I agreed it was a good idea. (We usually check out non-trivial gifts with each other, since we would rather get something the other person really wants rather than a surprise. One year, I did manage to surprise Jack with a set of Calphalon pots and pans, but I had told him that I didn’t think they were a good idea when he said he wanted them.) I went to Office Max a few days ago and did some tests. Today, when I came home from the barn, my present was in the sitting room with a red table cloth draped over it. I immediately replaced the old wooden chair I have been using as a computer chair for years now.

I can’t believe how comfortable it is.

Our wood stove sold today at my friend’s yard sale. Early on, a woman stopped while taking her kids to school and bought a lead rope. Evidently she had a discussion with her husband and came back and bought the stove about noon. Her husband came by after work to pick it up with his truck. I saw the look of dismay on his face when he tested lifting it, and volunteered to haul it in my trailer (which it was in at the time) since I knew approximately where they live. This was my only real goal for the sale, so I am quite happy.

Lily and Rags haven’t quite reached the little hearts and rainbows floating over their heads stage yet, but I expect to see it soon. They were eating from the same hay feeder when I looked out at them this morning. Smoke is just happy to have Rags back: he was slightly depressed while Rags was gone.

Yesterday, I completed a massive filing effort. One bonus was finding this show photo of me riding Hap, taken in Estes Park in 1997.

I will probably not be posting for a few days.

In eleven years of life in Colorado, I have never seen skies like the ones I saw yesterday evening driving home from the barn. I was so entranced, I drove by the entrance to our driveway and had to back the car. Jack called to ask if I was taking photos, and said that a funnel cloud had been reported in Briargate. The online morning paper doesn’t seem to mention any storm damage, but it might have occurred to late for their press time.

Flowers at the Castle Pines golf course.