Last Post of the Month - Cleaning Up

 Nothing particular about this post today. It's the day after I made a day-long push to finish two books yesterday for my two book clubs. Neither one will make my favorite list. But I did read the 23rd book in the Inspector Rutledge of Scotland Yard series. The series is about a WWI police inspector who is suffering from shell-shock while solving very complex cases. This one is called A Fatal Lie. 

I also posted on Facebook pictures of me carrying the Olympic torch in 1984. It garnered quite a few views.

I was able to get the front page picture on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette because my mother gave the young photographer a ride to the run location; he was hitchhiking from Pittsburgh!

And I finished up my COVID vaccinations. Two of them. Pfizer. Lisa got the Moderna. I had no reaction either time. Lisa got chills with the second which lasted about eight hours. But that was all. 

We had a cold and snowy spell the last half of the month.

Looking forward to March!

Snow, Car, and Furnace Problems, and Finished a Book - Busy. Busy, Busy

 This week has been a doozy. First, I got us cleaned up by Tuesday from last weekend's.

But then, the outside air conditioner/furnace unit froze up so the fan would not rotate, causing the motor to get to the "burning out" phase. So I had to trudge through the icy crunchy snow-covered grass to break up the ice around the fans.

Yesterday, the Saturn wouldn't start. I figured it was the battery. It was. Fortunately, it was still in warranty. AAA came out and started it. They ran a test on it and said it was a dead battery. So I drove it around the corner to the shop I had bought the battery from. They replaced it for no charge. Took about 30 minutes. The only negative thing was none of the staff was wearing masks.

Overnight, the snow and sleet returned. There's a break,now but it's due to resume anytime.

Tomorrow I'll have to clean the car off and then the driveway.

But on a positive note, I finally finished "The Woman in White" by Wilkie Collins. It is 626 pages. I began it in May of last year. Written in 1886, it was one of the first of the mystery-thriller genre. Collins wrote another in the same genre in 1860. It was called "The Moonstone". I actually liked it better. Now to choose another big book. My latest Charles Todd/Inspector Rutledge is coming; it was released on Tuesday.

An Active Weather Week

 It's been a real active weather week. It's snowed twice since last Sunday, and last night/this morning it began a freezing rain. I had to go out this morning to clean the car so that Lisa could go to work.

I only hope that it's not so bad that she doesn't have trouble coming home. I'll go out ahead of time and make sure our driveway is safe.

Sunday is forecasted for clear, but more trashy weather Monday.

Morning Things

 The morning began well. 

I had an email from my primary care doctor informing me that our local hospital will begin COVID vaccine shots next Wednesday. I went online and signed up. I get mine at 8:10am, Inauguration Day! It's the Phizer vaccine, so I'll get my next one three weeks later. That puts me one day after my wife who got her first one this past Tuesday. She got the Moderna, so she has to wait four weeks.

Then I watched the news and It made me depressed, sad, mad, and then fed up, so I turned to English soccer. My team, Tottenham, is currently in fifth place, so that didn't help my disposition.

This past Tuesday we had our first meeting of the new year and we had 10 of 14 people show up (virtually). Most enjoyed the book. I began reading next month's book this morning. It is labeled historical fiction, so it's based on a true story. Sounds interesting.

It takes place in 1739 South Carolina and is the story of a 16-year-old girl who manages the family's three plantations making indigo ink. I don't anything about making indigo, so it should be interesting.

Finally, I got a text from my wife who is working this morning about 10 miles away. She said it was snowing heavily where she was. I went to the door and looked out. There was a small dusting on the ground, but only wetness on the street and walkways. It was barely snowing here. Thirty minutes later I decided to take a picture for the blog. Here's what I got.

Excuse the lack of clarity; the window did that. In any case, the snow was gone.