Whatever

Since The New Year

Right now the Miata is getting driven on average about 1 out the 7 available days of the week. Since the beginning of 2022 it has traveled a bit less than 100 miles, 98 to be exact.

I would say we go for a 2 to 3 mile walk on average about 5 out the 7 available days of the week. Since the beginning of the year we have walked a few miles less the Miata has been driven, or 89 miles.

Because I’m a weird individual, even if I will have no use for one, I have to carry car keys in my left front pocket or I will feel unsettled. Usually when we go for a walk I carry the Miata key because it gets less use than the Mini’s, so that means that key has been walked nearly as far as it has been driven.

I Suppose It Is the Fourth of February Already Somewhere

Earlier this evening I sat down in front of the PC, and because it is the day before the Reacher series premiers on Amazon, I might find a newer or different trailer out that I hadn’t seen yet. Well, there wasn’t any trailer, but the entire show was there waiting to be watched.

So I watched the first of the eight episodes. Watched it all the way through, even the credits. The lead actor fits the bill and I believe he is Reacher incarnate. From now on whenever I’m reading a Jack Reacher book I will picture Alan Ritchson in my head, just like I visualize Sam Heughan in any of the Outlander books.

This story is based on a book set in Georgia and the scenery looked the part, from the countryside to the small town square. I checked IMDB and the only filming locations mentioned are in Ontario, Canada. I guess it is a good thing they filmed it in the summer.

Also on the IMDB page there were several user reviews already there and they were dated February 4th even though it was early evening here. It wasn’t even past midnight on the east coast.

But then I remembered the credits I watched. I had noticed at the end of them the voice actors were listed for all the different countries that will be seeing this show. I realized, at least from the languages I recognized, many were in Europe and it was actually February 4th there.

Caution! Bridge Freezes Before Roadway

We went for a morning walk along a section of the OC&E Trail that we hadn’t been on yet. I wanted to walk someplace different and we both wanted something paved, so as not to have to remove the very cement-like mud from our shoes that developes this time of year.

Plus there were a couple geocaches to find along this 2 mile section. We found the first, but didn’t find the second. Although the temperature was still in the upper 20s at 10:30 AM, the sunny sky and near zero wind made for a pleasant stroll.

The afternoon was spent watching NFL football. Every time there was a commercial for Black Friday or Cyber Monday I would wonder what they were talking about. Maybe because I found it hard to believe it was still Thanksgiving weekend having had our turkey & fixings meal a whole week ago. And between lunch and dinner today, not counting the white bean turkey chili we still have some of, all the leftovers are gone.

I printed out return address and address labels, then stuck them on the envelopes, for our old school Christmas cards. While Donna, bless her heart, hand wrote a short to medium personal note inside each and everyone of the 46 cards. They go out in the mail tomorrow, so if you don’t get yours in the next 4 or 5 days, you must been added to the naughty list this year.

Long Long Short Long

We live about a third of a mile uphill from some railroad tracks. They are not just any old railroad tracks either, if you are traveling by train from Seattle to Los Angeles you will pass thru our fair city of Klamath Falls. These tracks are kind of like I-5 in that they are the main north-south route along the west coast, so freight trains also pass through here every day. There are probably ten to twelve trains total using those tracks per each 24 hour period.

A direct line along that third of a mile crosses three regular surface city streets, a bike path and one 5 lane US highway before you get to the tracks. Not too far that direct line is a street called Portland that those tracks cross. This is the only street crossing on this side of town, the rest have bridges over the tracks. This street crossing doesn’t come into play on any of our trips, so we really don’t have to worry about waiting for any length of time at the crossing when any of the long freight trains pass thru town. What we do have to contend with is the train’s engineer signaling his approach to the crossing.

It wasn’t until we moved here that we knew that any train approaching a street crossing, whether it has automatic gates or just flashing lights, the train’s engineer has to sound the train’s horn in a series of blasts – two long, one short and a final long. Because we can actually see the train through the trees and gaps in between houses in the winter from our front porch, we have no trouble hearing these blasts of 96-110 db sound. When we first moved into our house those horn blasts could be startling because our living room faces front towards the track. After a few months though, we got used to them and we are to a point that we almost don’t hear them anymore. Almost.

I have noticed that different engineer’s each have a different way of sounding that signal, some have longer longs or a shorter short blast. Because we are a stop on the Amtrak route and have a very large rail yard south of town there are probably several of this engineers who live in town. I am convinced that the different variations in the horn blasts lengths is similar to the pilot whose landing pattern took him over his house and wagged his wings as a greeting to his family, these distinctive horn blasts let their family know they are coming home.

I Don’t Have A Cat

While wandering the interwebs this evening looking to find something to entertain me when I came across this photo as the header image for a Lifehacker article and for whatever reason it spoke to me.

It is sort of like the Mona Lisa as it mirrors the painting’s novel qualities, including the subject’s expression, which is frequently described as enigmatic, the monumentality of the composition, the subtle modelling of forms, and the atmospheric illusionism.

Enjoy!

Weekly Wrap

First up is a picture from last Sunday and if you follow me on Instagram you will have seen part of this before:

Monday we walked downtown and did some geocaching on the way. We DNF’d the first two. Number one is in a small park we walk right by every time we do walk downtown. Number two was a caboose at the county museum and not finding it was expected, we never seem to get these. We found the third and then promptly DNF’d number four. We did find the next four we hunted for, but three of them were virtual, so there wasn’t an actual container to look for.

Tuesday we walked downtown and had pizza for dinner at Rodeos Pizza and Saladeria. A medium The Boss pie, six slices consumed on site, two taken home for my lunch the following day. This is the first time we have eaten here for dinner and have decided that the lunch cook does it more to our liking. This one had a touch too much sauce and came out of the oven a minute or two early making the crust not as crisp.

Wednesday I prepped the master bath for painting by removing the shower curtain rod, towel racks and patched the holes with spackling. Then I masked off everything. It was also our biannual visit to the dentist for teeth cleaning.

Thursday was painting the master bath.

Friday was pulling down the tape in the bathroom and putting it up in the master bedroom.

Saturday was supposed to bring wet winter weather so we had planned not to even leave the house. The weather never materialized, but we still didn’t leave the house. I painted the bedroom, which took most of the day, and Donna spent just as much time in the family room downstairs sorting the jumbo cache of Morrison memories. She is trying to go through all this and separate the stuff that belongs to each of her three brothers, so as to pass it along to them.

Today I put up the old shower curtain rod, new towel racks and TP holder in the master bath. Put the master bedroom back the way it belongs, but we probably won’t sleep in it for a couple more days so as to let the paint smell totally dissipate.