Once more for the old year

I don't want to wish my life away, but I have to be honest. I can't recall another year I've wanted to kick under the bus more than this past one.

Goodbye 2011...don't let the door hit you.

It's been a rough year around here, but let's talk of pleasant things instead. Right now, my family and I are really enjoying a visit with our eldest daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter from California. Certainly one of the highest points of the year, along with their earlier visit near Thanksgiving.

Other highlights...back in June, my wife, my sister and I drove to Ohio to visit some of my relatives. That was a really fun visit, we enjoyed seeing my aunt, uncle, and four guy cousins and their wives. Stories were told, pictures were taken, and dinners were eaten. The other thing that made this special was the time spent with my sister visiting, taking turns driving and listening to music.

I also got to do a couple of things I've always wanted to do. Our church had a fireworks tent this year, and I volunteered to work a shift. And in mid November, I helped a friend of the family wire up a professional looking Christmas light display...animated, computer controlled, and set to music. The works. The family and I drove over there a few days ago to watch and listen to the show. It turned out really nice.

So I ought to just leave it at that, count my blessings, and end with my wish for a healthy, prosperous, and Happy New Year. May 2012 be a better year for us all. It just about has to be (I didn't go into all the various losses here this year, so just trust me on that).

I did get to thinking about one other thing...what was new in my life in past years. Regular readers of Poppy's Front Porch know that I like to make lists. Anyway...

Some positive things the years have brought...

1957 - my family's big trip to Colorado

1959 - our move to a bigger house and my start of school

1964 - baptized and joined the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod

1966 - lit the candles at my sister's wedding and added a brother-in-law to my family

1967 - flew with my dad to Atlanta and back. Later, discovered the hobby of model rocketry.

1969 - watched the Apollo 11 moon landing on tv and started high school in the fall

1972 - graduated high school and went off to Central Methodist College

1975 - transferred to the University of Missouri (lost some credits, but hey...)

1977 - graduated with a BA degree and got my first (short lived) mapping job

1979 - became interested in genealogy and started working on the family tree

1982 - married my best friend, still my lovely young bride. Saw the ocean for the first time on our honeymoon to Florida.

1985 - our first daughter born

1986 - attended a National Association of Rocketry regional meet and started becoming active in the NAR

1988 - landed my longest mapping job (lasted 13 years)

1989 - our second daughter born

1991 - our son born

1995 - our third daughter born

2005 - our first daughter's wedding. Later, our first granddaughter born.

2009 - our family's big trip to Colorado, Utah (Zion NP), California (our daughter's house and Disneyland), the Grand Canyon, and back

2010 - our second granddaughter born

I could probably find a few stories in all that.

Notes from the househusband, part 1: Consequences

Earlier today I was sorting clothing for the laundry. There was one item, I forget what it was exactly now, maybe a shirt or a woman’s top, but I noticed the care label and the admonition to use “only non-chlorine bleach”. Plainly stated in only four words, but I didn’t laugh and neither should you. It’s a serious business.

You might think you’ll get away with using the wrong bleach just this once, but I’m convinced otherwise. It’s better to be safe than sorry, so I’ll never use chlorine bleach on anything; because they have ways of finding out.

High tech ways.

They will come to your house some night, some cold night when you least expect it. They will break down your door and drag you from your warm comfortable home out into the cold. And all of your tears and your pleading for mercy will be to no avail.

Then they will begin to thump…

Eh what…there aren’t? You’re really sure about that? So they were pulling my leg about the bleach police?

Okay, well anyway don’t use the wrong bleach because there will be some kind of natural consequence. Your clothes will turn the wrong color or get a funny smell or something.

It would be bad, I’m telling you.

Day O' Bob

(This ran originally in 2007 and is re-posted today to celebrate the man's birthday. It is not known if happenin' britches are widely available today. - Ed.)

No doubt the skies over Independence, Mo. are ablaze with fireworks as the daylong festivities commemorating the birth of key citizen Robert K. Wingate are reaching their appointed climax. Even at this hour, you'll probably still be able to pick up pieces of candy strewn along Noland Road, flung there by the various fire departments and ambulance brigades during the parade. That is, if you can pick it out amongst all the confetti and twenty dollar bills shot from cannons or launched from those rubber-band sling things by exuberant cheerleaders. Kansas City loves a parade, yessiree, Bob.

Pictured here is the man of the hour in an earlier time, probably about 9:30 a.m. He's in the foreground on the swing. That's me on the glider with the happenin' britches on. Probably he had spent the night at my house and we would all wind up down at Poppy's later on. The girl is my big sister, but enough about her.

Time flies and Bob and I have a married daughter each. He's a grandpa now. Happily, though, we've not traversed too far from laughing our fool heads off at cartoons, ours or someone else's, giddiness fueled by hot dogs, Shasta and not nearly enough sleep.

So, get your happenin' britches on! It's the birthday of Independence's own Bob Wingate! Happy Birthday, cousin!

Yessiree, Bob.

The Evening Rambler for 11-11-11 (Six digits...all ones!)

I don't really have a plan for this, and I don't know where I'll end up when I'm done writing. This will be an Evening Rambler in the truest sense of the words.

In fact, I fully expect I'll go away...and then come back and write more. It's like some kind of law of nature...

The sun rises in the east - then sets in the west.
What goes up - must come down.
Bob goes away - then he comes back.

Before I forget, thank you Mike for the last two posts while I was having writer's block. The color wheel for all the Crayola crayons was really nice to look at. I did notice a bit of history revisionism on their part, one of the colors (I think it was Peach), used to be called Flesh. Somewhere in the 80s I think it was, they had collected enough complaints that they decided to change the name. In fact, I think they released new colors at that time in other flesh tones, but none of them named Flesh.

Day to day family life here at the northern annex to The Porch has been in upheaval lately. My wife's dad has inoperable terminal cancer along with other medical conditions. He has been in a hospice house for a week or thereabouts, and he is receiving good care. So my wife is staying with her mom for a while, a truly good deed which I fully support.

Of course, that means someone else has to cook dinner here, as the budget won't allow fast food every night. Daughter number two cooked chicken alfredo two nights ago, and it was very tasty.

Tonight was my turn, so we activated a test of the Emergency Food Warning System..."Dad is cooking...should this become an actual emergency, you will be instructed to seek aid..."

That kind of thing. I followed the directions on the box of fish fillets. I also got a few potatoes out of the bag to bake in the microwave. They'd been in the bag for a while and had kind of an earthy smell to them, even after a good washing. So I went ahead and baked them, then peeled off the skin, cut them up and fried them. Surprisingly, everything turned out good. Along with some baby carrots and some apple slices, we did all right.

Back after Fringe...

...And I came back. Told ya.

That Fringe episode was easily the best so far of Season Four. I've got an idea of one thing they could do from here on, but I won't say; especially since I know most of my readers are not regular fans of the show. The writers will probably take it in some other direction anyway.

Why do I like Fringe so much? Well for starters, it has a mad scientist! And at least one alternate universe! Not to mention some great acting and characters you grow to care about. What more could you want in a strange TV show?

Before the day gets any older, I'll wish all veterans a Happy Veterans' Day! I'm not sure if I have any readers who are veterans, but I always like to thank those in uniform, and those who used to wear the uniform, for our freedoms. Really, any day is a good day to do that.

Six days ago there was an earthquake in Oklahome. I forget the magnitude - somewhere around 5 - but strong enough to be felt across several states, including Missouri. I talked to some people at church who said they felt it here in Independence. I didn't notice it, and neither did anyone in my family.

And something like a week before that, there was a large solar Coronal Mass Ejection and geomagnetic storm which gave rise to the best auroral display seen in the USA in years. The northern lights were seen as far south as Arkansas. I heard about it while they were visible, so I grabbed my wallet and keys, jumped in my car, and drove out beyond the city lights.

See, you should know something about me. I've wanted to see the northern lights ever since I learned about them in grade school...and I never have. It's still one of the top things on my "bucket list"...and I say still, because by the time I got beyond the light pollution and got out of my car, the northern lights had subsided. I stood in the dark for a good ten minutes anyway, long enough for my eyes to adjust. No joy.

Sometimes I just get the feeling that I miss out on things.

All around the town

Knowing as I do the interest in maps that the host of this blog possesses, I thought the following link would be appropriate.

What else would you do with a wooden map wrapped around a cylinder?

See it here.

Nothing like a brand new box

Found this at one of my favorite sites, 22 Words. Be sure to follow the link to the original site where you can mouse over the image for the color names.

I guess I feel like coloring now.

Ten years to the day after 9-11-01...a few thoughts

Building up to this ten year anniversary, I’ve read a few comments online questioning the remembrance. The idea seemed to be, “It’s not healthy to cling to this, let it be in the past and move on”. I initially dismissed this as nonsense, but then a commenter drew the comparison to Pearl Harbor, and farther back to Gettysburg.

Now I’m not saying we can ever forget totally, or that we should, but there may be a point here. Some in my parents’ generation told me of Pearl Harbor, and I – and I suppose most “Boomers” – know of the significance of December the seventh. I seem to remember though that there used to be more interest in and talk about Pearl Harbor Day years ago than there has been recently. And I daresay that most people now alive would not be able to give the dates of the battle of Gettysburg.

My guess is that this 10 year anniversary of the September 11 attacks will remain the big one; sure it will be remembered and mentioned in years to come, but probably not to this degree. It just seems that people are resilient. We cope with tragedy, learn some lessons (and hopefully not forget too many of them), and move on. I’m glad that the memorials at ground zero, at the Pentagon, and at the crash site in Pennsylvania have been dedicated.

We’ve also been told that part of defeating the terrorists is to live our lives as normally as possible. We can’t let them win. But I’m confident that even if the details fade, we’ll never forget.

This time of year we see or hear the question, “Do you remember where you were on September 11, 2001?” I still do , clearly, and I posted about it a few years ago. If you’d care to read that, click here. I’ve seen other questions about “How do you think things have changed”, and “Do you feel the same as you did 10 years ago on 9-11”?

I’d have to say that some things haven’t changed for me, but one has. I’m still sickened by the unspeakable evil of the act, and I’m totally disgusted by the people overseas who danced in the streets at the news; and I don’t need to spell that out further. I’m also still amazed by the bravery of the firefighters and other first responders. They may not have felt like heroes at the moment, but they were.

One thing that has changed, I don’t feel the fear of uncertainty that I felt 10 years ago today. I still recall watching the TV on that day in stunned silence, but it’s easier to forget the details of the great billowing dust as the towers fell and sensing the fear in people fleeing the scene. In those first few hours after we realized this was a deliberate attack, we really didn’t know if this was only the beginning. Would the terrorists strike closer to home? Would our lives be in jeopardy? Would our loved ones in other places be all right?

For most people, aside from inconveniences while flying, life has returned to normal, and I’m thankful for that.

The loss of over 2,970 lives was certainly a tragedy, no doubt of that. I’ve been dwelling on a different thought today. Just imagine how many hundreds of lives were saved that day by the firefighters, police, and other first responders. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Heroes, whether they admit it or not.

I’m composing this an hour after I watched the CBS special on 9-11 Ten Years Later. It was filmed by a young man who went along with one of the NYFD crews, and included interviews from many firemen involved with the rescue and recovery…a really moving tribute.

9-11 was mentioned in Pastor’s sermon at church today. As we entered the sanctuary, we were given a card with the following prayer:

Anniversary of 9/11 Prayer (from Portals of Prayer July-September 2011)

Lord Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace, amid a world full of tribulation, You encourage us saying, “Take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Thank you that Your peace is not the shallow, short-lived peace the world gives. By Your holy cross, You reconciled us forever to the Father, giving us the peace that passes understanding, the deep and lasting rest of sins forgiven. Grant us to know Your peace, even in the midst of troubles. Cause enmity among peoples to cease. By Your Spirit, grant that, as far as it depends on us, we may live peaceably with all. Amen.

Happy Birthday, Mike!

In the past, I've written a few things here, and here, and here, to mark the occasion of my Cousin Mike's birthday, what with him being a good friend and co-contributor here on Poppy's Front Porch and all. I'm afraid the creative well is a bit low this year; must be the recent hot weather.

But I reminded myself of the old saying that "A picture's worth a thousand words".

I figure that's on average. A blurred, out of focus picture might be worth only 387 words, and a really great picture, like one hanging on the wall in the Louvre in Paris, would be worth 2,000 easily.

Maybe more. But, I digress...

Anyway, I searched high and low and even on the internet, so now I present to you a few images celebrating...

some of Mike's favorite things.


Remember the old ad jingle? I heard a kid sing a parody once, "McDonald's is your kind of place, hamburgers in your face". Okay that was a bit of a cheap shot...Mike loves cheesburgers and he worked in a McDonald's or two.

Then I got to thinking. Mike has loved baseball for years, in fact, he's the expert in my family.



Mike especially enjoys Cardinals' baseball.



Mike is also a big fan of Batman.

So what could be better than a picture of Batman playing baseball?

This took some searching...



I also found this during my search...



And this one was way too much fun to pass up.



And so Mike, it's late as I write this. I hope you've had a wonderful day, and if you haven't had dessert already, by all means do so. Here in a few minutes I intend to have some ice cream in your honor.

The Evening Rambler for the beginning of Summer 2011

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? The jury’s still out on that, tonight’s contestant dropped out rather than tackle a fifth grade social studies question. So we don’t know, and we didn’t get to see the question to test ourselves. He ended up with $7,500 though, so that’s not too shabby.

That is of course, if that’s an after tax figure, which I kind of doubt now that I think about it. It would be nice if game shows did that, figure the tax owed and send it to Uncle, since they’re giving away that money anyway. But what I heard years ago is that the contestants owe the tax on the winnings.

Seems like a shame though. You get all excited that you’ve just won $7,500, only to discover that you end up with only thirteen dollars and eighty-five cents.

Much has happened since my last Porch post. The big news in Missouri was the Joplin tornado, back on May 22 nd. Much has been said and I don’t know what I can add…the whole event and aftermath was so tragic. My sister and her family lived in Joplin in the late 1980s, so I’m somewhat familiar with the city. That area will never look the same, and the recovery will be a long one. Rumor has it that our church will send some people down there, but I’m not sure of the details, whether soon for cleanup assistance, or later for help in rebuilding. I’m not sure how much I’d be able to do if I went down there, but I have the desire to help in some way, if I can.

The Kansas City Star last Sunday had an amazing article, a collection of first person reports of survivors at St. John’s Hospital and nearby.

Since then, we’ve had several rounds of rain and thunderstorms here, but they’ve only blown the tornado sirens once. No damage here, though.

My garden is doing well with the rain and the warm weather. I have several blossoms on the tomato plants, and the cucumber plants are growing well. We got the fence up, but it still needs adjustment to make it varmint proof. I’ll have to get to that before any fruit sets on the vines. The potato plants are bigger and healthier than any I’ve ever had. I guess we finally got enough compost worked into the soil in that corner.

Father’s Day was a simple celebration. What I really wanted was to get my family around the table all at once and play a board game; we haven’t done that in too long. So we chose Pictionary, and my second daughter and my son teamed up and ran away with the game. They ought to enter a tournament.

My first daughter called from California, which was a delight. I told her that was the high point of the day so far, and said I wasn’t sure that would stand because her mom had made me a peach cobbler. I did get to “talk” to my one year old granddaughter. It wasn’t real words yet, just sounds on her part. Practice talk.

As it turned out, the cobbler was great, but I’ll rate the phone call the high point of the day.

Of course I thought of my Dad. The question came to mind, how would I respond if someone asked “What words of wisdom did your dad pass on to you?” I’m not sure how I’d reply, though I suppose if I give it some time and consideration, I'd come up with something. Dad was a very intelligent man, but also a quiet person most of the time. I’m sure he kept many things to himself, and yes, I should have asked more questions when I had the chance.

While my Mom gave me an appreciation for music and art, Dad passed to me his interest in things technical. His interest in aircraft became my interest in rocketry. And I have good memories of working side by side at his electronics workbench, putting together some Heathkit project or other.

I’ve come to believe my odd sense of humor is about an equal mix of my Mom’s general good humor and creativity (sometimes moving across the line into silliness), and Dad’s quiet, unexpected, dry humor. Interesting that I’ve included comparisons with Mom into these comments about Dad. When I think of one, I think of the other…the way it should be, I suppose. Anyway, here’s what I’ve written before on Father’s Day, if you’re interested.

One of our digital TV subchannels, 9.2, changed formats today. It was one of two weather channels, but now it’s a MeTV affiliate. So far, I’m impressed. I’ve watched parts of The Streets Of San Francisco, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, the original Hawaii Five-Oh, M*A*S*H, and the Dick Van Dyke Show.

Rumor has it they also have The Beverly Hillbillies, but I don’t know in what time slot. I’ve also read on the internet that this fall they’ll be adding Star Trek (I assume it’s The Original Series).

And…Batman.

Who needs cable?

Oh, and happy Summer!

See you tomorrow…and Sunday

I might as well weigh in on this. Apparently there’s this fellow, Harold Camping, who heads up a church ministry somewhere, and who has quite a following. If I’m understanding the news stories right, he claims the world will end tomorrow, Saturday May 21; I think I heard at 6 p.m., but I don’t know what time zone; God’s judgement will soon follow.

Now, I try not to discuss religion much here, most of my readers know me and have an idea what I believe. Perhaps someday I’ll start another blog with a more pointed message, “Life as I see it…Here’s the Truth”!

The last thing I want to do here on Poppy’s Front Porch is to start arguments about religion. My vision for The Porch is still to reminisce about good times, and create something new from time to time…come to The Porch! We’ll have fun!

But now I think a bit of personal background is in order. Yes, I am a Christian, I have been since age 11 when I was baptized and received into membership in the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. Here’s part of what I believe…

Humanity was created to serve God and live in fellowship with Him. But as a result of Adam and Eve’s rebellion, we are estranged from Him and spiritually dead through our first parents’ original sin, inherited through the generations; not to mention the multitude of our own sins. All of us in our natural state are fallen and unable to reach God’s perfection. By ourselves we cannot avoid death and God’s judgment and punishment.

That’s all people through all time…with one exception.

In God’s plan of redemption when the time was right, the eternal God the Son was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary. Born in Bethlehem, Jesus Christ of Nazareth taught, called disciples, healed the sick, and performed miracles. More than that, everything Jesus said and did was in complete obedience to the will of God the Father. His life of humble service was a life of perfect faith and purity. He never missed the mark, and there was no sin in Him.

But most of all, He came to ransom us. Offering himself a sacrifice on the cross, Jesus took on our sins – all of them – and took the Father’s wrath against sin in our place, to the point of death and the grave. On the third day, God raised him from the dead, and Jesus appeared to many of the disciples, who witnessed this new life. Days later, he ascended to His Father’s heavenly kingdom.

Our old sinful human nature, does not, cannot accept any of this. This one faith that saves is strictly a grace gift from God, a work of the Holy Spirit.

So what about this end of the world and imminent judgement day prediction?

As a Christian, I do believe everyone will stand before God eventually. At some point in time there will be a judgement day, Jesus Himself spoke of this. And it could happen in my lifetime, though I suppose it’s as likely – if not more likely – that due to some reason or circumstance I’ll draw my last breath and pass away as my parents, grandparents, and for that matter everyone else who has lived their natural span has done up until now.

My problem with Mr. Camping’s prediction is (and I’ll bet you’ve heard this before and were waiting for me to get to the point) found in Mark chapter 13. Jesus had spoken to his disciples about the coming downfall of the temple in Jerusalem, and Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him when this would happen. Jesus then warned them not to be deceived by false prophets who would come in His name, and not to be alarmed by wars and rumors of wars, and earthquakes in various places. Then…

“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.” (Mark 13:32-33 – also see Matthew 24:36).

This speaks to me of considering every day a grace gift, and a reminder to walk in the faith daily. Apparently Mr. Camping thinks he’s seen hints in scripture that clue him in to when the day and the hour will be. As interesting as such number crunching might be, it’s just not the way we’re meant to read God’s plain word.

I’m concerned that all this numerology does is set his group up to be a laughingstock on Sunday May 22, when the day dawns normally and everything will be business as usual. Worse than that, scoffers in the secular media will jump at the excuse to paint all Christians with a broad brush and call us all fools. Well, not that they need that excuse, unbelievers do that anyway.

For what it’s worth, I can vouch for the fact that most Christians I know aren’t worked up about this. All the chatter I've heard has been news articles on the internet and one mention on the local TV news.

The funny thing is, if it weren’t for the media, I never would have heard of Harold Camping. I think I did see one of the billboards, but as I was watching traffic to merge to an exit lane, I didn’t even notice who was claiming the end of the world.

I fully expect to see 6 p.m. come and go Saturday without incident, except for the media fuss about the botched prediction.

Of course I could be wrong, but in this case that would surprise me.

Mom and me and the family

Happy Mothers' Day, one and all! To celebrate, here's a couple of pictures from back when...scans from slides, actually.


Colorado vacation, 1957. My sister, my mom, my dad and myself; as best as I can figure this is a park in or near either Silver Plume, or Georgetown Colorado. What I remember most about the day was I had a great time digging holes in the park with dad's rock pick.


Christmas 1966. Mom looks on as I open a gag gift from my sister.

And this only touches the surface of the family photo archives...I need to get scanning some more.

Just to set the record straight

My wife and two youngest children and I did finally catch up with Mike. We had been delayed getting to our second daughter's Senior Show (by the time we'd finished supper, it took quite a while to find parking in downtown Springfield), and Cousin Mike had already been and gone. We did have a nice surprise when Mike's daughter and son-in-law came by the show.

So we stopped by Mike's house before lunch on Saturday, and had a great visit.

As you were.

Perhaps it's a supernatural delight

It's been said that it's a small world and I suppose in some way (or ways) it is. Or maybe it's not the size of the world but the number of possibilities that is relatively small, even though it seems as though a given event is about as unlikely as a whale landing on my house.

I'm expecting to see Bob this weekend, and thought I would see him tonight, but did not. His daughter's a senior at Missouri State and will graduate with a degree in Interior Design. I think that's right - her degree might be officially called something else.

Anyway, her and her soon-to-be similarly-degreed school chums were showing their projects in a gallery downtown and I went and saw her (and her project!) but missed her parental units. After a few minutes it was time to go, so I headed for the car. I got out onto the street and had not walked very far when I heard my name. I looked across the road and there was my daughter and her husband.

I ambled over and we chatted and soon up walked my son-in-law's uncle, whom they were meeting for dinner downtown. I left them and went on to the car. A few minutes later, in the car, and I was headed for my next destination and had the radio playing.

And what upon my wondering ears should fall, but the cheerful sounds of "Dancing In The Moonlight" by King Harvest. Regular readers of the Porch, whoever you are, would be familiar with the conversation that occurred on this blog with Bob and one of the members of King Harvest a while back. Bob had named "Dancing In The Moonlight" as one of his favorite tunes of 1973 and one of King Harvest's members was kind enough to chime in and provide some details, some real behind-the-scenes info! If you wish to re-live those heady times, the posts are here, also here and one there.

So, how likely is it that this confluence of events would occur in the space of 15 minutes and four blocks: I don't see Bob, who I expected to see; I see my daughter and her husband, who I don't expect to see; and I hear "Dancing In The Moonlight" on the radio which I probably haven't heard since Bob, who I expected to see but missed, was discussing it in the fall of 2008.

I'm not sure, but I think "Dancing In The Moonlight" should be considered the Official Song of Poppy's Front Porch.

Never forget The Porch!

That month of February just seemed to flee; don't know what it was so afraid of, but if you look quickly you can see it vanishing in the distance.

Just about gone, and there's not a thing to be done about it. But everyone's tired of hearing about how fast time flies when you get older, we never seemed to notice that when we were young, blah, blah, blah.

So, what have I been doing instead of posting here more often? Home repairs? Not exactly. But we did have to call the overhead door guy three Sundays ago. The garage door opened, my wife backed the car out, then I pushed the button to bring the door back down. Instead, it failed in the open position, and it didn't take long to figure out we weren't going to get it to close. Since we couldn't secure the house, we skipped church, much to my annoyance. Within a couple of hours the repairman came out, and he made a good repair...the door runs more smoothly than before.

That, and our dryer failed on us. The appliance repairman gave us a choice, he could put in a new motor. But that would have been more than half the cost of a new dryer, and there were no guarantees how long we'd have until something else failed on the old machine, the heating element, perhaps. Sears happened to be running a special - free delivery - so we now have a new dryer. Much better than what we were using. But, it's been a bit costly this month.

What I'm more excited about though, is I've been taking a continuing education class online, on writing for internet markets. I'm most of the way through the course, and I'm very encouraged. I had no idea how many different options their are for writing and having content published online...this course has been worth every penny.

One thing I will probably do is start a new blog, and monetize it. This will be a more focused effort, as soon as I decide what I want to write about.

But never fear, Poppy's Front Porch isn't going anywhere, I'm just expanding my opportunities to write. I will post more than the once a month rate so far this year, but it may only be just two to four times per month, at least for a while. It's possible I might move some subject matter over to the new blog, but right now I think the family stories, photographs, and much of the silliness will remain right here.

From January Thaw to January Blizzard

And really, that's about all I have to say about that. Seems like it was only last week - because it was - that our last 7 inch snow mostly melted. I didn't even take any pictures of that one, I've got better snow pictures from prior years. Today we've had just enough freezing rain to make a few slick spots on the pavements and motivate us to put down ice melt chemicals a couple of times. No threat to tree limbs or power lines here.

Tomorrow, the snow will begin after 3 a.m. and turn into blizzard conditions around 11 a.m. Depending on who you listen to, by the time this is all done on Wednesday, we could have:
from eight to ten inches, or
from ten to twelve, or
from ten to fifteen, with some areas just southeast of here getting maybe 16 to 18 inches. And half way across the state in Columbia, they could have 20 inches or more of snow.

We're all stocked up, and there's plenty to keep us occupied at home.

I don't think any of us are going anywhere tomorrow.