Dad 125: In Maine With Snowflakes

(The weather outside is frightful!  .... Not really.  Enjoy Dad's post!  -- Tracy)

Derf Here!  Another cloudy, late fall day in the Northeast.  Wind from the North (according to my weather vane).  It has been rather cold lately and from what the experts say, we are in for a very cold Friday.  Lucky to get up to freezing!!  Brrrr!!!

One week ago I thought I'd be travelling to the Midwest today.  As late as two nights ago I was still planning on hitting the road.  My plans changed overnight and the planned trip is no longer.  I guess the thought of twenty hours in the automobile caused me to lack the incentive necessary to complete the trip at this time.  Perhaps old age??

Sure hope the Eureka College dinner/concert goes well this weekend.  I'm sorry I'll not be there to witness the event.  Wish the Henry family the best for the performances.  Will be thinking of you and will be with you in spirit.  Have to put off meeting Brendon and Sam until a later date.

Happy for our Indianapolis family as the Colts bounced back from their defeat by the Patriots.  Wish Andrew Luck and his team well the rest of the way.  Really happy to see the Patriots whip on Rex Ryan and his Jets on Thanksgiving evening.  Three touchdowns in 52 seconds.  Sorry to see Tim Tebow suffer through this year with this group.  Hope he gets to play for another team in the future.  Probably not at quarterback, but he'll find a suitable position, I hope!

Just looked out the window and noticed snowflakes falling.  At the rate I see them coming down, they will not cause any serious problems.  Just makes me think of what is about to happen in the next few weeks.  I'm ready for Spring already and Winter has not even arrived!!  The plow is ready!  The tank is full of fuel!  Bring it on!!

There goes another flake.  Don't think I'll have to plow today.

The flakes have stopped!  And so have I!

Talk to you next month!

Until next time!

Toodle Pip!

Derf!

P.S.  The flakes are back!  But I'm not!

I Love Free e-Books

I have some websites that I check quite often for free e-books for my Kindle.  (Some of these sites will even send you an e-mail reminder so that you don't miss out.)  Now that the Christmas shopping season is here, I thought I would share these sites in case my readers aren't aware of them.

I check the Amazon Best Sellers: Best Kindle Store page at least once a week.  The freebies are on the right hand side.

Publisher David C Cook offers at least one free title per week.  (Sometimes more than one!)  This site has the links to more than just the Kindle version.

The following two sites often overlap, but sometimes I find a book that I missed earlier.  I take a quick peek every day.

• Gospel eBooks (Free & Discount Christian eBooks for the Kindle)
• Inspired Reads (Christian Kindle Books on a Budget)

I usually check the Christian Book Distributors (CBD) site once a week for their free e-books.  I sometimes will "buy" the CBD version (which must be read on the free online CBD Reader), although I usually check to see if the books are also free on the Kindle.  Most of the time they are.


BONUS:  FREE MUSIC!
K-Love offers one free Christian song on iTunes every two weeks.  (One specific song will be available for about a couple weeks, and then a different song will be offered.)  I usually check the site each week so that I don't have to keep track of whether I've downloaded the current song or not.


Have fun!

Our Cats Don't Play the Piano

Jerry was using our keyboard as a springboard, so I moved it a few weeks ago. After that he wasn't really landing hard on it anymore, but he and Kurt were still walking around on top of it.

Lew and I weren't happy with the situation because our keyboard cover is flimsy -- a dust cover, really.

So I googled the problem and came up with the following solution: double-sided tape. Cats don't like getting sticky paws.

I didn't want to put the tape directly on the cover, so I designed a cardboard frame that fits over the top of the keyboard. I then put the tape on the cardboard.

It's not aesthetically pleasing, but it is working so far!

 

The Early Morning News

The radio station that we wake up to (instead of an annoying buzzer) has started its annual round-the-clock playing of Christmas music.

This 24/7 treatment always begins the day after Thanksgiving and ends on Christmas Day.

I enjoy it because they play some fun favorites (like "Little Saint Nick" by The Beach Boys), but they also play songs of a spiritual nature.

So -- whether intended or not -- this ordinarily secular station is sharing the story of Christ's birth. Immanuel. God with us.

And that is GOOD news!

No NaNoWriMo

Only one more week to go in November, so I guess I won't be participating in NaNoWriMo this year.

What is NaNoWriMo?  It stands for National Novel Writing Month.  It's a challenge that takes place each November.  The goal is to write 50,000 words by the end of the month.

I did it last year, and I made the 50,000 words.  Then I started the editing process, and -- sadly -- I have not gotten very far yet.

I'm getting to a point where I want to pull the draft out again, though, so I guess I'm glad that I didn't start writing a different novel this year.

My "clean-out-and-organize-the-back-room-upstairs" project should be complete by the end of this coming week.  Then I will have a nice uncluttered environment in which to edit.

Wish me luck!

(Postscript:  Yes, I know that there are six more days to go in November.  But I would have to average 8,334 words a day in order to make it to 50,000.  No can do!)

(Post-postscript:  Happy Birthday to my sister Debbie!)

The Day After

The Friday after Thanksgiving is perhaps the laziest day of the year for me.

No... forget the "perhaps."  It is the laziest day of my year!

I spent the day lounging around in my PJ's, watching a few episodes of "Murder, She Wrote" and "Perry Mason", eating leftovers, and watching Lew put up the Christmas tree.

Lew has now commandeered the DVR, so I decided to be a little bit productive....  But only a little bit!

Happy Thanksgiving!

There were sixteen of us here for our Thanksgiving meal today.

We had way too much food (as usual), and it was all delicious (as usual).

Everyone has gone home now.

Everything has been cleaned up.

We went from chaos to serenity in a matter of minutes.

It's now time to put on my snuggies and put my feet up.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!