We got about .5″ of snow yesterday. Most of it melted today. I’m not so sure about the “once in a generation” thing.

Wikipedia is a project I support. I also help the Ocean Cleanup, the Water Project and permaculture projects in W. Texas and Namibia.

Español!

It’s been getting really cold here. My room doesn’t have central air/heat. So I use a single oil heater set on medium. If it’s on high, it throws the breaker. So I decided to build a wall with sheets and barriers in my room, effectively cutting the area heated by half. I can tell it’s already warmer than the other half of my room. I usually run a fan at night. I’ve stopped that in order to keep the warm air in place. Substituted that for the sound of a running air conditioner. I have a sleep app with a lot of different sound effects. When I travel, I usually use white noise with ear buds turned way up. I also moved my weather station to my half of the room.

OYB!

I was supposed to pick up my groceries from Walmart today. Glad they didn’t make their guys come to work.

I like to see the patterns of melting snow.

Opossum, raccoon tracks and some type of bird.

Scraped off the snow and refilled the bird bath.

Filled feeders.

I’ve been working on my donor data base, culling the people that never give.

Added stamps to the newsletters. If all goes well, I’ll get the newsletters printed and into the mail tomorrow. Depends on the roads.

This isn’t right.

Incredible.

OYB!

Español!

Wrote and produced my newsletter. I already have the envelopes and tax letters ready. Still need to get the newsetter printed and put on the stamps. This is also my “sheep and goat” letter. If a person on the newsletter list has not given last year, they have to request to stay on the list.

Trying to keep the cold air out. I hung an extra towel there this afternoon.

Snowed about .5″ Still coming down.

I’ve enjoyed working on my garden. Between the plants I also have rocks and porcelain. I like making things look interesting. It features the best of my amethyst and flourite collection. The lights on those rocks look great.

I hope this Servant Life partnership brings me a lot of teams. Setting up a way to send me money is always a positive move.

I have a hard time remembering this.

Super cold. Whoosh.

I think Eric Barker always has good ideas.

OYB!

Español! I came in #4 in the Duolingo leagues last week.

The girls had a great time with J & K. We all took our shifts. I had a wonderful time last night showing them my clear putty, gyroball and shosibo. Some of my toys.

We ate at Hot & Cold. It’s one of our favorites. I thought this was a weird serving.

The girls are such a blessing.

I should be in the top three this week.

Super cold air getting ready to hit us.

OYB!

Español!

Put super glue on my reading glasses case.

Fun chat with my buddy, Anthony. He just got back from Scotland.

Redid the plunger section of my sink.

We are watching the girls tonight. They have the day off tomorrow. Glad J is here to help.

Filled the feeders and cleaned the bird baths. I figure below freezing weather is hard on birds. Everything really.

Watered my plants.

Got a little over .5″ of rain.

Everly made herself a little cabin.

Penelope is a gamer like J. They have fun playing games together.

Bracing for the cold.

I thought this list was cool. I think the ATL should definitely be in the Top 50.

OYB!

I reset my password and got my Bank of America mobile account working again.

Español!

Very mild day.

The hall bathroom has been leaking a bit. I put more silicon on the grout. Tile is beautiful, but it’s a hassle. I used a fan to dry it out.

Checked the oil and got gas in my car.

Got a fragrance dispenser for the living room.

Picked up vitamins at Walmart. I used my new Medicare card to do that.

Called my Mom and left a message.

Went to Home Depot to pick up the two 36″ safety bars and the shower head. The shower kit and the 24″ bar will come in later.

I picked up a couple of color chips for J to take a look at for her office.

Ordered Thai food for lunch. Excellent cashew tofu.

I set up the Social Security account for K, but couldn’t figure out how to set up the Medicare part. I’ll talk with Tim Deter to help me figure that out.

Went to Stone Mountain to record a new episode of Verbal Surgery called “Make or Brake.” Good one. Had some trouble figuring out how to get the file onto my Mac Air. It needed to find a SD card reader. That wasn’t intuitive at all, but I got it figured out and made a note of what I did.

Looks like I’ll come in fourth place this week. I worked hard, but not enough to beat the other guys. So it goes.

Listened to Don Cheto. He had a live feed via Facebook.

Glad this situation is getting better. I’ll always remember that it started when I was in Guatemala during the protests. Way over a year ago now.

This will be the first time that Servant life is sending me a team to work with. Great to have a partner!

Home Depot didn’t have one of the safety bars that I ordered. Went ahead and placed an order for another one that was also 24″. I’ll pick up the other three items tomorrow: two safety bars and the shower head.

OYB!

Español!

I had a real challenge today getting logged into the Whirlwind Missions account at Bank of America and Pay Pal. Finally got them to work! Amen! I needed to make sure that the people who had donated through Pay Pal got their tax letters. Plus, I needed to transfer the money that was there into the Whirlwind bank account.

I looked up a dermatology doctor today on my medicare plan. I have a couple of moles that I want them to look at.

I added some new tax letters and corrected a few. Got all the information on my spreadsheet for 2024. Signed all the letters and put them in their respective envelopes. I still need to write the newsletter and get it printed next week. The letters were definitely the hard part.

I also printed out the letter that goes to the 19 people on my list who did not give last year. If they don’t give, they drop off the list. The letter I wrote today is another plea for help before they disappear.

Went to the Post Office to get stamps. Unfortunately, the machine only printed out the single stamps. No big deal.

Went to the Dollar Tree to check on more powerful reading glasses in case I’m trying to read something that’s really tiny. They didn’t have any past 3.5 power. I tried them. Wasn’t impressed. I’ll stick to what I have or use a magnifying glass. 99% of the time what I have is fine, but occasionally the print is super tiny and is hard for me to make out.

My new case for the Tascam DR-05X and accessories came in today. I’ll take it with me tomorrow when I record.

It’ll be a close race for third place this week.

OYB!

Español!

Had a fun lunch with Jon Paul. Such a great guy!

Sent the final decisions on the shower remodel to my Mom and to Bill Kelly who is the contractor.

I bought a Frame O for Ashley and her family. I set most of it up, but Ashley helped me get the rest of it to work.

Got my new carabiner in.

Checked the mail at my office, processed checks and then deposited them at the bank.

Ashley also helped me figure out Pay Pal. Turned out we have nearly $4,000 in that we need to transfer to the bank. We had problems logging in to the Bank account. I’ll work on that tomorrow, and hopefully get that money transferred.

Ashley picked up the girls today. They came to the mission when I was helping the other kids.

I liked Christopher’s art.

Don Cheto on part of the ride home. Then called my Mom. It’s her birthday tomorrow!

Got home and sewed up the lining on my vest and some worn out parts of my map jacket.

Cold morning.

OYB!

Español!

Checking out my cell service program. I’ve run out of data the last couple of months.

Fun talk with my buddy, Anthony. One of the topics was about this Russian who made flying platforms from scarab wings. Bizarre.

Talked to my Mom about the shower remodel.

Sewed up a couple of small holes in my study gloves. They have the ends of the index and middle fingers cut off so I can interact with my iPhone touch screen.

K & I picked up the girls at the bus and ate at Dragon Wok.

Helped the kids at the mission. Kind of unusual because I had four boys. I worked with the girls and a couple of the older kids a bit later.

Good to have my girls together!

Really spicy!

Tough competition.

Walmart gets a facelift.

Walk like a penguin on ice.

My Mom made a sketch of where the safety bars are at in her shower. We’re getting a new shower at our house for her. Over time, I’m sure K and I will be glad it’s there!

OYB!

Milder today.

Building a relationship with a new Youth Director.

I repaired the seam for the black bag where I keep my water bottles in my car. Not sure how it got so ripped.

Defrosting.

5″ of snow was equal to about 1.5″ of water in the rain gauge. Interesting.

I put the birdseed I brought home last into my storage bin. I carry the 40 lbs in my Gorilla cart.

I have a little whirly spinner above St. Francis In my outdoor garden. I have to tie a rubber band on the wire to keep it in the proper place. Those bands eventually wear out and I have to put a new one on.

Don Cheto. Curiously, without Don Cheto. The other three hosts run the show when he’s on vacation. It’s not nearly as good as when he’s there.

I put my trash can on the curb this morning. I’d rather do it then than in the dark when I get home.

The carabiner for my keys is beginning to wear out. I’m giving this brand a chance. Looks pretty heavy duty. I like the sound of that.

Picked the girls up and took them home to interact with the pup.

Checked the mail at my office.

Getting input from Bill Kelly about the shower remodel.

Helped the kids at the mission.

I think this looks like the LA fires. I love this shot.

Good talk with Nana on the way home. Lots of things to think about with the move coming. Looking forward to that.

Tough competition this week.

Jar Jar was the worst character in all of the Star Wars canon.

I hope this can help Miles.

Came in #2 in the tournament last week.

Cold this morning. Pretty mild this afternoon.

When I was writing my blog last night, I noticed that there was a consistent blurring on every shot I did with the Canon HS 350. That usually means that the lens is dirty. Sure enough, some of the lubricanting oil that I put on the moving parts of the lens retraction system got on the glass. Cleaned and it took this shot.

OYB!

I heard that my Aunt Marie (she’s my “Aunt” because she was one of the missionary families that I grew up with) is in her last days. She’s like family to me for sure. I wrote Uncle Will J.

Registered Whirlwind Missions, Inc. with the state of Georgia today. It’s a yearly thing.

I also set my email address to receive this notice. Ashley had to let me know this time.

Defrosting.

I finished the tax letters for the Whirlwind Mission donors today. Took about three hours in all to do the research and print the letters out.

I called my car insurance agent again today. No response.

I texted a couple of my supporters today: Jon Paul and Daniel Smith. I needed confirmation on the amount they gave in 2024.

Picked up Everly at the bus. We went to Taco Veloz. Penelope was at Drama Club.

Went by office to check the mail, process checks and water my ficus.

Everly showed me her collection of colored water. Beauty. She and Penelope had worked hard on that.

Picked up Penelope at Huntley Hills Elementary and went to the Mission.

Deposited checks on the way to the mission.

Helped the kids at the mission. Crazy busy.

Everly showed me the snowman they made. She made the biggest ball rolling it around their front yard.

I love the beauty of winter skies. Alto Stratus Undulatis.

Everly colored for me with dry erase markers.

Good talk with Nana on the way home. Lots to discuss with her moving here.

Picking up my groceries this evening took about forty five minutes. LOTS of people waiting.

Beautiful full moon this evening.

I will probably come in #3 this week. The top two are super smart.