Monday, November 25, 2013

it's Monday, what can I say...

Surely this is a repetition of all the other Mondays this semester: a day of hard work in anticipation of class tomorrow, with the added burden of now multiplying student queries as exam time draws near.

All this against the backdrop of unexpected snow. Not significant snow (which would put us on skis immediately!), but a serious snow. As seen from the kitchen window:


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The snowfall calls for a shoveling of the farmhouse path.

And, after breakfast...


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... we come back to the question of whether to sweep (shovel?) snow off the porch glass rooftop.

Remembering the lesson from the last snow (do it right away or expect ice), I decided to go for it. Maybe it is the last time that I try to keep up with clearing the roof, or maybe not, but I do want to give it a whirl.

Now, I've received a lot of push back from many people on this roof sweeping, most recently in Ocean comments. Stay safe, stay off the roof! -- is the recurring message. And that message would have been screamed to high heaven today, because when I climbed out the bathroom window, I found the wooden boards of the roof quite icy in patches.

I smile at your kind concerns. Really I do. And maybe I am wrong and I will topple and come crashing down tomorrow, to wind up on the porch table, or worse, but I truly believe that I carry a far greater risk of catastrophy by taking the bike or rosie or the car onto the roads, Wisconsin roads, mind you, where people can legally use their cell phones and drive and, worse, where people think nothing of downing X number of beers then driving home after a Packers game. I am careful up there, on the roof. I don't drink prior to stepping out and I don't chat on a cell phone. That counts for something, really it does.


Late in the afternoon, I have an appointment with the APple genius people. That's always fun. I mean it. I come out knowing something I did not know before about my computer.  I could write an entire post about our two hour session today. But, I'm pressed for time, so I will leave you with my drive home. Past fields that hug out western borders...


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Up the snowy road...


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And finally home. At the farmhouse. Ed is working at the sheep shed and Isis is with him, but in seeing the farmhouse kitchen light come on, Isis trots out to join me. He probably likes Ed more than he likes me, but he likes the farmhouse slightly more than he likes the sheep shed, and he likes it when I cook a heck of a lot more than anything else in his palate of options.


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It looks like winter out there, doesn't it? Yes, it does.