In a world full of bullies, thugs and thieves I am reminded how grateful I am for those who work to keep us safe.
Local schools and colleges have canceled classes for tomorrow. No snow, just another ice day, so not so much fun.
Ahhh, the sweet sounds of summer… Birds singing in the trees. Storm sirens waking us up at 3:30am. In February !$!$!
Early voting in the Texas primaries starts today. It is unusually complicated this year so I took the unusual step of printing out a sample ballot to mark up.
Our 17 y/o, who is the primary viewer, stopped me to say she heard Netflix was raising prices again and I should just cancel it. “There aren’t many good shows on it anyway.” My wife agreed and since neither my son nor I ever watch Netflix it is a goner.
I helped our 17 y/o daughter make a Valentine’s Day cake for her BF. Since we’re not allowed to touch that I’m following that up with a batch of brownies for our fam.
Coming soon….
🍃
A good paper explaining how Sun activity levels degrade low earth orbiting satellites like Starlink.
Satellite Orbital Drag During Magnetic Storms - Oliveira - 2019 - Space Weather
Looks like the Starlink hubris doomed a bunch of their satellites. The sun is in a significant cycle (25) so we may see more failures over the next year or two.
A geomagnetic storm may have effectively destroyed 40 SpaceX Starlink satellites
I liked the light, colors and textures in my new dermatologist’s waiting room. I give the doctor an A+ too.
Steamy cup in a bright sunny room ☕️
An ice day is a good day to bake. Today we made pretzel rolls for the first time. Yummy but our slits in the top, which seemed small, expanded a lot when we baked. Delicious nevertheless! 🥖
The branches of the crepe myrtle in our front yard are bent to the ground by the weight of the ice. Here’s hoping the wind stays calm until the thaw arrives.
In other news it started snowing about 10:30am. Always nice to see.❄️
The freezing rain started around 7pm yesterday and continued until after midnight. It later switched over to sleet (which isn’t quite as bad). We’ve lost one large set of branches from one of our live oaks. Hopefully the rest can hold on until the thaw tomorrow or Saturday. 🌳
We just got an email from our utility provider with tips for dealing with the sub-freezing temps of the next few days. One of the items is:
- Close all exterior doors and windows to keep heat inside the home.
🤦♂️
As expected the school district made it official: canceled Thursday and Friday due to expected icing. Our kids are not at all disappointed. 🤩
It’s two-day: 2-2-22
Went to a local breakfast place and was surprised and delighted to see they had Apple Butter instead of the ubiquitous grape jelly etc. Apple Butter is my ‘go to’ and I’m pretty sure I first had it in a restaurant as a kid.
With the latest game addition loaded, our PS5 space was getting tight so I ordered a 1TB WD SSD. I let my 13 yo son lend a hand doing the install so he could learn about the process. I have to say Sony made it super fast and simple ✅
My wife has had a sore throat for a couple of days now and she has a lot of nasal congestion today. She feels pretty miserable but it seems to “just” be a cold. So far no one else has it. 👍🏼 I think this is our first illness since Covid started.🦠
For the first time ever I ordered food delivered (via GrubHub). Our teenage daughter has done it a few times when we’ve been out of town but it is the first for the “old folks”. My wife doesn’t feel good and I felt too lazy to drive and get it.
This is one of the coolest things I’ve seen on the internet in quite awhile. It is a web site (or app if you prefer) that literally lets you roam the globe and tune into local radio stations. Good sound quality too.
Radio Garden
More bad news for Sony Playstation: Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion - Engadget
Also, does this mean Microsoft is endorsing the widely disdained Kotick?
Another first : our teenage daughter making California rolls
My wife’s in-progress salmon poke. First time making it. Yum!
