Thoughts on winter in New England

A lot of people hate winter, especially after so many days and nights of snow and cold temperatures.  People complain bitterly about it and pray for spring to get here faster.

I am not one of them.  I like winter, and I believe in addition to the bad it has much good.  Just like any other season.  But here in New England it is a very distinct season, and not watered down at all.  You get beautiful winter scenes like no other.

That’s one of the things I love most about New England: it has seasons.  Four very different, very distinct seasons.

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Being a Stubborn Dachshund has Consequences

Yesterday Rerun had his second bout in a little over a week of vomiting and listlessness.  Last night was the worse of the two episodes and it was clear by bedtime that he wasn’t a happy dog.  He didn’t want to eat anything and he was clearly uncomfortable.  He woke us about every hour through the night heaving, vomiting, or whining.  We were encouraging him to vomit because there was clearly something bothering him that he needed OUT.

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Medieval mutton stew, slightly modified

Great stew for a cold winter's eve.
Great stew for a cold winter’s eve.

I used the mutton stew recipe I mentioned yesterday to make this, but I did make one change: I added yellow carrots, which would certainly have been known in Europe by the late middle ages.  Orange would not become the typical carrot color for a few more centuries.  Red would also have been common, but those are a little more difficult to come by these days, at least outside of a farmer’s market full of heirloom gardeners.  It just felt like the stew needed something besides meat, an egg, and seasoning.

Note to self: get a better background for medieval cooking photos.

-Geoff

More medieval cooking on a snowy winter’s eve

This week has become one snow event after another, and we are starting to actually run out of places to put the snow when we shovel.  There are really only two piles: the big one on the other side of our trash and recycling bins, between them and the neighbor’s fence; and the small one in this little corner between the steps and the house, where there is a stump I want dead anyway.  So the little pile is getting close to its maximum practical size, and the other one has reached the height of the bushes.  And trying to chip away all the melted, compacted snow that had refrozen as ice all over the walk and steps took almost an hour of hard work.  Thirty degrees outside and I was sweating.

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Valentine roundup

On the day I wear black and refer to as The Crispus Attucks St. Valentine’s Massacre Memorial, the rest of the world celebrates Hallmark’s day and overspends on chocolate, jewelry, flowers, and all things pink and red.  Last year we presented valentines in this space of a special variety.  This year we’ve gathered some of the best that showed up in our Twitter feed.  And by “best” we mean Geekiest.  Enjoy.

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Internet in Greater Boston – fewer options for more money

Greater Boston, and especially our home of Cambridge, is undoubtedly one of the technology capitals of the United States, and certainly of the East Coast.   And yet Kelly and I have struggled for years to find a decent, reliable Internet provider for a reasonable price.  Currently we are using Comcast, because we simply could not get reliable service from Verizon no matter how hard we tried.  It was depressing, but at least we figured it probably wouldn’t get any worse.

And then earlier this week I read that our Internet/phone/cable provider, Comcast, is going through yet another merger.

Sigh.  No good can come from this.

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Wintry mess coming tomorrow

I have a doctor appointment in the morning, and then work in the afternoon and evening.  I don’t know exactly what the morning rush hour will be like but I am guessing it will be a hell of a mess.  Hopefully the Mini will be able to handle it.  I am hoping it does not turn out to be more trouble than it is worth.  I don’t consider wrecking the car and/or injuring myself to be a fair trade for trying to make my appointments and getting to work, but I will give myself extra time to dig out the car and try to beat the traffic that I know will be coming.  We shall see, I suppose.

-Geoff

Concert at Memorial Church Harvard Sunday 2/16/14 6:00pm

From Matthew Hall comes word of a lovely concert this weekend, the first weekend of School Vacation week here in MA.  That’s important for those of you who, like us, work in the service industry.

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The dual basket idea worked, apparently

When we decided to put a second basket on top of the upright freezer as a cat bed, we had hoped that eventually the cats would be able to use them at the same time.  And so they have.

Yesterday, as I was finally finishing up the major kitchen cleaning and reorganization project I mentioned earlier, I put out the jar that holds cat treat and stocked it.  That got someone’s attention.

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