Don't You Hate it When...

....the computer and/or the Internet won't work?

     Yesterday was one of those days. The day  was long and frustrating. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. 

     The day started off with the computer taking a long time to load. Then I found out that Google Chrome would not load. So. what's the problem. Is it my goofy computer ? Is  it something wrong with Google chrome?  Is there a problem with my Internet provider?

      I tried another browser, Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer would load but it was freezing up all the time. It took a long time to read blogs and comment. Smoke was coming out of my ears. 

      To complicate these matters a long scan was running. The scan did not complete. 

      Computer problems here are not common so when they occur I'm not ready for them and don't know what's going on. 

    So my question is: Why don't they put a message on my screen that tells me what the problem is and then I can cool my jets? I would be happy if they said chrome is under repair and will be back on in 8 hours. If my Internet provider put a message on the screen to say they were doing repairs and would be back in half an hour I could live with that. I suspicion there are other problems that slow the operation down and I don't even know what's going on. My computer seems to keep looking for updates!

     Now I know that some people complain about poor Internet connections. I sympathize with them. I know I'm fortunate to have good service.

     What about you? Do you have Internet problems? Do you recognize problems right away? What do you do about problems when they

 arise?

Happy New Year

     It's 7:00 PM mountain standard time here.  It's early New Year's Eve. Some people are already in 2016 and some have much more time to go in their New Year's Eve. Some people mark New Year's Eve with great celebration and some, like me, pass it as most other evenings in my life. I've done it both ways. I've partied my face off and as I said I spend very quiet New Year's Eves.

      Some people like to look back on 2015...the year in review. I'm not big on looking back at my own 2015. I don't really think about it. I am a current events junkie so I like to listen to a review of news events for the past year. In fact,I will listen to more than one review. (Ooh somebody just let a fire cracker go!) I like reviews to be separate as politics, sports , music...

     Other people like to look ahead to 2016. What will 2016 bring them. What do they hope for in 2016. Some people are big on making resolutions for 2016. Some resolutions people share  can be very interesting. For myself, I'm not big on resolutions. I have enough trouble remembering my resolution let alone acting on it. I try to fool myself by saying I will make resolutions as the year goes by.

     I admire those people who take a balanced approach and think about the happenings in the old year and look ahead to the New Year. 

     I do look back at one major New Year's Eve event in my life. 49 years ago tonight I had the first date with my wife. It was a blind date and, of course, we went to a large New Year's Eve party!

     Whatever you do to mark the new year I hope you enjoy the evening. I hope you had a great 2015 and I wish you all the best for 2016.

Don't You Just Hate it When...

     Don't you just hate it when you're trying to think of the name of someone or a place name and it just doesn't come out of the memory bank in your brain? It's right on the tip of your tongue but you cannot retrieve the name. You can see the person or place. You can see the setting with all the details but no, the name doesn't come up.

      Two of these frustrating incidents happened to me this week.

      While I was skating, I was talking to my friend Bob who had worked his whole life in the Arctic. we find that we know many of the same people and then the conversation flows to events around these people.

      When I got home, I began to think of a prominent northerner. This guy had been to my house in northern Quebec. He was well known so I knew who he was but had never met him. I couldn't get his name. I knew he was connected to Innuit printmaking and soapstone carving. I thought of other people who were prominent in this field. Yes, he was connected to Eskimo cooperatives. I thought one of my books had his picture. I looked. I found his photo but it didn't include a name. First names came to my mind but they didn't bring any results. Last names? They were people who were active in other related areas. I came up with their names.

      I googled. I found photos but no name. Finally, I found the name and instantly many things bounced back into my head.

     There was a write up about Peter Murdoch on one site. It was an article about him receiving the Order of Canada in late 2014! Wow! Peter had retired in 1997 after being in Northern Canada for fifty years.

    I scrolled down to the next article only to find that it was his obituary. Peter died Dec.15, 2015. 

     So I spent a whole evening puzzling about Peter and finally found the information and it brought back much more.

     A very pleasant lady works part time in the local library. I see her two or three times a year. Everytime I go home and I can't remember her name. Her husband was a highschool teacher. Her daughters went to the school I taught in. All of these things I can see in my mind...her husband, daughters , but I can't bring the name up. I go home and seriously start trying to remember the name. I think the name starts with H??? That doesn't lead anywhere. Then I think of somebody with a similar name and bingo, the name pops into my head.

    So it's a frustrating situation. Why does it happen? In the first example I haven't heard much about Peter for the last 45 years. In the second situation I see the lady several times a year and talk about her kids and new grandchildren . She also know my children.

     So as long as this doesn't get any worse I can live with it. Sooner or later the name does pop into my head.

    How about you? Are some things difficult to retrieve from the old memory bank?

    

It's Over!

       The last few days have brought many seasonal greetings and preparations for our celebration. All too soon it is behind us.

       We have a quiet day here but it is also enjoyable. We have the full meal with all the trimmings. I forgot to take a photo but there was: turkey, gravy, dressing, potato, sweet potato, corn, cranberry, aspic and pecan pie!

Santa didn't bring me a thermometer as this one shows a couple of degrees too warm, but this shows that it was cold.

We had snow again yesterday

So as far as the weather goes it was very Christmas like with snow and cold.

       Now many people don't get snow for Christmas and they think snow is great for Christmas. Snow definitely sets the mood.

      I hope everybody had a great day as I certaily did.

Christmas Bird Count

     You've heard this before. I always do the Christmas bird count. I've done the same area for about 40 years. I've looked back on previous posts and find that the number of years I've counted   varies??? I've missed the odd year when I would be away or sick. Sometimes it was just far too cold. 

      I know what species should be in my area. On any given day I'm happy to see half of them.  There should be 15 to 20 species in my area. Some species like the cross bills only appear when the cone crop is good. We have lots of cross bills this year. Pine siskins only show up when the right food is available.

     So Sunday I had a good day. The temperatures were from minus 15 to minus 5. It was partly cloudy. If it's a good day for me it's also a good day for birds.

     So I saw nine species which is about what I usually see.

     So I had a great day of bird counting.

The pileated woodpecker found me as it flew in to feed beside me. He's easy to photograph as he's large and he stays in one place. I watched him until I got bored and then moved on.

     

Winter Solstice

       Well, today is a day that many people observe and take comfort in that things will be getting better.

       Having days slowly get shorter and colder is not a very positive experience. Now we can look forward with some positive hope.

      The winter solstice has been marked for a long time as primitive people were aware of what was taking place and could name the date when the day was shortest and the night was longest. 

       Since I spent winters above the Arctic circle, I experienced nights that were six weeks long. that's right. The sun never rose above the horizon for  six weeks. Some people were devastated  by this situation. It didn't bother me at all.

      So where I live the sun rose at 8:43 AM and set at 4:22 PM which gives us 7 hours and 39 minutes of sunshine.

      We have lots of snow cover and have had sub zero C weather for about 4 weeks. 

The old snow stick with 15 cm or 6 in. of snow

That's right I skied today

The creek is well covered with ice and snow

Christmases Past

       My friend Willis, who I finished high school with, posted on face book the other day that his tree was decorated and things in the house were fixed up for Christmas. So, Willis was sitting back in his easy chair thinking about friends and "Christmases past".

       So even though we are elderly we still act like high school students and never miss a chance for a friendly dig. My comment on his face book post was "Ya, that's a lot of Christmases!" Like, you're old!!

       Well, I got thinking about Willis's comment. Yes, it's many Christmases. In my case 76 of them. The first ones I don't remember. However, I do remember the Christmases when I was a child and safe in the care of my parents.  They made Christmas interesting with baking, decorations, gifts and very festive meals. We also had community and church festivities. Christmas day was a long day of good food and visiting with neighbors and friends.

       In my late teens I was not tied as closely to family and spent more time in the holidays with friends. Once I left home the time for Christmas with family was shortened. You raced home just in time for Christmas. You missed all the Christmas preparations. Some of the excitement was gone as now you were an adult.

       Then came the first time I was not able to be home for Christmas. I was in the Arctic with many other young single people who were away from family. The 30 of us in the residence, got together and prepared a very festive meal. I'm sure many of us were thinking about home, but we had a very good time.

       Next, a new pattern was formed when I married. Problem! You can't get to both parents for the holidays so what do you do?  A couple of those dilemmas were solved when my wife had to work.

      When you have children of your own you start making your own traditions for the holidays. There's excitement about decorations, gifts, stories, songs and a special meal. Many of the things I did were what I learned from my parents.

       My kids live far away from me and they don't get home for Christmas. They have their own kids to make traditions.

      So , yes, we do have great memories and friends formed around Christmas. As we age the celebration of Christmas changes. Celebrations change with the times. 

     Now matter what, Christmas is a joyful time of the year.