Zoundry Raven beta. Laundry and the weather

Hello all. Whuzzup? I only ask that because I don't know what the latest 'what's up' buzzword is. *smile* Anyway, I don't have much to say, but thought I'd join in on blogging because I read 3 of my e-friends blogs today, and decided to join-in on all the e-fun. *smile* 1, 2, 3 (not in order of any ratings).

One of the blogs I read was Rowanctg's, and she uses Xanga. Not only was it a great couple of entries, but it made me re-try to figure out if there were any updates for the writer's I use (Zoundry, Qumana) that would make it possible to post on Xanga without going on-line first.

There was only one program that I found via a search that perportedly worked for Xanga. So I went to the Windows Live website and downloaded it, only to find out it apparently doesn't. *sigh* Since I like to be able to easily upload pictures, I usually use Zoundry. But while at their site, I saw a new program that's the next generation of their software, called Zoundry Raven. The only thing I'm a little worried about it that my photo storage site won't iniatialize. The setting for this program are identical to those in the 'old' version, so it should work. So far though, I haven't tried anything other than testing the setting for my media repository that failed. Besides, I don't currently have any pictures to upload anyway.

Okay, I'm losing interest in writing and would risk you losing it as well, so I'm going to end this. Just want to say (it is in the title) that today's weather has been freakin' cold and freakin' windy, and it was miserable hanging out and taking down the laundry from the clothes line. *shiver*

Technorati : blogger, blogspot. windows live writer, rowanctg, sandcastles, whimsperation, xanga, zoundry raven

First time egg. Evil toy. Bathroom cleaning. Exercises.

A couple of days ago my wife brought in an first egg (we believe) from a young hen. We put it on top of an apple for size reference. This is Latte' checking out what we're doing.

Then last night I was sitting on the sofa when I looked over at a sleeping Galux and a toy that looks like it's grinning because it's killed a cat much bigger than itself. LOL.

Two days ago I got a "cleaning bug" and decided to clean 2 parts of the bathroom, the toilet and the sink. I wonder how many men can claim that? LOL. Anyway, I thought they looked pretty good, so I took pictures. I actually took the sink picture so I could send it to a friend whose daughter once commented that our sink was dirty, when they were visiting several months ago. LOL. As for the toilet, it was just looking disgusting, and this is as clean as I could get it with a green scrubby and lime-away.

The weather today is warmer than it has been the last few, but it's still not sunny. But at least it's over 40*F, so the snow and ice are melting. We could get out and go into town if we really needed to, but we won't be going today because we need to get some chopped corn for the chickens because the feed store isn't open on Sundays. Hopefully tomorrow will be even nice than today. Can never tell though, as the forecasters haven't been very accurate this passed week and change the forecast every other day.

I have started doing some exercises that I plan to do every day. I want to be sexier to my wife, so I need to tighten up my stomach and butt muscles. LOL. I started yesterday afternoon by doing 10 sit-ups, 10 push-ups, 10 leg-lifts, and rode the exercise bike for 30 minutes. Wish me luck! :-)

Other than the above mentioned, not a lot happening. Everyone but me is asleep right now. It's kind of nice, but I'm ready for someone/anyone to wake-up now.

Technorati : Bathroom cleaning, Evil toy, Exercises, First time egg, chickens, hens, sinks, toilets, weather

Drigger and Twitch. Animal shelters. Weather. Idol.

This is Drigger sitting, sort of, on the sofa. I just thought it was cute so I took a picture.

This is Twitch, the other of two cats that this "flatness" is the favorite laying position.

Yesterday was a pretty good day. Although it was a bit chilly (high 20's low 30's - Fahrenheit), it was sunny most of the day. We stopped in to talk to the people at a shelter about taking some of our cats to try and find homes for. They obviously can't take all of the 21 that we want to have placed in new homes. But they did say that when we're ready and have $15 each for worming, flea baths and shots, to call and they'll tell us how many they can't take (probably a couple at a time). We're also going to keep calling our local animal shelter and try to get as many in there as possible. It not only would be a shorter drive, but because we live in this county we wouldn't have to pay $15 for each cat. The shelter in Lebanon told us that tabbies (which we have 3 of), black cats (we have one), orange ones (have 5), and disabled kitties (we have one of these too), are all "hard to place" unless they are extremely friendly and/or very unique so it would be better if we didn't bring them in. However, there is another shelter that does place those types, so we just need to find their phone number and location and talk to them.

We also got some differential fluid added to the van's rear-end differential for $4.95. It's a little quieter, but still somewhat noisy, which means we still need to replace the rear-end. Hopefully it'll last longer though, so if we can't get it replaced soon it won't go out on us. *crossing fingers*

Today the weather is miserable - cold (32) and sleeting. Here's the forecast according to Weatherbug:

Periods of freezing rain...sleet and a slight chance of thunderstorms. New sleet accumulation around 1 inch. New ice accumulation around one half of an inch. Highs in the mid 20s. Light and variable winds in the morning becoming east 10 to 15 mph in the late morning and afternoon. Chance of precipitation 100 percent.

	And lastly, although this years American Idol is being hyped as "the best competition ever", I have not been all that impressed with the singers so far. It is early though, so hopefully they'll get better.

Technorati : 1994 Chevy van, American Idol, Buffalo MO, Long Lane, MO, Missouri, Missouri weather, Twitch, animal shelters, cat photos, cat picture, cat pictures, cats, feline, feline photography, felines, lebanon, photograph, photographs, photography, photos, picture, pictures, snow, southwest missouri, van repairs, vans, weatherbug.com

Things that I did and need to do.

So far I've gotten 'things' done. Got a fire started of course. It was almost 60*F in the house this morning, since the low sometime this morning, outside, was forecast to be about 17*F. When my DD and I went out to feed the chickens, it was right about 20. But, I guess an inside temp. of 60 isn't too bad, considering.

Other things I've done this morning:

• Drank a pot of coffee and am considering making another.
• Cleaned 6 litter boxes.
• Filled cat food bowls with cat food.
• Took the bathroom and kitchen trashes out and burned them.
• Brought in 2 blankets that were hanging on the line from yesterday afternoon.
• Put my DD's bedding (pillow cases and sheets) on the line.
• Ran a load of laundry because the bathroom hamper was full.

Things that still need to be done:

• Hang clothes from the washer out on the clothes line.

• Finish eating breakfast (made hamburgers for my son and I).

• Take my daily vitamins and medicine.

• Make tea for my wife (and me if I don't make more coffee).

• Bring in DD's bedding later.

• Bring some more wood in this afternoon after feeding the chickens around 4 p.m.

• Possibly split some wood (not a lot as we don't have many logs all that big).

Yesterday a friend called to ask us if we would be going bowling with other home schoolers on Friday morning. And we said, "If the weather isn't too bad". There is a possibility of rain and/or snow showers on Friday, but that could change, and I hope it does. Speaking of going somewhere, we're hoping to be able to get out tomorrow. My wife is going to call the non-kill animal shelter in Lebanon (U.S.) and ask if they have room for any cats, and if so how many. If they can take any, we'll be taking as many as they can, tomorrow. Plus I need to call the Wal-Mart Supercenter and ask if they can add some differential oil in the van's rear-end. Of course we'll more than likely get a few must-have groceries while there as well. I'm done.

Tags: chores, laundry, breakfast, differential, wal-mart supercenter, lebanon missouri, bowling, home schoolers

Galux and the weather

I took this picture of Galux a few days ago when I was going to take a picture of each cat. Why, you ask? Because we need to get rid of all but one of them, eventually (as soon as good homes can be found), and I wanted to be able to show pictures of those that people were interested in. Then I decided NOT to do that because I can just take a picture when I need to. That's the beauty of digital photography.

Not much to report. In fact, there's really nothing. It is raining and very windy, but it doesn't feel all that cold. We're in a flash flood warning until 10 a.m. this morning, and have been since yesterday afternoon. The ground is very soggy. When you walk across it, if you're not careful, your feet will sink a few inches in the mud. Hence why it's a really good idea to wear muck boots when feeding the chickens.

Technorati : cats, felines, flash floods, galux, missouri, mo, weather

Pillow dog, valentine's date, laundry and wood

This is our lazy frikkin' dog, also known as a 'couch potato, laying on a human's pillow someone left on the floor. Kind of looks like she might just be resting after a hard work-out on that exercise bike, huh?

Yesterday, that'd be Valentine's Day, was a great day. Me and my wife went on a date with just her and I (kids stayed home) for the first time in about 14 years. It wasn't like the kids were not on our minds though, as we got some take-home food to bring home afterward. Actually, that was planned before we went on the date. The rest of the date was completed at home after we had relaxed for a while.

I had hung out a load of laundry on the line before we left. I was kind of hoping our 15 y.o DD would bring it it before we got home - but no dice. She did bring it in later, after I asked her to. We parents were busy splitting some apple-wood we had drying in the wood-shed for a year, so we needed help getting stuff done (like the laundry). We do need to cut some bigger branches into firewood, that I brought to the wood-shed to dry a couple of days ago. Since yesterday was forecast to be in the 50's, we figured they would dry a lot then. Plus I had put a couple of the branches in the 2 days before, and had added a couple more two days ago. I looked at said drying wood yesterday afternoon, and it looks a lot dryer than it was (it did have ice on it). Now all that's left to do it cut it up, split the bigger pieces, and bring in the dryer ones.

Today I've already gotten a load of clothes washed and hung outside, burned the kitchen and bathroom trash, the trash box contents from the smoking house, and the ash tray contents from the van. I've also eaten, read email, read a couple of web pages, made a phone call to my neuro to get a prescription written and sent to me (previous one ran out of refills). The rest of the day will be 'the usual' suspected activity.

Technorati : canines, firewood, laundry, pillow dog, valentine's day

Fire, driving to town, etc

The reason I'm putting 2 week old pictures in my blog now is that I'm chilly. The temperature in the living-room is 69 degrees Fahrenheit. So in my not so humble opinion, it won't be too much longer before I start a fire in the above wood-stove. Then it shouldn't be much more than an hour until just about every room in the middle of the house is warm. The bedroom doors, the bathroom door, and the door to the upstairs catch-all room are always closed, so the stove doesn't have to work longer just to heat them. The reason they're closed is because we don't want cat "stuff" (barf, poop, and pee) in those rooms. Well, the bathroom they're not allowed in for long is forbidden to them because they used to lay on the towels and pee on the bathtub/commode rug, and sometimes in the bathtub. That wasn't TOO bad, as you can rinse it easily, but still.

Any hoots, today was a decent day, but typical. Instead of staying home like we do 80% of the time because of gas prices, and that we're just hermetic, we drove into town 15 miles away and got my driver's license renewed, for $20. Which isn't bad comparably speaking. I mean that does pay for the salaries of the workers (indirectly via taxes, as the gov. doesn't pay for anything they don't absolutely have to, which if I think deeply about it you could say that's 'human nature'. Or is it really just 'U.S.er's nature'? Aka: The American Way?). Sorry, drifted off there for a moment. *snicker* Also stopped and got lottery tickets (aka: hope tickets), some bread yeast, 3 liter of Cola, newspaper (1), and some snacks (aka: candy bars). Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm on a "aka kick". LOL. Plus I just like parentheses because it, in my opinion, is how I talk verbally, so I try to morph that into on-line words.

I'm taking this opportunity to write in my blogs because after 7 p.m. I will be turning the computer back over to Rain. And won't be back on till tomorrow morning.

The New Re-Driver's Licensed One ;-)

Technorati : free, grin, stoves, wood burning, woodfire, woodstoves

Spinning lady. Errands. Voting.

Which way does YOUR brain think she's spinning? I see both ways if I watch for a few minutes, and sometimes not even that long. Seriously, check it out and then tell me what you saw.

We had a good day. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. I think the high was in the mid 70's - IN FEBRUARY!? Not complaining one iota. In fact I'd be perfectly content if today was the first day of Spring.

We were "out and a boot" for about 5 hours running errands. Drove around 60 miles today. Stopped at the drivers license bureau to renew my expired license, only to find out that I should've taken my birth certificate with me. I did however have "proof of residence and a social security number", and my looks haven't changed (much), but without that indispensable certificate de la birth, I couldn't get it done. Sigh! Then we stopped by some 'official' building downtown to see about getting passports. My! God! $100 each for adults older than 15, but not much less for the under 15 - $85. So it's gunna cost $370.00. YIKES! Well, we'll eventually have enough... this year. We got the applications though and will be filling-out all 4 forms while we save the money.

Went and got some chicken 'chops' and then stopped for lunch at Taco Bell/KFC. It just hit me of the irony of the chicken food and then chicken AS the food. LOL.

Off to the bigger city 30 miles away to do the major monthly shop, get smokes, and fill the gas tank with petrol. Back home we came and unloaded all that crap, but we shouldn't need much more crap for a while, unless we get 'the munchies'. *grin*

The rest of the afternoon and evening have been pleasant. Outside temps still in the mid 60's. I just love it!!

Saturday, aka Groundhog's day/Imbolc we had some friends over for chili, crackers and chips. Talked quite a bit, and even watched a bit of television before they had to leave. Wish Amy wouldn't have had a headache, but she's a good mom and knew her son really wanted to see and visit with ours, so she came. Had she not told us about the head pain, we'd have never known. Should give her a call and see how she's feeling. Probably should talk to her husband and see what 'the latest' is on the van rear end he bought but needs to bring to the shop is.

Wellzers, lads and ladies, that's all I've got. Oh, one more thing... If it's a nice enough day tomorrow I'll be putting up my "Vote Ron Paul" sign in the yard. Granted, don't know how much influence it'll have in this rural of a setting, but ya never know I guess.

And don't forget to vote on Tuesday. RON PAUL, RON PAUL, RON PAUL.

Tags: February weather, Missouri weather, vote, voting, Ron Paul 2008, primaries, Taco Bell, KFC, Kentucky Fried Chicken

Pix of Twitch and Long-lost Tiger

I took this particular picture because I thought it was interesting that she chose that position to get comfortable in.

This is Tiger. You haven't seen her before, or at least not for a very long time. See, she's been somewhere else for about a year and a half. In fact, we thought we'd never see her again. But then she just showed-up a few nights ago.

As always, if you click on the pictures, they'll grow.

Technorati : Tiger, Twitch, cat, cats, pictures