I was poking around the internet this morning, reading some blogs that I've not visited in a while. Ryan @ TSLRF has a post up reviewing his goals for the year, and the progress made so far. It made me stop and take stock.

We've had a lot going on this year, with the baby transitioning to a toddler, selling a house, packing a house, buying a house, moving between houses, and subsequently taking care of all of the things that go with moving into a new house - painting, fencing, new schools, new doctors, setting up utilities, acquiring things we were lacking to maintain the new place, et cetera, ad nauseum.... It made me realize that I've been in a whirlwind phase, working with a very vague plan of things that need to be completed. Fortunately, I can see an end to the whirlwind.

What I need to do now is get my ducks in a row - establish a list of tasks to complete and get cracking. I can get back on track here, I think...

We're just a week away from finally moving to a new home. We are in the midst of a packing frenzy, which has created a great opportunity to share with the wife. Overheard while packing the bunker:

Wife: What's in these buckets?
Crazy Survivalist Husband: Food.
Wife: Really? What kind of food?
Crazy Survivalist Husband: Dry stuff. Rice, pasta. All packed in mylar. It's for the end of the world.
Wife: At least we're prepared.

A little bit later:
Wife: What's that pile?
Crazy Survivalist Husband: Things the movers won't take.
Wife: Like?
Crazy Survivalist Husband: Ammo mostly.
Wife: How much ammo do you have?
Crazy Survivalist Husband: Ummm... A lot.

For a few days at least. The wife is off to the Big Easy for some industry mingling, leaving me to wrangle the baby on my own. Add in two dogs, a handful of realtors, and an open house, and I'm going to be busy.

Here are a couple photos from a few days after the blizzard. I haven't pulled the neighborhood photos from the other camera yet.

Another nor'easter is moving in the next couple of hours, with estimated snow fall in the 18-24 inch range. A lot of places have already announced closures for tomorrow. The wife and I have made plans to hunker down at home with the kid, and ride it out.

Update: 2/10/10, 0900
Woke up to about 5 inches of heart attack snow on the ground, wet, heavy snow. Cleared the driveway, sidewalks and cars in anticipation of the next dump, predicted to start in earnest around noon local time.

Update: 2/10/10, 1825
About 16 inches of new snow down, still heavy and wet. We've had a couple of branches fall off of trees, including a big one off of our maple tree that fell across the power line. Fortunately the line held, although we've experienced several brown outs. The wife is preparing to bug out to a local hotel with the baby if the lights go out. If we can get her there.

Update: 2/10/10, 2330
The snow seems to have ceased. We've had a couple more brief power outages, but nothing substantial. Wife and baby are firmly ensconced in their own beds upstairs. The accumulation is substantial. I'm going to get some pictures tomorrow. This kind of global warming snowfall deserves to be recorded for posterity.

Final Update
The official total for the town was 23.5 inches.

We had a nor'easter come through and dump about 2 feet of snow on us today. While that is a substantial amount of snow, it really was a non-event. I suppose I can say that since it was a weekend and I didn't have anywhere to go.

I spent about an hour clearing the cars, driveway and sidewalks. It made for a pretty nice day, and reminded me why winter is my favorite time of year. A thick blanket of snow just quiets the world down, and makes it easier to think. The only thing that could have made it better was sitting in the woods while the snow fell around me. Can't beat that.

To one and all!

I hope you all enjoyed the holiday with family and friends, as I did.

I've actually got a couple of posts banging around in draft, but in the meantime... Here's the dog enjoying 15 inches of Global Warming.

Just a quick note to say (once again) that this blog is not yet defunct.

We had a pleasant holiday with the wife's family last week, and are now beginning preparations for the annual gift giving holiday just around the corner.

I had opportunity a few weeks ago to visit with a friend I don't get to see often enough, and spend some time turning money into noise with a nice variety of handguns. Further, I have plans to do the same with another friend in a few weeks, only with rifles. All of us are attempting to identify the proper shooty school Firearms Training Academy to attend in 2010.

My boss is strongly encouraging me to use the little vacation time I have left before I lose it to the end of the year, while simultaneously blocking my efforts by throwing me into a year-end audit and requiring several weekends of off-hours maintenance work. Ah, the glorious life of a professional computer geek.

And a link: If I ever get around to building a home, I still think something like Quad-Lock ICF is the way to go!