Hello Dear Friends, Family & Visitors!

Starting around 1905 there used to be places called Nickleodeons - the ancient forunner of the now almost faded video mall phenom. Nickle for what it cost (1-5 cents) and Odeon - Greek for theatre.

There was electricity being distributed at the time but the amusements were mostly mechanical hand-crank jobs.

A common device was an eye height "scope". I remember my dad taking me to one of these places when I was 4 or 5. I vividly recall the wooden milkbox I had to climb to reach the viewport with my young eyeballs. (a step-up box for smaller folk was a common addition.)

A mechanical container at @ 5ft with a binocular viewing port angled so you could bend you head down slightly, seal your eyes onto the "viewer" and as you turn the handle, still photos would click through your view field in rapid enough succession that you could see "animation".

The first feature I saw was Disney's "Steamboat Willie" - I think the original Mickey Mouse short. Many years later on my first visit to Disney World ($17.00 as I recall the entry fee - it's $99.00 now) As I watched the same feature on Main St USA - I remembered the Nickelodeon.

More than a few of these devices featured risque' subject matter ("It" still sells like hotcakes). Dad may have viewed some of these but I was unaware of that stuff at the time and M Mouse by my own hand was a huge event.

The shows were over in a very short time - dig out another nickle and/or move to another machine.



Well, the weeks since my last posting have been flickering by like those individual frames - very rapidly - rollercoasterish for sure.

3 weeks ago we employees of Macon County Gummint were sent home at midday, the powers that be presuming some snow accumulation. It snowed enough to make the roads bad so we stayed out another whole day and then back to work.

Exactly a week later another - this time an apparently more significant snow event - blew through. This one was a bit more serious. It could have been a rough time. We got around 7 inches in a day! But no major bad stuff, no power outages and plenty of food. So all was well. Hunky Dory even. (where did that expression come from? A happy little boat?)

The Kids of the County had a total blast. Lowe's parking lot hill is locally famous. I've ridden it several times though not this round. The hill is a great slope and you can take a long left or a long right - just don't go straight down the hill - it ends too abruptly. Quite a few of us grown-ups had a pretty good time off too.

I watched movies, played guitar and chored myself by keeping a path swept on my deck and sowing birdseed for the flying critters as the flakes covered it up. Once the precip quit and I could clear a spot we had some serious late dining.

I also enjoyed myself immensly doing a sled run from neighbor (toasty warm in Arcadia) Tommy Wood's back door, down his front yard then over a 2 foot drop to my downhill driveway. A good slide would end me up at the foot of my deck and 7 inches of snow made a great base for the run.

Yeah, I'm getting a little old for sledding but I was careful and I quit when I got tired (instead of pushing it like the teen-ager some remote part of my brain thinks I still am.) It was big fun. I did 6 or 7 runs and that satisfied both old me and my inner kid.

Next day around 3pm I decided to try an escape. My road is very steep (in excess of 25 degrees slope) and even the pavement is dangerous when iced. I had parked on the straight-away portion of my drive loop - a much easier egress shot to the road.

Got bundled up and all my gear ready and then I heard a slow steady beep ..... beep ...... beep?? It was the snow plow! Clearing my road exactly perfectly on time - I knew I was in the "zone".

Town and the grocery were totally accessible. Anywhere that had been cleared was already bone dry and safe. A great little paid vacation.

All that was then. This is now.

We had an uninterrupted work week and are into our second - I kind of missed the mid-week respit BUT the weather is breaking beautiful (yes, snow IS beautiful but not terribly comfy outdoors).

This stuff is downright Springlike. Saturday last was balmy. I got a few hours in the sun on deck and it was totally glorious!

It comes in waves - both the cold and the warm. I am so very pleased the warm waves are beginning to dominate. I think of my plants when it breaks so nice and was tempted to put out a few out for a while but that's the way I loose 'em to a nip. I've learned to put 'em out in April. It's still way early.

I have many Tulsi sprouts yet to pop out and the woods are still made of leafless gray sticks. But some of the more optimistic trees are showing tiny red buds and the mountains in the distance have a slight red blush it's going on everywhere - yay!

I noticed during the snow days the local critters - especially the birds, went about their courting routines almost oblivious to the weather. Could be the Cardinals were even harder at it because they showed so well red on white.

I heard then doing their repeating bragging calls and it sounded fresher. hmmmmmmmm I guess if you're gonna have chicks by the time warm weather (and worms) gets here, you gotta continue the game no matter what.

A bit of a personal milestone - I applied for Social Security. I'm in. They won't pay anyting until November this year and they say the amount will be determined at the time. OK - Better 'n Nothin. I was among those who presumed SS would be bust and we'd get das shaft. It would be nice to be wrong about that.

I'm feeling good and looking forward to each day as Spring approaches. I had lunch at the Hospital yesterday. It was Trout Day - that happens about every 6 weeks. Angel Medical Center Cafeteria is one of the best restaurants in town. They are obliged to serve healthy food (and they do) and they don't have to make a usurious profit. Win/Win situation. Trout Day is special (delicious!!!) and we have spies that inform us as it approaches.

I took a moment before lunch to go upstairs and visit my nurses. It's a good feeling to see my dear caretakers again and especially good to hear them say how much improved I look. It's a dual success story mine and theirs - everybody wins! It's grand!

More later
Big Big Love