Gonzalez Reeds And Other Family Dinner Chit Chat

Since I’ve never even had the opportunity to actually see or place in my hands any type of Clarinet, much less the Gonzalez reeds that my sister’s middle son was trying to explain to me at dinner at their place over the weekend. It felt good to get away from the house and the farm, with no major holiday or family events being celebrated, just a night away from all the critters and chores that keep me pretty chained to the old homestead the majority of the time.

A nice home cooked meal is always a welcomed change. One that wasn’t placed into some type of Tupperware and brought over for me to re heat by one person or another, usually my sister. I was able to sit and watch TV with my nieces and nephews, while smelling all the wonderful aromas that were floating out of the kitchen. It’s the small things like that which people that are suddenly on their own and secluded from most of the world.

Dinner was awesome, sis is a wonderful cook, something that my mother spend a lot of her time teaching her to do. So most of the dishes are from our mother and they taste just like home!

My Dream – A Gibson Les Paul

As much as I would like to think that on one of these Christmas mornings that I would wake up and find the awesome Gibson guitar that I have been drooling over for some time now, I don’t think that it will happen. First of all it is only me here at the farm, second is I don’t put up a Christmas tree anymore since it is only me here and third – no one has a clue that I would love to be able to play the guitar.

I have always wanted to play the guitar. I used to beg my parents to buy me a guitar, telling them that I didn’t need for them to pay for guitar lessons, that I would learn to play it on my own, it never came to be, which I never really understand. I come from a very musical family and if I couldn’t figure out how to play it on my own I would like to think that one or more of my relatives would certainly take the time to teach me a few things. Alas it never happened and most likely it never will as there really isn’t a lot of extra money for such luxuries these days and it doesn’t look like that will be changing anytime soon due to our lovely government and the election that just took place. But that is a subject for another time.

Digital Printing NYC

Some times you can do things on your own, but some times you really need to turn to some one who specializes in that particular field. As much as I wouldn’t mind creating and then printing out the brochures, pamphlets and flyers that are needed for the neighborhood watch that I belong to, I really think that they should check out the website that I sent them the link to for custom printing in new york.

Right now is a really busy time here at the farm. With yet another massive snow storm on the way there is so much to do to prepare for. I never seem to have an extra time since the holidays came and went. This has been one heck of a winter so far. Not that I am surprised. We have had some pretty easy winters, these past couple of years, we were due.

If push comes to shove I will do my best, but I’ve heard good things about this particular printing company and I think that they could do a much better job at this point, but we will see what they decide on at the next meeting come the middle of March.

Wall Art

It is a slow process, but I am getting the place turned around and looking better bit by bit. The house hasn’t seen these many changes in so very long, my parents had not done much in the last decade, due to age and illness, so it has a lot that needs repair and changing. It isn’t easy, trying to find the balance between keeping the memories and bringing the much needed modernization into the place, I would hate to cross the line and upset other family members that have a vested interest in the place as well.

I have run across the most marvelous canvas art online and am considering purchasing one of the many pieces that would look good in the old place. Wall art  doesn’t have to be expensive, and I’ve really been impressed with the prices that I’ve run across at Mywhitewalls.com, very reasonable and several have jumped out at me and caught my eye. This piece in particular would go really well with the colors in the front living room and is just over $100, and comes with the offer of Free Shipping as well.

I’m sending my one sister the link for her review and opinion, just to keep her in loop with many ideas and issues that I run across. I value her opinion and her eye for colors and decorating for the place.

Thinking of San Diego

Before I settled down and took over the family house and farm, I had the opportunity to do a bit of traveling. I can’t tell you how much I miss that part of my life. One of my favorite places was San Diego, California. And thanks to Facebook I have been able to reconnect with a couple of good folks that I met there and they are still living there after all these years.

I found one friend on Facebook through the Meservy Law link that I followed, which took me to another site that I clicked around on and 45 minutes later I stumbled onto one of the greatest bartenders that I’ve had the pleasure of working with. He is a lot older than I and quit the bar tending business and it’s crazy lifestyle and last I heard was driving a city bus some where in Wisconsin. I used to have his phone number and his address, but then it turned into utilizing email and then he pretty much dropped off the face of the earth, so finding him on Facebook, by complete accident was a nice surprise.

If I ever get out that a way I will certainly have to spend some time with this guy. They just don’t make them like him any more. But then again, I don’t get out much anymore.

Virtual Servers

From what I have recently researched and found, mainly online, is that RapidSwitch is a leading server hosting company over in the U.K., with well over 4000 servers that they host for a wide and ever growing range of clients and have been in this business since 1999 and still growing by leaps and bounds. It was only three and a half years ago that they were very happy to announce their launching of virtual servers,  and that they are still offering promotions in honor of that launching that folks could be taking advantage of.

Virtual servers are an interesting method of partitioning a physical server computer into multiple servers in a way that each has the appearance and capabilities of running on its own dedicated machine. Each virtual server can run its own full-fledged operating system, and then each server then can be independently rebooted. A good thing to have and to know about. RapidSwitch has an interesting website that is easy to understand, which can be a challenge for me sometimes. Always being busy with the farm, always in a hurry, no time to really focus and get good quality time to try and learn things and then find the time to process the information.

Farming sure has changed a lot in the past couple of decades.

Searching For The Bright Red Coffee Can

As much time as I have spent trying to get things better organized around here since moving permanently here at the family farm, it would take a miracle to get it all done by myself. I have done a good amount in the past 5 years or so, but my parents lived here most of their adult life and the managed to accumulate a lot of stuff throughout their life times and never wanted to get rid of anything.

I was looking for a few u bolts the other day and I knew that I had seen a coffee can in one of the out buildings that had a variety of u bolts as well as other types of bolts that I knew would come in handy at some point (much like my dad did apparently). Now that I need them of course I can’t put my hands on the coffee can to save my soul even though I remember it being red in color and you would think that a red coffee can would stand out and say “look at me” but not this time.

I’ll be darned if I am going to run into town for a couple of bolts, so I’ll just keep looking for that darned coffee can and next time I go into town, if I haven’t found them yet, then I’ll start looking at buying new ones. Of course as soon as I purchase new ones I will find the old ones, it never fails!

Luxury Vacation Rentals, Paris or Greece?

Since it has been so nasty outside with freezing rain, snow, sleet, along with some pretty hefty winds these past couple of days, I do what I only have to do and get myself back inside as quick as possible. The older I get the less I enjoy (yes I used to enjoy) winter and all the ugly weather that it brings along with it, like it or not. Although we have had some pretty mild winters these past couple of years it is still winter and it’s still cold and wet. Not my favorite mixture.

I’ve been going through some boxes that have been in the “Guest Room” for many years now that mainly have papers in them that have needed to be gone through, most of which ends up in the paper/cardboard recycling bin. It’s a slow process and sometimes a painful one that causes me to feel depressed for days. Even though my folks have been gone for over four years now it is still painful and raw. I will never get over it, but am doing the best that I can with the cards that I have been dealt in this life. Living here at their house and running the family farm on my own has been a challenge and will continue to because that is real life.

What I really need right now is when I get my tax refund check is to book one of the luxury paris vacation rentals that I’ve been eyeballing online for years now. I made the mistake of sharing my wants and needs for a luxury vacation some where like Paris or Greece and now she seems to be on a mission to get me away from here and plan the “perfect get-a-way” for me before I lose my mind and health. I don’t want to go alone, but there really aren’t a lot of people that I could spend that amount of time with and enjoy before wanting to strangle them. I’ve been on my own for so long here that I don’t know how I would handle sharing myself 24/7. And trying to find someone that can get away for a week because of their job, or their kids, or their aging parents, or their health or their finances, blah, blah, blah………

 

A New Drill Press Vise On The Top Of My Wish List

Well it looks like I know what I am going to ask Santa Claus to bring me this year. I don’t have the money in my budget for a new drill press vise, so for all the folks that keep asking me what I want for Christmas I can honestly give them a good idea for something that I want and need and will use and will really appreciate this year.

So instead of the same old gift basket(s) crap that usually finds its way to me (people just don’t use their imagine or brains much anymore when it comes to buying gifts for guys) just maybe I’ll get a real man’s gift a tool, or at least the money or a gift card that can be used to buy one, the right one.  This is a tool that I depend upon quite a bit these days with all the work that this place demands of me. It’s a good thing that I don’t need it right away for anything right this moment and I can only hope that nothing comes up in the mean time that warrants the urgent need for one, but one never knows now do they?

 

Burn Baby Burn

The one thing that I would really enjoy and appreciate getting for Christmas this year is a carhartt jacket. I spend so much time outside during the freezing cold winter months and my old trusty jacket really needs to be trashed, better yet burned. Besides it doesn’t have a hood, which is pretty darned important since having to wear a hat around here is just a pain in the rear especially since hats seem to not to want to stay on my head where as a hood generally stays in place. Could never figure out why though……