What a beautiful day. It hit seventy with almost constant bright sun, almost no clouds and, for once, no wind. Walking around the yard today was idyllic. The daffodils were mostly open and everywhere the tree buds looked ready to burst.
Now the calendar says it’s the middle of April but in New England that translates to the beginning of Spring. And based entirely on my subjective criteria I hereby declare today the first day of Spring 2024 in the photogian calendar!
A raven has taken to chasing off Camera Girl’s pet crows (Moe the Crow and his stooges) and eating all the scraps that she puts out for them every morning. Now, I’ve been a fan of ravens ever since I read a book called Ravens in Winter many years ago. And after camping in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, my admiration for them has increased. Now that they have made their way to Compound, I am excited to have them around. But I do feel bad for Camera Girl. Moe has become a friend of hers. When he sees her come to the water he comes down to the ground and she feeds him peanuts from the ground in front of her. Ah, well. Survival of the strongest.
Alright, enough of all that. Had to get it out of my system.
I spent today catching up with some projects that had languished during my recent busy spurt. I’ve got a contractor waiting on a contract and a check to repair the damage done by a 120-foot White Pine that flattened a part of the upper driveway fence. A very sad story. The highway crew cut the tree up on Friday and managed to cut the electric fence wire that keeps our canines from rampaging over the countryside. The timing of the electric fence malfunction made it possible that it coincided with the earthquake. But afterwards the physical evidence said, road crew. I have so many enemies!
I saw some early reviews for the new picture “Civil War.” The claim is that the movie isn’t just a hit piece against Trump. I’d like to believe that but I don’t want to see it until it’s been reviewed by someone on the right side of the political divide. I’ve been burned too often and refuse to pay to be insulted by Hollywood. I’ve watched about ten reviews so I’m starting to believe it could just be a movie about how bad a civil war would be. But the other factor that could keep me away is the heroes being journalists. After all, how many good journalists have we seen in the last ten years or so? One, two, maybe three? Anyway, my research continues. If anyone finds a right-wing movie review for it, please pass it along.
So, Sunday night I did surgery on my laptop. The internal battery was dying so I had to figure out how to open the back on my computer and replace the battery without frying the system or cracking the motherboard. As I mentioned a few days ago I bout my very own geek tool set and watched a few YouTube videos for similar (but not identical) laptop models and then bit the bullet and went in.
Everything went relatively easily until I attempted to pop the back off. Most of it released but near one side of the hinge the damn thing was stuck. Stuck good! And this is just plastic so I was afraid if I put too much force on it the damn thing would crack apart. So, I attempted to extend the pry bar deeper into the interior to give me better leverage but I was afraid that some internal component could be damaged and turn the whole computer into useless junk. After what seemed like forever the stuck spot sprang open. Afterwards I checked to see if I had broken anything. I did find something that looked like part of a female coupling that broke loose. I couldn’t find where it came from so I chalked it up to being one of those pesky “extra parts” that they put in complicate equipment and moved on.
Well, from there on everything went smoothly and the whole thing was back together in five minutes. A few hours of charging and the thing was working flawlessly. So now I am officially an IT worker. I feel an irresistible urge to write a haiku in DOS.
There, I’ve gone about seven hundred and fifty words without mentioning the 2024 elections. That feels pretty good. I’m trying to figure out a good approach to write about the political situation strictly from a humorous perspective. Since I have almost precisely zero practical effect on the outcome of the election, I feel that to entertain is the correct strategy. But honestly, I’m still searching for the format and angle that pleases me creatively and would also provide enjoyment to the readers. A work in progress.
So, I think I’ll go watch something fun. Maybe Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes. I like that movie.