09:42 – It was 46.3F (8C) when I took Colin out around 0730 this morning, drizzling and breezy. That was probably our high temperature for the day, as snow/sleet showers are supposed to move in this afternoon. We’re to get one to three inches (2.5 to 7.5 cm) of accumulation.
Last night we had heavy rains, bright lightning, and loud thunder starting just before midnight and continuing periodically for a couple of hours. Colin was not amused. When he’s terrified, he jumps up on the bed and tries to force his way behind us and on top of us. I hate to yell at him when he’s already terrified, but at one point he was standing on my throat. Given his size, that’s no joke.
Barbara is cleaning house this morning and then building more chemistry kits. She heads down to Winston mid-morning tomorrow, by which time the worst of the snow/ice should be gone, and returns Saturday afternoon at some point.
We just started dinner in the slow cooker. Two cups of rice, five cups of chicken bouillon, a couple cans of cream of * soup, and several large chunks of chicken. I think the recipe says it’s sufficient to feed four to six people, so we’ll get at least two if not three meals out of it.
Barbara has been taking the Winston-Salem paper since she returned to Winston-Salem after grad school in 1978 or 1979. The WS Journal has the same problems as any other newspaper. Several days ago, they announced significant staff cuts due to declining circulation and advertising revenue. The paper also keeps getting small, both in page count and actual page size. This morning we got the first example of their new layout. Things have changed a lot. The editorial page, for example, used to be a double page spread at the end of the first section, with the back page of that section devoted to weather and similar items. The back page is the same as it was, but the editorial section is down to a single page instead of a two-page spread. No great loss, since the WSJ is a typical liberal/progressive rag. Their editorial staff has never met a government spending or social welfare program it didn’t endorse.
Oh, that science kit that I shipped to Canada on 3/22 and that somehow ended up in Paris, France has now finished its European vacation and is now back in Canada. It cleared Canadian customs (again) and is now in the hands of Canada Post. We’ve had several foreign shipments take odd detours along the way, but this is the first time we’ve had one detour to a different country.
FedEx showed up with a dozen cans of Keystone pork yesterday. Lynn had speculated in the comments about the number of cans that would be damaged. Of the 12 cans, 9 were pristine and 3 showed minor dings. Nothing serious. In fact, at first glance all 3 appeared pristine. It was only as I ran my fingers over them that I detected a slight dent in each. Nothing that would be unusual for cans on the shelves at the supermarket or Costco.
The 10 cans of Keystone beef chunks that I ordered at the same time are en-route and supposed to arrive today. The dozen cans of Keystone ground beef are supposed to arrive tomorrow in three (!) shipments, of 7, 4, and 1 cans.
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