PRE- **HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, FAIRY-T & MR.T**!!

I'M DOING This slightly ahead of "Schedule" - [the Actual DATE is the 22nd] - seeing as I usually don't POST until really LATE, and because THEY are in The U.K.! --  HAPPY *25TH*!! 

SUNNY & COLD Today! Only spent an Hour clearing up the Overnight "dusting" and took a few WHACKS at the ICE PATCHES. Thought I'd give those Spots that get Sunlight, a little HELP in the Melting Department...

HEY! LOOK! The LAWN SNOWBANK RIDGE has gone down at least a foot! -- GOOD! Now, more Sunlight can cover the Driveway... YAY!

So. Today is also a "Holiday" -- FAMILY DAY -- Everyone must be Indoors, because it was rather QUIET Outside... Except for My "whacking"... Anyway, Stores are Closed, etc. However, We DID get MAIL DELIVERY?! ...huh..

Finally received that POSTCARD from COUSIN-B that I was hoping for of - GRAN CANARIA! - I had
no idea that They had all of those Sand Dunes... Great Beaches...The Surfing looks fairly decent, too... At any rate, She and The Family had a wonderful Vacation!

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CRAP.... CHRISTCHURCH just got smucked AGAIN! -- I was There 20 Years ago... I really liked that Town...

If Anyone wants to keep Tabs on what's happening There, TRY the BELOW LINK-

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/

Well, I'm going to get This POSTED, so I can get back to THE NEWS!


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Trapped Between a Looong Weekend and My Boring Basement!

SUCH a Mindless Day!! -- I should have one of those "YOU ARE HERE" Stickers slapped to My Forehead...Or, better yet, *HERE* on The BLOOG! That way, I'll be able to successfully ORIENT Myself, when I come out of My Mentally-drifting Daze...

I think the Load of LAUNDRY was My "Highlight of the Day"!  Hey! No Shovelling - "saving" THAT for Tomorrow! Mostly Cloudy. Cold. Ate some Junk Food... Nothing "Thrilling" going on in CYBER-WORLD... Did some Reading. Computer Backups... Folded Yesterday's Laundry... I should probably STOP *buying* T-SHIRTS...

WOOHOO!! -- Is *THAT* PAINT, drying...?!

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Feeling Like TOTO..

ALL OF THAT Huffing and Puffing that had BLOWN through Here Last Night, turned itself down a few notches Today - but, not by much... It did, however, Freeze-Dry those bothersome Puddles of Water. The ICE Patches aren't as bad as they were a few Days ago. As, to the Snow, there was just a Dusting of wind-swept Flakes... The SUN made a couple of brief "appearances" for The WORSHIPPERS. Then, Departed.

The REST of the DAY...

• Left "late" for an Afternoon at TRAINYARDS...
• WALMART - No new YARN... Got a bit of Groceries. And, some Cheap Pairs of Gloves for 25 Cents each - I liked the PURPLE ones...
• DOLLARAMA - MOTHER needed a new BROOM... Have I mentioned that Some of Her
  "People" are from SALEM?
• MICHAEL'S - Still had Money left on that GIFT CARD... Bought some more On Sale RIBBON [SEE BELOW] - The PEACE SIGN one is for PRINCESS PRE-TEEN.
• Ran into a Young Woman who had DECIDED to LEARN HOW TO CROCHET! -- I passed on some of My "Wisdom"... You know, a few of those little *Details* that are usually NOT mentioned in the HOW-TO-BOOKS and VIDEOS.
• She was *still* EAGER to Learn!
• THE MALL - The Parking Lot was half EMPTY? Then again, it was getting Late...
• The FACTORY ENDS Price went UP another Dollar!?! POOH!! -- There weren't any *new* Ones.
• Bought Losing LOTTERY TICKETS
• Went HOME! Did LAUNDRY...

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SUNSPOTS, They're the Ones to Blame!

FOR ALL of the WATER, WATER - *EVERYWHERE*!! -- At least, that's what it seemed like as I Scoop-Shovelled for FOUR HOURS!!

Thankfully, I managed to keep the MELT WATER *OUT* of the Garage! But, only because I would push it away every other 10 minutes... There's one Spot near the End of the Driveway on the Right Side - I swear, there HAS to be some Underground SPRING percolating from the Grass Line!!

I find it difficult to wrap My Head around the Thought that it's all "Melting" SNOW...? Yeah, okay, perhaps the "scorching" SOLAR FLARING SUNLIGHT and 9C TEMPS *might* have "something" to do with it... But still...

Oh, well... at LEAST, the SEWER access is GREAT.

Meanwhile... this EVENING... the WINDS have picked up with Howling *significance*! TEMPS have dropped too. And, there's supposed to be a touch of SNOW for Tomorrow... I just *hope*
that all of Today's LEFTOVER Water doesn't Ice-Up too hard before I can get to it!

I have discovered that Shovelling SNOW is MUCH more Efficient than Scooping WATER in regards to TIME Spent and Volume Relocation.

Anyhoo... ENOUGH about The WEATHER... TIME for a PIC!! Something to go "with" Today... A bit of SUN, some swirling WIND, and a "Lake" of WATER...

"DUTCH" - Done in ZUNIBLU, DUTCH, YELLOW, and SNOWHITE in the Trim. Sorry, it's a bit blurry... an old Pic...

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A Tank-Top..? In FEBRUARY??!!

o-kaaay...

AH, just One of the *whacky* Sights that PUBLIC TRANSIT has to offer! -- There was this GIRL. 20-Something. Well groomed. Gave off an Impression of either being a COSMETIC or HAIR "STYLIST" Person. A tad too short to be a MODEL [but, You never know, She might have been] With expensive,
stylish Knee-High Leather Boots, form-fitting Pants, a couple of rather nice looking Bags on Her Shoulder, AND wearing a TANK TOP!

No Sweater. No Coat. Not even, a Scarf... Just a great Tan on Her BARE Arms and Shoulders!!

Did I mention the Fact that it IS *still* FEBRUARY, Cloudy out, and the TEMPS were about 2C...?

yeah, yeah... I know... The INSTANT We lose the "Minus Sign" and hear the FIRST Drips of MELT WATER in This CITY, *EVERYONE* breaks out the SWIMWEAR and PATIO FURNITURE!!

Oh, and BTW, I'm standing nearby, wearing 3-Layers of light Sweaters and a Rain Coat! AND, extremely TEMPTED to GIVE Her one of My just purchased *Bargain* Waffle-Weave Shirts from OLD NAVY! -- Anyway, She's LUCKY that the promised Rain hadn't hit yet!

Meanwhile, got done with My Appointment Downtown - AFTER - a quick circuit through The RIDEAU
CENTRE. On the Journey Homeward, stopped off at THE BIG MALL to do a few things. Once HOME,
decided to tackle that Laneway...

Apparently, FATHER had been out Earlier, trying to CHIP at those Nasty Bits of ICE. However, they remained *unbreakable* for the most part. But, I was determined to have a *go* at it! Some
of it had succeeded in "softening" up by Then.. Managed to REMOVE a couple of Gallons of Future
Water!

I continue to FORESEE another bout of Bailing on Tomorrow's ITINERARY!

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***HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PRINCESS PRE-TEEN***!!

AH, YES... Another Notch on The CALENDER for Our NUMBER ONE "PRINCESS"!

PRINCESS PRE-TEEN with LITTLE PRINCESS BIG-RED on Her "Day of Birth"!

As for Myself - It was a "Veg-Day". I had considered going Outside to CHOP some ICE... However, the TEMPS didn't get around to going UP far enough to even remotely affect the Molecular Cohesion of said Patches of Slickness-Waiting-For-A-Law-Suit! And, needless to say, that whole Cloudiness "thing" didn't quite HELP, either...

Meanwhile, according to Tomorrow's "Local" WEATHER CHANNEL Predictions, I *might* have an Optimal Window of Success somewhere between 11am and 1pm - when the RAIN is Due! And, of course, that's the TIME when I need to get ready and go Downtown! -- The Longer the RAIN can hold OFF, the Better!

I really *hate* COLD RAIN....

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Ah, Our Municipal TAXES At WORK!! ...about time...

HA!! Stu-pid GLACIER covering the SEWER... TOLD you NOT to *Mess* with Me!!

Oh! Sorry... Just having a teeny Megalomaniacal-Moment here... Okay, it's passed.

Right. So... "TODAY"...

• **SUNNY**!!
• Minus 20C-Something CHILLY
• Yesterday's WATER WORLD, now Patches of Flash-FREEZE-DRY *ICE* on the Hardness Scale of "Transparent" STEEL! However, thankfully, there are a few totally DRY Spots here and there...
• Garbage Pick-up Day. Had to rearrange the 2 Buckets at the End of the Lane, so I could back out The CAR. A bit of a *squeeze* because of the Sentinel Snowbanks...
• FIRST Trip, a brief run to THE MALL. Had to pick up Something for MOTHER.
• Manage to thread My way back into the Lane for the quick Drop-Off, and slip out again...
• COSTCO. Mostly Green Lights getting there. LOTS of Parking! A noticeable LACK of *Stupid People*. And, Food Samples... Nuts! -- Got MILK.
• Going to be "tricky" getting into Driveway - must go WIDE to make that RIGHT TURN, as NOT to CLIP the Buckets!
• OH! LOOK! There's one of those *missing* STUPID PEOPLE - TAILGATING Me!!  There's a Street Corner one House over, that Everyone "figures" is the Reason "WHY" I have My Signal Light going...
• I *MUST* be Blessed! NO Sound of Fender SCRAPING before Me, or a case of Whiplash *behind* Me!
• Manage NOT to slip on ICE when getting out of The VEHICLE. Need to move the Trash Bucket over the Choppy Ice to be in *safe* reach of the approaching GARBAGE TRUCK.
• "TIMING", gotta Luv it!
• Brought in empty Bucket. Tuck The CAR into Garage. Bring in Groceries. Make a quick
  "symbolic" attempt to SCRATCH at Ice Carpet in front of the Garage with Ice Hoe...
• yeah... Screw that! Went Inside to "Veg"...

Less than an Hour LATER...

I should probably "PREFACE" here -- Yesterday, whilst directing the RIVER FLOW down the Driveway into the LAKE at the end, I *managed* to flag down a passing "CITY" Vehicle! And,
"mentioned" to the rather POLITE CITY EMPLOYEE GUY - [who was also not bad-looking either!] - about the "STORM SEWER GRATE" that was BURIED under The GLACIER, resulting in the ROADWAY Water to Overflow into My Driveway, and could He *possibly* let "SOMEONE" *know* about it...?

Apparently, NOT His "Department", BUT, *would* make sure that the Correct One DID! However, though, that it would be doubtful that THEY would show up *any* Time "soon". I told Him that wouldn't be a problem - [It's a Big City, not so X-Many Staff, with a lot more BIGGER Issues to DEAL with on such a crappy Day] - I just wanted The-Powers-That-Be to be *aware*...

I could have Phoned this all in, but, actually having a CITY Person *SEE* the "Problem" is considerably more productive in getting it eventually rectified....

So, I'm about to make My late Lunch, when MOTHER notices some huge Vehicle in front of the House... Hmm... The CITY GUYS...? -- I go look out the Front Window. There's TWO Titan "TONKA" Toys out there!! -- SWEET!

The GUYS are "looking" for the SEWER "location"... I throw on some Shoes and My "Shovelling" Coat and go out to GPS Them... And, rescue the Recycling Bucket from getting RUN OVER by the Ginormous FRONT-END LOADER!

Meanwhile, the even Bigger SNOW-DUMP-TRUNK-with-PLOW has half pulled into the double Driveway across the Street a few Houses down, so as not to completely block off the Road. Anyway, I had a bit of a chat with that Driver... EVIL-SNOWPLOW-GUY managed to come up in the Conversation. It appears that SDTwP GUY also has an ESG as well.

I should have grabbed My Camera to record FEL GUY's EPIC BATTLE to remove The GLACIER. There were *moments*... Seriously! When The LOADER's wheels are *spinning* and the SNOW *isn't*?!!

Anyhoo... the NASTINESS is GONE now! There's a few Inches of Debris near the GRATE, but that should melt soon enough. TEMPS are suppose to go back up Tomorrow to Above "Freezing". Hopefully, I can "time" it, so that the ICE Patches are *soft* enough to scrape away BEFORE totally MELTING! -- *Solids*, I can properly deal with. *Liquids*...very problematic.

And, then... there's the "predicted" RAIN for Thursday... JUST in Time for Me to HAVE to go Downtown - by BUS...

Did I mention that The GLACIER is gone...?

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