Blizzard of '22 Saturday

Got a lot of snow this past Saturday, about two feet here. We were able to dig out our grill and fire it up, but we lost enthusiasm due to the high winds and didn't end up cooking anything on the grill.

Other doors, the mailbox and driveway remained socked in.  I only dug out one porch door for the dog to do his business. The wind was really howling and swept off half the side yard for me (down to the grass!), so he had a place to go without any need for me to create a big clearing for him. No need to go anywhere in vehicles today, so the driveway and front walks will await snowblower on another day.  Friends nearer Cape Cod lost power for five hours but we were fine here.

The family mostly stayed inside the house, read books and played card games, which was a nice relaxing kind of day.  We got tired of cards after a while and watched Minority Report, which is a modern feeling Tom Cruise scifi movie.  We were suprised to learn that his last name isn't Cruise and this movie is twenty years old!

Typewriters and Snowstorms

Today is a snowstorm (1-2 feet in Boston) and it reminded me of being stuck inside with a typewriter when I was little. In the early 1970s (possibly the Blizzard of '78) or so my Mom was typing up some letters for a while for my Dad who was trying his hand at small-business at the time.  She was a great fast typist having done it for a living for a while in offices.

I was just amazed at the way it worked. It being an old heavy Underwood from the early 1940s, and totally mechanical you could see all of the linkages and all these tiny springs and hinge points. For someone who is 10 or 12 or so and stuck in the house with snow, this was just amazing to look at.  I was asking my Mom all about it and she showed me how to type on it. The key-travel distance was amazingly long compared to the tiny movement of today's computer keyboards. I'm was surprised at how difficult it was to press each key down hard enough that it would leave a mark on the paper.  My Mom won new respect for me that week for certain.  Additionally, you had to learn to press all the keys at the same rate, even though your pinkie isn't as strong as your index finger, you had to press your pinkie smartly and your index finger lightly, in order that your Fs don't appear distractingly darker than your As.  So all of this took lots of practice.  Pretty sure it took me all day just to write one paragraph.  I think I recall that one of the two typewriters was broken (just dirty) and I was able to fix it through basic mechanical cleanup and a bit of light oiling.

It's interesting how all things build upon each other sometimes, such as legos or in Tetris.  I actually leaned into it and learned how to type properly, with my Mom encouraging me. I think by the time I was thirteen I was typing over 25wpm, and it's all just speed practice from there.  When I got my first computer and got into programming in ninth grade or so, I was one of the only ones in the class who could type without looking, and so I was always done my assignments very quickly.   Programming requires lots of special characters, not just the home row keys therefore the good self-discipline my Mom gave me to learn all of those really paid off when I first began programming.   She still has one typewriter back home filed away, some where.

I eventually (decades later) did a lot of work in computers, so that influenced me.  The fact that I did learn to type was influencial in my life for sure, I'm glad I got into it back then, before it was really A Thing.   Today one can still find these 1940s typewriters in local Craigslistings for $100 or so.  They are really engineering marvels considering the time. 

Calm before the Storm

 Well JUST CHILL OUT!  It's 6 degrees F out right now, and bright and sunny. It's 7am and the house is cold but is heating up for the day.  My mother is visiting for a few months and will be awake soon and out for her morning coffee.  We plan to get groceries and then go to the town library for more books, and then hide back here and read them. I'm reading Stephen King at the moment.

   It's the calm before the storm, because of a fsnow blizzard this weekend   The stores have been raided for salt for driveways and are all out, including Lowes and Home Depot.  Now folks (me too) are hitting grocery store for milk, eggs and TP.  

   We plan to hide inside and play games for a couple days, except for snowblowing and shoveling!

Dog walking: Rocky checked out Rumney Marsh

Solstice! I look forward to the coming time as the days begin their trek to have more hours of sunshine.  On Baker Hill today, we are baking cookies. My Mom is visiting from NH, so the four of us will creatively mess up the kitchen a bit. There will at least be peanut-butter drops and chocolate chip, plus some others.  Should be a fun break away from our usual doings of schoolwork, house repair and things like that.  

Civil Twilight on Baker Hill

It's Civil Twilight here on Baker Hill, the clouds over the ocean getting brighter and red trimmed. We can't see the sun because it's overcast, yet it's comforting to see the day gradually getting literally lighter.  Out in the yard I can see two full roofing tiles on the grass, this is not a good sign.  It rained all day yesterday, so I suppose we should go around inside the house and check for leaks.  I hope it doesn't require a new roof, which would be quite a high expense.

I miss seeing the turkeys each morning. Two weeks ago there were about sixteen of them, large toms and hens mixed and seemingly very healthy and fat for the season, but they are probably now keeping a low profile closer down to the Rumney Marsh due to the increase of coyotes in the area these past few months, as we've seen on the doorbell-cameras of the neighbors lately.  I don't blame them.  Stay safe, our friends, stay safe.