Easy Sudoku for 10/February/2019

Good Maen all!

It's not often that I get first!

Only 11 now

Just sitting here reading the paper. No good news as usual. I keep hoping.

1:56 Good night one and all!

Good Maen, good people. Glad to hear you had a good birthday, Pam.

Ugh, it was tough driving home from Louisville. I'm glad I didn't attempt it in the dark with an even stronger crosswind! There were patches of ice and the wind I did end up driving through made the trip a constant struggle. It lowered my gas mileage by about 1/3! The tankful that should have lasted the rest of the way home ran out so I had to stop shy of South Bend to fill up. Oh, my, was it COLD! 8 below zero windchill and I, of course, hadn't bothered to button my coat liner back in after taking it out in Florida, so I was standing there, filling a tank with no hat, no gloves and a coat better suited to above freezing temps. Brrrr!!

Yes I had winter accessories with me but my daughters had already gone inside the service station so I couldn't ask them to dig in the cargo area for my hat and gloves. Oh, and what distracted me from going for the hat and gloves in the first place is that the previous night's downpour and subsequent freeze had frozen my gas door shut and I was trying to get it unstuck without scratching the paint or breaking the spring mechanism.

8 for shosho. So, I could see no snow coming home (except old piles from previously plowed snow) until I crossed the Michigan state line. About ten miles from home it looked like driving through smoke or mist. The snow particles were microscopic and the wind was keeping them airborne. Four miles from home there was fresh snow accumulation. Everything costed in white. We quickly unloaded and I got right back on the road to get an allergy shot in Kalamazoo. The roads were icy under the snow and the winds made for near white out conditions. As I sat next to another woman in the waiting room she said that the interstate expressway had come to a standstill.

Ah, welcome back to Michigan.

all.
Sounds like a fun trip, Plum.

The good news from my trip is that we had a great time, good things should come from the business research I did, AND I got to spend time with Kathy from Valrico and even got to meet MizTricia as I headed back through Alabama!

I had only clipped a mere corner of Alabama before this trip so it was satisfying to drive back through the heart of that beautiful state. I drove out I-10 through Tallahassee to make my way north to Montgomery then Birmingham. I was amazed by the devastation that Hurricane Michael wrought on the region last October. Clean up efforts were still underway in a mass effort. I witnessed a hundred miles of trees, road signs, billboards and building damage. The whole way was 'under construction' with orange cones and work crews clearing out damaged trees and debris -- so they were clear cutting in most areas! In one place there was a line of 5-6 semis and two cranes picking up whole tree trunks and stacking them like toothpicks in the semis. As soon as they were loaded they drove away and more semis came to take their place! Michael was definitely one for the history books. It was strange how in most places while stands if trees were snapped with the crowns all falling in the same direction. As I drove I saw the overarching swirl pattern of the storm as the trees fell away from me as I started west and eventually they were laying with their crowns toward me. Perhaps strangest of all was the section where the trees weren't snapped as much but bent and bowed like softened pasta. Miles of curved-trunk trees bending over as if in respect for royalty. How did that happen?

That should have read 'whole stands of trees were snapped ...'

Temps were unseasonably cold in Florida (as they were in the rest of the eastern half of the US). We only had one day hit 70 degrees until that last day we were driving through the panhandle and that day it rose to 77! Ah. The only thing wrong was that we were headed out of Florida instead of towards it! Still, it was marvelous while in Florida to drive past fields of ripe strawberries, drink freshly squeezed orange juice from tree ripened freshly squeezed fruit, and smell the backyard scent of rose bushes in full bloom! It will forever be an amusing memory of how, at Siesta Beach with Floridians out walking the sands wearing heavy winter coasts, Skye was in shorts and a tank top IN THE WATER getting soaked. Because it was the Gulf of Mexico. And she had come to Florida to go bathing in the ocean water. And she did.

2.36

I solved quickly odds down and evens up. Taking a similar photo is on my bucket list.

everyone!
That was quite the driving experience, Plum! I love your description of the trees affected by the hurricane. I'm glad you are home safe and sound.

The kiddos just left. Everyone slept through the night except me. I kept waking up and checking on them every couple of hours. I need a nap.

Hmm Tom must be out shoveling snow this morning.

Everybody!! What a trip Plum!!

everyone!!!

Thank you, Plum!! Here's flying your way!

Oh, Keith, where art thou?

Pounce!

...was still in bed.

1:32. Good morning everyone.

Beautiful ocean scene!

Morning all,beautiful photo of the apostles.
Welcome home ,Plum. What a hair raising end to your trip.

Heidi,enjoy your two day birthday.

Everyone!

Sun is out, so went for a walk - Morton arboretum was having a chocolate festival

The hound isn't liking the sub-freezing temps at all. He prefers drinking from puddles or other trapped rain water. As they are all frozen, he has to drink well water from a pan. He's not happy about that...

It's time, Rage. Come on back...

2:00.

For my drink of choice today ... I will share the well water in the pan with the hound!

Wowser!

Spoil sport!

Except for the ''shared pan'' part, it's not bad. I'd put it right up there with most of the yuppy bottled water in the market. It's definitely better than some I've tasted. And it is soft.

Judy, are you sure you wouldn't like a nice warming Irish Coffee? In the meantime it's still rather warm 38C here, so I'll settle for an ice cold XXXX Gold!

I just had an Irish coffee, old family recipe, it's much cooler here today. I've also had a few vb's so life's good.

Might as well try for it...

Bye bye today