So, up here in the mountain Pacific Northwest, it isn't looking like a "white Christmas" this year.
We have had some snow, and it has been cold, but for the last week and until yesterday, it has been "warm" with mid-forties in the daytime and almost 40 at night so, for North Idaho, that's warm!
Then yesterday, after a wild night of high winds and heavy rain, it cooled down to 31-degrees and started to snow about 8:30 in the morning and snowed about 3-inches before stopping around 11 am.
I had taken our Chevy down to have our studded snow tires on rims swapped, and it turned out to be at exactly the right time! I went home to unload the summer tires and got this photo during the peak of the snowfall.
While there have been all kinds of astronomical events, like meteor showers, and the "conjunction" in the news, and things we'd love to see, and I'd like to get photos of, the weather has been mostly overcast for weeks! As it had cleared up for a few minutes in the evening on Tuesday, and sunset is around 3:30 pm here this time of year, we did get to see the sight of Jupiter and Saturn in the clear sky last evening. When we got home, I tried to get some photos, but at our house, it was scattered clouds again! No photos yet again too!
Trans-Siberian Orchestra!!!
OK, so we probably weren't going to go this year as we had gone to the last two years of concerts in Spokane when they came through, and of course, COVID is going on.
But in early November, I had seen an ad on TV about a "one night only" live stream concert that I could buy a ticket for. I talked to Stacy, and we decided to go for it!
I bought a $30.00 ticket for the show, which saved about $200.00 from last year's show!
Now, I have posted about our previous experiences, usually in November, at the "Christmas Rock Concerts." We have really enjoyed them, with the great music, the fog, and the laser light show, it is a first-rate experience, just remember the ear-plugs.
So, we took off early from work as eight eastern is five pacific, and we wanted to be online and ready for the pre-show videos that were discussed in the email about the show I received. I later learned it was live-streamed all around the world at the same time. With that much usage, there were, of course, issues. Our stream was just buffering from 4:30 to 5:00 pm, then at 5:02, the stream started with the last three minutes of the pre-show event, and then the show started. It streamed OK; it kept going to fuzzy standard definition and a couple of freezes for a minute or so. Then, almost an hour into the show, we lost the feed and couldn't get it back for about a half-hour of the one hour and twenty-three-minute show.
With the emails about the show, I knew if what might happen with so many trying to watch simultaneously; we had a second chance to see it on Sunday morning at 9:00 am as that would be a second stream.
However, as I was checking out on Twitter at the T.S.O. feed, I saw that apparently, so many people had issues with the stream the T.S.O. crew opened the stream up to as many views as you wished until midnight on Sunday the 20th.
So we watched it three more times Saturday and Sunday. Those three streams were all clear, with no streaming problems at all. It was a very good show recorded live in advance from a soundstage in Nashville. It was really great to be able to actually see the musicians as people instead of little figures way up on a stage. To be able to understand the words to their songs too was great, and not having to wear ear-plugs! Not deafened!
Not a stage extravaganza this year, the show was still a great experience! The music great, and the lasers still good when used, like in the middle and bottom photos, taken during the very last song of the concert, "Wizards in Winter," one of my and Stacy's favorites!
New wheels!
I remember the days when parents had to assemble bikes for kids and spend a lot of time putting together bicycles for the kids. My mom had to do that for me and my brother and sisters. And I had to help my mom as I got older too.
Stacy and I did that for our kids before you could get them pre-assembled from Walmart.
Well, with bikes being pre-assembled nowadays, this year, Stacy wanted to get her father a new rolling walker, the type that is shown on TV that is made so the person can be more standing up and her father doesn't have to be all stooped over to use.
Stacy got it from Amazon and we got the box in the mail. It was my job to put it together and get it ready to take to the assisted living facility to be given to him on Christmas since we still can't go there due to COVID, and they haven't started giving the vaccine there yet either.
Above: everything out of the box and looking at the directions booklet, not complicated at all!
Above: just attach the two, wheel and rails assemblies, just match R with R and L with L, easy right?
Above: well that doesn't look quite right! It could be an interesting experiment for a 98-year old!
About ten minutes later and reassembled CORRECTLY, and it is ready to roll standing up! With a seat and backrest, if you get exhausted while you shuffle, you just stop, turn around and have a seat.
Tad
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