Is The World Laughing At Us?

Unless there was a truly rigged election, the results from last week indicate a highly split voter population. In reading about or listening to the poll analyses, I have to wonder what's become of commons sense. On one side we have the conservatives who say they want things to go back to where they were. No one bothers to say what/where/when that is, but back to something. Then there are the progressives who say we can do better and somehow that's a bad thing? Better is bad? Hmm...maybe?

We have elected a man who I personally would never say was a good man. He has too many character flaw marks chalked up against him. So, does that mean that my side - the side that dislikes him - has marks, too? Are we just as bad when the other side complains about us? What do they see about us that we don't see? ...how will history view us?

NOTE: The image here was created by Haiper AI with the text input "vitriolic behavior of a world leader"...that's all it took to bring DJT into the frame.

And what about the rest of the world? What do other countries think? Are they just waiting for us to fall apart from the crush of our vitriolic nature. Are they laughing at the once, great, powerful nation that thinks it can dictate its rule everywhere...and now we will crumble?

We live in interesting times.

It's Been A Few Days

It's been a few days since my last post. We've had a presidential election in the meantime and I'm heartbroken that my side lost. I recall, being a New England Patriots fan during the first 20 years of the millennium, that I had many opportunities to feel the happiness of victory and the sadness of defeat. For us, during this time, the cycle between these extremes was short. The expression, "just wait until next year", seemed to match our reality. Pain would always lead to certain exuberance and we counted on it.

Not so much with elections. (And not so much with football now.)

I could certainly be lead to believe that some sort of cheating was occurring. As Bill Maher would often quip, "I know I can't prove it but I know it must be true." Or something like that.

Going back to the Reagan victory many years ago, if you lived through that, didn't you wonder how it was that the Iran Hostage Crisis was resolved right after Ronnie won? WTF? How did that happen. Was there a highly illegal, quid pro quo in there somewhere? I can't prove it, but...

Fast forward to Hanging Chads. WTF? How can the Supreme Court get involved in this? I've read an explanation recently justifying their actions, providing a rationale, but there's that feeling again...

There's Trump's ongoing "it's a rigged election" mantra; he brought it up all the time. I suspect it's his personal rationalization - something he desperately needs so as not to feel like a loser - it's a tool right out of the narcissists mental health toolbox. Did he and his team actually figure out rigging and...

...now, we have 2024. WTF?

Well, I can't say "wait until next year". I'm afraid for this country and how Trump will play the game, fully emboldened by his excessive _______. (Whatever you feel fits there: narcissism, stupidity, ego, lying, rigging.)

Some pundits are saying that the Democratic Party needs to re-evaluate itself...but would that really help? I think we need to accept it - and I know I can't prove it but I just know it's true - that the election really was rigged. Rigged by a convoluted system of billionaire's money, social network manipulations, religious interference, and a woefully under-informed voting public. That's the game the Democrats need to learn to play. Forget education the voters with facts. That's for losers. Overwhelm them with bullshit...and then wait until next year.

The Gap In My Posts

If you look at the dates of this Blog, you'll see a huge gap between 2013 and 2024. The reason it's there is because in the intervening years I was using Wordpress for my blog. I've kind of explained already why I'm back with Blogger, but I wanted to address the gap. Not many people (or anyone for that matter) follows my blog, and it's more of a historical thing for me. I can do a recap of the highlights...

2015 - I wrote about my songwriting, my mom's paintings website, my move to smaller and lighter cameras, and something about computer storage.

2016 - something about Adobe Slate and Topaz Impressions, then the Valley Photo Center, complaining about my Xfinity TB box, my first Mac Mini (which I bought for Lee), and something about Browsers.

I Got A Letter Asking Me To Appear In Newport, RI's Municipal Court

What? ...why did I get this "Court Appearance Date" letter from Newport, RI? I had to call right away to find out. It turns out, someone has/had a "moped" for which they could not prove insurance coverage. Apparently, this happened in early October.

Well, I don't have a moped and I wasn't anywhere near Newport. So, it's not me. On the other hand, I don't know what might happen if I don't go there, or at least try to find out what's going on. I did just that.

• I called the Court Administrator who provided some information (after looking up the "ticket number").
• The CA connected me with the Records Department.
• The RD connected me with the Traffic Department, but there was no answer
• So, I left a message.

After a couple days I called back and spoke with Dee at the Records Department. She said she'd try to get the officer who issued the ticket to call me to explain what's happening.

Inspiration - things to think about

Now that I'm switching back to Blogger, I thought I'd migrate a page from the old site that I thought was interesting...

Good Karma

This is what The Dalai Lama has to say for 2006. All it takes is a few seconds to read and think over. Do not keep this message. The mantra must leave your hands within 96 hours. You will get a very pleasant surprise. This is true for all, even if you are not superstitious, or of whatever religious belief/ Faith.

Instructions For Life

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three R’s:
   • Respect for self,
   • Respect for others and
   • Responsibility for all your actions
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

The More Things Change...

Yes. The more things change the more they stay the same. And, here I am, back to one of my original blogs. This one comes from Google via their Blogger offering. I've done web pages manually and hosted static pages on AWS and Goggle's My Drive. I've done it using Drop Box way back. (I think they disabled that.) I'm pretty sure I started with Blogger way back when.

Of course, one of the top blog hosting sites is Wordpress and I still use it for many of my larger website efforts. But, it's designed for more complex sites and not so much for single pages and I find I need smaller sites as I get older (smaller dreams maybe?)...besides, it's always fun to change things up.

I have my rcdanek.us URL pointing to a simpler Google Sites page page where the design philosophy is similar to what Blogger offers, simplicity. The URL used to point to Wordpress and I find many people get confused at how to use Wordpress. I've stopped trying to convince anyone.

I'll probably change my mind next year. I dunno. I'm so wishy-washy. 😁

My Open Mic Update

I met Bill Martin last year. He had posted on Craig's List that he wanted to jam. I contacted him, we jammed, and have been doing open mic's in the recent months. Bill has a nice singing voice so he does most of the singing. I have a couple songs that I do. We tend to stick to three venues and try to stay active each week. In Westfield one evening, a reporter came in to do a story. It appeared in the Chicopee Herald and it was the photo of Bill that she chose for the article...

Sometimes at open mic's, you get help from other musicians. At Patti's 410, which has their open mic on Thursdays, we often have bass guitarist, Al, back us up...

...and, if there's a drummer handy, we get that kind of help, too.

Many times, though, if Bill's not available and I feel the courage to go solo, I will get up and do some original material. I heard, once, that your songs aren't good until you hit your 1000th. I'm so far from that many that I will likely be churning out crappy songs for some time. I do think, though, that they keep getting better, so I'm encouraged.

So, even though my ears still feel some discomfort when the music gets loud, I can tolerate the quieter acoustic sounds.

What's really been nice for me in the last year is that I've met some really nice folks in the open mic scene. We all keep showing up, encouraging one another, and listening and learning.

My Poor Ears

My band mates and I have parted ways. It's not because I wasn't having fun, it's because things got too loud, and my ears started to hurt. Really. During some of the practices (we hadn't played out as yet), I would feel pain. So, I had to quit. Now, I'm more acoustic. My friend, Bill, and I practice once a week and hit an open mic almost weekly. He has a good singing voice and I try. My song writing had gone into a funk for a while, but I wrote two new songs in the past few weeks so something is rekindling. As far as rock and amplified sound, I have to cool it. I can still play, but at very low volumes. Some of the open mics have a rock element and I have to watch what I'm doing. If I sit too close to the PA or stay too long, it's probably not going to help my ears. But I'm aware and so far so good. I also jam acoustically with my friend, Ken. He started the band effort in the first place and although I can't play his style for rock anymore, he's so good on guitar that jamming is awesome. So, all in all, I won't be a rock star. I may be a singer/songwriter of sorts...but I have to keep it mellow. And I have enough opportunity with friends and venues in Western Mass to make mellow just right for me.

Open Mic Experience

Here's a view of the open mic venue in Westfield, MA. It's held in an art gallery called the Gaslight Gallery one a month.

I had a chance to perform there last night and did four of my own songs plus an oldie, King Of The Road. Everyone sang along with that one. We ended the night by having all the musicians come up and do a couple songs jamboree style.

I used "technology" to display (for me) the words and chords of my songs. I had a Kindle with songs in Chordpro format. It should have worked flawlessly, but I'm still getting used to it...it wasn't perfect. I completely attribute my problems to pilot error. The small crowd didn't seem to mind as I made fun of myself. (I told them I was turning pages.)

I recently picked up a looper and I'm going to try to work that into some performances later on. I guess I will need to just practice this stuff. Hopefully, with more singing, my voice will get better, too.

I've actually done a couple of these open mics in another venue, Patty's 410 in Chicopee. I am having fun, though.

FYI - the photo is a pano shot I made with my new HTC One X phone. I like the phone as it has a larger screen than my old iPhone. It's also thinner and fits my pocket better. So far, it's a good upgrade choice I made (only cost me 99 cents). I'm going to see how well it records music at our next band practice.

Phyllis and the OGRB's

Here's an update on music, songwriting, jamming, and things in general.

I found a band. I didn't "found" it, in the sense that I laid the foundation stone. My band mate, Ken, did that. But he found me - I found him - all thanks to Craig's List. I've been quite happy ever since. I've got that feeling I had in high school when I was in my first band. We even hit that magic moment during certain jams. The music flows, independently, from each of us and magic happens. Not always. Just sometimes. But that's good.

So, there are six of us and, for sure, we're struggling with the normal human stuff that any group has to face. We do have a bunch of material we're testing out. We've each had to balance work (well, not me so much), home, family, and practice time. Our goal is to play out. I envision jamming with Sir Paul one day. Realistically, it's more like we'll play some open mics, pubs, bars, and just make good noise.

We don't have a band name, yet. I've started referring to "us" as Phyllis and the OGRB's. That's because, inside my head, OGRB means "Old Guy" and she ain't. But, for now, the rest of us are. I suppose we could say it means Olden Goldie Rock Band, but that's lame. Maybe Ostentatiously Gifted Rock Band? Yeah, that works, too.

Once we get a name, we can get a website, print business cards, get T-shirts, maybe have someone write a graphic novel about the superpowers we develop.

For now, I'm OK with Phyllis and the OGRB's. It's a placeholder.

Oh, and every once in a while, we sound OK. It's a work in progress.

FWIW - I still jam with Bill Martin. He and I like a softer sound. More folk, less rock. He's helped me tailor a couple of my original songs. He tends to make them shorter, fulfilling that "less is more" thing. It works, too. Thanks, Bill!!!

Songwriter?

My latest musical project involves having hooked up with a local musician. His name is Bill Martin. He's about my age and we have similar interests. We both enjoy acoustic guitars. He can actually sing whereas I sound like a cross between a frog and a cat whose tail has been stepped on.

The last time I had a collaboration was when my friend, Mark Lammi, got me to join his band, The 55's. We practice for about nine months and played once for a church picnic. Then, the band ended. Mark and I kept up our playing, one on one, and that eventually got me to start writing songs. I even did some in home studio recording because I wanted to remember what I had written without having to write a score.

I wrote about a dozen songs and put them on a CD I titled, "Really, I Can't Sing". I kept writing in fits and starts for the next couple years - lots of scribbles in my notebook. Then, I went through a long dry spell. Nothing came to mind. The magic was gone.

Well, along comes Bill and our weekly collaboration was enough to restart the musical creativity heart beat. I've since written a bunch of new material, the latest being a song I actually started and finished just this week. It's called "Outside Of Your Circle". That makes it my 32nd song since starting my writing in this century. (I wrote one song in high school with my friend, Rom, called "Say Girl". I remember one chord from it and one line. I think he may have the song somewhere and every time I ask for it, I don't get it. Oh, well. Maybe he lost it, too.)


So, what's the story with this late-in-life creativity? I don't know. My Mom had a similar spurt with her paintings. She was always creative in her life, but it really took hold it the last part of it. She painted about 150 oil paintings during that period, not to mention small, card stock doodles that you can still find for sale on the Internet.


Hmmm...maybe I should write a song about that. Late bloomers.

What a week...and I got Poison Ivy, too!

I went on two short trips in the past 10 or so days. The first was to New Jersey to visit my brother, Art. He had invited me to a folk festival at Appel Farm (spelling is correct) and I got to see some good acts. I was immediately drawn to Cheryl Wheeler's performance because I had seen her in Sturbridge years ago. I love the quality of her voice. She's funny and an terrific songwriter. Unfortunately, there were problems with the sound system and I think it affected her a bit. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed her music.

Later on in the afternoon, I got to hear Dawes and then the Tedeschi and Trucks Band. Both acts were top notch. I really like the songwriting of the Dawes band. One of their songs I have heard before, so I liked that because of familiarity. But all of the songs were good. Then, TTB started playing and all I can say is, WOW! The musicians were so good, and Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi sure could sing and play. I'm a fan for sure. FWIW, they won a Grammy for best blues album from 2010. Sweet.

Art drove me home a couple days after that so I could then lead a three day photo excursion up to Vermont. He and I and three other friends, Steve, Richie, and Bob, wanted to hang together for a while as photographers. So, we picked Vermont because they hadn't really explored it before. It was quite nice. For sure, Fall is the season to consider going there, but I felt this Springtime adventure could serve as recon. As it turns out, we got some really nice photos.

But, the big deal for me was that I must have gotten exposed to poison ivy - lots of it. The only place where I can think that this happened was at a covered bridge in Thetford, VT. I was the only one wearing shorts and I did lay on what I thought was just grass to get a closeup shot of something. I'm pretty sure my camera bag got some of the oils on it because I now have itchy areas on my neck, arms, leg. I think there was transfer going on because of how I carry the bag.

Live and learn.

I have posted my images along with a story about our trip on my Images by Casey website.

Facebook Photo App for iPhone

Had a chance to play with the Facebook photo app over the past week. It was easy to get multiple photos into a single Facebook update. Sweet. (Maybe I can do this with other apps, including the built-in one...but I've never tried so I don't know.)

The new version of iOS will have better Facebook integration, too. So, maybe Apple will have this covered soon, too. Can't wait.

Got a new app for my iPhone

Having some fun with Awesome Camera from Smugmug. It's free and very sweet for photos.

Learning More About Western MA

I Like Noho

I don't really know if the folks in Northampton like it to have their city/town referred to as "Noho". I say that because I was at a nightclub there last night (The Pearl Street Nightclub) to watch and listen to Dia Frampton. For those who don't know who she is, she was the runner up in the TV singing competition show, "The Voice". I remember watching that show in 2011 and I was torn between the two finalists. I wanted her to win, but I felt strongly that both contestants deserved it (as did many of the quarter finalists).

Anyway, here's what happened. In the previous morning, my daughter called to tell me that she had just won tickets to see "Dia Frampton" via a radio show promotion. (She's always winning these things.) In fact, she was so sure I'd want to go that she had already given them my name for the Will Call pickup (she couldn't go, herself).

She was right, I did want to go.

Unfortunately, when she called, I couldn't remember who Dia Frampton was, other than her name sounded familiar to me. Then, when she told me about The Voice, I started to remember. Later on, when I looked her up online, the memories came back vividly. Then I really wanted to go.

I didn't know what to expect at the venue. The website did say it was general admission and standing room only. I wanted Lee to come along, but as she is still healing from her broken ankle, I was concerned she might not be able to stand and see the entire show. Well, the good news is that a bartender there got us a chair and she was able to sit comfortably off to the side.

(Note: the photo here is from Wikipedia and it's not the nightclub site. Dia is on the left and Meg is on the right in the photo.)

The venue has two raised floors. One is for the band and the other is for folks getting to the bar and then being able to stand around and still see over the heads of the floor crowd. On the floor, you can get very close to the performers. (Really, Dia was only a couple feet away from the closest audience members.)

There were two acts that warmed us up: Eric Stepanian and Andrew Allen. Both were excellent and folks reading this should check them out.

I don't remember which of the two asked the question, "How do you pronounce, Northampton?"

Folks in the crown offered suggestions and someone shouted out, "Noho". That was followed by some "yeas" and "nays". So, I'm guessing that, maybe, Noho isn't correct for all? ...so, I'll play it safe and call it Northampton...with my "h" slightly and imperceptibly stretched as if I'm saying north and hampton together almost. I dunno. Is that right?

Then, we got to hearing "Dia and Meg". That was the name of Dia and Meg's band before Dia became famous from The Voice. Now, the name of their band is Dia Frampton. Why not build off of success. Oh, and Dia and Meg are sisters and they (and the band) were awesome.

So, I like Noho...err...Northampton.

But wait! ...there's more!


This morning, I was checking out the Iron Horse Entertainment Group's schedule. Iron Horse is the company that runs several of the music venues in Norhampton. Dia's band was performing at Pearl Street, a small night club, but there's a bigger theater in town that I was curious about. It's their Music Hall. What I learned was that Lucy Kaplansky was going to be performing.

Lucy Kaplansky?

Yes! ...she, being of folk music fame and I have an affinity for folk music and have listened to her on my favorite folk music radio station, yes!

For a mere $20, I get to go to her concert on the 26th. Sweet. I already bought the ticket. Now, I'm going to look for my Lucy Kaplansky CD's and load up my iPhone just so I can listen to her while I walk the two miles it takes to get to the fitness center for my workout later today.

I wouldn't have known about Lucy Kaplansky had it not been for Jen's good fortune winning the Dia Frampton tickets. (Thank you, Jen.)

This, in a very small way, takes the sting out of the Patriot's Super Bowl loss. I'm sure I'll be completely through my greif by the time Lucy hits the stage.

The Script

No, this isn't about The Script, which is a very good band. No, this is about a movie script. It seems the Danek family has embarked on such an exercise. That is, we are writing one.

Here's what happened.

We were driving from Western Mass to Eastern Mass for a family visit. Art (my brother) was driving and we were chatting about all kinds of things just to kill the time. (It's about an hour-long drive.) The subject of movies came up. Both he and I dabble in shooting videos and he even teaches a class at his school about making movies. So, he said that he always wanted to make a movie about the old neighborhoods. We grew up in a three decker environment, which is somewhat unique in the Northeast. (At least, that's what I've read.) He wanted to tell that story.

We got to talking about the whats, hows, whys, and wherefores of such a project and began arguing about how to get started. He just wanted to kick around ideas for artistic theme shots and I wanted to know what the whole damn thing would be about. (I argued that this is usually what you'd need to describe when pitching a movie idea to the money people in the movie business.)

Before you know it, he turns the tables on me and tells me he has the concept worked out but he won't tell me what it is. I have to guess. I had to do a 20 Questions kind of thing.

So, I played along. I started asking questions and then realized he was just BS-ing. He had no ideas at all. He just wanted to come up with something based on whatever answer popped into his head as soon as I asked...sort of writing a script by flipping a coin.

That's when it hit us. We could write a script about just what we were doing.

And so it began.

Who knows, maybe you'll see the movie in a couple years. (Who should play me? Clooney?)

Starting Off Nicely With 2012

Had a lot of fun the past few weeks with family events in celebration of the holidays and the new year. These were all weekend visits by one or more families coming in to Western Massachusetts. Thank's to all of you who drove. At least, we arranged for there to be nice driving weather. (Actually, it's a warming trend that seriously makes one think about Global Warming in a more, personal way...I'm glad I'm no longer a skier.)

There were plenty of opportunities for photos and photo sharing, and the darned new smartphones make video so easy to do, it's going to be a fantastic year image-wise.

Speaking of fantastic years, I've had a look at some new cameras that are coming into the marketplace. I think it's going to be pretty fantastic! One, in particular, is based on the styling of the original Leica 35mm camera which, in my youth and adult life, was always out of reach for me. (It still is, actually.) I keep hoping that my favorite camera company, Nikon, creates something similar. I no longer think they will, though. Fortunately, Fuji is on the cusp of releasing one and, quite frankly, I am so close to switching system for no other reason that it looks so much like a Leica of my dreams.

Anyway, back to reality. Here are some links to photos:

• McColley family visit with photos on Facebook
• Danek family side on Google+
• Daneks from New Jersey

Had a chance to rethink my web strategy for pages. In the past, I put everything on one server. It used to be an actual PC in my house, but later we move to an ISP-based server somewhere on the Internet. (This turned out to be cheaper and better and gee, I wish I had done it from the onset.) Now, the really nice thing is that with Blogger and Facebook and Wordpress and Twitter and Google+ and so on and so on...well, you get the idea, there are so many chances to have stuff on the Internet, you don't really need your own server. (If fact, we really don't need the ISP-based one. We just want to have it because having it does provide some nice flexibility...but that's just the techie side talking.)

On the other hand, having so many choices about how to establish a presence on the web makes it confusing and difficult. Where do you tell someone to go to look at your stuff? How do you keep everything up to date? I even have a MySpace page, but I rarely use it. I just checked and I'm not even sure how to set stuff up. (I may play with it, though...I'm such a glutton for punishment.)

What's home anymore?

I had to put my domain, groundglassproductions.com, down recently. It is dead. I simply chose not to renew the domain registration. I'm really not in buisiness anymore, although I still do videos. I continue to support Spencer Cable Access by doing Thyme In the Kitchen with Lee and Pam. I will even, gladly, accept payment for my services, should they be required, for a commercial shoot of some kind.

So, in thinking about a new web presence for what I do, I thought about the state of today's technology. What are other folks doing, now, with "home pages"? One can do something on Facebook. There is Goole+. I actually have a personal home page that my website provider gives me (rcdanek.us). I can several sites living beneath that. GGP is actually still there in a way: rcdanek.us/ggp/archives.html gets you to our archives page.

Also, there are sites that provide blog services. This site lives on Blogger and I have Wordpress. (In fact, I had GGP on Wordpress for a while.)

Wait, there's more! As I do videos (which is what GGP is all about), and those videos have to live somewhere, I have the same questions to ask about services which present videos. I mostly use Blip TV. Lately, I found that I can syndicate off of Blip TV onto other sites. So, now, the Blip TV content shows up as a Podcast on iTunes. Sweet. I signed up to feed into Facebook and I'm sure Google+ will show up at some point.

I don't know if there's a winning strategy, but I find that I have to dabble in several places. Let's see...

1. I have GGP under my rcdanek.us stuff.
2. I have GGP on Wordpress. (It's actually what I'm using as my "official" home page for now)
3. I have GGP on Facebook.
4. I have GGP on Google+.
5. I'm waiting for Twitter to open up with their pages (they've announced something).
6. Most of my video streams are on Blip TV
7. I have one video stream on Vimeo (I may have more later, you never know)
8. I have links to Blip TV and Vimeo on the TIK website

And each time I release a new video, and get it uploaded, I have to worry about updating all these "sites".

Hmmmm.

End of and adventure? ...Danek Photography is going away. This website was my "business" site for the most part. (Well, I think I had it as my personal photo site, but when I went pro a few years back, it became my business site, so there.) As a business site, it got me some visibility, mostly from folks trying to connect to my site to help them bolster their business. I don't know how many clients every came around because of it. On the other hand, when I did get a client, then that's where I sent them to look at their images.

Well, I stopped Danek Photography - the business - a few years ago. It just wasn't working out. When it came time to renew my domain name, I really didn't have justification. So, in May, it will cease as a registered domain name. So, anyone can take ownership for it. It won't be me. In its place, I have other sites for my photography and interests.

Ground Glass Productions will continue for a while. We still do cable access videos so it makes sense. I suppose if ever I restart a photo business, I could tie to to GGP, but then GGP isn't really a business either anymore. So, who knows.

Danek Photography had it's time...

And if you are looking for either Art's page or my alternate page, check out these:

• Art's Page (artdanek.com)
• Casey's Page (rcdanek.us/dp)
• Images by Casey (rcdanek.us/ibc)

What's the point of having a blog if you don't updated it every day, or week. Well, part of the problem is that there are so many blog opportunities (not to mention Twitter and Facebook) that it's easy to just get sidelined. I don't know if I'll get back to this one any time soon. For now, here's an update on what's been going on.

• We moved to Feeding Hills
• We're building over the garage
• It's getting cold, but so far, no snow