Yesterday was a good day. I spent more than 5 hours in the yard raking and burning leaves and cutting and trimming tree branches. It was hard work but there is something to be said for hard physical labor. There is a feeling of quiet and peace that comes over me after a day of hard physical labor. Food tastes better and sleep comes easier.

I have neglected my back yard the last few years and it shows. There are a lot of little things I have not done inside my house either. Calking and painting, a loose piece of trim here an old “needs to be replaced” fixture there, little things that get put off. This year I will be doing a lot of “up keep” both inside and out in preparation for next year when I put my house on the market. This has been a good house for me. When my X and I separated I found this house. It was not perfect but it was new and in my price range, later I found out it was built by someone I knew personally. I was guided by whoever or whatever it is that guides fools and idiots to this house. A well built energy efficient home within walking distance to my old home, allowing the kids to easily go back and forth, but in such a location that my X and I rarely cross paths. I have been fortunate when I need something fate often steps in and offers me a choice and for the most part I choose well. I have everything I need and lot that I don’t.

Yesterday I also watched 2 good movies, “Gone With the Wind” and “Casablanca”. TCM had its annual “31 days of Oscar” and yesterday they had these two back to back. I don’t think I have ever seen the beginning of “Gone With the Wind” I always come in during the part when Ashley (said with a thick southern draw) tells Scarlet that he will be marring Olivia and Ret Butler pops up from behind the sofa. It’s a great movie. I pointed out to my son that the little girl that played Ret and Scarlet’s daughter is in her 70’s now. “Casablanca” is a good movie I don’t call it great I think Humphrey Bogart has done better but I like it. Humphrey Bogart was a good actor he played the sullen, conflicted man very well. As a kid whenever one of his movies came on TV I did my best to watch it. He was not a “good Looking” man but he could act.

Well I’m off to the vet for mom’s cat’s recheck. Of course before I can get to the cat to the vet I will have to get the cat. She runs and hides as soon as I step in my mother’s house, she still seems to have some animosity towards me. I guess it has something to do with 2 weeks of stuffing a pill and a dropper full of medicine down her throat and ear drops in her ears. Go figure…..

It’s a cool day here on the outer banks. The temperature is around 40 degrees with a light north wind. From my vantage point here at the computer it looks like a there will be a fight between sun and cloud but no rain is called for today. If you look at the calendar spring is a little over a month away but I feel as thought I have spring fever already. Its hard to get on task today, I have to study for ACLS, but Radio Paradise is playing some very mellow music that tied with my hot coffee and relaxing view does not lead me in the study direction, so as I watch the sun light up the houses around me I’ll think about studying , maybe.

Well it’s been an uneventful couple of weeks for me here on the Outer Banks. Weather has been cool to cold but the winds have been light and for me it’s the winds that make the cold hard to take. Sunrises and sunsets have been very pretty check out this site OBX Connection - Weblog he take's a daily trip to the beach and almost always has a sunrise shot, what I miss is the pounding of the waves on the shore there just has not been much of that this year

Things at home have been same old, same old. The boys have been doing fine; me I’ve been working quite a bit but that has started to slack off, thank god! I have also been, I’m sorry to say, wasting a lot of time on a Zelda game. I’m not as good at the puzzles as I use to be but damn it I will finish the game and I’m not going to use the cheats (much). In between work, the Zelda game and moms cat (from Colington to Manteo every day to give a cat a pill oh joy joy) I have been working on learning how to use 3D design software. I going to be building a small home up in the mountains with in the next 18 months and I have my floor plan the way I want it but I would like to have a 3D walkthrough just to have an ideal of how it will “look” & “feel”, so I found a free 3D program Artifice DesignWorkshop Lite and I’m trying it out. Now I bet there are some more user friendly programs out there but this is free and what else do I have to do, its winter. This will open my minds learning center’s a little. So far it’s not been all that hard but it has taken me a BIT longer to get through the tutorials. The brain has not had to work on this kind of stuff in quite a while but it is nice to use the computer for something creative, something other than surfing the net and as a photo and music storage device. Well its off to the 3D tutorial!

Well a lot can change in a day. Gas went up 15 cents a gallon, the temperature went up almost 20 degrees and I was FORCED to change over to the NEW blogger. Oh well . I think I will go back to working on my taxes. I took a break from them to relax on the computer and found I had to open another NEW account just to access my blog. Now I know I should not complain after all I don't pay anything to use this service but damn it I was perfectly happy with the way things were!!

One week ago we had a dusting of snow and the coldest temperatures of the season

You can’t tell from these photos but today is even colder and unlike last week there is no warm weather reprieve coming tomorrow.

Brrrrrrr rabbit!

Speaking of rabbits (guinea pigs & mice) what was my favorite super bowel moment last night? http://www.ifilm.com/video/2819648