Yeah! That's more LIKE It!

[Riley Smith]

And so Snowmegadon is gone and all the snow with it, except a very few places in the deep shade. It's a good thing too, because we might have starved to death in a couple of more days. We had to pick up some things at Walmart and it looked like it does before a hurricane    All is well and good and maybe the supply from having the interstates down will catch up. Highs in the 60s and lows as low as 45, which ain't half bad IMHO. Mardi Gras is on the way!

[Doug SC]

We still have ice in the shade here though the snow is long gone, but this week will be warmer. I have plans to head up to the mountains of SC with a friend mid-week to do some fly fishing in mountain waters. Day time water temp on the upper Chattooga River has come up from near 32F to about 38F and should warm up into the 40s by midweek. Should be good fishing.

[Riley Smith]

There were a lot of fish kills with the cold temps. It happens when the fish are in shallow water and can be pretty numerous to certain species, although they seem to recover quickly. The chances of getting a speck on the line went way down with the cold. If I get a good enough chance, I have the boat ready to go at a moment's notice though. January is the hardest month for me to sail. Weather is usually crazy and I'm busy getting over Christmas and thinking about taxes

[Riley Smith]

What I mean by "getting over Christmas" is more aligned with the operation of Riley's Home for Projects and Demolition, or my shop in layman's terms. There are always projects going on in there, some little, some big, with material, tools, and equipment. So....some of those projects get postponed during the holiday season because nobody feels like doing projects then. And added to, as the daughter whelps look on that space to store THEIR Christmas booty. The peripheral disruptions caused by huge boxes and other things tends to eliminate any seeming order amongst the chaos. And then this year the snow caused a temporary shelter to have to be built.

I can make a break with S R Cat this morning. after a bit, but that's the ONLY thing I could find in that place. I can't even find a HAMMER and I know I have half a dozen. It looks like I might have to have help in tackling this mess.

Now, you KNOW that asking for help brings with it repercussions, even if the helper loves you. And of course, they'll work it to their advantage, but if you work it right, you get at least a LITTLE of the benefit and all of the help. And of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't teach the younger ones of the generations, so maybe I'll enlist their help too. Yeah, the grandkids can sweep, stow, and generally be fun to manipulate. But something has got to be done there to put the place back in order. I had started last year to overhaul the place but there are MANY opportunities to  organize things. I think I'm going to donate a BUNCH of stuff to Jarod, my son-in-law. He just built a BIG barn and it has amazing potential. Already he has a trailer business out of it. And I can't help but eye that nice big EMPTY spanse of concrete.