Letter Writing Month

 As I did last year, I will once again be participating in National Letter Writing Month.  Each day in April, I intend to write a letter to family and friends, and send it to them through the good 'ol US Postal Service.  It might be a letter composed on a vintage typewriter from my collection, or it may be handwritten.  Either way, it's my favorite time of year when I renew contacts and check in with those who I don't otherwise frequently communicate with.  Surprising as it may be, I still know people who are not active on social media and so I don't have much current news about their lives.  Through daily letters (and hopefully replies of any sort- postal, electronic, or otherwise) I hope to get back in touch with lost friends and family.  So here it goes.  Want to join in?  Feel free to contact me, and I'll be sure to reply.  Write on!

Next book...

 Today is the final online book club meeting of the Trollope Society to discuss my current Trollope novel, Dr. Wortle's School.  It's been a fast read, and an interesting book.  One of the first Trollope books I've read that is set partly in the USA.  In fact, there is a suspenseful scene in my hometown of Chicago.  But with this meeting, we now turn attention to the book on the list, The Claverings.  This novel by Anthony Trollope was written in 1864 band published as a serial before being released as a complete novel.  It is the story of a man caught in a love triangle between two women.  I look forward to the story with some misgivings, however.  As is my practice, I bought a used copy of the book on ABE, and neglected to closely read the description.  What arrived was an Oxford University Press edition that might be called a pocket edition.  It is a very small, hardcover book, with very small type.  I hope my aging eyes will be able to cope.

Bird is the word

It was bound to happen- I finally joined the growing group of nature enthusiasts who have set up a bird feeder that features an internet-connected camera.  Mine comes from an outfit named Birdsnap, and is a small plastic feeder that incorporates a digital camera with a Wi-Fi connection.  This is the sort of gadget that's been for sale for a couple years, and all the while the price of them has been steadily decreasing.  I installed mine yesterday, and it took about an hour before the first visitor arrived, triggering the motion detecting camera and sending an alert to my cell phone.  I'm not a very knowledgeable bird watcher, so I may need to resort to the AI-driven bird identifying feature.  But that requires a paid subscription service I have not yet purchased.  Until then, I'll have to resort to an old-fashioned bird watching reference book to help identify the species of my visitors.  I expect this new toy should provide hours of fun.

Big Dance

 The Madness of March has begun.  This year's NCAA men's basketball tournament began in earnest at lunch time today.  For the next couple weeks, the initial 64 teams will be skimmed down to the Final Four, and ultimately the National Champion.  Along the way, many hearts will be broken.  I've gathered a group of 18 friends and family in my annual bracket contest, and even though only a couple games have been completed at this writing, I can see my chances for success are slim.  I won't say the bracket is busted yet, but could well be by then end of this evening.  Still, it promises to be great fun, with many memorable moments.

Aftermath

 As predicted, it was a stormy day yesterday across much of the southeast.  In Alabama, storms began in the northwest in the early afternoon, and continued on through the state until about midnight.  Fortunately, these "storms are underperforming", according to the most prominent meteorologist in the region, James Spann.  There were incidents of severe damage, of course.  The small town of Gordo, AL was hit particularly hard, as was Calera, not far south of my own home.  But as of this writing, no fatalities have been reported statewide, and injuries seem comparatively minor.  At my location, we were battened down and prepared for the worst from early Saturday morning.  I'm glad to report that we suffered no more than heavy rain - 1.81" - and very blustery winds for most of the day.  No apparent damage to the house or property.  I'm very relieved that things didn't develop to be worse.  It's only the beginning of the Spring tornado season here in central Alabama, but I really hope that's the worst we'll see this year.

Bounce house

 Not to humblebrag, but my household has more cars than garage space.  Yes, the house's two car garage is spacious enough to accommodate our two vehicles and a small wooden sailboat I built myself a few years ago.  But this leaves one vehicle that must be parked outside in the elements.  When severe weather is forecast, I sometimes use my Hail Protector to shield the vehicle from damaging hail or flying debris in a storm.  It is, in essence, similar to a children's inflatable bounce house.  In other words, a fabric shell that is inflated by a constantly running electric fan.  This is designed to provide enough of a cushion to protect a vehicle from large chunks of ice falling from the sky.  It takes me about 15 minutes to install the thing, so advanced warning of severe weather is essential.  I have it set up at this moment, in advance of expected severe weather, including large hail, later this afternoon.  I've had this gizmo for a couple years, and deployed it a handful of times, as a precaution.  Haven't yet had any actual hail to be protected from.  Hope that streak continues today...  Stay tuned.

Springtime for Bham

 As we move into early Spring, we begin the most tempestuous time of the year for central Alabama.  The hints began almost a week ago as professional meteorologists began to mention the possibility of severe weather this weekend.  As data rolled in and computer models became more refined, it has developed that the forecast for tonight and tomorrow calls for especially severe weather, the type of which is seen only every few years.  And my home and nearby Birmingham seem to be right in the middle of it all.  High winds, large tornadoes, and large hail are all possibilities.  It is almost certain that some people in the state will be dealing with the loss of their homes by the time things calm down late tomorrow night.  All that can be done now is to prepare a safe place to go to when tornadoes are near, and to ensure a reliable source of weather information.  I've done that and now can only wait.  As it turns out, the waiting is the hardest part.  And as a homeowner, I worry about significant damage to my home and belongings.  Here's hoping things turn out to be less severe than predicted, and there's no loss of life in the region.  If you're interested, you can monitor my local conditions here in real time.  At least as long as the power and internet stay functional.  See you on the other side.

EDIT:  Since posting this, the risk for severe weather tomorrow has been increased to the maximum level- "5 High Risk" for central Alabama.  Somebody is going to have a really bad day tomorrow.

Magic beans

 I like coffee.  A lot.  These days, it's one of my primary remaining joys.  To have a cup of well-made espresso in the quiet early morning before a hectic day is a transcendental moment for me.  To this end, I've expended a lot of time, study, and expense in making good coffee in my home.  So when I learned that the "dumbest trade war in history" would almost certainly lead to much higher coffee prices, I decided to lay in a supply that would hopefully sustain me through the storm.  As is my custom, I placed an order with Roastmasters for a shipment of green coffee beans that I expect will keep me caffeinated through the end of this year.  The consignment left the vendor in Connecticut on February 26, 2025 and finally arrived on March 7, 2025- a journey of nine days.  This makes yet another dismal performance of the USPS Priority Mail service that promises 1-3 day service.

According to tracking information, the parcel's odyssey began as expected.  From pickup in Branford, CT it went to the distribution center in Springfield, MA.  Two days later, it was close to its final destination, in Palmetto, GA.  Then it sat there for two days before turning up... back in Springfield MA!  Like an unwilling hostage, the package "departed" and "arrived" at Springfield, MA for two days before moving on.  Then the beans became magic and achieved some sort of quantum duality when at 3:10 am on March 5, 2025 they arrived at both Springfield, MA and Palmetto, GA at the exact same moment.  Lucky for me, they recovered from this mysterious state and the next day arrived in Birmingham, AL and then were finally delivered to my home.  Fortunately, unroasted green coffee beans are not especially perishable.  They now stand ready for me to personally roast to perfection in my Hottop roaster, then brew in my Rocket R58 espresso machine.  Outside lies a troubled, turbulent world, but with good coffee I am more able to face the tempest.

New month, new book

 Earlier this week, The Trollope Society held the final online book club meeting of the novel we'd been reading since the beginning of the year, The Vicar of Bullhampton.  I thoroughly enjoyed the book, which was completely new to me.  Anthony Trollope was an especially prolific writer, so even though I've read his works for many years, there are still many that I have yet to read.  Another such novel is Dr. Wortle's School, which is the next book in the yearlong book club reading list.  This one is a bit shorter, and will be covered in two bi-weekly meetings, as opposed to the six that covered Vicar of Bullhampton.  As I dive into one of Anthony Trollope's last novels, I gather it will cover what was in Victorian times an unpardonable sin:  a man and woman living together, unmarried.  Such a condition is now commonplace, but even still, we have other issues of intolerance and bigotry that are the modern day equivalents of "living in sin".  What lessons will Trollope offer for those who judge and those who are judged by an intolerant society?

February Numbers

 Despite being a shorter month, I sent one more Postcrossing postcard in February than I did in January.  The monthly total are: 84 cards sent, 64 cards received.  I remain ranked #27 in the USA, and #1 in Alabama based on number of cards sent.  Hopefully there will be better numbers in March: after an active few days, there are many travelling cards in the pipeline that should be received soon.  Write on!