Jan 20 - flexibility is key

So here's the plan -- Sandy is defrosting the freezer, which is easy in the winter, and decides that we'll use up the leftover turkey that she froze last fall. That's ok because other foods have been shrink-wrapped and will keep until we get back in April. By the way, the food from the freezer is still outside ... the freezer took longer to defrost than expected and what the heck ! She'll re-pack it this morning. That's not a huge deal -- it's a small upright.

So that's the dinner plan ... until I caught a pike. Old leftover turkey ... fresh-caught pike ... easy decision. The fish continued to bite and I lost 5 minnows but wrapped up two more pike in the fridge.

Jim and Bonnie came over around 5pm for a drink and snacks. Bonnie brought her PC so that she could update the anti-virus. That took some time -- it kept timing out. I couldn't figure out what was going on so I rebooted Windows and then found that Bill Gates had downloaded an update -- ah ha -- that's why Kaspersky was timing out, the Windows update was taking priority. I tried again and it proceeded flawlessly.

We had a good visit. They're struggling with tough decisions. Their Bell Canada stock hasn't done well with the market drop and the failed leveraged buyout. Bell stopped paying dividends for two quarters -- the dividends have always been their "mad money" for travel etc. They know that they need a plan for selling their place, but it's not a good time to sell -- might not be for a couple of years. Jim's about to turn 70 and that's likely heavy on his mind. They know that they need to get out of here for a good bit of the winter soon ... or sell the place outright and move to Parry Sound or something like that. Bonnie hates the winters here because it's so lonely -- and it's even worse with her knee problem which is not getting better it seems, even though she had an operation.

It's tough getting old. At first, Sandy didn't really want to go to Florida. Now there's no question -- life is so much easier down there during the winter. It's not so much that life is tough up here, but living occupies most of your time, if you know what I mean. It won't get easier either. Then again, at some point traveling to Florida becomes a lot of effort, even though it's easy living once you're there. My Uncle Phil and Aunt Ruth have managed that by flying back and forth and leaving a car there. That only works if you're dog-less ... and yet having a dog is such a joy ... Ah well, there's time ... but the key is not to get boxed in like Dolores Robinson, who will probably have to sell her place at a fire-sale price, or Jim & Bonnie, running out of options but knowing that they need to do something soon.

Sandy had antipasto (my brand) and baked brie for snacks. We ate the whole thing. Jim and Bonnie left and guess what, we weren't hungry for dinner anymore. Guess what ... Sandy will shrink-wrap the three pike and we'll be in great shape for late April. She had also taken out the leftover chili at the same time as the turkey and we'll have that for dinner tonight. It's quick and easy. That's what I call flexibility !

I developed the two rolls of film yesterday and will scan them today. Today's chores also include roasting coffee beans -- done, I had to do that for breakfast -- taking leftovers (minnows and food) to Jim and Bonnie late today (having a drink while we're there), picking up mail in town -- may not get to that -- more fishing -- changing to summer tires -- putting the computer to bed -- packing.

We'll be leaving around 9am tomorrow, stopping in Parry Sound along the way to pickup the three cases of wine that I'll leave at Stef's (she doesn't know that yet !).

The entire world watched the inauguration yesterday. Why do I say the entire world ? Well, Sandy, who has no interest in American politics, watched CNN. Bonnie watched it on CTV. Angelika planned to stay home and watch it. I exchanged emails with Angelika suggesting that she go to DC to see it in person ... she wasn't having any of that ! I teased Sandy and she claimed that she wanted to see what Michele was wearing. The market dropped significantly -- proving that there are some contrary opinions in the world and that some people were multi-tasking ! Historically the markets have done well with a new president -- 1-2% increase in the first 100 days or something like that -- well, I guess that "hopes and fears" accompany Obama into this presidency and fears won out yesterday.

Is Google keeping up with the times ? What do you think ? If I'm typing a blog into the Google blogger and Obama is flagged by spell check, does that change your opinion ? I'll bet that Barak is also flagged ... yup. Tch tch ...

That's about it.