Hello and Welcome! Come on in and I’ll get you a large mug of super strong dark roast, a piping cuppa tea or some hot cocoa. We’ll need a warm beverage after being out! It is a bit chilly, and we’ll see some very frigid weather later in the week. And what do you think of the snow? Not a huge amount, but enough to look like winter. Oh, were are we? Some of you may recognize the photo at the top as being from New Hampshire.
Wow, a couple of weeks of no coffee post! Were do I start? Not just that, I blogged very little in the last month – I had less hits in December, 2021 than any month since April of 2014, which was my sixth month of blogging! In fact, I received as many views on Wednesday as I did the entire month of December. That isn’t very fair, since most of the views were people looking at my owl photos – Wednesday almost doubled my previous highest single day hit count.
I’ll start there – I spent the week between Christmas and the New Year on Cape Cod. In some ways it was a great week – after almost two years we finally replaced the ‘fridge! (it was ordered almost two years ago and just arrived.) And there was the snowy owl on the beach that was so cool. But a lot of things broke, so I have to run out later today for supplies so next week I can begin repairs. A lot of repairs… Over all, it was a good visit. I did work on Wednesday and Thursday, but all was good – a quiet week.
The week before that is a blur of super stressful work. But there was some good – a huge milestone in a major project and cleaning up a lot of log4j issues. Oh, and Christmas was in there, wasn’t it?
And now to last week.
I was in New Hampshire. I continued working on music. I worked and work was very busy. I had my booster. I got back into blogging after a week off. I shovelled the drive yesterday. Hmm, what else? I didn’t exercise or run much. I did walk dogs and played with cats and such, but this was a week of doing little.
Anyway, thinking of walks, Fiyero is here telling me that it is time. I also have to run to one of the big box hardware stores. And the pet food store – we are out of many vital supplies! And I need to exercise, since this week was so down!
Anyway, thanks for stopping by! If you host a coffee share I will try to stop in. Have a great weekend!
Natalie the Explorer is now the host of the weekend coffee share and she is doing a wonderful job. Stop in at this week’s main share page or go to the InLinkz-Linkup to see all of the other shares!
Trent's World (the Blog) 
I took a look at my most popular posts in order to make my blog for last weekend, I was really surprised with the top 10, some of them were blog posts from years ago that google or other search engines must refer people to. Love the name of your cat Tiberius.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My most popular posts are also older ones. Well, so far 2022 the owl photos are the most popular! I understand some of the old ones (review of synthesizers – people are still interested), but some I have no idea why they come up so often.
When we picked Tiberius up from the shelter, his name was “James”. We decided to keep it, but try “James Bond”. That lasted a day. One thing, all of our cats have been royalty of some sort (Claudius, Grace Kelly (she was an adult named “Grace”, so we added “Kelly”), Albert, Josephine, Alexander), so we decide to go half and half – his full name is James Tiberius Kirk, but we only ever call him Tiberius. And it fits! lol Actually, our first cat was “Bartleby”, named for an angel played by Matt Damon in the movie “Dogma”, so not really royalty, but close…
LikeLike
Thank you for the cuppa – I love your capture of the mug in the snow.
That snow owl is stunning …. must have been such a magical sighting!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, the owl was magical :) Thanks for stopping by!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love the owl picture I rarely see owls here I use to hear them a lot but over the last 15 years not so much. I think many of us have been taking a blog break. This week is a bit crazy for me and the weather is cooler in the winter I like to hibernate lol.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks. I don’t see many owls, but like you I hear them. This one, the snowy, was a bit different. The are occasional visitors and don’t make it this far south every year. Since they are arctic birds they like to hang out on beaches and fields and other places that remind them of home, i.e., the tundra.
I hope you have great week, even if it is spent in semi-hibernation ;)
LikeLike
Hi T = the owl photo is amazing and I can see why many folks are coming to see those photos
also, we had snow here and loved every flake of it –
:)
and I read your comments with Gary and dude, you sure have a wide set of talents – from art to tech
Hope you have a nice weekend
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Yvette. I feel so lucky to have seen that owl! Or “those owls” (there was more than one).
I am a computer nerd, at least in my day job. I have risen far enough up the chain that I know longer have to do any tech, just understand it ;)
A couple of people on my team are in the DC area and I heard about the snow… yeah, some people liked it, but it sounds like the the DC area and Virginia was a real mess. You also got more snow than use – we ended up with maybe 4 inches max, so a small snowfall fro New Hampshire.
I have been think about books to read. I am fine with another Dickens book and we can keep pretty much the same dates to align with his life. Do you have any preferences? I may chose one semi-at-random if you don’t.
]I hope you have a wonderful week!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi T – yes – we did get the snow and now it is the ice box cold (brrrrr) but I love a good winter – and sometimes when I see your coffee mug photos with the snow – I am reminded of how much I like places that have cold winters – really missed them when we lived in FL and CA – but also do not want to live somewhere like Buffalo or Syracuse NY – hahah a
–
and I guess we will have to see what you randomly pick – drum roll
and side note – a few weeks ago things were all heavy with the FIL funeral stuff and just hustle from family visits and I remembered our up-and-coming reading challenge and it brought a smile – reminded me that “this too will pass” and before I know it – February would be here –
so already the second round of this adventure has been a blessing to me – :)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m glad that thinking about the challenge has been a help, even if no book has been chosen! I’ll pick something later this week. I know a few I won’t pick, either because I have already read them or there is a reason I haven’t already read them…
I do like a full four seasons, but it is cold! I also don’t like to heat an ancient house. Or two old houses.
LikeLiked by 1 person
yes – there are drawbacks – but I still say “give me snow to help me stay fresh and alive”
hahah
LikeLiked by 1 person
lol This morning I have been running all of electric heaters and monitoring them, yet the downstairs is still a degree below the thermostat level… OK, I started it at 6:30 and it is 7:30 and there has been a huge help, but stilll…. If I lived in a super insulated house I would enjoy the cold so much more, even if the hose is boring ;)
LikeLiked by 1 person
:)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad to hear your fridge arrived after such a long wait. The owl is beautiful, maybe a little sleepy in the photo. Thank you for your coffee share. Happy New Year and have a great week!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was great for the fridge to finally come n. Such a relief! I saw a couple of snowy owls. One was sleeping! I also have a few photos from late in the afternoon when the owl was more alert, but also a bit farther away. Hope you have a wonderful week :)
LikeLike
Have a lovely week! Thanks for the coffee chat.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for stopping in. Have a wonderful week!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Trent.
I have to admit it’s nice having someone to blog with who understands the whole log4j adventure. I was feeling pretty good about keeping my customers apprised but then my company, Oracle, essentially came out with a gag order. Someone in legal must have decided that liability concerns were too high to let us try to help our customers. . .
I could not believe this. Normally, helping customers succeed is what I’m paid to do. Stand down orders don’t really fit well in my job description. Luckily, by the time they reached me, I’d already put a lot of information into our customer’s hands.
What a world we work in. . .
Hope you have a great 2022 queued up.
LikeLiked by 2 people
So you are the one! or, I should say, your legal department! lol, just kidding. I was in a few meetings were people complained about the info coming out of Oracle, but I don’t remember the details. I am our technical lead for working with with Akamai and they had a WAF (web application firewall) rule to help, so I think that role was the reason I was in a bunch of high level meetings, That role also kept me busy reaching out to site owners and coordinating with all the security folk. My other hat is hosting, and all of the vendors I work with for that were pretty forthcoming, so that was great,it was just a pain since it was a moving target. “All of my servers are on 2.16.0 and.. what, they need to be 2.17.0? And now 2.17.1?” lol. Anyway, I can imagine how frustrating it was for you. I hope this is soon behind us and that you have a great year!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for the coffee!! I stopped looking at my stats awhile ago and just blog (write) when I can and that released the pressure I put on myself to write more. But I love this community and try and read and comment and keep up with others the best I can!! I’m so happy you finally got that fridge! YAY! Anyways, always fun to catch up and glad all your animals are good! Is that little Tiberius all healed up and healthy now? I know it’s been a long while since he had cold after cold… Cuteness kitties!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll admit that I’m a stats nerd, but I don’t let it worry me too much. I am so happy about the fridge! It has been a long wait, so having it is a huge relief. It was a major pain getting it in the house (I wrote a smile post about it if you want details), but worth it. Yes, Tiberius is very well, thanks. He is so super cute an ultra playful. It is great that we have a lot of animals in the house, because I think they all get tired of playing with him after a while, so it is nice for him to have someone else to go to ;) I hope you had a good holiday and that your weekend is going well. Have a wonderful week!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’ve been busy the fridge story makes me smile. Looking at that snow can I be cheeky and have hot chocolate with Brandy please 💜
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hmm, the only Brandy I have in the house is Remy Martin XO, so I can give you some brandy, but please don’t ruin it by putting in the cocoa ;) I have rum for that… lol Finally getting the fridge was a huge smile! Have a wonderful week.
LikeLike
Thank you Trent 💜💜 I won’t waste your best Brandy ☺️💜💜💜
LikeLiked by 1 person
If you actually were physically here, I would break out the best brandy without hesitation! If you ruin it by pouring it into hot cocoa, oh well ;) lol Hope your weekend is going well.
LikeLike
Thank you Trent that’s good to know, apart from my silly eye I am doing fine, hope you are too 💜
LikeLiked by 1 person
Things breaking are never the way you want to begin a new year, but spotting that owl has to be a good omen. Have a great week and Happy New Year!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Having a 150 + year old house, I know things are going to break – the ‘fridge helps make up for that, and the owl? Being able to be there makes up for all of the issues an ancient house can give! Happy new year! Have a wonderful week.
LikeLike
Weeks when not much happens sometimes turn out to be the nicest. Still…that owl….that would be the highlight of my month if not my year!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, the owl was two weeks ago, and still the highlight of this week ;) lol, and when all is said and done, it may be the highlight of the year… (Technically, I saw it in 2021) have a great week!
LikeLiked by 1 person
To be fair, that is quite a lovely owl! Have a great week, Trent!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was very cool to see the owl. Thanks! You too, have a wonderful week.
LikeLike
I always find it interesting the way that blog hits work. I can see why Wednesday’s owl post drew in a number of views. The pictures are magnificent.
Anyway, thanks for the virtual coffee Trent and best wishes for 2022.
LikeLiked by 2 people
For the first few years of blogging I tried really hard to make sense of what the stats were doing and why. I still watch them, but no longer try to make sense of them ;) Thanks, re: the owl photos.
Hope you had a great new year and have have wonderful 2022!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Glad you are back. The owl pics are amazing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I had a good blog-break, but it is nice to be back. Thanks – seeing that owl was very cool!
LikeLike
That owl is awesome!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! It was very cool seeing it.
LikeLike