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'Tater' Soup and Hard Work

    Hey, everyone. We decided to get outside today and get away from our devices. Do you find computers habit-forming? It seems easy to get in the habit of surfing the web, playing games on the I-Pad and staying indoors a bit much. So we went out to do some work. I split some big chunks of oak for the fire place. Then we cleaned out the outside burn pit. It was pretty much a mess but we burned the stuff that was in there and cut up some tree limbs that had fell. It was nice to get the fresh air, even though the weather was a drag. The temperature hovered around 42 degrees. There were periods when it sprinkled rain and sleet. Later in the day there were a few minutes when it sleeted like crazy and it began to lay on things that were up off the ground. The ground was just too warm for it to lay and even the porches didn't stay white long.
    Finally, wet and weary and with hands very cold we went in for the day. My wife cooked a pot of potato soup while I built a fire in the fireplace. We put a lot of stuff in this soup, including:
1. potatoes
2. salt and pepper
3. a can of celery soup
4. a big handful of shredded cheddar cheese
5. a few chunks of corn bread crusts or pieces of leftover biscuits
6. water of course
7. sometimes we have some left-over cheesy noodles and we put them in.
    We usually have a pan of cornbread or saltines with the soup, or maybe an egg sandwich.
    We ate in front of the fire while listening to some songs on the I-Pod. We have a player that we bought at Wal-Mart for $69, so we can both listen to the same songs. You just cram your I-Pod in the slot and you have a few thousand songs at your disposal.
    After we ate we ran a tub full of water for the jacuzzi and let the hot water take away the chill. Then we spent the evening watching Nicholas Cage in Bad Lieutenant, Port Of Call New Orleans. It was pretty good. Nobody plays a crazy guy better than Nicholas Cage. I wasn't crazy about the show because it disturbs me to watch even an imaginary character messing up their life. Silly, huh? I'd give this movie, probably, two and a half stars out of four.
    On the gaming front, we are playing a new game a lot. We bought a game for $1.99 on the app store. It's called Treasures of Montezuma. It's good. You have to match these icons in groups of three, which is certainly a common format. The visual effects and the sound effects are quite good, however, and I really don't know why we like it but we do. I've been trying to join the present decade by playing some of the games popular with the serious gamers. I'm talking Nova, Grand Theft Auto, Chinatown, Blades of Fury, etc. I'm pretty pathetic at picking up on games sometimes and I have no six year old around to mentor me. As an example, I'm trying to figure out how to get my car in reverse on Grand Theft Auto. So, should you be following my advice on games or technical matters? Nah.
    I had a bad day when I played my keyboard this morning. I was sleep deprived and played too slow and made a lot of errors. It set the tone for the day but I made a late recovery and ended up with a good day. Potato Soup and cornbread will chase the blues away.
    It's 32 degrees outside and there's sleet on the deck. I hope you're sitting on the beach as you read this. I wish that I was.
    CE Wills   

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