Icewind's Ramblings

Rule # 5 You Don't Waste Good Some of you may know what I am talking about and some may have to look it up but one thing is certain, like Gibbs I live by the cup, all day long. I have an auto start on my coffee maker and I can always be found with a cup of coffee.  I like my coffee not just as a pick me up but I love the smell and taste of really good coffee.  I credit this to my mother as she gave us "Good to the last Drop" Maxwell House Master Blend growing up and I have always gone to great lengths to find it all of my life. For many of us we try to learn from our mistakes and life our lives a certain way and in many ways we may or may not have them written down anywhere.  For one of my favorite antagonist there is a set of rules written down and over the years many have been revealed to the followers and fans.  One of my favorites is Rule # 5 . . . You Don't Waste Good! Now this can be taken in so many contexts and is open for interpretation ...

We all seem to have it lately . . . I guess it is that time of year when everyone has so many things going on in their lives that things build up for everyone.  Maybe it is that Late Winter/Early Spring time of year that we are all starting to go crazy waiting for the snow to melt and get breakup over with here in the far north. I saw this story on Peter Kovacs wall and wanted to pass it on as it shows us that many times we look at something from the obvious perspective but it we change our focus or gaze just a little bit it opens up a whole other thought process which can give us new insight or attitudes about things going on in our lives. A psychologist walked around a room while teaching stress management to an audience.  As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the “half empty or half full” question.  Instead, with a smile on her face, she inquired: “How heavy is this glass of water?” Answers called out from the class r...

A vision without action is a daydream. - Japanese Proverb. Sometimes it is great that my late night gremlins stay at bay and allow a relaxed beautiful experience to take over my mind and in the after thought sound sleep sneaks in for just a little while. Ice

I didn’t sleep again last night so tonight I will be playing this piece several times I am sure as it takes me to a place where my mind will stop racing in the wind and allow me to a calm place. Here are two pieces of the same John Denver song, the first as originally performed with Mike Taylor as complimenting guitars.   It is just part of a suite of songs called “Season Suite” by John Denver, Mike Taylor & Dick Kniss consisting of: Summer Fall Winter Late Winter, Early Spring (When Everybody Goes to Mexico) Spring They are all beautiful music pieces & were released on the Rocky Mountain High album. Please take the time to listen to both versions as it will be a rewarding experience and we need those in these times . . . The next is the Lee Holdridge version with full orchestral arrangement performed both in a stage setting and also in the Rocky Mountains close to the Maroon Bells in Colorado just outside Aspen. It is a very beautiful piece with three ballerinas...

It does not matter what time of year it is but when things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough . . .    Remember the mayonnaise jar . . . and the coffee. A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.     When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.     He then asked the students if the jar was full.     They agreed that it was. So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.   He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.     He then asked the students again if the jar was full.     They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.     He asked once more i...

On my short drive home today I pulled up behind the car in front of me to wait for the light to turn green.  I’m sitting there thinking of all the unfinished things I left at work this week and I glanced up to see this on the back trunk panel as if it were screaming to me . . . “Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.” A smile came across my face . . . my jaw relaxed and I realized all of the work will be there when I return.  I did get a ton of work accomplished this week including a trip out of town so all in all we won this week. Hopefully I’ll have exact change. Ice

This is the big weekend for Daylight Savings Time where those that observe this will set clocks forward one hour in the spring and set them back an hour in the fall. We pushed forward last night losing an hour of sleep during a time I seem to need more.  It’s been busy these last few weeks and my stress level I’m sure is elevated too even though I try not to let on. Friday evening I felt a big bump on the back of my neck which was quite painful but did not have the redness one would think of.  I thought it might an ingrown hair or possibly an ‘old fart’ pimple and went to sleep with some discomfort but no real thought about it.  I woke up Saturday morning for my breakfast meeting and felt more swelling and tenderness on the back right side of my neck.  It was painful and when I returned home after a few hours I felt totally like crap and had chills and was wiped out.  I took a couple of Aleve and lie on the sofa and fell asleep for a few hours.  This ...

If anyone has a decent memory you will remember I have been remodeling two bathrooms in my house.  The first one was completed with a quick pace using just a couple of weekends to accomplish the demolition and make the necessary repairs.  The changes were also done quickly and included installing new tile flooring, new moose light fixture, toilet and towel holders and relocating the lavatory/base cabinet giving more room next to the toilet. Moving on to my master bathroom I was reminded this week that the demolition pictures which started with tearing out the shower tile walls took place the last week of October, making this makeover several months longer than was initially anticipated. I worked on the demo and the repairs which were more than I thought we would find but nothing that really surprised me.  The work progressed getting the walls and floor stripped and the piping relocated for the water and drain lines.  The water damaged areas were cut out and the ...

Happy New Year everyone! 2010 is here so out with the old and somewhat bad times during the last ten years and in with the new decade!  I want to wish all of my blog readers a very Happy New Year.  I hope that 2010 is a great year for everybody!! One dilemma I have been having as this day approached is how to say it or talk about the year.  Writing it seemed easy but in conversation it brings up somewhat of a debate between us. I remember when the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" came out, the title rolled off the tongue so easily.  TWO THOUSAND and ONE.  It sounded right and it never occurred to me that perhaps that naming was not consistent with other year naming practices, if not downright incorrect. So, as the millennium approached, and we all began to get caught up in the excitement . . . or dread . . . of not only the year changing, but also the decade, and also the century, we all named the year TWO THOUSAND. When the next year rolled around, I wa...

There are things that most of the HGTV type shows about remodeling never really touch on in their 40 to 60 minute shows.  Most of these shows (my wife watches, I don’t) seem to nicely wrap things up in the quick one episode.  What they forget to tell everyone is the little things that creep into daily life that slows down the process of getting things done. I have been involved in remodeling projects for many years now and things hardly progress in a nice linear flow on most projects, large or small.  There are the little disagreements between the parties on things like color, maybe how something should be torn out or what additional damage was discovered once the area was opened up.  In some residential projects between husband and wife it is that understanding, sometimes unspoken . . . for that plea to call in a professional to come in and complete the job.  These shows seem to wrap up everything in one quick segment.  Lost on the cutting room floo...

For a friend who is going through tough times . . . Older now but still running against the wind . . . Hang in there! Ice

I’ve been kicking this around lately when a friend was talking about life choices and sometimes just the normal day to day dealings with things and other people. One of the personal secrets to happiness . . . “Control your exits.” I mean it literally. When doing things or going to a gathering or party . . . Drive yourself so you can leave when you’re ready. Go to other people’s houses instead of inviting them to yours. There’s nothing worse than seeing someone lean back and cross their legs when you’re ready to go to home or ready for bed. It may make you laugh, but I actually think there’s truth to that. I have felt trapped before unable to exit was when I was ready to go. I run at max speed and when it comes time to rest and recharge I want to be able to do it without having to change everyone else’s agenda. In retrospect, it is more interesting to me when I think about it less literally. My friend and I have been holding an ongoing conversation...

I like lawn sprinklers. In Alaska they are not needed very much as normally we have a pretty good mixture of rain or snow to give us our water for the season. I used to live in the South and I miss that early morning ritual that they bring. I like the Ch…Ch…ChChCh sound they make. I like their consistency. I remember the sound of sprinklers either retires a hard fought day, or it welcomes a new day’s possibilities. No one ever ran their sprinklers during the details of the day. I now live in a semi-arctic climate so I do not have sprinklers at my house and few here have them, but there is a house up my street with sprinklers. I hear them as I walk up a nearby hill each morning during the ritual that is “my morning walk”. I walk very early and the song of the sprinklers as I climb up the hill is a mantra for me both in my exercise and life lately. Ch…(keep going) Ch…(new things are coming) ChChCh…(stay strong). I can not explain it and it may sound...