I've got nothing....

...But this joke....
Did you hear about the dog that was a self-proclaimed computer expert?  He really wasn't very good, so in this case, his byte was worse than his bark.

Snow day

A few hours later than predicted, the rain changed to snow, around 5am rather than midnight.  But when it did change to snow, it accumulated quite quickly for landing on very wet ground.  It was the heavy, fine snow, the kind that experience has taught that it means business.
Maggie was acting very much in need of burning off some energy, so around noontime, off to the dog park we went.  I typically take the Jeep to the park for several reasons; Maggie loves riding in it, particularly when the sides are open, its a vehicle that's accustomed to mud, wet, debris or whatever on the interior.  Something that is frequent when returning a dog from the dog park.  One of the reasons why the floor is Herculined. 
But yesterday it was certainly needed. Only about 5-6" of snow had fallen at that point, but the roads had not yet been plowed.  The mud terrain tires aren't the greatest in the snow, but they are adequate. 

We arrived to discover, as no surprise, the road gates were closed and the drive hadn't seen a plow yet.  Fortunately the outside fence gate was unlocked, so we could still access the park area.  Needless to say, we were the only ones there.

Maggie had a grand time galloping through the snow and wrestling with my step-son.

We finally had enough of the cold and blowing snow and headed home.  Not far from home I crested a small hill that has a slight curve before it gets steeper leading down to an intersection.  As I crested the hill I saw a small dump truck with a plow stopped on the edge of the road.  This is a narrow back road with now shoulder.  I thought perhaps he got off the edge of the road and got stuck.  I stopped about 30' behind him and the Jeep immediately slid sideways on the sloped snow-covered road to the edge and finally came to rest on the berm at the edge of the road.  The first falling snow had melded with the rain-soaked roads to create a thick slush that turned to ice which then become covered with the subsequent snowfall.  It was slicker than pig snot on a worn fence rail.
The truck ahead of me had stopped because there was activity ahead in the intersection.  A car had slid into a snow bank and was being unstuck and there were two state plow trucks working the intersection.  As the one plow truck came past, it was my friend Vince.  He said he had gotten stuck for an hour and a half on another section of road about 5 miles away.  You know it's bad when those guys get stuck.
The road conditions had not improved any when I ventured out again in the afternoon after the snow had stopped. I'm thankful that my fire station didn't receive any calls for which we would have needed to respond.  The tires had been chained, but attempting to drive a 40,000 lb. truck expediently on slick roads would have been nerve wracking.

Crime comes to visit

Fortunately, it didn't come to visit at our home.  Instead it happened in the parking lot at our local big-box mart.
The Mrs. had done some shopping and had a cart full of goods that she had just started to load in the trunk.  Her purse was in the top seat section.  A red pick-up truck  pulled up next to her and the driver reached out his window, grabbed her purse and took off.
My lovely bride has a way of always seeing God's positive influence in almost every situation.  This is no different and as violated as one can feel given the circumstance, it certainly could have been worse.
Fortunately, this opportunistic slug of flesh was content with a simple snatch and run and not accosting anyone.  My wife tends to be a fighter when cornered and her first instinct was to get in the car and chase after the guy.  But when she went to get in the car, her son (14yrs old) was not there as he should have been, as he stayed in the car while she was shopping, but had wandered off to another store in the plaza.  Without him being in the car, she wasn't going to go anywhere, which was good, because pursuing after this scumbag would not have been a wise idea.  God looking out for her.
Another thing, this past weekend she had cleaned out and organized her purse, so she had a pretty good grasp of everything she had in it and a refresher of all the various cards (bank, discount, credit) that she needed to cancel.  God looking out for her.
When we bought our house three years ago, she had attempted to change the address on her drivers license, but being post 911 security silliness, WV requires 5 generations of family name history, birth, death, marriage and divorce documentation and a utility bill in your name with current address, so she got frustrated and put it off for a later time, which had not yet come.  The address on her drivers license is an old address, should the purse snatcher decide to try and up the ante.  God looking out for her.
She doesn't think there was anything else with easily identifiable  location info in her purse, but the health insurance card did have all our names on it.
Of biggest relief, her phone was in the car and the car keys were in her hand.  Had the thief absconded with her phone would have been a nightmare of almost epic proportions.  The amount of personal and work related info on that thing is scary, even though it's password protected.  I'm sure the NSA would not be willing to give us the back-up info, either.  God certainly looking out for her.
Of the biggest disappointment, the purse was a Coach (I guess that's a nice one?) that was a gift from her co-workers.  I guess by now it's probably been tossed into a ditch along the road somewhere.
The take away lesson is to always be vigilant of ones surroundings.  She had turned her back to the cart for only a moment, to quickly get things in the car in the pouring rain.  This is certainly a case against the concealed carry purses that some women use, but I'm not a fan of off-body carry anyway.

I'm still alive...

Haven't posted anything due to several reasons, in no particular order.

• Haven't had much time to be in the bloggosphere.  I see there are numerous posting for me to catch up reading.
• Haven't had anything worthwhile to share.  If I'm not impressed with my mundane thoughts, surely no one else is either.
• Have been busy just doing normal life, so there has not been anything even remotely noteworthy to share.

 But until my next post, here is a target that can be printed out and taken to the range.