Happy Holidays

I’ve been busy with too many other things to post much over the past few months. Much of my free time has been spent working on photographs and various site updates. I do my web development on a local mini-server, backup to my main Linux PC and then update the live server. In addition to the backup & synchronization utility for Windows that I use, I’ve come to rely on the synchronization utility built in to the Krusader file manager. Along the way I got tired of manually setting my original photo files read-only so I wrote a script to automate that process and compliment the other photo workflow script I wrote.

The first snow accumulation this year was later than usual, 12/7.

But the weather finally caught up with the season on 12/19 to 21 giving me over a foot of snow to move.

We found out my sisters cat, Bootsie, had worms when I went to clean up what I thought was basic hairball puke and saw a worm on 12/13. We thought he had roundworm but the tests by our great veterinarian showed Bootsie to have lungworm, poor little guy. The good news was that there is simple injection to cure lungworm but, the bad news was that we needed to have him tested for heartworm because the lungworm treatment can be bad if the cat has heartworm too. I say bad news because the test for heartworm is a blood test, a bigger needle in the leg that made Bootsie scream. He got over the blood taking fast and the tests came back negative a couple days before Christmas, a great Xmas gift. Bootsie got his lungworm shot Friday and we’re all relieved that he’s on the way to finally getting rid of his worms. Here’s Bootsie taking a catnap under the tree in a new bed he got from Santa.

Another thing that’s taken up a lot of free time the past months is work I’ve been doing on a new long term project. After living in the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor since its designation 22 years ago, I’ve decided to make an effort over the next few years to see every site. To aid in my project I’ve been creating places files for Google Earth to help me plan trips in the BRVNHC. I’ve posted the first versions of my places and custom icon files along with photos and other information on my main web site.

I’m taking vacation time through the end of the year so, I hope to finish up some of the posts that have been in my drafts folder for too long now.