Ice-Skating - FrogPond

The Halifax Regional Municipality says there's 14" of ice in the frog pond...saddle up !!
It's been a while since we skated, and it took a while to dig out 3 pairs to fit our respective hooves. There was no shortage of other people present; lots of hockey games, people with dogs and tennis balls, even plenty of people hiking around the pond. The temperature was hovering around zero c so it was quite comfy...
A Beaver House near the southeast end seems to be undergoing renovations, with some new looking sticks woven into the roof.

Acer Aspire One Netbook

OK, I've long been crazy for mini laptops, and have several piles of junk like HP Omnibook 800CT, 600CT, 200LX, Jornadas, etc Sadly, everything is 10+ years old, and none of them are really any good for anything "internetish".
If you follow this stuff at all, you will have heard of the new breed of "Netbooks" being offered by ASUS, ACER, HP, etc. Well, we saw wisdom in trying one out, and we don't regret it. I picked up the bottom of the line ACER Aspire One from Staples. It was on clearance at $249. Boy am I impressed. Small and capable. A Google search will reveal tons of info, but they've sold in excess of 2 million of them so far, and that does not include the last quarter, so the numbers are likely much bigger.
These tiny things have bright screens, wireless, lots of USB connectivity, SD slots, WebCam etc. Very portable, and for home use, an external monitor and DVD drive, external keyboard, and mouse, and you hardly know it's not a desktop.
Just because I'm cheap, I opted for the Linux version, but it's impressively equipped; Skype Client, Messenger Client, Firefox 3, Open Office etc...
Nice easy interface too, See below...

Fresh Bread...

ssshhhhhhh...don't tell Debbie but I think I've fooled her into making me homemade bread, and she even likes doing it...even down with the flu, I can't keep this to myself: This bread comes from dough that you make in advance and store in the fridge. Then when you want a loaf, you carve off a slab, let it sit for a bit, and pop it in the oven on a pizza stone. See this article from Mother Earth News if you want to try it out. The good thing is there is no need to knead...ha!! Also, there's only four simple ingredients; water, flour, yeast, and salt. I'm tempted to say that I can do that, but she might be reading this...
This all comes from a book entitled Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day...gotta get Debbie a copy :)Debbie's already on her second batch of dough...not that I'm advocating living on bread alone...

PS for those who asked, yes I do subscribe to Mother Earth News, but don't let that temper your "redneck" opinion of me :)

Happy New Year '09

Wow...2009, and I'm still not as smart as I think :) I wonder how long it takes? Anyway, enough about me...in spite of the blizzardy blustery weather, we overcame in a "let them eat steak" sort of way. Our January 1st BBQ managed to help us "glutton" in the New Year...

We took care of the meat, while Debbie stayed inside tending to the potatoes and those optional things like salad, napkins, plates, forks etc...heh...heh...

So there you have it...HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone !!!