A Taste of Winter

 

Winter does come to South Carolina, even if briefly.  It was snowing when I headed to bed around 2:30 this morning after my work shift.  Mostly what’s on the ground is ice, but there is a bit of snow here and there.  Nothing to speak of and certainly nothing when compared to this . . . .

February 13, 2014, in New Jersey

Tomorrow will be above freezing in the 40s, so we’ll venture out for propane and a few provisions before the next wee storm rolls in later in the day.

The past week has been relatively uneventful.  Maggie sailed through her dental procedure last Thursday.  I had a restless and pretty much sleepless night while she was overnighting at the vet and was glad to pick her up the following afternoon.  She took full advantage of being a lap dog that evening.  Yep, that was my purpose in Life . . . to provide a warm, blanketed lap to our Maggs while she recovered.  Good therapy for both of us.

The next project in my virtual assistant work has come along and I’m glad to be cruising along with work again.  There are lulls in between projects, but that’s okay.  It gives me some free time in the evenings for a couple of weeks and then things pick up again.  Nice.

We continue to play chess over the weekends, this past Friday and Saturday nights were truly epic matches.  Our games last 2.5 to 3 hours, which isn’t bad for a couple of amateurs just having fun.

We picked up this set in Rockport, TX during one of our holidays with our popup.  Gosh, that was back in June 2008.  We were in town prowling around and found this in an import shop.  It’s a stone set and thankfully came with a very nice case.  It was a bit of an extravagance at the time, but has given us so many evenings of enjoyment.  I was introduced to chess in the early 1980s in El Paso.  At the time, I was working for the Students’ Attorney at UTEP.  The attorney was an avid player and taught the basics to the intern and myself.  Dave has been an excellent player for “donkey’s years” (a very long time) and gave me proper schooling when I spent time with him in Scotland in 2005-2006.   I was a laughable player at the start, but he was a patient and supportive teacher, and I’ve progressed into a respectable opponent.  It’s fascinating to see each game evolve following our individual standard opening moves.  I won’t divulge mine, but it is a named opening move I found a while back when doing some research.  It seems to serve me well; Dave scores the most victories, but he’s an excellent player.  I do, however, give him a run for his money and put his king in some awkward spots.  My king has become bolder over the years and, when he goes down, he goes down fighting.  At any rate, it’s excellent fun and flexes the gray matter a bit. 

Funny . . . Dave remarked the other evening that when he gets in a tight predicament, he goes on the defensive . . . . but me?  He says I just keeping attacking.  Must be my Warrior nature, eh?

Well, Dave is catching up on some sleep that eluded him earlier.  I’m in the office with some afternoon quiet time; hence, this blog post.  I’m looking at nine more hours until my day winds down.  Caught up on work and personal paperwork yesterday and it’s totally icky out, so guess I’ll find some other things to occupy the rest of my day. 

“Whatever the gains, whatever the loss, they are yours.”

- Fine Wounds, Nez Perce

365 Days of Walking the Red Road

Thanks for stopping by!

I am a Warrior

The above bracelet is a Toby and Max design