01-01-2018.

[theevan]

Eighteen.

Unbelievably I somehow slept through the cacophony of midnight. Thank you Jesus...

[brucemacneill]

Happy New Year, everyone.

I crashed about 8 last night and got up about 5 this morning but I still feel like crap. It's still cold out and we won't see freezing until maybe Wednesday but at least the new heat pump is keeping the house warm even at temperatures in the mid-teens whereas the old one couldn't make heat below about 26F. Just now I have no voice so I think the open mic Wednesday isn't going to happen for me.

Hope y'all have a good day and no bad hangovers.

[factorychef]

19 below. About one more week of this weather.

[Doug]

I'z here

[millring]

Heywood Banks is still hilarious. Got home from the concert at about 11PM and sat in the warm kitchen drinking tea and eating cookies (Dar's been baking up a hurricane of cookies this past week -- oatmeal/apricot are this year's winner).

My new years resolution is

[drlj]

-8 here right now. I slept through midnight but I assume the new year got here ok. It looks the same out there so I am not 100% sure.
Enjoy yourselves and keep warm.

[factorychef]

Party is starting again !! I like it.

[drlj]

Millring is one wild guy. Eating cookies and drinking tea at 11 PM--a time when all decent people should have been sleeping for at least 3 hours! It was probably some obscure, counter culture tea, too. Something that Mr. Lipton would not even know how to pronounce. I would have called the police to go by and turn off his kettle had I known he was acting like a New Year's Evening hooligan. Shameful.
Of course, I have had Dar's cookies and they are the finest cookies this side of Elysium and everybody knows Elysium cookies are really good. That gives you an idea of how great Dar's cookies are. I understand the cookie eating. I would have been into the cookies, too. It is the wild tea drinking that I just don't get. Probably had several cups, too.

[kenlarsson]

good morning, happy new year,

[Deleted]

-11. The Inverse Spinal Tap of temperatures. Yeesh. No walks for the dog again. Our routine the last few days has been to go outside to play around for about 10 minutes every hour or so. Brrrrrr.

[mnhermit]

below freezing (30F) with a stiff North wind, but no rain yet this year. Heard the clock strike 12 just before I fell asleep last night.

Does anybody care about the College Football 'playoff' today? I used to enjoy New Year day bowls, trying to decide which one to watch when there was a conflict (switching back and forth avoiding commercials and watching the marching bands). And when the day was over so was football, one could always argue about who really deserved to be #1, since polls could differ. Now I just don't care.

...and you kids get offa my lawn!!!

[Tamarack]

Good New Year's Morning Good People

Cold, but moderated by a large body of fresh water, which also keeps us covered in a fresh blanket of snow.

Mizz Lola had a wonderful New Year's Eve Celebration, with 100% attention from her favourite grandparents. Dinner at Noodles & Co., followed by a screening of Coco, followed by funny hats, noisemakers, silly string, and multiple toasts with sparkling grape juice. Mizz Lola fell asleep around 11:30. Grandma and Papa stayed up until 2:00 AM; Grandma reading a novel and Grandpa playing banjo and a little guitar.

Important news from London, UK -- Ringo Starr, henceforth Sir Richard Starkey, is being knighted. His listing on the Queen's New Years Honours follows that of a professor who is being knighted for "services to volcanology and geology" which I greatly appreciate.

Have a marvelous New Year's Day one and all.

[theevan]

Jan 1, 2018 9:29:56 GMT -5 mnhermit said:

below freezing (30F) with a stiff North wind, but no rain yet this year. Heard the clock strike 12 just before I fell asleep last night.

Does anybody care about the College Football 'playoff' today? I used to enjoy New Year day bowls, trying to decide which one to watch when there was a conflict (switching back and forth avoiding commercials and watching the marching bands). And when the day was over so was football, one could always argue about who really deserved to be #1, since polls could differ. Now I just don't care.

...and you kids get offa my lawn!!!

My Seattle friend said they finished the year with 50", a pretty solid showing. I'm guessing you'd get a bit more?

I don't know our 2017 numbers yet but in 2016 we had a Noah-like 90"!

[coachdoc]

Had an outstanding last weekend of 2017. Saturday attended, and played folky guitar, for a dear friend's wedding. He's a baseball buddy. We both played in the over 40 and over 50 leagues, and we have made trips to baseball camps and Fenway. I was surprised however that I was his only baseball buddy. He's still in the league, while I stopped playing a couple of years ago. He wore a white Yamulka with red baseball stitching for the service, the wedding photographer took a picture of us with him holding the Yamulka, allowing the stitching to show. The service was a lovely blend of Jewish, Christian and home made. about 250 in attendance. The vast majority employees of the public defenders office, yes, lawyers.
Then Saturday wife and I returned from the coast, had a wonderful breakfast at Popovers, my favorite bakery in Portsmouth. I repacked the sound system and guitars and headed over to Woodcrest, a toney senior living center here in town. Played for an hour, bantered with what I now realize is my peer group, and played tunes that younger folks would not have appreciated half as much. They shared their champagne toast with me and I drove the long two miles home for a wonderful dinner my wife had made. 
All in all just the right way to wrap up 2017, now to mush on through this 2018 winter, and enjoy the Patriots next Super Bowl victory. Here's wishing all of you health and happiness this year, and more to come. 
As my Nephew chants,
'Happy, healthy, happy, healthy, happy, healthy, dead.'
Recipe for a good life.

[billhammond]

Jan 1, 2018 9:31:22 GMT -5 Tamarack said:

Important news from London, UK -- Ringo Starr, henceforth Sir Richard Starkey, is being knighted. His listing on the Queen's New Years Honours follows that of a professor who is being knighted for "services to volcanology and geology" which I greatly appreciate.

Also to be knighted are Bee Gee Barry Gibb and Edgar Winter.

[paleo]

Happy New Year everyone!

If you think of the new year as a blank page, what do you want to have on that page at the end of the year?

[coachdoc]

Happy home and grandkids. Lotsa music. Another year of part time family practice, and the only operation being cataracts.

[fauxmaha]

Lovely dinner last with Rachel and her boyfriend. Cold as can be overnight and today. Whole pack of in-laws coming over in a bit for yet another holiday celebration.

[Marty]

Morning

3F/-16C Sunny, as it tends to be when it's really cold. -11F/-24C right now.

I made Chili Verde yesterday which fed 3 adults and 8 kids, big smiles all around. I have to make it again next Saturday when eldest granddaughter Ayana gets home, she insists. Drifted off about 11:30 last night while watching a movie, woke up about 2:00 and went to bed. 

Austin 33F
Phoenix 74F
Key West 75F

[Marshall]

Dang ! I forgot to make a New Years Resolution.

Guess I'll have to wade through another year unguided.