Guess I'll start an official Wednesday thread. Need Rusty to fill in the anniversaries.

At least the sun is out today and we are supposed to get temps above freezing. The early morning light is beautiful today, although the ice sort of belies the warm effect.



Of course not as warm looking as Jake's back yard.



Earlier, the moon was setting as a sea gull looked for breakfast on the beach.

Happy Hump Day, John!

Looks like Heaven and Hell up there - are you sure it isn't a penguin on the beach?

It's Casablanca Day

Casablanca is rated second (behind Citizen Kane) on the American Film Institute's Top 100 Greatest American Movies list. It was filmed in 59 days on the sound stages of Warner Bros. in 1942. The script was based on a play called "Everybody Goes to Rick's" that was never produced. With pages reaching the set as they were scheduled to be shot, nobody knew how the movie would end until the final days of production.

It's one of my favorite movies - I'd rate it #1.

Flurries:

Happy Hump Day, John!

Looks like Heaven and Hell up there - are you sure it isn't a penguin on the beach?

It's Casablanca Day

Casablanca is rated second (behind Citizen Kane) on the American Film Institute's Top 100 Greatest American Movies list. It was filmed in 59 days on the sound stages of Warner Bros. in 1942. The script was based on a play called "Everybody Goes to Rick's" that was never produced. With pages reaching the set as they were scheduled to be shot, nobody knew how the movie would end until the final days of production.

It's one of my favorite movies - I'd rate it #1.

Flurries:

Looks like your image getter froze up, Rusty.

Our penguins were all smart enough to move south.

Morning guys...just fed the "gulls" excess bread products! large mounds of snow/ice out there....had a lady last night at the hospital slip and fall on the ice...layed under her car for 30minutes before her husband heard her screaming...broke her leg in "MANY" places...I don't mind the snow...but I hate the ice....
Jake and Linda's backyard is a piece of heaven right now!

Hey Rusty..we are gonna have to have a celebration when your posts turn the 10,000 mark....I hope ya get at least a free tee shirt!

And your rating goes to Supreme Super Dooper Bonaire talker...

My PC disconnected right in the middle of my upload. Phhhht. Don'tcha hate that? I wonder if cable is much better - BoxerBob uses cable for work downstairs and he must have been disconnected fifteen times on Monday. Hardly worth the extra $$.

Meryl - we put out a big boxtop with seed and suet - on top of a huge snowpile in front of BBs window yesterday - and the first bird we got was a brown creeper - only the second one we've seen here. He was NOT shy about scarfing down the suet!

10,000 here I come...

Unless Jake's talkometer only holds 4 digits, so that you go from 9999 to 0001.

The brown creeper, not BB. LOL

Waah - imagine if I go back to neophyte talker?!

My parents say I seemed to have a real talent for talking - my first word was PICKLE - and I never looked back!

I've been using cable for almost two years now. Connectivity has been fine, very few lapses. Their POP3 server is something else though, although that seems to have gotten much more reliable over the past three months.

Hi all!
Over here the sun makes it look warm, but it is only around 0 C.
It sounds nice 2 have a lot of snow (we never get more than a few inches). I would like 2 have it once. On the other hand: people dying of the cold isn't funny. I guess we should be happy with the few inches we get over here.

Messages are getting out of sync. But think of going neophyte as a chance to go back and do all the things you now know you should have done. Anyway, I'm sure Jake will be glad to put on some extra servers to handle a fifth digit.

Hi Igor! It is beautiful to look at - but the accidents and fires (from people heating with faulty space heaters) and heart attacks make snow like this a serious hazard. I read in the paper this morning about a lady found frozen in her house with icicles in the room. Her little chihuahua wouldn't leave her side - wouldn't let the medical examiner near her. Really shook me up.

The cold is worse than the snow, I think. We're finally breaking out of it - back up to freezing in the next few days!

TODAY'S TRIVIA:

1856 - Tin-type camera patented by Hamilton Smith
1878 - Thomas Alva Edison patents gramophone (phonograph)
1913 - 1st prize inserted into a Cracker Jack box (wonder what it was?!)
1960 - Bil Keane's "Family Circus" cartoon strip debuts

1987 - 1st anti-smoking ad airs on TV, featuring Yul Brynner

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS:

1473 - Copernicus, astronomer
1911 - Merle Oberon, actress (Assignment Foreign Legion)
1924 - Lee Marvin, actor (Paint Your Wagon, Cat Ballou)
1943 - "Mama" Cass Elliot, singer (Mamas & Papas-Monday Monday)
1966 - Justine Bateman, actress (Mallory-Family Ties)

From hicards.com

G'morning Igor. Actually a lot of snow is fairly rare for us here, too. Being a little tiney peninsula surrounded by ocean, we usually get less than half what falls on the mainland. I've gone through many winters without having to shovel. This year has been very different, though. Our middle daughter decided to go to college up in Maine, because she wanted cold and snow. Well, she got the cold, but we've had more snow here than she has had up there.

And I wonder what second prize was.

Dad's heavy equipment yesterday - his third time up and down the driveway over 24 hours.

John, it was probably a whistle which a child promptly inhaled - so they started putting cheap little coloring books in the box instead. We got robbed - by the time we started getting the prizes from Cracker Jacks they were mostly stickers and washable tattoos! No de-coder rings or dart guns!

Gatecrashers - we know they ain't shovelling. Wait til they get home, though!

Rusty tell dad to high tail it down here..we could use him! They have only been down our street once and that was to make a thin path in the middle...my car is still in the lot across the street...should be interesting trying to get it out today....I had Steve's 4wheel yesterday....

John, it was probably a whistle which a child promptly inhaled - so they started putting cheap little coloring books in the box instead. We got robbed - by the time we started getting the prizes from Cracker Jacks they were mostly stickers and washable tattoos! No de-coder rings or dart guns!

Gatecrashers - we know they ain't shovelling. Wait til they get home, though!

Now you know why I have so many posts... ROFL

Oh my, Rusty is loosing her touch...
Or maybe her fingers are frozen

ROFL Rusty!

Actually, being way over the hill, I can remember when Cracker Jack prizes had more than two dimensions. I vagely remember even little cars that you could inhale all at once, or pop off the wheels/axles (the axle and its two wheels were one molded piece that snapped onto the bottom of the car) and get multiple choking chances.

Meanwhile, divers coming?

John!

In the department of outdated information, does anyone (Rusty? Meryl?) remember the names of the coral headlets on the reefcam. Five were named, and the four that I think I remember were Lefty, Lumpy, Snail and Brains. The second from the right I don't remember.

Hi folks, Annie's home. Can't stay too long though, got to catch up on some chores.

This sounds like a good way of spending a cold snowy day in the warm.


It's...

Casablanca Day

About This Date

Casablanca is rated second (behind Citizen Kane) on the American Film Institute's Top 100 Greatest American Movies list. It was filmed in 59 days on the sound stages of Warner Bros. in 1942. The script was based on a play called "Everybody Goes to Rick's" that was never produced. With pages reaching the set as they were scheduled to be shot, nobody knew how the movie would end until the final days of production.

mornin' all...john, just where is hull mass? tried to look it up last night, the pictures you have been posting are beautiful, i have been sending them to all my left coast friends

rusty, bet dad is glad he has that truck! has he been making supply runs for you and bb? i also bet bb is glad he is working at home now, no way that commute would be fun in this stuff!

meryl, hope your car gets out ok! yikes!

mornin' igor

Dad has been showing off with his 4WD - picking friends up to go to McDonald's for the morning get-togethers of the railroad old-timers and showing up for 7 am Mass.

One morning he was the ONLY one there - picture this - the priest goes on with the Mass and has my Dad get up and do the reading. LOL What would you have done? Now they have him read all the time - he has a super deep, good reading voice. He used to read for the local radio station for the blind, too, until they moved the office out of town.

Sorry about the weird juxtaposition of the cows and the McDonald's bit. Rather unsettling. LOL

Hi Cynde. This will take two postings 'cause of bitmap size (two can play that game Rusty). General location: we form the southeast edge of Boston harbor. Town is a bit more than 2 square miles but has over 20 miles of coastline. Where we are it is four blocks wide--a bit more than a quarter mile.

Overall map relative to Boston:

Okay, that worked, now will try the detailed version.

Hmm - looks like John is trying to stretch out his posts. You'll have to do better than that to catch me!

We are at (approximately)the yellow arrow. So we get the sunsets over the water. Similar orientation to Jake's place. (actually we have a Jake's here, too. Very well known seafood restaurant, that consistently gets "best of ..." awards.)

Flipping out?

Fooling around with arrows, I almost missed the divers.

Funny that one of the points of interest in Hull is the playground!

a classic....

I heard that Jake is giving 50 bonus posts with every t-shirt. So I'm just sending in an order for 200 shirts.

Poor Smokey the Bear - now that he's reached puberty he hates to be called Pimple! LOL

So now we know what John is giving everyone for Christmas presents this year, and next year and the year after...

I have to bail out for a while - y'all BEHAVE!

Thanks, Meryl. I had saved that on my work computer, back when I had work. Have been interested in comparing then and now. Plus it's not nice to slight old friends.

Rusty--there's no figuring MapQuest. What they label as the Town Playground are the baseball and softball fields, tennis courts and a few childrens playground type things. (For your trivia--the first night baseball game was played in Hull, which had the first municipal electric plant, and the first electric trolley. The first night game had to be called because the last steamboat was leaving for Boston and the teams had to be on it.) Unlabelled is Fort Revere, site of a French garrison manned by troops sent here to help out during the revolutionary war, and later expanded to a coastal defense installation that was active into the mid 20th century.

thanks john, the first map is the one i got off mapquest, and i couldn't find hull, now i know why! it looks like a very nice place! am watching the news, and somewhere in new jersy, there is a poor doggie stuck out on the ice in the water and 2 people are in a rowboat trying to rescue it, but the current is tooo strong and they are having a heck of a time reaching him! we can't figure out why they don't have a motor on the dinghy they are using...hmm...plus we all agree, much better than watching your typical la car chase!

I think they got him Cynde...still has to be checked by a vet..but they think he will be fine They should have a station..."and now for the good news!"

You'll have to keep us informed on the outcome of the doggie rescue, Cynde.

Yes, Hull is a great place--especially in the summer. A couple other bay shots.
Sunset Sept.11, 2001

Moonset, last August.

Those came up dark in the post--at least on my monitor, which is dark to start with. Can you see the foreground boats in the moonset shot?

Ha, ha, I didn't see that Rusty had already posted the Casablanca story. I think I better get myself a new brain, and a better pair of eyes.

I can see the boats John. Annie B.

Great Pictures John, and yes I can see the boats.

yes john, great pics! they did indeed rescue the doggie, finally got to him and he wouldn't get in the dang boat! had to put one of those things around his head and drag him into the dinghy...guess it was animal rescue, god bless their hearts the guy rowing had to be exhausted though!

He probably figured he was safer in the water than in a boat with people crazy enough to try rowing in bad currents and ice.

Oh gosh Annie, I said we would chat today.. I was doing some light research, got carried away!.. I am so sorry!.. You have my number at home (right)? Please do get in touch anytime and we WILL chat.. I promise.... I have an early start tomorrow, so I'm off to bed now.. Goodnight all..

Hiya guys

Just popped in, after work, to catch the sunsets.

this is very pretty


Hey, we have the most magnificent moon tonight. Anyone else got similar? It was amazing on Monday night too.

I'm collecting these, and if I have time, I will attempt to 'collate' them like you do, Annie.

I was waiting for the sailboat to cross over, and hoped it wouldn't pass between camera shots. And it is perfect.

sailboat gone.....




OH MY GOD, I JUST NOTICED.
I AM 2000

lots of sailboats tonight

Hiya Jenni, I was just gonna post the very same pics, you beat me to it. LOL



Sarah. Sorry I missed you. I had my MSN turned on all night. I can't find the number Waaagh. I better go look some more. Annie B.

getting dark now. Rusty where are you gal?

Jenni, No nice moon down here. I shall look forward to you animated sunsets. Only do about six or seven pics though, and check they are 50kb or under before you try to post. Annie B.

Oh Annie I was convinced you'd have the gorgeous moon too.

Thanksk for the pic tip. I would have had a go at all 9 if you hadn't have said.

Hey Jenni, Did you read about our London congestion charge of £5 per day to drive into London. 10,000 people didn't pay, so they made £800,000 in fines. Do you think our mayor will get elected again. In his dreams I say. Annie B

I guess Jenni must have gone to bed by now. Night Jenni. Sleep well. Annie B.

I was talking to Kev.

The London congestion tax is a travesty and a calamity. I dread to think of it happening in Manchester. Well, I just wouldn't go in the city then.

I didn't get time / chance to do the moving pics, Annie - YET. Yours looks nice.

Night Night to you, and any lurkers. Sleep tight

I feel sorry for those who have to work in London. It is gonna cost them £25 per week just to drive into London, then they gotta pay for petrol and for parking their cars. Bloo, whoops nearly wrote in french, flamin' cheek. Night Jenni, see ya tomorrow. Annie B.

jenni and annie, thanks for the sunsets...and i will quit complaining about our increasing gas prices! i don't have to drive very far to work, and it is the beach route i know that folks that live in new york city either have cars they keep garaged unless they drive out of the city, or they have to park on the street and constantly have to move their car. my brother lived in manhattan and had a car in a garage and it was horribly expensive to keep parked, so he finally sold it!

Cynde, That is terrible. I will never understand why people who have worked all their lives and paid their taxes have to suffer like this. Surely we have earned our right to our luxury items, and yet governments seem to think otherwise. Aint life a bitch when you are an honest person. Annie B.

very true annie:-) but i figure it is better being honest and having the good karma come your way

Happy Birthday, Jenni! You don't look a day over 1750!

John - that's what you get when fifteen year-olds are internet entrepreneurs. They have all the toy stores and playgrounds highlighted on the internet travel maps!

On an interesting note. In Japan you have show proof that you have a place to park your car before you are allowed to buy one. Your car license plates will be revoked if you loose your parking place. If your car ever gets towed you have to show proof of auto shelter before you can retrieve it.
On the London thing, how does the toll work? Do they have collection booths? What if you live in the city?