Less Hustle More Coffee

As I was cleaning up the house yesterday, I kept noticing the sun and the snow and how pretty it is. But oh what problems it can cause. Temps got up close to 40 – it may have even reached it – and there was some melting. A salt truck came by mid day. But I cannot see any result from it. Our roads are horrible. I hear the main roads are fine so it’s just doing navigation on pure ice where it’s melted some and frozen back.

I took this pic because the ice on the road behind us, kept shimmering in my eyes. The sun was hitting the ice and it reflected up. You can see how icy the roads are by the center of this photo below.

You can see my foot prints from a couple of days ago where I went out to take some photos. And George called my attention to some icicles at his bathroom window.

I can’t tell you how wonderful yesterday was, being off, and knowing you were on your own time. I had much to do and to catch up on. I always do laundry and cleaned the kitchen deeply. While we were home I noticed in the foyer that I still had the manger scene in there! I laughed! We’ve been so busy doing xy and z and the manger is scene is natural colors and so is the foyer, that I totally missed it as a Christmas decoration. I was thinking in my heart we should leave the scene around all year as it was a precious scene and one in which our Lord was on his way to saving our souls and giving us hope for eternity. Something we absolutely should consider every hour. But I know it in my heart, so I wrapped all the breakable pieces, found a storage bag and put the hay in it, and a copier box was found and it all fit in it and I labeled it. I need to go through my Christmas boxes this next year and get rid of things not used but each year it seems we end up buying another storage box. lol.

So I tidied up things and packed up my work office and watched a YouTube about trimming dogs. George bought a trimmer to trim Roger with. I’ve been afraid to do it, but had considered it before and decided against it. But he needs it sooooo bad. And it takes a month usually to get an appointment as not enough groomers work the weekends and demand is high for those that work during the week. So he came home with this and I thought he said he bought it for me to do. I must have grimaced because I’m so afraid I’ll hurt him. Anyway, much to my surprise, as we sat down to do it, George grabbed the trimmer and began shearing! I used the scissors to do his ears and some of his paws. We are not finished yet. I want to work on his feet with the scissors. And we need to get his little toenails trimmed but we are afraid to do that.

So, you are supposed to do this on a table, but, we decided a different technique for this old dog and for his comfort. We allowed him to lay there and would trim what we could and turned him over and such. He looks so much better. He’s only a little “choppy” looking, lol. But at this point it’s about keeping him clean and having a functional cut, not so much for impressing others, ha! The part we needed to do, we didn’t get to do so much so there will be a “round three”. Yes we did this in two rounds yesterday. But I think he can only tolerate so much at a time. I do realize we have to “show him who is in control” but he’s just old so we gave him a break!

Looking at this, I’d say we’d found some success at it!

This is not Roger above, of course, but my Instagram pic with the graphic yesterday. Roger does not have enough teeth for this. But he snapped his gums at us a few times. He does not like his feet being done and of course he has concerns about his underbelly near his “parts”. That is where we need to get the most as he wears diapers. So that will be the 3rd attempt and we will have to do it without him laying in a pillow. I think one will have to hold him while the other trims.

Looking over at my guys last night, I felt a sense of contentment. We did it. Well George did it. Most of it. Even Roger felt better. He ran around the house like doggies do after a bath. I have to watch him though. He loses his balance and falls over and I’m afraid he’ll run into something and break it – a lamp, a guitar, or who knows what. He also has been known to get tangled up in cords – computer cords, vacuum cords, lol. He’s like a toddler for sure. Here he is worn out from the day. You can see how sleepy he is. He used up a lot of energy and it really probably wore him out to be messed with but he felt better I’m sure and looks better.

This Part Might Bore You….

The big news for me, is that it had been bothering me that I’ve not had time to set up my rugged Lacie files to move my iMovies and their working files over to it. But guess what? At around 4 ish, I grabbed a cup of coffee and watched videos. I somehow knew (since I have a Mac) that there was going to be “a catch”. So I have found that doing anything with a Mac it’s best to watch a YouTube video before you attack the project. And I’m so glad I did. The other Lacie drive I used as a back up drive and it backs up daily maybe several times a day, I cannot remember. But this one is just to be used as a storage drive. And so you set them up differently. The big thing was that the disc had to be formatted through disc utility and that made it Mac usable.

While I was YouTubing, some other videos caught my attention about how to set up your files on the Mac (or any computer). So I decided to title each one by year and then by month and date and the title of the video. So there is a file for each video. Something like this:

“2020.5.2 Headed to Texas“

This put all of my videos in chronological order. When I moved the files, It actually copied them, but that was pointless as the point was to get them off of my Mac. And also get any out of iCloud if they were still there. So I nervously sent them to trash after I had confirmed my videos were there on the new Lacie Drive! Yay! Both Lacies were called “Lacie” when they loaded so I had to rename one the Lacie Backup and the other Lacie1. As I hope there will be Lacie2 and Lacie3 as needed. If I ever get monetized on YouTube I’ll have to take additional steps. Because the external storage drive – if it ever dies – they are gone. I’m not too concerned though at this point, b/c all of that data is 1) already on YouTube so it’s not totally gone 2) Most of the photos are still in my photos which is on the back up drive. I’d say when I’m moving them over to the working file, it’s really only copying them over. So there is likely another copy in my photos on my hard drive. So far I’m not worried about that yet. I don’t keep many video footage and it’s mostly photos. I think the main thing is getting the big movie space suckers off the Mac.

I’m not through though. I have a lot of “working files” for each video. I will also be sending those files into each of the named video folders. That way I can go back and get “just a video clip” if I want to refer to something. It will all be organized and I’ll be able to find it. But I won’t be keeping many videos on my Mac itself from my “photo bank”.

So once I move ALL those working files over from each of those completed videos (I already have it pretty much organized and anything that is not organized already, I’m not spending a lot of time to go back and do. But will in the future make sure it IS!)

Then I’m still NOT through. I want to set up “working files” for all of the future videos. So I can break them up and organize it into folders. Now these I’ve decided will be OK to remain on the Mac until I finish it. That way they are being backed up until I get them into a movie. I’m so excited to have started the project. And working to set up the “future movie” files, I’ll be able to see all the photos and video clips that I have and can start to form ideas. This is going to help me so much! And once this is through I can focus on my new Intro and then I can get back into my routine.

I was really starting to get antsy b/c I miss doing the videos. I have continued videoing things we do, almost every weekend, I’m videoing something. So I have several to make! Now that some organization is coming together I can begin to get in a rhythm and can do more planning and creating for each thing in advance.

I do have to stop and take care of important things though, like trying to find a place for Mom, doing some mending, and a few household projects. When spring gets here I’ll be making some appointments and we’ll be doing our research and getting the flooring. Oh that will be a good video! lol

Anyway, I keep typing as I’m waiting for things to thaw. I was wanting to leave at 7-ish for work, but decided 8ish, and now I may need to wait til 9. The sun is up but it’s 25. The temps are coming up pretty quick I guess as the sun shines bright. I’m trying to wait til it is above freezing, so perhaps I can find some traction and melting on these side roads. They are as slick as glass, I’m sure.

Wish me luck and say prayers. George has to get me out of the driveway, and then I have to navigate to the main roads. I’m scared to death as I thought it would be thawed by now. But we are going up to 50’s so if I have to wait til lunch time I can I guess. That would help. But I want to get as many hours in as I can today as there is a lot to do. I never thought I’d be so happy to go into work! ha. I just don’t like having important things pending and I don’t like being behind. But I’m not willing to risk my life though. I guess the good news is that we usually don’t have 18 wheelers driving in our neighborhood, so the worst that could happen is I’d slide off into a mail box or ditch. But, I don’t want to damage my car either. This is the most stubborn snow I think I’ve ever seen!

Are you thawing out where you are? Are you ready for Spring?