viewSIX BELOW ZERO, and...
... and it's going to get colder. Mercy!
Tomorrow night is supposed to be colder yet, and Wednesday is supposed to bring us more freezing rain and snow on top of the three to seven inches we have in our area presently. And...
And in addition to the Wind Chill Warning and Winter Storm WArning we're currently under, we've also got a Pollen Alert due to the high levels od cedar pollen in the air now. And...
And though Sylvia and I haven't yet been hit by them, there are rolling power blackouts in the area that are expected to continue through the duration of this extreme weather.
What a Monday!
And the adventure continues.
Posted 15/Feb/2021 ~ 06:40 Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #weather
viewRadio Habana Cuba
While Svengoolie showed a movie I've seen about a zillion times I reached over to the little multi-band radio to see what I could bring up on the shortwave. The first thing I found broadcasting in English with enough clarity to hear through the noise (my room is a pretty noisy place from which to try to pull in radio signal) was Radio Habana Cuba.
After listening for awhile I switched off the little radio and began paying attention to the TV again. Even though the film was boring, Sven's schtick is always delightful.
And the adventure continues.
Posted 13/Feb/2021 ~ 20:15 Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #SWL
viewTracking the Day's Chess Moves
I have active correspondence chess games in four different clubs. In one of those clubs I'm playing in three different tournaments and some players are playing in more than one tournament with me.
In order to keep myself organized during a session with these games, I record each opponent as I work on the game against him, then place a check mark when I've moved in his game and am ready to move on to another. You'll notice in today's list pictured above, two players get two check marks. These are guys who are playing in different tourneys with me, and the two marks mean I've moved in the two games against each.
And when a game ends I note that, too. Of all the games worked on today, I lost one, resigning to my opponent. Oh well, can't win them all, you know. I'm pretty confident that tomorrow's session will see me winning a game.
And the adventure continues.
Posted 10/Feb/2021 ~ 14:20 Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #chess
viewNew on my Kindle
Rafael, Laurell Hamilton's latest novel in her Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series was delivered to my Kindle today. And I'm looking forward to starting it tonight.
This is the 28th book in the series and, while I may not have read every one of them, I'm confident that I've read most. I've certainly read all the early books as well as everything she's published in recent years.
At only 230 something pages long, this little book is almost in the novella category. Some reviewers have said it reminds them of her earlier books in this series. I'm confident I'll like it.
And the adventure continues.
Posted 09/Feb/2021 ~ 20: Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #books
viewTaking a Stand For Greg
San Antonio desperately needs a Republican Mayor to help clean up the mess that the Democrats in City Hall are making and to start restoring our freedoms. That's why I'm supporting Greg Brockhouse for Mayor.
As far as I can tell, mine is the first yard sign up in the neighborhood. Hope it stays up for the duration of the campaign.
And the adventure continues.
Posted 08/Feb/2021 ~ Noon Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #politics
Over the past 10 days or so I've been steadily ramping up an old hobby of mine, SW and MW DXing. I still have the portable multi-band radio that I used for shortwave listening in the late 1990s, and it appears to be in pretty good shape despite its age. A few days ago I added an external antenna to improve reception. And I've found a welcoming FaceBook group and an interesting YouTube Channel devoted to this hobby that help keep me informed and enthused.
Though I've not been posting too much about it recently, my correspondence chess play has picked up quite a bit. I'm carrying a bigger game load now and spending more time on my games. Most days find me working at least an hour on the games, and sometimes it's much more than that.
Both of these hobbies are solitary by nature and perfectly suited to the socially restricted lifestyle forced on us during this time of covid.
While they keep me from obsessing over the fake news of the day, which is a very good thing, they take time away from what has been my primary hobby for the last several years: my blogging.
Now that I've wiped the hard drive on my laptop and given it a fresh OS installation (that was yesterday's big chore), it's running faster and operating more smoothly. Hopefully that will make my writing easier and allow me to resume more regular blogging. We shall see.
And the adventure continues.
Posted 07/Feb/2021 ~ 14:05 Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #hobbies
Midday yesterday I won this Correspondence Chess Club Tournament game with my Black Queen, defended and assisted by her Rook, delivering the mating move.
Our board at game's end is shown above, and our full move record is below:
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.b3 d6 4.Bb2 Be7 5.a4 a5 6.d3 O-O 7.Nb5 c6 8.Nc3 d5 9.Qf3 Bg4 10.Qg3 Nbd7 11.h3 Bh5 12.Be2 Bxe2 13.Ngxe2 h6 14.Bc1 Bb4 15. Bd2 Bxc3 16.Nxc3 d4 17.Ne2 Re8 18.f4 exf4 19.Nxf4 b5 20.c3 b4 21. c4 Qc7 22.O-O-O Qd6 23.h4 Nc5 24.h5 Nxb3+ 25.Kc2 Nxd2 26.Rxd2 Rab8 27.Rh4 b3+ 28.Kd1 b2 29.Rxb2 Rxb2 30.Ne2 Rb1+ 31.Kc2 Qb4 32.Qc7 Qb2#
0-1
And the adventure continues.
Posted 01/Feb/2021 ~ 12:05 Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #chess
I won this game playing White last night with peraaps the simplest, most basic checkmate possible. But it was so late at night when I pushed my Queen to the f8 square. I was almost ready to crawl into bed and far too tired to type up and publish a blog post. So ... here it is on Sunday morning.
Our board at game's end showing my attacking and well defended Queen on f8 and Black's poor defenseless King with no possible escape is above, and our full move record is below:
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 e5 4. a3 exd4 5. Qxd4 Bd7 6. Qe4+ Be6 7. Ng5 Be7 8. Nxe6 fxe6 9. Qxe6 Nc6 10. e3 Nf6 11. Bxc4 Rf8 12. O-O Ne4 13. Qxe4 Qd7 14. Nc3 O-O-O 15. Be6 Qxe6 16. Qxe6+ Rd7 17. Nd5 Kd8 18. e4 Bc5 19. Be3 Rdf7 20. Bxc5 Re8 21. Qxf7 Rxe4 22. Qxc7+ Ke8 23. Qc8+ Nd8 24. Nc7+ Kf7 25. Qf5+ Kg8 26. Qf8#
1-0
And the adventure continues.
Posted 31/Jan/2021 ~ 10:00 Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #chess
I don't very often end up with two Queens on the board, but when I do I like it!
It was my second Black Queen who checkmated the White King. As you can see, my first Black Queen remains down on her home rank. While White's attention was focused on his attack over on the left side of the board (as seen from Black's perspective) I was able to slip a pawn down on the other side of the board and promote it to my second Queen who would go on to checkmate the White King in short order.
Our board at game's end is shown above, and our full move record is below:
1. b4 b5 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nxb5 a6 4. Nc3 Bxb4 5. a3 Ba5 6. Na4 Nf6 7. Nc5 O-O 8. c3 d6 9. Na4 Nc6 10. Qc2 g6 11. d4 exd4 12. e4 Kg7 13. e5 Nxe5 14. Qd2 dxc3 15. Qh6+ Kg8 16. Bg5 Neg4 17. Qh4 Re8+ 18. Be2 c2+ 19. Kf1 Bb7 20. Bxg4 Bc8 21. Bf3 Rb8 22. Bxf6 Rb1+ 23. Rxb1 cxb1=Q+ 24. Bd1 Qxd1#
0-1
And the adventure continues.
Posted 30/Jan/2021 ~ 12:30 Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #chess
viewMy workout buddies
Taking advantage of more beautiful weather, I had a good workout in the back yard this afternoon.
Accompanied by my good friends: 1.) the big organics bin, which was empty when the workout started but is now filled, 2.) my trusty lawn rake, 3.) the collapsible canvas leaf can, and 4.) my new little lawnmower, which I have come to really REALLY like, I worked up a healthy sweat and soaked up some natural Vitamin D courtesy of the South Texas Sun. By the time we finished, things were looking much better back there.
And the adventure continues.
Posted 29/Jan/2021 ~ 16:45 Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #tools #home