Category: Blogs!

Snow Day in Louisiana

While any readers in more Northern climates might be scoffing at the excitement, I will unashamedly talk a little about the consequences of an arctic blast reaching the Gulf of Mexico: snow on the ground, and it’s actually fluffy!

Six inches of snow is predicted for the next day. This being the South, and thus beyond the reckoning of most of its inhabitants, no one knew precisely what to do about the weather. Normally, this would not be a detractor for me and the Post Office. I’d be walking out in that and honestly wouldn’t mind (until Reynauds kicked in and my hands started to hurt and curl in on themselves), but schools have been closed for today and tomorrow.

Bundled up the children and chucked them outside for as long as they could stand the 24 degrees with 51% humidity. That’s a lot drier than they’re used to, but then again, they’re not used to snow being on the ground. While it’s not the first time they’ve had snow, it’s a rare enough event to cause psychotically happy moods and a need to go racing out the door.

They lasted twenty minutes before Han discovered that, like her father and grandmother, Reynaud’s disease is genetic and hurts even when you warm back up.

A for effort, kids. They made the most of the little snow they’ve had so far. By mid-afternoon, they’ll be wanting to go back outside, having forgotten the consequences of the weather and soon to be running back inside as the temperature plummets.

It was also a first for Cooper to see snow, and like the children, the puppy lost his goddamned mind.

That area was blanketed just a few minutes before I snapped the photo. I’ve never seen a Golden get the zoomies quite that hard before.

I, on the other hand, have had enough experience with the cold weather to know that my hands won’t let me enjoy it for too long. I did go out there and played a bit –because how often do I get to hurl snowballs at my children? -before heading inside and handling the indoor responsibilities. Prepping for winter meals such as stews, soups, and so on.

I’ve managed 30 minutes of writing time today, and another 30 minutes of studying for the certification exam, but due to listening to the Silmarillion again, I’ve started up on a small project for those late-night hours when I can’t sleep due to minding the fireplace but can’t get the brain to focus on the story: map-making.

I have no idea what it’ll be used for, but it’s something to keep up the creativity and thus ward off the insanity. I also came across one of WordPress’ ‘Writing Prompts’ that caught my interest, so there may be two posts today. I’ll get another writing sprint in while the children have their afternoon “it’s snowing, oh crap that means it’s cold and we’re not acclimated to that!” playtime.

Y’all bundle up out there and mind the cold.

-JB Swift

01/19/2025 A Busy Week meets Forced Time Off

The past week has been frustrating in assigning priorities, but now that I’ve been ‘forced’ to stay home for a few days, I’ll be able to hold myself to my daily goals!

The week was full of myself saying that before I could sit down at the desk and write, I needed to make progress in my house project: handling the bigger cleaning chores before Sarah came back from her trip. Between that and minding the gremlins we had created, it’d be near 9 or 10 PM before I could make it to the keyboard.

Responsibilities are not fun, but it’ll be satisfying when Sarah comes home to clothes folded and put away, floors cleaned, and (if I’m lucky) the kids’ rooms not looking like tornados had come in for visits.

Another reason I’m trying so hard to make it into remote work as a cybersecurity analyst: I like house-spousing.

What else had happened during the week? Plenty!

Han discovered my learning how to bake and helped me figure out two recipes: shortbread cookies and hand pies.

Apparently, hand pies are meat pies but large enough to function as full meals. Got it from a Hobbit cookbook.

The next four days look like I’ll be staying at the house while Louisiana handles an artic blast that the residents are nowhere near prepared for, so with luck I’ll be able to sit down and write or study. Or we’ll have the power knocked out; one or the other.

Y’all stay safe in the weather.

-JB Swift

01/07/2025 Passing the Course, so On to the Next Challenge

Folks, I’m beyond exhausted, but not from physical labor. Instead, I’m exhausted through relief.

I’ve passed my final presentation for the cybersecurity bootcamp classes! Six months of intense schoolwork and learning skills that were a younger me’s goal.

Now, I have two months to prepare for the certification exam. But first, I must sleep.

Take care, y’all. Too damn tired to write.

01/06/2025 Year’s First Fire

When you live in a tropical climate zone but have a temperature-related excuse to use your fireplace, it’s something you want to show off.

After clearing the room of the Christmas debris, or as the holiday-folk call them ‘decorations’, I cleaned out the fireplace and laid down the first fire of the season.

Also testing out a statement from my father-in-law that our fireplace, like his, can be used as a second stovetop. His fireplace is a standalone, however, and isn’t halfway into the brick chimney. He wanted me to fry an egg with it, but I’m taking the lesser path and just trying out the old kettle.

The house is already warmer, and the weather reports say we’ll be staying around 30 degrees Fahrenheit (or around -1 Celsius if you’re anywhere not in the United States; I know, we’re stubborn about it) so we’ll be getting a lot of use out of this part of the house.

I’ll be in class readying for graduation presentations tomorrow, so I don’t think I’ll hit the daily word goals today. But I might be fortunate. We shall see!

01/03/2025 An evening’s escapade in nerdiness and grooming

I haven’t made it to my daily word goal yet (and the other monitor is staring at me with my outlines), but I’ve made a little progress in other things!

Namely, my continued study in cybersecurity and getting rid of what my wife calls the “mountain-man beard”.

The certification exam is in February, and I’ve been struggling through the practice tests every day. I say ‘struggle’ because I’m taking my certifications out of order; I’ll be testing for A+ and C+ later in the year. The Security+ studying has already laid the foundations I’ll need for the other two, so at the least, they’ll be easier.

As for the mountain-man beard…

If I look like I’m scowling, it’s because I don’t have my glasses on.

It was definitely time to take it down. I can only tolerate so much grumpy wizard.

Now I’m less of a grumpy wizard with the same giant forehead!

Now, on to the writing!