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Cold Pipe Memes

First off, on Friday, my mother-in-law asked me to come over after work at the U to set up her new e-mail account. This gave me the opportunity to enjoy the company of my father-in-law in the late afternoon. We had some pleasant libations, several pipes, and talked of all myriad of things, but especially about the difficulties that we both dealt with in regards to the 14 inches of snow we had received between Wednesday and Thursday. A very nice way to end the work week.

Speaking of the snowstorm briefly again, I have to say I am lucky I snowplowed the driveway/sidewalks twice during the storm itself instead of waiting until the storm concluded. It was much more successful an encounter dealing with the snow in smaller levels. The snowbanks down my driveway and sidewalk and at the roadway are between waist and upper chest high from the snow that had to be moved.

On Thursday, I had just finished snowblowing the snow from my driveway/sidewalks for the third time, when I heard the unmistakable scrape of a snow shovel two doors down and across the street. My elderly neighbor was attempting to shovel his (VERY LONG) driveway by hand. And, may I add again that this is over 14 inches of snow (roughly 33cm for you in the metric majority). So, I stomped over there through the unplowed roadway in my heavy, red-flannel lined galoshes, and asked my neighbor if he would like me to clear his driveway. Again, remember this is an elderly fellow, and the huge amount of snow would be nearly impossible for him to excavate. He said yes, and I spent the better part of two hours clearing his driveway for him. This effort is how I now realize how lucky I was in having cleared my own driveway twice during the storm.... my neighbor had not... and I had to attempt to move the full 14 inches of snow with my rather anemic, smallish snow blower. It must have been a mixture of my own patience, and a surprising stamina on the part of the snow blower... but I was pretty damn proud that I was able to eventually clear his driveway. But it was a helluva lot of work.... more so than the three individual clearings of my driveway put together. I went home and lounged around the rest of the day.

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Now, a monumentally extreme temperature drop has occurred today in my region. The actual temperature at morning on Monday is anticipated to be -10 below zero Fahrenheit (which is roughly -23.3 degrees below zero Celsius (again, for you metric minded folk)). And, sad to say, but the anticipated wind chill factor is anticipated to be roughly -45. It will be a rough morning, with the day's high anticipated to be only -1.

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Leon at "The Ancient One, Blessed Be He" has asked me to participate in the following meme. I am happy to oblige and encourage any of you so interested to do likewise:

Instructions:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open it at page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence/ phrase.
4. Blog the next four sentences/ phrases together with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig your shelves for that very special or intellectual book.
6. Pass it forward to six friends.

I reached to my left, as I am in my den, and proceeded to knock over one of the smaller pipe racks that I have on the nearest bookshelf. Fortunately, this rack was filled with a variety of virtually indestructible, work-a-day pipes that have all seen much wear and tear from use, so no harm occurred. But, the first book I grabbed, which was on the shelf below the pipe rack, was vanTienhoven's "Reproductive Physiology of Vertebrates (Second edition). This is a text I have owned for perhaps 20 years and have gleaned a great deal from for many different lectures in several of the courses I teach.

The four sentences that follow the fifth on page 123 are:

Please note these sentences are in reference to the nidamental gland...

"This structure is well developed in oviparous and ovoviviparous species, but may be vestigial in viviparous ones. It is a tubular gland which secretes albumin, mucus, and in those species producing an egg case, egg case proteins. Sometimes, sperm are stored in this part of the oviduct as well. The isthmus connects the nidamental gland to the uterus.

The final aspect of conducting this meme is to have six others partake of this endeavor themselves. Please do so, and if you are so inclined to participate, please record a comment stating you have done so in my comments section. I will greatly appreciate your assistance in completing this task.

PipeTobacco