News of an ISP shutdown reducing global spam by up to 75% has made an impact. We were averaging 14-18 million email attempts per day, yesterday we were down to just over 3 million. This after I started switching from sendmail to postfix to reduce resource usage.
Mail Statistics for 2008-11-12
Total Number of Messages: 3,057,084
Good Messages: 270,618 (8.85 %)
SPAM Messages: 2,691,195 (88.03 %)
Quarantined Messages: 95,271 (3.12 %)
Total Bad Messages: 2,786,466 (91.15 %)
Happy Halloween. Deborah awoke before me at about 7:45, by 9 she had breakfast done and got me up. This morning she made omelettes and toast. It was a good way to start the day. It is sunny out, which means I may be able to finish the fire pit today. The forecast is 60, but only 26 right now, so I will wait a bit to head outside.
I am thinking today when I head out I will look for a nice leather notebook or similar to leave at the cabin as a cabin log. Like a cave log, sign in and write about your time here.
Arbovale Card and Candle Shop
We decided to go down to the Arbovale Mall (Trent’s), and get some hooks to hang mugs from the cabinets. While down there we asked if they had tall candles for the candle holders we got in Monterey. They said no but there is a card and candle store around the corner. Sure enough. There was a card and candle shop in Arbovale. A messy place, but she has a lot of stuff in there. We ended up walking out with like 8 12″ tall candles and an odor candle called “White Trash.” Oddly, it was Deborah’s favorite. We then thought we would head up to Cass or Snowshoe for something to eat. Cass looked to be closed for the season, and Snowshoe was kindof closed up I guess since they are in winter preparation. It astonishes me how much money is up there. What an amazing place it’s turned into.
We found a place to eat down on US219, across from the Inn at Snowshoe. We had some hotdogs, and found some orange tall candles for .50. We then headed back to the cabin.
Chris practicing Texas System across road from cabin.
Once back, it had gotten to 64 degrees, so we opened all the windows and doors, turned off the heaters and let the cabin air out. Next we got out the vertical gear and rigged up a rack loop on a tree across from the cabin. I got a texas system set up, and went up a couple dozen feet. Deborah quickly got the hang of working the rack. Once I was done I put it on Deborah and after a few kinks, she went up a couple feet. She said she would leave that stuff to me.
We packed up, and headed inside to get ready for dinner. We went down to Ryder’s and ate a steak dinner with salad bar, desert bar and a baked potato. David and Charlene were there as well. They told us they have chocolate, and we should come trick or treat.
Deborah practicing Texas System
I called my parents, and Deborah called hers. We put on the blaze orange and went trick or treating at David’s, Charlene gave us reeses cups. We shot the breeze for a bit and came back for round 4 of monopoly. This time we are going to play by candle light. She put up a fight. I was down to a couple of single dollars, but came back and put hotels on one whole side of the board. And won. 4-0. Deborah then declared she wanted to play a game she was good at and could beat me at. So she got out checkers. I won without losing a single piece.
Star Wars Monopoly by candle light.
It was late after the games so we headed to bed.
And that cabin is most DEFINITELY haunted, look at these ghosts we caught on camera!
This morning we woke up at and got on the road by 6:30. We stopped at Mama’s Kitchen in Elkins for breakfast and had a plate of biscuits and gravy. It is forecast to be warmer, which means I may be able to finally work on getting a fire pit made.
Chris digging fire pit.
Fire pit progress
Deborah was knitting as soon as we came in the door. I did something stupid. When we were home we did laundry, and the clothes we were bringing back to the cabin we put in a trash bag. Well when I took the trash out this morning I accidentally put out the bag with our fresh clothes. I did not realise it till we got back to the cabin. I decided to call Mark later and ask if he could stop by after work and grab it for me. I headed out in the yard to start on the fire pit and got a circle of sod removed. The next chore is to go find some large stones that can resist the heat of a fire, and not crack. I pulled the tractor out and got out the wheelbarrow and we got the sod all removed. We lined the bottom with flat rocks and are now trying to figure out a way to move some bigger rocks. After, I called Mark at work and asked if he could stop by the house and put that bag of clothes on my porch. We ate some turkey sandwiches for lunch.
Monterey, VA
After lunch we have decided to travel over to Monterey, VA. Monterey is a very small town, two gas stations and a few country shops. We found one with some really neat, very cheap, antiques. We walked out with two brass candle holders, a hanging fruit basket, and a wreath for $5. We walked down to two more shops and got a small “Welcome” sign for $1.25 and a mug holder. The mug holder turned out to be depressing as we got back to the cabin and found it was made in China, under the price label. Which it promptly broke, and now I must take it home to repair.
Fireplace Wall
It’s weird how quickly the mountains give way to ridge and valley. There looks to even be some karst hidden in the valley over there. Monterey is only 24 miles from the cabin. On the way back the GPS wanted to send us down the old Staunton-Parkersburg Pike, which is a 10 mile dirt and washed out gravel road… I would gladly do so on most days, but not when there is a lot of snow in the back-country. Snowshoe got 9” on Monday-Tuesday, it was about the same it looked up there.
We got back to the cabin around 3pm. Deborah is knitting. David is back at his cabin.
I got a fire going, and Deborah finished up dinner, when I called Susan, and asked her to call me back, but she never did. So Deborah and I started a game of “Star Wars” Monopoly. Deborah did a lot better, but yet again, I won. Even after making a trade that was most definitely in her favor. So 3-0 on the week for <anything>opoly. She then made some hot chocolate while we both headed to the fireplace for some knitting and reading. I started reading 1776 to her out loud.
We got up around 8:30. Deborah made breakfast this morning, she baked some biscuits, sausage and eggs, and we had a sausage egg biscuit. After a bit, I decided to head to the Arbovale Mall (Trent’s), and grab some toothpaste, sausage and orange juice. They had them all of course, but I found you really need to watch the expiration date down there as the “country style” orange juice has all expired in the early part of the month.
Deborah knitting
I came back to mostly sunny skies. And Deborah knitting by the fire. And here I sit. Waiting for a chance to head out and split more wood. We will probably wait until tomorrow to go check out Monterey.
I noticed that the smaller bedroom window has a crack in the window. And the curtain bar in the bigger bedroom is falling off the wall. The other noticeable problem would be the plastic on the inside of the fridge has a busted up hole in it down near the floor by the door.
All of my vertical gear is now washed and dry. I hate allowing mud to sit on the gear as it could potentially rot out ribbon stitches, not a good thing.
Deborah and I headed for a walk down the road, we got just below David’s camp before we decided it was too cold and we returned. I headed out back to chop some wood, and got a new load chopped. It should last us through the night. The next 4 days appear to be much better weather and the fire won’t have to be going as much. I have not had a fire going today.
I came in to Deborah napping. So I too laid down for an hour long nap. After I woke up the clouds had returned and the wind was whistling again.
For dinner we went down to Ryder’s. Their special was spaghetti with garlic bread. I got a half portion of that, and Deborah got the grilled chicken. It was pretty good. The bill was very reasonable. Head some people asking the owner about the author down here and found out the guy who owns Ryder’s is mentioned in two of Stephen Koontz books. Everyone there seemed to know everyone else. On the way out the owner asked about us, we would him about the cabin, etc. He knew about it and welcomed us.
West Virginiaopoly
On the way back we stopped at the Arbovale Mall and picked up some hot cocoa, and some razors. Which I promptly used back at the cabin to take my beard/moustache off. It’s just not for me. Deborah I think was not too fond either. Although I have felt warm the last couple days with it.
Warmer temperatures are forecast for tomorrow. We shall see. I won again at West Virginaopoly. Pretty easily, We then decided to head back to Fairmont to do laundry, take care of bills, check on the cats, etc.. Because it was late we locked up the cabin, pseudo-shut it down, and headed that way.
