Atomic Monster Cafe: The Cold Winds Of Winter...

...continue to blow...4 below zero at the moment with wind chills near 25 below...and currently our furnace is acting up..short cycling then turning off and won't come back on. Inside temp has dropped to 60 degrees..

Thankfully we do have a fireplace so we're not in dire straits - we won't freeze - but we do need Mr. Furnace to work...wonder how much this is going to cost??

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

Furnace update: replaced the filter (did not help), then got up on the roof - nice up there in that 25 below zero wind chill - and discovered a snow/ice cap blocking the fresh air intake pipe...cleared that away and voila! All is well again.

Total cost: $0.00 Those are the kind of repair bills I like.

In this extremely cold weather we're seeing more of the deer than we usually do...

...food is scarce so as long as we spread corn around they stop by both day and night. Saw a 6 pt buck the other night, but too dark to get a decent pic. It's amazing they can withstand the cold the way they do.

And of course we've got all the usual suspects hanging around the bird feeders...

a convention of mourning doves...

...and here's what happens when you tap on the glass...

...don't worry, they'll be back...

Struggling along with Time Slip Island...

...still liking the story, but for some reason I'm stumbling over the "show, don't tell" axiom that is every writer's 1st rule of "good things to do so readers don't use your book as a door stop".

Telling: "Lord Foppington was 50 years old and wasn't happy about it."

Showing: "The revelers had departed, taking the sparkle of the evening with them. Now Lord Foppington sat alone by the dying fire, eating the last of his cake and mourning the arrival of his fifth decade upon this mortal coil."

Ok, so neither of those is great literature, but that's not my fault...blame Lord Foppington for being such an ill tempered boor.

In both cases you learn LF is 50 and unhappy, but the difference between them is that of reading a Spark notes summary vs the real thing.

In business telling is usually better than showing, the ubiquitous (and boring) powerpoint culture notwithstanding.

In fiction, however, showing is better than telling, always.

Don't want to drift into the Dickens zone...