We finished watching the Polish TV show 1983. It is an alternate history narrative of Poland as if the CCCP still maintained control in 2003. I found the alternate timeline convoluted, jumping between a staged attack in 83 and a coup attempt in 2003. However, characters & emotion are strong.

Yesterday Axel had a problem with their gaming laptop & I showed them how to use a multimeter to track down the part that needed to be replaced. I began to understand why my father taught me how to shoe horses. The skill may not be useful, but the shared interest is precious.

It was snowing and -14 C today for my run. I could not wear sunglasses as they frosted up as soon as I put them on; then, my eyebrows frosted over and I saw lumps in my peripheral vision. When it is under -10 C I wear a mask to avoid breathing the cold air directly, so I have a covid/bandit look.

Today's culininary experiment: Corn & black bean empinadas.

Dog Training: 1. Pug notices that phone rings before wife comes home with packages. 2. Pug barks when phone rings anytime. 3. Aus Shepherd barks with pug. 4. German Shepherd is silent, but waits at window. 5. I hide in bathroom to answer the phone. 6. Aus shep barks when phone rings on TV.

We have been alternating between episodes of Shetland and Stranger THings for the last few day and Karin accessorized Mop-the-pug for Stranger Things. (Would we dress her up like a pony to match Shetland?)

This morning I read that France is considering changing healthcare for non-EU retirees. I looked up a few of the parameters for long term visas & have some regrets that I let my French slide & focused on German language. (My inspiration is the incipiant blizzard outside my window this morning.)

Today it was -8 and I put new spikes in my winter running shoes before going out. I use sheet metal screws on older Asics shoes (socket screwdriver & pliers). The snow had been worn away from 1/2 the route so I did a 3 K loop 3 & 1/2 times. Here are the handmade spikes:

Mopsy in her new Christmas sweater. Karin took this photo as when I tried to get my phone to focus on the dog, the function that puts a yellow box around faces selected the wrong end of the pug. (To be fair, with a pug, the head & tail are quite similar.) I laughed so hard I missed the shot.

The birch just behind my house has a lovely coat of frost this morning.

Karin & Merlin won some more ribbons today.

I am not a singer, but my espresso machine makes a sustained hum like a Buddhist chant that makes me join in with a harmonic Ommm. My wife does not like this or my efforts in hairdryer harmony. For me it brings back fond memories of choir before I was expelled for the sin of voice changing puberty.

We have been watching the Korean SF show Moving on Disney & it is quite engaging. I like is much more than The Squid Games (less violence). It uses the (Korean?) structure of a main plot with multiple backstory episodes interspersed, but more integrated than others. www.imdb.com/title/tt2464...

Yesterday's run was my first with ice spikes for this winter. I use an older pair of Asics with sheet metal screws inset into the tread & they work well for most of the snow and ice conditions we get here. However, yesterday we had slush, snow, and ice so I got wet feet. (~7.5 K & slower than usual)

I have been listening to SRF Klassik in the mornings lately as the AI interface on Google home seems to have a problem with requests for classical music. I like the music selection on Swiss radio Classic a bit more than BBC Radio 3. www.radioswissclassic.ch/de

This morning the dogs were reluctant to go off the deck into the strangely altered yard. Here is the view from the front of the house.

Retired academics: K: I want to read about the Berlin Wall history. Buy this book. Me: It's in English? You crossed the wall to visit relatives. What about a German POV? K: Too hard to get German books. Shipping delay. Me: But, your Mom might like it too. K: She wants to forget it... Me: Harumph...

Karin & I finished rewatching the 3 existing seasons of the Ku'damm series 56, 59 & 63 and are now anticipating the 77 version that is scheduled for Dec of this year. It has character development & the history of Germany after WW II in a balanced & engaging narrative: www.imdb.com/title/tt4863...

Merlin playing ball on an autumnal morning.

My repair on my old iPhone has been working for a week so I did the same work on Karin's phone this morning. Here is a photo of the phone with the larger case screw used in the repair. The other two internal screws are about half this size and I am in constant fear of dropping them.

Yesterday my car would not start & I had to jumpstart it. This morning it was the same so I bought a new battery and installed it. Karin was doubtful as cars must have mechanics, not retired English profs, for repairs. It works now:I am happy to be a functional member of our technical civilization.

Today's culinary experiment: Yoghurt bread rolls made with baking powder instead of yeast. They take a lot longer to bake than the various recipes I read would suggest, but I suspect that is because we are about 600 metres above sea level here.

I have a bad left eye and I go to an eye surgeon every 6 months for monitoring. Nevertheless, I put a new battery in an old iPhone 6s today. (my cost $20 parts vs $100+ for shop repair) I am pleased that I can still work on the tiny screws/connectors although swearing is louder now than in my 30s.

Winter has started here in Northern British Columbia.

When Mopsy the Pug gets home from her walk you can just let the leash go and she will run up the lawn and sit by the door until it is opened. Our dogs love their rituals and they protest if "human" circumstances introduce a deviation in the routines.

It is a bad idea to have a midi keyboard hooked up to your computer if you scroll through new youtube videos on mornings when you have plans to go for a run. I found a tutorial on Brubeck's Take Five for the piano and wasted an hour on the limits of my incompetence. Afternoon run today, i guess.

We started watching the RTÉ comedy Obituary and it has an offbeat sort of humour that I rather like. Karin thinks it is a bit morbid as the subject is a small-town reporter who writes obituaries who starts killing nasty people to increase her work. Think Dexter set in Ireland.

Karin took Merlin to a scent detection event today. (He won a ribbon) It is something like training one of those dogs that sniff around airports looking for drugs and scare the crap out of those of us who know we may have forgotten a bag of dog treats in our pocket.

We were watching the Scottish detective show Karen Pirie last night and discovered that US TV has distorted perceived legal reality. My Karin said, "they can't use that evidence; no search warrant." I argued, perhaps Scotland is like Canada and does not have a strict "poisoned tree" law.

We started watching the Netflix France series Néro the Assassin last night and it has the air of a spaghetti western, but set in 16th century France. (Dry desolate landscape dominated by a scruffy anti-hero) French dialogue but printed matter in English? Perla (the actor) is not in IMDB entry?

Apparently Garmin & Strava are having a court battle. I have been running with Garmin watches for so long I did not even notice that they had been integrated with the Strava site. SOme of my friends use Strava, but I just use the Garmin site to preserve my stats. See below: <grin>

Latest computer recycling exploit: I have a bunch of 2.5 inch sata 500 gb hdds that were sitting on a shelf (years) after I upgraded some computers to faster ssds. I found some very cheap usb ssd caddys on Temu for about $5 each so I now have some storage / backup drives that I can give to students.

I filmed Merlin and Karin for an online dog competition yesterday and today. Here is the empty arena & my camera. I am not allowed to show the actual routines until the submitted footage has been judged.

Latest Temu-in-Canada purchase is a set of dog sport hoops (like agility but actually a sport called hoopers according to Karin). About 1/2 the price of the same item at Home Depot so I guess we did not get charged the US China tariff.

While working on my crispy baked tofu recipe today I noticed that I have created a vegetarian visual analogue of the McNugget. Sigh.

We started watching Call my Agent: Berlin last night. It's still funny in German although some humour from the French original looks a bit odd in a German cultural context. The humour in Ten Percent (UK version) was not as noticeably different. I like adaptations of TV in various languages.

Anybody else think of the poisoned tylenol capsules murder that happened in the early 1980s? There was a lot of speculation at the time that it was an attack on their market share. That company can't seem to catch a break.

In highschool my chem lab partner was a refugee from Uganda. Idi Amin expelled all of the Asian "immigrants" and some made it to Canada. She was much better at chemistry than I was & probably went on to a career in the sciences. It's not good for a country to have a "mad dictator" in power.

Today's run was in a light rain and despite rain gear I got wet feet and soaked to the skin. 10.7 k, not particularly fast, but it was warm so I came home happy and relatively comfy. I am not looking forward to the snow as it makes running hard, even with spikes. Life as an aging road runner.

This morning on the way to my car I noticed "dog" poop on the lawn...looked closer and saw it was the size of cow crap and realized that a bear had been by in the night. I am happy that I did not meet the perpetrator at his business...Life in a Northern Town

Our retirement activity: Karin is taking a Japanese course and spends a lot of time mumbling and quietly writing characters on a sheet of paper. Me setting my synth keyboard to pipe organ mode and running over the same 4 bars of a fugue until even the dogs flee in horror. Performative Masculinity?

On my way to buy some groceries I stopped by my computer and saw a notification of a music video. It was Bach's Little Fugue in G minor played on a moog & I listened to it; then downloaded the score, then figured out the first 4 bars. Now I am late and must rush to get the ingredients for supper.

I got a note from (one of)my US publisher asking if I want to opt-in to their agreements for AI licensing. It came to my wife's email address, not mine, but addressed me by name. It mentioned my co-author for one book that I did with them so it must be for me. 20% of receipts!. <optimistic grin>

We started watching the Polish Krimi The Breslau Murders (Disney) this evening. It is excellent so far. Set in Breslau 1936, before the Nazi invasion of Poland but after the takeover of Lower Silesia. It uses the form of German Krimis set in the same period(Volker Kutscher, Harald Gilbers, usw.)

I was reading Volker Kutscher's novel Transatlantik (set in 1930's Germany) yesterday and the news from the US made me think of the role of Horst Wessel in the mythology of the NSDAP. History is really a cycle; not a linear progression.

Yesterday Karin managed to film these squirrels playing on one of the trees in out back yard. A small joy is best shared quickly.

I bought a USB-A charger / cable tester from Amazon for $15 CDN (force of habit). It arrived today & I tested all charging blocks that we have in the house. It cost. I then checked on Temu ($6 CDN) Their USB-C tester is the same so I ordered it. It's now cheaper to buy direct from China to Canada.

This morning a bear came out of the forest by the road and climbed up the concrete barrier to cross the road in front of my car. He saw me coming, stopped and backed down until I drove past, then proceed to cross safely as I drove on. Bears will inherit the earth.

It is our 37th anniversary today. Here is a photo of our young selves in 1988. My suit was 2nd hand and we referred to it as "the dead man's suit." (Pure speculation on our part as the shop did not indicate its provenance.) Karin's dress was new.

I see that postal services in various countries are not going to deliver to the US anymore. It appears that the US customs expects them to collect the tariffs from the shipper on the former de minimis packages. Looks like they want foreign producer to pay their tariffs.