Merry After Christmas

Good day to everyone. Yes, more snow came through yesterday with another storm on its heels for tonight and all day tomorrow.

Christmas was absolutely wonderful. Pictures are finally up and you can see them here. All the kids came by and enjoyed themselves. Jan's Brother, Herb came by with his wife Jeanne and they stayed all afternoon. We had a great visit. The grandkids also had a great time with Jayden being very helpful making sure everyone had help opening their presents.

Last night Jan, Charlene, Ronnie, Michelle, Brian, Andy (Ronnie's friend) and I went to Stanford's Comedy Club to see my best friend David's Son Bill Clifton perform. We met Bill at Thanksgiving and he put us on his guest list. He's quite a successful comedian now and the show was great. The other headliner was Michael Mack who you may have seen on some TV shows in recent years. His show was absolutely side-splitting as well. We all had a great time. Charlene's car decided to have a flat tire on the way to the show although she had lots of help changing it and just had to hold the flashlight. I had given her one of those hand-crank flashlights a few years ago just to keep in the car for emergencies. She mentioned having to crank it 100% of the time to keep the light going (sorry Char.)

I'm dropping the truck off later today to have the four-wheel drive checked out. It doesn't seem to want to engage when I press the button so I suspect the actuator is not working. This is a common problem with Chevy 4WD trucks. Given all of the snow we keep seeing I want to get it fixed before I really need it, like getting to work at 5:30 a.m. as usual.

Also, I received a call from a gal with AT&T Risk Management who asked if I would get a damage estimate from somewhere local and fax it into their office. Perhaps they will settle my claim quickly after all. I was somewhat worried it may take some time to get them to fix my truck bumper after that accident last week where one of their trucks rear-ended me.

Now for the story of the day.

RALEIGH, N.C. — The record-setting drought that has forced the governor to plead for conservation, homeowners to shelve their lawn sprinklers and farmers to drain their ponds for irrigation is only forecast to get worse in the new year.

If the predictions come true, convenience won't be the only casualty.

North Carolina's multibillion dollar agriculture industry is prepping for what may be a devastating year for both crops and livestock, while local governments are eyeing emergency plans — and expensive solutions — for water systems on the brink of crisis.

"We need to make sure we keep water going to the hospitals and the nursing homes and enough to people's homes for those fundamental needs," said John Morris, director of the North Carolina Division of Water Resources. "We're certainly at the point now where we need to have a good solid plan for those more extreme measures."

That "solid plan" may include water rationing, a step Morris predicted some parts of North Carolina will have to take if conditions get worse.

Read the full story here.