Quiet before the literal storm

We are having some quiet days but the forecast for the next few is cold with precip. possible and gusts to 50 mph (80 kph).  It makes staying home a lot more reasonable. 

Yesterday we put a bunch of fiberglass insulation up in the attic.  There are places were we had very little and didn't realize it.  I believe the house is warmer; we'll see what happens to the electric bill.  We have these two small openings to the attic, maybe 2 ft x 3 ft (.6m x .9m), and we have 10 foot (3m) ceilings.  You would have laughed at me trying to get up the ladder with a roll of insulation that would only just go through the opening.  For some reason the builder managed to put the ceiling openings right next to a doorway so it isn't possible to get the ladder in a good position.  I was crawling up the ladder holding on with one hand with my stomach right against it carrying the roll of insulation off to the side in my free hand.  It was pretty funny.  My wife rolled the stuff out while I fed it to her.  By the time we were done with just four rolls, we were both soaked with sweat and definitely in need of a shower!

We did take the dog to the local vet for some blood work.  The oncologist wanted to be sure she was accepting the pain meds. without any problem.  The blood work came back fine so her only problem is that she has this huge cancer on her chest that we can't do anything about.  Here is her photo from 12/28.

And the following is what it looked like yesterday.

The cancer is just growing like crazy.  She has been pretty good about leaving it alone but this morning we caught her licking at it.  NOT good, so now she is wearing an old tee shirt to keep her tongue off it.  This is not a good news story.

I've been trying to adjust some of our investments to keep my mind off the dog.  It is embarrassing how long it's been since I've done this.  Some investments are doing fine but too many of our mutual funds are in Morningstar's 2 Star category.  Gotta change them out or put up with below average yields.  There are just way too many choices but I'll get there.  Happily there are only half a dozen positions that are really crap.

Speaking of crap, the charger for my DROID phone died; how tough is it to make something that will last a couple years without breaking?  Especially since this isn't a terribly complex article.  Guess I should be thanking my lucky stars that it is the charger and not the phone.  Nah, I'm still torqued; not that anyone is going to care. 

Anyway, have a good one.  If you keep putting one foot in front of the other, you'll get there.  Good luck!