Signs of an Early Spring

We are to have above 0 Celsius temperatures the rest of this week. I've already seen mud beside the garden sidewalk! But a lot of snow has been melting already, and some are worried we may have some flooding this spring.

The problem is - in the daytime it turns to slush before it melts and disappears - or - gets splashed on our cars, and that salt in that slushy snow makes our cars look grey and very aged. They can also start to rust if not washed soon.

Then at night, the temperatures drop below 0 (or freezing point), then if you to walk anywhere, especially on sidewalks that have not been cleared down to the cement, you end up walking on rocky ice where it is easy to slip and fall or sprain an ankle.

I swept the front walk yesterday. This afternoon I will sweep the garden walk. Other than that, I'll leave it up to the sun to deal with the snow and ice.

How are you coping with early spring in your "neck of the woods"?

Or, are you safe at home, with your feet up, watching Big Bully Russia attack Ukraine?

I have no TV and I've been too busy to think about that, when I listen to the news on the radio while working in the kitchen.

I've got my big business projects to keep me occupied at the computer. I'm rebuilding my novel's website of about 1000 pages, and I'm learning how to set up the shopping cart on the site where I want to sell my brother Tom's diecast models. I got held up a while again last night, but then broke through that problem, and made some headway with the settings. A few more steps and then I can start connecting the 215 models that I had researched and prepared last winter.

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Exploring Linux Distros

Supposing you are intrigued and want to know more about linux systems - how can you learn more about it? And why would you want to go to a linux operating system?

Fair enough. When I first started reading about it, I read up as much as I could find, and then began very cautiously to experiment. So I recommend you do the same. I'll give you a link where you can start to get this education - all free as long as you want to read. That site will give you links for where to find the distros.

Incidentally, "distro" is short for Distribution, meaning a particular brand of system generally created by very smart software geeks. There are 100s of Distros!

distrowatch.com is a major source and review site of the various linux distributions (or flavours, as I say). It keeps track of what's new, what's most popular, about each of them, and where to go to their individual sites to learn more and to download them.

1. read up by searching the internet for information.

2. when you find a distro that appeals, download and burn a LIVE CD (follow their instructions) The LIVE CD allows you to explore what a system looks and behaves like without putting it permanently on your computer.

3. if you have a large enough hard drive you can leave your windows alone (back it up though - just in case you goof and accidentally delete it) and actually install a linux system on your computer. This is called a dual boot. When you open your computer, you'll be given a menu and can choose whether to login to your Windows system or your Linux system. When you like your linux better than your windows, you can delete that.

4. Linux can match or better just about anything on Windows! Plus, it is far more secure. I never worry about viruses!