I have been keeping busy, although lazy at times.

I’m working on a couple of web sites for some friends. One is for a non-profit advocacy organization, and the other is for fans of BBQ. Neither is ready for prime-time yet, although they are getting close.

But they have given me some experience working with a couple of different platforms. One of the sites is based on WordPress. It uses the excellent Atathualpa theme, which allows you to customize just about every aspect of the ‘look’ of a site. I used that theme for the site I did for a niece (LeAnn’s Designs, a custom jewelry e-commerce site at www.leanns-design.com ). It has the WP e-Commerce add-in, along with a few others. I think it turned out quite nicely, if I do say so myself.

So one of the current projects is also based on WordPress. I had originally built it with a simple CMS (Content Management System) that I wrote in PHP. The site owners wanted a way to post new content, and I determined that the easiest way would be to convert it to WordPress. I built a test site at my CellarWeb place (www.cellarweb.com , which is also WordPress-based) and they approved the new design. So I have spent the past couple of days moving the content to their hosted site (on a new host, so as not to interfere with their existing site). Learned a few tricks on how to move WordPress content from one domain to another that worked quite well. The process of moving the content took less than an hour.

The other site is based on MediaWiki, which is the open-source software behind Wikipedia. I’ve been working with a variation of the base ‘Monobook’ theme (the visual look behind Wikipedia). The client wants the Monobook look, but with the addition of a header and footer, and some advertising area on the right side of all pages. A bit of PHP and CSS, and I was able to demonstrate that for him. Right now, the content is being slowly updated, and I am waiting for some graphics to add to the theme. Once that is done, I’ll move the theme over to the actual site (which is still in ‘stealth’ mode).

There will eventually be paid advertising on that site. I’ve been looking at some open-source ad server software, but haven’t found anything that I like yet. I’ve tried out the “OpenX’ ad server software, but am having problems getting that to work. Support for my problems has been less than stellar. I’m thinking of a simple PHP/MySQL-based application that I may write myself.

So the web programming projects are keeping me busy, although not bringing in any actual income. I look at them as learning experiences that I may be able to convert into actual clients.

And I am keeping indoors. The weather this month has been mostly pleasant, with temps in the 50-60 range and mostly sunny. It’s turned colder since yesterday; I think today’s high is only going to get to 41 (all temps in F). The weather dweebs are predicting a bit of snow for Saturday, but not more than an inch on the valley floor here in Utah. And that will probably melt after a couple of days.

But I have been contemplating about snow. I got a nice pair of snow boots yesterday. I am not sure about snow removal equipment. I am inclined just to get a nice snow shovel for the little bit that I need to remove. The front of our house faces south, so there will be some solar-based snow removal. Both cars are in the garage. One of the neighbors said that he never shoveled his driveway. He just opened the garage door, and powered his way out to the street through the snow. When he got home, a similar power push up the driveway was all he needed to get into his garage.

And my thought is that if it is snowing enough, I’ll just stay home. Being retired means that I don’t have to go anywhere if I don’t want to.

But I think that I will need to get some sort of snow shovel. I was looking at them at Home Depot yesterday, and note that there are several styles. Being a California native, this purchase will be new to me.

So, do I get a snow shovel with a straight or curved handle? Should the blade be metal or plastic? Or will just a plain flat garden shovel be enough? Don’t know — looking for advice.

The whole family (plus one potential family member) came over for Sunday dinner to celebrate Lucas’ (2) and his Dad (Jared, 29F) birthdays. The usual noise and rowdiness from the grandchildren ensued. Two of them are recovering from mild flu cases (slight temperatures, a bit of coughing), but seem to be better today.

We had some BBQ steak (cooked on the back patio in 50 degree sunny weather), with pasta salad and garlic roasted red potatoes. All was yummy.

A mostly quiet day today. I had an interview for a system administrator position this morning; it went well, so we’ll see how that turns out. This afternoon was mostly relaxing, watching a bit of TV while using the laptop.

There are a series of storms coming, with a cold front. The weather dweebs are forecasting a couple of inches of snow tomorrow and Wednesday. That will be a new experience for us. And I don’t have a snow shovel or snow boots. My plan is to stay inside.

But there was this fly that had been bugging me all afternoon. It would buzz a bit around your face, then fly off. Flies are hard to see around here; we have brown furniture, dark cherry cabinets, and dark granite counter tops. So it’s difficult to see the flies when they land.

I needed a plan. I grabbed the flyswatter, sat back down in the recliner, and patiently waited for the fly to reappear. It took a while, but he eventually ended up on my foot.

I carefully aimed the flyswatter, and took a mighty swing.

And during the swing, my hand hit the arm of the recliner (which has some padding, but wood underneath). Hit it hard.

The good news is that there are no broken bones in my hand.

Also good news: the fly is no more.

The lawn is mowed — last time this season, I’d bet. Getting cooler around here, and they turned off the irrigation water supply that is used for the lawn sprinklers (happens every year about this time around here).

The mums around the pergola are dieing off due to the colder nights. But the pergola does have some orange Halloween lights. And with a few drifting spider webs flying around just help the look.

Been working on the e-commerce site, doing some final tweaking of the settings. It’s mostly done; all the products are input, pictures are ready. Just need the final word from the site owner to get it transferred to its home domain.

Yesterday, the high was around 87. Today, the high was about 49. Yesterday, mostly sunny. Today, cloudy and rainy. With snow in the mountains.

We live about 4200 feet, snow level was around 5000 feet. There were 5-11 inches of snow in the mountains. They do look nice in the distance.

Stayed inside today; too cold to do anything outside. Besides, I have declared the pergola project finished. Yesterday, I installed the top corner braces, finished spreading the shredded bark, and started final cleanup. That will be finished tomorrow; it’s supposed to clear up a bit, but still stay cold.

But, some excitement — I did see a few snowflakes outside. I suspect that there will be more in the coming months.

The pergola project continues. Last week I got the 12×12″ red pavers installed. Lots of knee work, which in my case is difficult. I’ve been a ‘sit-at-the-desk’ guy for a long time, and haven’t had any requirement to do any outside work until we moved here. But I’ve got lots of spare time now, so the pergola project has kept me busy.

This morning we grabbed the truck from the Jensen’s, and wandered over to J&J; Nursery. Great place, and since it is nearing the end of the growing season here, there’s lots of stuff on sale. Since the first frost hits usually here about mid-October, we needed to get any plants in quickly so they can get established before the frost.

So we grabbed about 15 mums of various colors, and 10 purple asters. Those are both perennials, so we’re hoping they survive the winter here.

I took four of the asters and planted them on either side of the pergola. The mums were positioned to the left of the pergola, between it and the future garden area. I laid down some weed-blocking fabric, cut holes for the plants, and got everything in the ground. There’s some shredded bark to be placed around as ground cover. We didn’t get the plants until a bit after lunch, and I got finished with the planting about 6pm (there were a few Kool-Aid breaks in there).

The result looks pretty good. Tomorrow I’ll spread around the bark, clean up the materials a bit, and take some pictures.

I have also been working on a few new web sites. One site is a ‘play’ area for testing out designs. I’ve installed a couple of WordPress sub-sites, and a simple and complex ecommerce add-ins. The result is almost ready for viewing by the masses.

I also have installed a Drupal sub-site so I can compare the features and customizability of it and WordPress. Haven’t come to any conclusions yet, as I am still working with both.

And I am working on a new site for a niece-in-law, who makes custom beaded jewelry. Right now, it’s WordPress-based, with a WP ecommerce add-in. That’s still a work in progress. I got a big file of product pictures this morning via my FileHurl site (absolutely free no-size-limit file transfer at www.filehurl.com ). I’ll grab a dozen or two of those for the ecommerce product area.

But at the moment, the muscles (especially legs and knees) are a bit sore. And there’s some good new shows tonight to watch.