The party’s over

The automotive rumor mill has been working overtime and until
recently I ignored the gossip. Now it looks like the rumors are
true and Ford will stop selling all but two cars here in the USA;
the Mustang and the Focus Active that thinks it’s a crossover.
Ford won’t end Mustang production because people would throw a
fit and probably boycott their business.

According to Ford, Taurus production will end in March 2019 and
Fiesta in May 2019. No timeline has been set for the demise of
the Fusion. If we understand correctly, Ford has decided to
focus on trucks and plan to make said truck will be 90% of its
offerings.

These trucks will fall into three categories; trucks, utilities
and commercial vehicles. The timing coincides with the debut of
the Ranger pickup and Bronco. Ford also announced it will
explore potential new models that combine the best attributes of
cars and utilities, such as ride height, space and versatility.
Think crossover SUVs.

If you’re not a certified car geek all that basically means is
that Ford doesn’t make enough on the cars sales so if they stop
selling them people will buy a truck and make Ford more money.

I guess Ford wants everybody in an overpriced, oversized money
making machine. When the time comes for the wife to buy another
vehicle and Ford only has two car models we’ll look elsewhere.

Enjoy our Thursday as the working folks just have to get
through 1 more day before they get a couple days off. Now I
need more coffee and that bag of donettes I found.
Comments are always welcome.

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The moon and some critters

It was almost like the moon was trying to hide behind the
clouds last night but it was pretty to see. Won’t be long and
we’ll be looking for the full moon.

Critters usually don’t scare me, but this squirrel looking over
a knee-wall bothered me with that twinkle in his eye. Not sure
what he was after but he was gone when I went back out.

And this guy echoed like he had a stereo system hidden
somewhere as he sounded closer than he was. He also didn’t fly
away when I got closer, but he could sure sing.

The mechanical critters were out also. The helicopter kept
buzzing the church steeple and I wondered what could be so
interesting. Then the crawler was smoothing the gravel behind a
towing company a couple of blocks away. Didn’t see where it made
much of a difference but then again I was two blocks away.

And this house finch just sat up on our new metal roof trying
to stare me down. It didn’t work but I did get a picture. He
seems to like our little bit of Heaven on the east coast of
Iowa, but it he leaves any presents on the wife’s’ car we’ll
get rid of him.

So enjoy the pictures and the rest of our Wednesday. The
working folk are halfway to the weekend and we’ve got more than
enough coffee should disaster hit. Now I need some coffee, a few
pieces of leftover pizza, and a Snicker’s.
Comments are always welcome.

Lucky days

Since I’m outside a lot and I usually have a camera around
somewhere, I get some pictures. My usual response when a friend
comments on a picture is that I got lucky and they reply that I
must get lucky a lot.

Case in point happened at sundown yesterday when I went back
out with the camera and witnessed the sunset. Earlier it had
clouded up and you could barely make out the sun in the sky but
there are times when clouds make a sunset interesting.

And the clouds did add something to the sunset. If you looked
to the west you were not disappointed. The sunset lasted long
enough that I could move around just enough to get some shots
I was happy with and not leave the neighborhood.

Since I was happy with the sunset pics a trip out later got
us a nice shot of the moon. When you see sights like these it
makes the midnight pizza taste even better. And after a visit
with Dad I’ve been out again but haven’t uploaded the pictures
taken yet but I should luck out on a couple of them

Enjoy our Tuesday as the local doughnut shop was open this
morning and a few doughnuts put a smile on my face that hasn’t
faded yet. Now I need more coffee to wash down the Snicker’s I
just had.
Comments are always welcome.

More distractions

Yesterday I did more yard work than I have since October and
when I put the tools away the sun was going down. Then I went
into the kitchen to eat and attend Cowboy Church on RFD-TV
while scarfing down supper.

Since I managed to sneak a few pictures yesterday and shoot a
few today it’s time to share. The bird above has a disappointing
name, at least to me. It is a house finch. When I looked it up
I expected something like crimson crested variegated tolanger or
some such regal sounding name.

The cardinals were out and some were brightly colored instead
of drab winter coloration.

A brown thrasher was in the thick bushes again and we managed
a shot of that elusive critter. And I thought blue jays were
skittish.

Today some white American pelicans did a flyover and it was
something to see. Hard to believe these birds have a 9 feet
wingspan.

When I looked in on this tulip last night it was all closed
up and my thought was the party is over. Imagine my surprise
went I went out this morning and discovered it was only taking
a break.

Enjoy or Monday as it’s looking to be a great day here on the
east coast of Iowa. Now for some more coffee and a bag of
Donettes.
Comments are always welcome.

Sunday snicker

After a wedding rehearsal, the groom approached the priest with his offering for the wedding.

“Look, Father, I will give you $100 if you change the wedding vows for me. When you get to the part where I’m suppose to promise to ‘love, honor and obey and forsake all others and be faithful to her forever’, I would really appreciate it if you would just skip that part.

He gave the priest his $100 offering and left.

When the wedding day arrived, it came time for the groom to say his vows. The priest looked the young man in the eyes and said, “Will you promise to prostrate yourself before her, obey her every command, serve her breakfast in bed every morning for the rest of your life, and swear before God and your lovely wife that you will never, ever, even look at another woman so long as you both shall live?

The groom froze for a moment, looked around and then said in a tiny whisper, “I do.”

After the Mass, the groom pulled the priest aside and hissed at him, “I thought we had a deal.”

The priest slipped the $100 bill back into the groom’s hand and whispered, “The bride’s father made me a much better offer.”

Picture perfect day

Been hearing bird calls like we were invaded by several new
species of birds and today I found the culprit. It is the bird
pictured above, the brown thrasher. They deliberately sing
phrases and repeat them twice.

But what I found interesting is that this bird has the largest
documented song repertoire of all North American birds with
over 1,100 song types. No wonder I couldn’t find all those birds
I was hearing.

And I caught the moon out last night and thought the picture
turned out pretty good so we’ll share it too. If it had been a
full moon we’d need a bigger camera.

This morning a healthy looking squirrel was out digging for
goodies in the neighbors yard while the day was warming up. Not
sure if he found anything but it kept him busy most of the day.

Days like this put a smile on my face and I even learned a
little about the brown thrush. Yeah it’s great when there’s a
blue sky, critters are running around, and we have a freezer
full of pizza. Enjoy your Friday as we have, tomorrow is
Saturday so I’ll mow the lawn. Now I need to check my coffee mug
for a small hole as it keeps coming up empty.
Comments are always welcome.

They live among us

The cardinal was in his tree singing his heart out while the
sun shined down from an almost cloudless sky. Other critters
were doing what they do while our world is going crazy.

If we heard correctly, the Governor of New York gave the right
to vote to 35,000 recently released felons by executive order.
That just sounds wrong on so many levels we’ll leave it at that.

Then we read of a former Oregon City School District teacher’s
aide got sentenced to 28 years in prison for producing child
pornography. In one case this involved an infant and a very
young child. To read the story, go here.

That was followed by a story about a former elementary school
teacher who was sentenced to 5 years for possessing child
pornography involving young girls. To learn more about this one,
go here.

And if that wasn’t enough ICE agents arrested 33 for human
rights violations. Those arrested included 4 Chinese individuals
for conducting forced abortions and sterilizations; a former
intelligence office who tortured dozens in Central America; a
soldier in Central America who guided the military to a
specific village to kill the residents; an intelligence officer
from the Middle East whose surveillance led to arrest, torture,
and murder; and a leader in East Africa who used violence to
force victims into female genitalia Mutilation. More can be
found about this group here.

With all that going on, I’ll stick with the wildlife. Enjoy
our Thursday as it’s the last one this week. Now for more
coffee.
Comments are always welcome.