Not a Sunday snicker

This isn’t going to be a Sunday snicker but will be a tale with a
moral. And it started after the snow, sleet, and freezing rain moved
elsewhere while the clean up began. So here’s the story.

I went out to feed the feral cats and as I was emptying the ice out
of the water bowl to put fresh water in it the feral cat that wants
to get petted all the time approached. I finished the water and put
out food before petting said cat.

The cat then moved away limping on one front paw. This is the only
one of the bunch that spends most of the time outside by herself. So
I wondered if her paw had frostbite as I neared her again. I thought
a little time inside to warm up might fix her problem.

So as I petted her I picked her up and moved slowly toward the porch
door and everything was going fine until the storm door slammed once we were in. I hugged her tighter against my jacket so as not to get clawed. I opened the door to the house, and again everything was fine.

Until… that storm door slammed shut and she managed to claw my
face! Since we were inside now I dropped the cat and ran my fingers
across my face and they came back bloody. So into the bathroom I go
to wash the cuts and put iodine on them.

The wife managed the pet the cat who went under the kitchen table
and even held her for short time before the cat took off like her
tail was on fire. So now I have four slashes by my mustache and a
cat we can’t find. But she’s warm.

If there was a moral to this tale I guess it would be to remember
these critters are wild animals and won’t react like house pets do.
Even after getting scratched I’d do it again before watching an
animal suffer.

Enjoy our snicker free Sunday. Now for more coffee.
Comments are always welcome.

Finally….

You may have noticed I haven’t been here since the start of the week
and I apologize. While the bug on the computer is gone I caught one
myself and am just now getting over it. Sometimes things just hit
us when we aren’t expecting them.

This was a strange experience as I went from sleeping around four
hours a night to sleeping twenty! Hope the old sleeping schedule comes back soon. Posts haven’t been written, chores haven’t been done, and snow hasn’t been shoveled.

But being on the mend feels pretty good. And I’d like to thank the
wife, who I know worries about me, for putting up with me when I am
sick. I am not a cheerful person to be around during such times. So
thank you dear.

Between yesterday and today we got around 5 inches of white fluffy
love from above, some sleet, and topped it off with freezing rain. I
did manage to get outside and get a path to car shoveled and the car
cleared last night before the wife went to work.

Today went out and tried to do some more but that didn’t end well. Have you ever tried to shovel ice? Felt like the shovel was full of car batteries. On that happy note I’ll end this and wish everyone well. Now for some more coffee before I get to the chores.
Comments are always welcome.

Ups and downs

My desktop computer is acting up like it has a bug or something but
I’m hesitant to do a scan as it takes so long. Last time it took
almost 2 days. May not have a choice but have been trying to resolve
the issue.

The sunrise along with my coffee made a great start the other
morning as both were perfect. The hot coffee and cool weather
outside made for a great start to the day.

Same day the tabby came and sat in the snow like she wanted her
picture taken and I couldn’t refuse. She looked almost regal in this
setting. Yes, the snow is over exposed but I still like how the cat
turned out.

This cat is the one that looks like a Main coon and with all the fur
appears bigger than he actually is. That doesn’t stop him from
getting into some spats with the other cats, at times double his
size!

Finally, this picture just took me by surprise. There are no
modifications to it except I downsized it. As mentioned before I have
no Photoshop or Lightroom type editor for the special effects. Just
different camera settings to make thing interesting at times.

Going over to visit Dad tomorrow and will do a post after I return
as the goofy demon box we call a computer is working again. It’s a
little slow but we can live with that while the problem gets fixed.

Enjoy our Monday night as we will. Now for some coffee and chips.
Comments are always welcome.

Sunday snicker

At last, the long-awaited finale of the televised poem competition had arrived.

The pope, who was a keen lyricist and writer of poems, had to everyone’s surprise entered the competition. He immediately announced that he would only be reciting poems about personal spiritual experiences. Despite this limitation, it turned out he was gifted with words and he had made it all the way to the final. His opponent was the favorite to win: a Harvard linguistics professor on the top of his career and with a mind as sharp as a knife’s edge.

The Harvard professor was up first. He was informed of the rules: “Two minutes to come up with a poem, and it must involve Timbuktu.” The clock started, and when the time was up the Harvard professor approached the microphone:
“On my way through desert sand
Met a lonely caravan
Men on camels, two by two
Destination: Timbuktu.”

The crowd went wild. Commentators were lyrical. This was without a doubt the best poem of the competition. The Harvard professor had done it again! But as the crowd settled down their spirits sank. As far as anyone knew, the pope had never been to Timbuktu, which was soon confirmed by the TV commentator. How could the pope have a personal spiritual experience with such a word?!

The elderly pope was walked to the stage and informed of the same rules: “Two minutes to come up with a poem, and it must involve Timbuktu.” The clock was started, but after only a short thought the pope stopped it. Everybody in the competition had used all the provided time, and as the pope approached the microphone a sigh went through the audience. Was he withdrawing from the competition? Would it all end in anti-climax?

No, to everybody’s surprise the pope started to recite his poem based on personal spiritual experience:
“Me and Tim to Brisbane went
Met some ladies, cheap to rent.
They were three and we were two,
So I bucked one, and ‘Tim-bucked-two.'”

Summing it up

When we heard that bad weather could be on the way some cruising had to be done to stock up on sidewalk salt and gas for the snow blower. When running the last errand I got behind this 1954 Chevy sedan delivery. Was going to try to pull up beside but it turned at this intersection.

Went back out around sunset and got this shot with the spire of the
church and some of the sunset in it. Turned out to be the last nice
day before the winter storm. May get out later and take a few more
pictures while I finish removing the ice and white fluffy love from
above.

Couldn’t get a picture of the moon last night night as the sky was
filled with clouds but did get this one from a few nights ago. It
was cloudy that night yet not near as bad as yesterday with the
storm bearing down on us.

Got a feeling we won’t need the snow blower this go round. Some of
the salt will be used as it’s pretty slick with the ice under a thin
layer of snow. That does make it interesting to get around though.
Hoping there are some car auctions on TV as the forecast calls for
some below zero lows next week.

When it gets that cold we don’t go out unless we need to or I see
a Kodak moment begging for a picture. Enjoy our Saturday as before
we know it the weekend will be gone. Now I need more coffee before
venturing back out.
Comments are always welcome.

Of interesting days

Today has been like no other, at least in my feeble memory. Started
at the grocery store where they are in the process of moving just
about everything from where we knew it was to a new location. We
spent the time there trying to second guess where some things were.

Then we watched the Bullit Mustang sell for $3.4 million at the
Mecum auction. Some people do have more money than sense. It was
interesting to watch though.

And at some point between now and tomorrow night we’re supposed to get up to a quarter inch of ice, 1 inch of sleet, and 7 inches of snow. We’ll see how that turns out. We better get something as we now have 100 pounds of salt on the back porch.

Wouldn’t break my heart if we didn’t get anything except a little
cooler. But the people who talk about the weather on TV are all
pretty much on the same page so we could get hit with a storm.

When I talked to our youngest down in Oklahoma the tornado sirens
were going off so they’re getting some bad weather down there also.
We don’t chalk it up to climate change. The government didn’t fix
our healthcare system and they sure can’t change the climate. Put
them in charge and we’ll higher taxes and the same climate we have
now.

Enjoy the rest of our Friday as we will. Now for some more coffee
and a snack.
Comments are always welcome.

Strange day

Yesterday was one of those days that make you think. Earlier we
cruised over to a Village Inn to grab a bite to eat and noticed it
was busy for mid-week. Usually we get good service and the food is
also good, but yesterday after ordering it took forever to get our
food.

When we did it both of our ‘hot’ sandwiches were cold. On the plus
side, the waitress didn’t bug us every two minutes to ask how things
were going. Can’t win them all.

Then later in the day I noticed we were out of smokes so cruised over
to a gas staion to refill. The usually grumpy cleark was actually
smiling and wished me a good day. That was strange in itself.

But coming home I noticed a camera crew from a local news channel on
a corner about 2 blocks from our house. Didn’t think much of it as
they were panning the street and not focusing on any one house or
person. Then local TV news came on later and it got stranger.

Turns out a 74 year old man was killed after a teen forced his way
into the house with the intention of stealing his car! To make things
even stranger I actually had met the man at a few different local
government meetings.

The police caught the teen who did it riding around in the stolen
car. Needless to say neighbors are a little upset. And in case you’re
thinking a gun was used, we’re told the old man was strangled. Some
things just don’t make sense to us.

Enjoy our Thursday as here on the east coast of Iowa we’re waiting
to see if we get the winter storm predicted. Rain, freezing rain,
then snow isn’t a good combination. Now for some coffee and pizza
rolls.
Comments are always welcome.