A few more pictures

Have you ever had one of those days when your brain goes on vacation and doesn’t let you know? Yesterday was one of those days when the lights were on but nobody was home. Even with good intentions of getting more done, I lost a day. A lot of what I thought was done was not and I missed a post again.

I did get out to take a few pictures like this one of the bird watching me watching him. Sometimes you wonder what they’re thinking but yesterday was not such a day.

This little squirrel didn’t like being watched and scampered off while the camera was pointed at her. Must have gotten cold as it has been chilly around here lately.

These two were perched in a small tree and kept looking around. Not sure what they were looking for but they kept it up quite a while.

Even the sky was a distraction. In one direction the jet with contrails cut across the blue and in another I thought of the waves off North Shore in Hawaii. I could imagine surfers riding this wave. The thought didn’t warm me up but did put a smile on my face.

Enjoy our Thursday as the weekend is just a dream away. Now for some coffee and leftover pizza.
Comments are always welcome.

The day that got away from me

Even though I woke up early the day got away from me and now it’s after three. It all started with video of a former president telling a lame old joke that got me laughing.

Left the house, stopped to get Dad doughnuts, gassed up the car, then went to Dads and had a great visit. I told him about the joke that got me going this morning and he cracked a smile and admitted it was an old one. After I left his place to come home the day’s a blank.

I know chores were done to keep the body busy and I was outside several times to enjoy the day, but not where the time went. I guess as we get older the short term memory goes first. But enjoy the rest of our Tuesday as we will. Now I’m going for coffee since I can’t remember if I’ve had any yet.
Comments are always welcome.

Here we go again

The more I hear about Medicare for All the more I hope it never sees the light of day. The first thing that pops out is the huge cost of
this plan which would put everyone in America on this plan while ending Medicare, Medicade, Obamacare, and employer provided insurance.

This bill, introduced in 2017, would cover all medical costs from
doctor visits to surgery including mental health, dental and vision.
All this with no cost to the individual except a co-pay on prescriptions capped at $200 per year and possibly long-term care. The
cost for all this?

Estimates sit at around $2.5 to 3.2 trillion per year. It would essentially be a single payer system. I don’t know about everyone else, but I liked the insurance we had before Obamacare. This sounds like Obamacare on steroids and I dread to think of all the hidden taxes that would be buried in the bill.

Senator Bernie Sanders, who came up with the idea, claims costs would drop due to the bargaining power of the power of the government. Of course Sanders does have some ideas for new taxes to help with the cost. He would raise taxes on income over $250,000 and reach its peak at 52% for those whose incomes are above $10 million while redirecting around $2 trillion in government spending to the program.

And all this at no cost to us. No premiums, one small co-pay, what a
deal. No thanks. We’re not happy where our tax rate is now and if this goes through it would probably double. There are no free lunches and
this plan would be as far from free as one could get.

Enjoy our Monday. Now for some coffee before going back outside to get some sanity back in my life.
Comments are always welcome.

Sunday snicker

There’s this guy who had been lost and walking in the desert for about 2 weeks. One hot day, he sees the home of a missionary. Tired and weak, he crawls up to the house and collapses on the doorstep. The missionary finds him and nurses him back to health. Feeling better, the man asks the missionary for directions to the nearest town. On his way out the backdoor, he sees this horse. He goes back into the house and asks the missionary, “Could I borrow your horse and give it back when I reach the town?”

The missionary says, “Sure but there is a special thing about this horse. You have to say ‘Thank God’ to make it go and ‘Amen’ to make it stop.”

Not paying much attetion, the man says, “Sure, ok.”

So he gets on the horse and says, “Thank God” and the horse starts walking. Then he says, “Thank God, thank God,” and the horse starts trotting. Feeling really brave, the man says, “Thank God, thank God, thank God, thank God, thank God” and the horse just takes off. Pretty soon he sees this cliff coming up and he’s doing everything he can to make the horse stop.

“Whoa, stop, hold on!!!!”

Finally he remembers, “Amen!!”

The horse stops 4 inches from the cliff. Then the man leans back in the saddle and says, “Thank God.”

Gone crazy?

I woke the wife up again while making too much noise and thrashing around in my sleep. I knew it was a good one from the look the wife was giving me. But being prepared for such instances as explanation was due. Surely once she heard what the dream was about her mind would change. No sale!

Starting with a question I asked her ‘why don’t mortuaries have half-buckets?’ She asked ‘half-buckets of what?’ and I admitted to knowing what they were used for, only that I sold them. So she asked why I was fighting in my sleep and I explained an idea that didn’t go over so well with the Mortician. It made perfect sense at the time yet looking back perhaps not. I really thought putting a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise near the entrance would be a no brainer.

First off it would give the mortuary a whole new welcoming smell and one could grab a bite before going to visitation for weird Uncle Phil without drving all over town. Yeah, the mortician didn’t get it either. The wife still thinks I’m crazy and I didn’t help her assessment this morning when I saw a grocery store ad on the kitchen table.

I slapped the table and said ‘that’s it!’, if we sold Snicker’s in the KFC grumpy people could come in and get one then go to visitation with a better attitude. It works on TV. The dream didn’t seem weird to me but the wife has other ideas.

Enjoy the rest of our Saturday because in what will feel like a few hours Monday will be back. Now I need some coffee and a Snicker’s.
Comments are always welcome.

Getting ready

I’m going to take the wife to shortly but after getting our grocery shopping done we noticed this cardinal sitting in what we thought was a peaceful setting. It isn’t really, but it did look that way when we glanced over there..

A few squirrels were out and about, this one looked to be praying or else thought he was a Zen master. Not sure which but he was entertaining to watch. He and his buddies must like the warmer weather we’ll be having for a few days.

At the far end of the yard the Darth Vader of cats wes watching all the action. He never moved yet his eyes took in everything. It might have felt creepy to some but we know he’s just having some fun.

And the snow here is looking like it’s plastic coated as we had the snow followed by freezing rain which gives it a whole new look. It looks, and is, slick. With the thermometer getting up near 40 today perhaps we’ll have less of this as tonight we’re predicted to get rain followed by snow.

Since our politicians have learned the art of vocal voodoo I believe they should work on making woodpeckers bigger. We’ve had one hammering away at a nearby tree and only see a small red dot when we try to zoom in on it. If our politicians would pass a law to make them bigger, we’d appreciate it.

Enjoy our Friday as we will after I have my cheeseburger with pepper-jack cheese and the wife her soup.
Comments are always welcome.

Just a few more

The clouds parted later last night so I managed to get a decent picture of the almost full moon. After uploading the picture it looked
like Monty, the man in the moon, had measles. As we talked he
assured me it was merely an allergy.

This morning I heard a cardinal singing away and It took me a while to
pinpoint his perch. He was at the top of a tree nearly a block away. He
sang for quite some time and I stood in the snow enjoying it.

This little bird was sitting on a branch of a volunteer tree a little
closer than the cardinal and although not as colorful, still enjoyable.
Not sure what this one was waiting for.

Then the cardinal landed on a nearby chimney only to fly off again
to see more of the east coast of Iowa. Not sure what he was up to but
he kept himself busy.

Finally this little bird flew into the seed when I put it out this
morning and looked happy as a kid in a candy store. Makes me wish all
birds could talk and hear what this bird was thinking.

We may be without water for a while today and when we got the call I
thought of how living in the city one takes water for granted. We just
assume it always be there and some get confused when they open
the tap and nothing comes out.

Enjoy our Thursday and the pictures as I need more coffee now while
the water’s still running.
Comments are always welcome.

Making plans

Monday night I saw the almost full Snow Moon in a haze of clouds and took a few shots to see if they’d come out. This one was the best of the bunch so we’ll share it.

A couple of smaller birds pounced the the seeds yesterday and one seemed to be in a hurry to eat, or scare the other critters away so he could have it all. And then this morning, in the freezing drizzle, a cardinal made himself to home.

I thought I’d scared him as I started laughing and couldn’t stop. With the freezing drizzle coming down he looked like someone had salted his tail! But he stuck around I got a few more pictures to go with this one.

He stayed for quite a while before flying off to his nearby nest. So I put the camera down and stepped further out to check how the driveway and alley looked after the snow last night and the freezing rain this morning. At that time a decision was made to go back inside and have a cup of coffee while planning how to remove the small mess that had been made overnight.

The local news broadcast told me the freezing drizzle would stop around mid-morning so we’ll wait until then before we attack the white fluffy love from above. Rather have the ice on top of the snow than under it. So Enjoy our Wednesday as it means we’re halfway to the weekend. Now for some more coffee and another look outside.
Comments are always welcome.

Random ramblings

This cardinal was out and about early and decided to pose for a picture that turned out pretty good. Another snow storm is supposed to hit us tonight into tomorrow bringing us up to another 5 inches of the white fluffy love above.

I tried to listen to the news on TV but turned it off once the Today show started. Local news is bearable but the National programs usuallyget me worked up and yelling at the TV over comments made. It would be easier to take if said TV news wasn’t so biased.

Why the weather forecasters feel it important to add how many people will be affected by a snow storm is beyond me. If memory serves me correctly, back in the day they might mention how many states were in the path of the storm and not how many people will be involved.

To me that makes no sense. But I guess at some point in the future the global climate change people will claim more people are affected by winter than ever before. And the birds and other critters just go about their business like nothing different is going on.

Something else that makes no sense to me is how crazy politicians have become. Some of the accusations and actions of this group have us shaking our heads. Just another reason we avoid the media and spend so much time outdoors. If you’re outside enough, the wildlife seem to make a lot more sense then someone being offended by something that we used to have the right to say.

Enjoy our Tuesday as we will. Now for some coffee.
Comments are always welcome.

The white stuff

It snowed off and on all day yesterday and even the birds took to higher ground. They perched on wires, fences, and tree branches to watched the white fluffy love from above make its way to the ground. A few of the birds liked the snow and played in it.

Never heard how much snow we got but do know I was out a few times pushing the snow blower and a shovel. For a change it was a light snow so the work wasn’t hard, just aggravating. The snow would quit falling and when done the driveway, alley, and front walks were down to bare pavement.

So I’d watch some of the Daytona 500 until the snow started again and my gear went back on to remove it. When the snow falls there is usually an eerie quiet that is only broken by the sound of snow blowers and shovels scraping bare pavement. Even the birds just looked on in silence.

The last time out was after sunset so I decided to do one more pass and leave the inch of snow that fell later until today. Since I knew the moon would be out I looked to the Heavens only to see a blanket of white covered the sky. It looked like even the sun couldn’t penetrate the snow.

Now I’m getting ready to go back out and shovel again. With the sun shining today it should be a piece of cake. Plus I can see what I’m doing. To those who dislike winter and the snow that sometimes falls I will say it’s only about 3 weeks until Spring.

So enjoy our Monday as it means we’re one day closer to Spring. Now I need coffee and bacon before going out.
Comments are always welcome.