Just thinking

When out watching the clouds roll by I realized that regardless of
who is the Democrat candidate for president in November it will be
no surprise. And the recent free for alls the media calls debates are
not worth my time either.

It’s why I spend as much time outside as possible. Well that and
there are no calendars out there. I’m a little confused today as I
thought Tuesday was Thursday and from there my week hasn’t gotten
any better.

And I go outside a lot. Watching weeds sway in the breeze, the
clouds float across the sky, or the wild critters darting about help
me keep my sanity. That all makes sense to me. Politics, and the
media coverage, don’t.

While I can make sense out of all nature has to offer I cannot
predict what’s going to happen. That’s the fun part. You just don’t
know what you’ll find until you go out and have a look. Sometimes
there is nothing to see. Other times the wonders are abundant.

So, at least until after the election, I’ll be outside seeing what
there is to be seen. No reruns, no commercials, and no movies that
we’ve seen so many times we know them by heart. Getting some fresh
air doesn’t hurt either.

Can’t say I miss the TV when I’m out or the words of some
person I’ll never meet. Let the dust settle and stay calm. Enjoy
our Friday as before we know it the weekend will be gone. Now for
more coffee.
Comments are always welcome.

The storm that wasn’t

Wouldn’t want to be one of the professional weather guessers around
here after the recent ‘winter storm’ warnings fizzled out and said
storm ended up miles to the south of us. Every TV channel had a guy
doing the weather saying it was going to be a bad with some forecasts
saying rain, then up to 10 inches of snow, then high winds causing
drifts.

And… we got nothing. The pavement didn’t even get wet! On April
1st we’d all get a good laugh out of it, but not so much now. Our
poor snow blower is feeling neglected. I go out to the garage and
check on it every so often to make sure it didn’t run away from home.

Since we didn’t get the predicted storm I went over to Dads yesterday
and brought along some chili I had made and donuts. He was like a kid
in a candy store. He’s 94 and had to tell me again that he’s been
hungry for chili and hadn’t had any for a while. He forgot he’d told
me that the last two visits.

But he’s still living in his own home, gets around pretty good, and
can remember things that happened in the late 30s like it was
yesterday. It was a good visit and I hope he enjoys his chili.

Enjoy our Wednesday as it’s the only one we get this week. Now I
need to refill my coffee as somebody drank it.
Comments are always welcome.

Have you ever…

gotten a feeling that someone was watching you? Went out yesterday to get some pictures but could find no birds, squirrels, or other critters for a Kodak moment. Didn’t find any but got a feeling that somebody was watching. So looking all around, and finding no peepers, I looked to the sky.

The first clouds seen reminded me of someone winking at me. I took a
couple of shots and looked around some more. While I found no more
faces winking at me the other clouds were impressive also.

It was almost 60 degrees out and enjoying the day was the plan. So
today, although I’ve gotten a lot done, the sky is that gray which
tells me a storm is coming. As always, that confuses the hell of out
me as those who professionally guess what the weather is going to do
are saying rain and then snow.

Now problem there but the forecasts range from 1-2 inches of white
fluffy love from above to 8-12 inches! Guess we’ll do what we always
do in such circumstances, go outside after it snows and see how high
it got.

Was going to post this earlier but our internet, TV, and phone all
decided to take a break at the same time. Just got things back up
so better late than never.

So enjoy our Monday as we can’t change the weather or the day. Now
for some coffee before getting busy again.
Comments are always welcome.

Sunday snicker

Saint Peter had a terrible cold and fever and didn’t think he would last the day minding the Pearly Gates of Heaven. So he phoned Jesus to ask for the day off.

“Why, Peter,” Jesus said. “You know your health is my first concern. Take as much time as you need.”

As Jesus pondered who he might use to replace Peter, he decided to handle the job himself. It was a very slow day and no one approached the Gates until late in the afternoon, when in the distance, Jesus saw a bent, white-haired old man slowly making his way up the path with the aid of a gnarled cane.

As the man neared, Jesus said, “Good afternoon, Sir. How may I help you?”

“Well,” replied the man, “I was hoping to enter the Gates of Heaven.”

“We would certainly love to have you,” said Jesus, “But we do have certain rules as to who can enter Heaven. Tell me, what have you done to deserve such an honor?”

“Actually, I have done nothing so wonderful myself,” said the man. “I lived in a small town and led a simple life as a carpenter. But my son,” he continued, “now he was special!”

With pride in his voice he said, “I raised him to be a carpenter like myself and did my best to teach him right from wrong. And when he grew older, an amazing transformation overcame him and to this day he’s known throughout the world and loved by all alike.”

As Jesus listened to the story, a sense of recognition came to him. With a lump in his throat and a tear in his eye, he threw open his arms and cried, “Father!”

Emotional at this outburst, the old man threw open his arms and yelled, “Pinocchio!”

Not again

Been trying to post the last few days but have been so tongue-tied
that I can’t get the keyboard to work right. And it all started with
the Democrat ‘debate’. No, I didn’t watch but can’t avoid the clips
during the news. That’s enough to put me off politics for a while.

So let’s mention a car show. Tomorrow and Sunday the 51st Annual
O’Reilly Rod & Custom Car Show will be held at the Berndes Center.
The address is 766 N. Maple St., Monticello, Iowa, and Dave Palmer
from 3-D Sound will be providing the music.

We have been to this show many times and have always had a good time and seen some great rides. We can’t make this one but the weather is supposed to be good if you feel like cruising up there.

And we figured out we’re getting old today. Cruised over to get
groceries at our regular store and realized after we walked in that
we didn’t know where anything was, and didn’t like the feeling. We
did manage to find what we needed but feel the place is getting a
little too fancy for us.

After all, the place has had a cafe but now they have a Starbuck’s
too! One employee even had the nerve to tell me the pizzas are going
to get moved during the remodel. Oh the humanity. I’m sure the place
will look fancy when done but I’ve always said ‘why fix it if it
ain’t broke?’.

Enjoy our Friday as we will. Now for some coffee and a short break.
Comments are always welcome.

Good days

On the way over to Dads yesterday I stopped by the overlook in the
west end for a glance of the Mississippi river and the bridge across
it. Strange morning with the bright sky and the fog not burned off
yet but the sight calmed my soul anyway.

The day turned out to be a good one. Had a nice talk with Dad then
came back home so the wife could over and help her Mom out a little.
The wife was a bit upset over a bill in our state senate that concerns
end stage health care.

It is basically an assisted suicide bill for those with 6 months or
less to live. Not sure how the terminally ill feel about it but it
wouldn’t be for me. I’ll take every day I can get.

At Dads, he claimed he was worn out as the dancing girls kept him
up all night. Said dancing girls are imaginary but I guess he has a
good imagination. At 94 I’d don’t think he’d party too late.

And the predicted ‘polar coaster’ is running into overtime again. We
had a couple days in the high 30s, now we’ll go back to single digit
lows, then by the end of week we’ll be close to 50. I think a more
apt name would be the ‘polar yo-yo’.

Not sure what’s going on with those running for president as I have
been avoiding the TV again. Did see the Daytona 500 finish and hope
not to see another like it. We hope Ryan Newman gets well soon.

Enjoy our Wednesday as we know what that means. Now for some
coffee and an early breakfast.
Comments are always welcome.

Short update

Well it’s Presidents Day, the Daytona 500 had a rain delay so the
remainder of the race shown this afternoon, and it’s raining here on
the east coast of Iowa. Perhaps the rain will melt the rest of the
snow from our yards.

Yesterday was my Mother-in-laws birthday so her, the wife and I, my sister-in-law, and niece went out for breakfast. The wife and her Mom always get a laugh out of my order. Every time we go to breakfast I have biscuits and gravy and see nothing funny about it but it gets them giggling.

I order that because I like it and unlike some choices it doesn’t
contain something I don’t like. And it gives them a smile so that is
a bonus.

Tomorrow I’ll go over and visit Dad and see what’s new there. He may
have good tale to tell. In the mean time I’ll keep plugging along
with a few chores that didn’t get done yesterday.

Enjoy our Monday because it’s here and we can change that anyway.
Now for more coffee.
Comments are always welcome.

Sunday snicker

An Irishman moves into a tiny hamlet in County Kerry, walks into the pub and promptly orders three beers.

The bartender raises his eyebrows, but serves the man three beers, which he drinks quietly at a table, alone.

An hour later, the man has finished the three beers and orders three more.

This happens yet again.

The next evening the man again orders and drinks three beers at a time, several times. Soon the entire town is whispering about the Man Who Orders Three Beers.

Finally, a week later, the bartender broaches the subject on behalf of the town. “I don’t mean to pry, but folks around here are wondering why you always order three beers?”

‘Tis odd, isn’t it?” the man replies, “You see, I have two brothers, and one went to America, and the other to Australia. We promised each other that we would always order an extra two beers whenever we drank as a way of keeping up the family bond.”

The bartender and the whole town was pleased with this answer, and soon the Man Who Orders Three Beers became a local celebrity and source of pride to the hamlet, even to the extent that out-of-towners would come to watch him drink.

Then, one day, the man comes in and orders only two beers. The bartender pours them with a heavy heart. This continues for the rest of the evening – he orders only two beers. The word flies around town. Prayers are offered for the soul of one of the brothers.

The next day, the bartender says to the man, “Folks around here, me first of all, want to offer condolences to you for the death of your brother. You know-the two beers and all…”

The man ponders this for a moment, then replies, “You’ll be happy to hear that my two brothers are alive and well… It’s just that I, myself, have decided to give up drinking for Lent.”

Happy day

Well we finally have our computer back. After trying several different
things, a lot of praying, and a little bit of cussing, the desktop is
working again. Not sure who hacked us but will find that out also. The
last time this happened the hacker was tracked to a fine arts college
in Florida and I emailed said college to let them know their system
could have a problem.

We’d like to thank everyone who offered suggestions as we were a
little overwhelmed at first.

Yesterday the wind chills were below zero here yet today we’ll get
into the middle thirties and close to 40 tomorrow. That didn’t stop
the birds from coming out though. The cardinal kept singing for his
mate but she didn’t show up while we were out.

Even the feral cats were out enjoying the sun. They didn’t look
happy to be doing so but they did it anyway. Patches, on the right,
seems to have an attitude problem on a good day.

Before getting the problem fixed I considered getting up into the
neighbors tree house and just look around. My mind changed when an
idea came to me that actually fixed our computer problem. Perhaps
next time.

The Daytona 500 is tomorrow so enjoy the rest of today as we should
now get back to regular postings, again. Now for coffee and a snack.
Comments are always welcome.

What luck

The scan on the desktop took 2 days and said there is nothing wrong with it but it still won’t let me log in. So I got the laptop going again to post while I pull my hair out. Since the desktop has Windows 7, guess it’s about time to get a newer operating system if I can’t figure it out.

In other news, the wife and I have been eating healthy the last few days and it dammed near killed me! Well not really, but I was going through pizza withdrawal with all the vegetables. Have now decided to go back on my pizza routine and leave the healthy eating to the wife. We’ll keep you posted on how that works.

Also went over to Dads today and had a good chat. We talked of all kinds of things from the winter of 36′, old John Deere tractors, and he even hinted if I made some chili he’d like some. His caregiver got me laughing when she asked me about being self-employed. She was thinking of doing it herself until I told her a little of what all was involved.

The caregiver also mentioned how much she hates Trump and wants someone in the Oval Office that would fix the economy. I replied I thought the economy was doing good and she agreed but said she couldn’t give Trump credit for that. She’s welcome to her opinion.

And we got some white fluffy love above and are supposed to get more into tomorrow before the temperatures here on the east coast of Iowa drop into the deep freeze. Might as say enjoy our Thursday as we’ll be there in another hour anyway. Now for more coffee and some pizza rolls.
Comments are always welcome.