really??

 People don't always understand stuff

    I admit I don't understand a lot of stuff.  Like how my I-pone knows how many steps I took today.  Or how I can place an online order and get a confirmation number within minutes.

    But I think I understand climate in a pretty basic way.

    The oceans  are warming.  Ice packs are melting.  The Earth is getting warmer.  But that does not mean we are going to be warmer.  It means ocean currents may change, causing weather patterns to change.  

    The Gulf of Mexico has had warm temperatures in. recent ears, which means more powerful storms in the Gulf.

    Warmer oceans will cause weather changes.

    When scientists labeled it Global Warming back in the 80s, I think people assumed winter would disappear.

    Climate Change is a much better description.

    In some places summers will be hotter, in other places summers may be cooler.

    That is my basic understanding of climate.

    So when it is -9 outside, like it is now, please don't ask what happened to global warming.  

    Speaking of weather, we had Kevin, Jen and Sam over tonight.  They brought food and dessert to celebrate Jen's birthday. Kevin's mom Sandy was here, so were Julia and Emily.  It was a nice gathering.

    And great food!  Thank you for feeding the Dickows!!

    At one point we wondered what the temperature was.  People started pulling out their phones. I think we got 5 different temperatures and wind chill indexes!  Some of the wind chills were 10 degrees apart, while the actual temperatures seemed to range from -9 to -12.

    But one thing we agreed on...... it was damn cold!

    WGN weather said the storm system developing in the south west may drop 12-18 inches of snow in Oklahoma!!!  No driving a surrey with the fringe on top for the next few days.  (OK, you may be too young for that reference..... or it may just be too far out.  I don't know.)

    And it snowed in Florida this week...iguanas fell out of the trees cause it was so cold.

    The storm system moving out of the southwest could be a real problem for a lot of people.

    I just have to remember....pitchers and catchers report in 3 weeks or so.

Peace and Love

    

olio

 Just a lot of odds and ends tonight

    I bought some Tide detergent recently.  I don't really need it, but I had a $3 off coupon that expires Jan. 26.  Hence the purchase.

    We have been using Tide for years.  Always get the 84 oz size.  So that's what I bought.  But when I got home, it was only 80 oz.!  So the product is smaller, and the price is higher.  I bet they are hoping people don't pay attention.

    I love the ag secretary who said most retirees have several homes.  He's right.  My other home is a van parked down by the river.

    I get sucked into a rabbit hole on FB when I click on Reels.  

    I love the 2 Brits doing how to kill an hour.  But I am also fascinated by reels of old abandoned homes.  Wish they would tell where they are and why they are abandoned.

    Another one iI like is when they fix up an old home.  Time lapse video shows the restoration process and I am fascinated.

    And fixing up old abandoned houses is the cat's meow!

    But the one reel that really grabs me is done by several people.  They show how to cut molding to go around corners, match up going from one wall to another and changing sizes of base trim, and all sorts of other woodworking tips.  It looks so easy. It would. take me days to figure out how to do the cuts.

    Even seeing them do it, I would not be able to replicate their moves.

    I hate laugh tracks on tv shows.  

    I am watching Twilight Zone  on Paramount +.  I forgot how many big Hollywood names they had on the show.  In one of the early episodes a little boy, looked about 5, seemed very familiar.  It was Ron Howard!  

    I also forgot how quirky the show was.  And ironic. I am enjoying it.

    Stay warm.  If you have water lines on outside walls, leave cabinets open and let the water drip a little so you won't have frozen pipes.

    And watch out for exploding trees.

Peace and Love

    

    

    

Wired

If it ain't broke, don't fix it

    Our Invisible Fence thingy bob (that is the technical name for it) was beeping like crazy Monday.  A beeping indicates a line break.

    No one has been digging for months.  I unplugged the unit.  And I  put in a service call for a repair.

    Tuesday I plugged it in and it was beeping.  I unplugged the unit.

     This morning I plugged it back in and ...... no beeping.  Not a peep.  Or is it beep?  Whatever.

    When the service tech came I told him what happened.  He said that frequently happens when a line has been cut and the repair dd not hold.

    So he ran his diagnostic tool all over the yard and found a badly repaired break in the area where the cable guys ran 3 sets of cable last spring because we were having internet problems.   And it turned out, it was not the cable after all.

     Go figure.

    The break has been repaired and our system is up and running.

    I was also running today as I ran the dishwasher, which meant all the dishes were clean.  Jackie suggested changing our winter dishes for our summer dishes, which kept me busy for quite a while.

    I also managed to get to a church meeting via zoom and Walmart for some groceries.  Met a friend while waiting at the deli counter.  At first I did not recognize Bobbi because she was in profile.  When she turned I knew it was her.

    Ran into another person who asked when our next Exit 99 show was going to be.  Sarah said she and her friends had a great time at the last show and that we were veery funny.  She did not say I was the funniest one, but that was implied.

    Listened to WGN weather on the computer and they said it could be -30 to -40 wind chills Friday morning with a high temp during day at -9.  To think, 1 year ago Emily and I were in Key West.  Eating key lime pie.  Sweating.  What a great memory for a cold day.

    I wonder if there will be in school or remote learning Friday. 

    Another reminder o why I enjoy retirement.  For he most part.

Peace and Love

Brrrrrrr ace yourselves!

 It is going to get cold

    Jackie just heard on the news that the wind chill Friday morning could be in the -30 range.  -30!  Damn. That is cold!!

    It will be a good day to stay inside and just keep warm.

    Of course, that is what I do everyday.  But at least Friday I will have a reason.  Maybe I'll even read a little.  Have a hot chocolate.  Watch a movie.

    Who am I kidding?  Laundry, dishes, and solitaire....that will be my day.

    On Jan 1, 1920, the Palmer Raids took place in Chicago.

    Politicians were upset at the protestors who were against our involvement in The Great War so they rounded up known protestors,  immigrants, union people and even some people eating in a vegetarian restaurant, evidently those types of people are communists.

    Neil Steinberg writes about it in Every G - - damn Day.  He chronicles  a news story or true event  for each day of the year.  365 stories.  Some are early, some are relatively new.  So he scoured the newspapers for Jan. 1 and found that.  They are all in the Chicago area.  Important point, I guess.

    What was funny, or ironic perhaps, was when he wrote, it was "a low point in the history of American freedom of expression."

    Wonder how he would describe today's actions.

    We have special pillow shams for the Cubs and Bears, as well as  plain shams.

    When the Cubs were playing, I put away the plain ones.  When the Bears started, I put away. the Cubs ones.

    I hope to find the Cubs ones before the season starts, but so far they are lost. So are the plain ones.

    Maybe I put them with the Christmas presents we can't find.

    Friday might be a good day to look.

Peace and Love

the end is near

 We are almost done with football

    It has been a long, exciting football season.

    I watched Indiana beat Miami for the college championship.  That makes, let me count, 1 college game I watched from beginning to end.

    I caught endings of games, starts of games, but to be honest, I am not a big college or high school football fan.

    And college these days?

    When players are looking for the dough, it seems to take some of the fun out of the game for me.

    In tonight's game they seemed to talk a lot about players who came from other schools.  One quarterback was in his sixth season.

    Name, Image, Likeness money seems to be attracting these guys.

    In a way, I don' blame them.  Universities make a lot of money off of big time football programs.  If a student athlete can profit from it, so be it.  Most of these kids will not make it in the pros.  Some will be injured and unable to play at the level they were playing.  So,  take the money.  Invest it.  Live wisely.

    I am working on my second million.  The first was too hard, so I started working on the second instead.  I know, old joke.

    Our nephew stayed over last night and he left through the garage this morning. I was with him  and we both heard this high pitched beeping noise.  

    Turns out the invisible fence unit is not functioning.   I have a service appointment set of Wednesday afternoon.  I don't know if Beth will leave the yard when it is this cold, but I will be keeping a close on eye on her.

    According to the trouble shooting guide, the beeping indicates a broken wire.  But there has been no digging in the yard.  Maybe a frost heave?  Or a ground squirrel chewing through the wire? 

    I have a feeling I may need a million to find out.

Peace and Love

dang it

 It was an interesting and exciting season

    I did not expect the Bears to make it to the playoffs, but once they got there I did not think they would lose.  Every game seemed to have some magic in the fourth quarter.

    And they almost won tonight.

    But almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

    This was a big family weekend!

    We Faced Timed with meh nephew and his wife  in Switzerland for a while this morning.  We con't talk as often as we should, and Face Time really makes it easy to communicate.  But the time zones make it hard for me to remember to call.  I don't want to call at 4 p.m. because that is 10 in Switzerland.  And I forget to call earlier.

    I visited my sister-in-law Friday in Byron,  today my other sister -in-law,  our niece,  her daughter, Julia, Emily, Jackie and I all enjoyed some family time and food at our house.

    My niece brought a pasta dish we all shared and it was nice visiting with everyone.  Then nephew Jason stopped over tonight to watch the Bears, visit, and spend the night.  He has been visiting his mom in Byron and taking care of arrangements for a move, possibly by the end of this week.  Tomorrow he heads back east.

    I hope to get Jackie up to Byron to visit sometime this week, otherwise she might not have a chance to say goodbye.

    This business of aging is not all it is cracked up to be.

    Sure we get discounts at stores, but when the body starts to decline, all sorts of issues arrive.    

    But enough of that.

    I do want Cubs fans to know that pitchers and catchers report Wednesday, Feb. 11. just a little over 3 weeks from now.

    That always makes the winter seem short.

Peace and Love

a diller, a dollar

 Today was kind of a miserable day

    Cold.  Snowy.  Not much done.

    One year ago this date Emily and I got off an airplane in Key West and started sweating and eating Key Lime pie.  That was a great time.

    Our cuckoo clock stopped working last week.  Today I took it down and remounted it on the wall.

    I think the nail just worked loose, causing the clock to tilt.  I put a drywall anchor in, inserted a screw, and put the clock back .

    That was 6 hours ago and it seems to be working fine..

    Go figure.

    I also learned a new word:  Bastide.  Now there are words that sound like it, but are not.  Bastide describes a new fortified town in the hill countries of France and some other European countries.  By "new" they mean formed in the 12th or 13th century, you know, when I was a kid.

    I was reading a FB page about  a beautiful French village, and the Bastide word was used to describe the town.    It is one of those places I would love to visit.

    Maybe after we take over Greenland I will have to.

    Jackie was watching a home show where people who come into money buy their dream home.

    I was not watching, but with a couple of minutes left I stopped to see what they bought.

    I think their budget for the Costa Rican property was $5 million.

    They did not find anything they liked, so they built a house at a cost of about $5.5 million.  It has an open layout and it looked like marble floors throughout.  It was 9,000 square feet, with 7 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms.

    It was huge.  There was an infinity pool and when you sat in it you watch the ocean.

    Then they said the words that frosted my cake.

    "This will be a great place for us to go when we want to get away."

    It's not even their primary residence!!!

    A $5.5 million get away with 7 bedrooms?

    My choice would be a 2 bedroom house on a lake.  2 bedrooms so I don't get a lot of company when I want to get away.

    And I think Jackie said they made their money the old fashioned way...... they inherited $4 million of it.

    Oh, if we all had rich relatives leaving us dough...that would be nice.

    Not looking so good for the 49ers........at the half they are down a lot.  I was hoping Brock Purdy would win.  I was also hoping Josh Allen and Buffalo would win.  No go there either.

    I won't put the jinx on the Bears.

Peace and Love