Timing

 Timing is everything in life

    Look at Jeff Bezos, for instance.  He built a $300 million yacht and how has to pay the Dutch government to remove a bridge then replace it  so he can get the tub out into the open water.

    In the meantime, Prime memberships are going up in cost.  Someone has to pay for that yacht, right?  Might as well be us.

    People are  noticing gas prices are going up, and almost the same week Chevron and Shell announced each had record profits of over $6 billion in the fourth quarter.  Guess where those profits came from!

    Chipolte announced they were increasing the price of a borrito and their CEO got a $24 million raise.  

    To be honest, if someone is paying $300 million for a yacht while people are homeless then something is wrong with our tax code. Think of how many affordable homes could be built with the money going toward a yacht.  Holy crap.

    Now that my rant is over, went to DeKalb today to get Corki her allergy medication.  Left about 1:45, made a quick stop in Rochelle, then another quick stop to make a phone call, then a stop in Creston to make a phone call clarifying my first phone call.   Yes, I have hands free but the person is not in my address book for the phone.  I don't think.  I had to call because the church board was meeting and since I said I was planning on Zooming, they wanted to find out where I was.  Timing.

    I finished my stops in DeKalb at about 4:15 and went to order Chinese food at our favorite place, Yin Chings.  They were pretty darn busy and there was only one person (not Marilyn, who looks remarkably like her  sister) handling customers, phone orders, bussing tables....she was really running!  Literally!  She would take an order, run to the back, get the drinks, serve them, run to the phone.  I got tired watching her.

   Leaving there 4:40, I placed a Starbucks order.  I almost placed an order for 6 coffees, but I looked at my order carefully and deleted the whole thing and started over.  I can't imagine what I would have done with 6, but giving them away to total strangers would have been an option.

    I did not get home until almost 5:30.  FOUR HOURS!!!

    Thank goodness Julia was  home and available for Jackie.  

    I either need to shop smarter or faster, or both.

    Jackie and I watched the opening ceremony for the Olympics.  I like the winter games more than the summer and am looking forward to downhill skiing, luge, skeleton, bobsled and ....... curling!

Peace and Love

finally

 After 2 weeks of planning to put lights away, I did

    I scratched 2 items off my task list, and added 2......so the week is a wash.

    I still have a list of a dozen or so items to do in less than an hour for each item.  I hoped to do one a day, but that has not worked.  Now I hope to do 1 a week!

    Now I have another problem.

    We have had Corki for over 6 years.  2 weeks ago she started raiding the garbage cans in the bathrooms.  She pulls out tissue and eats it, een though her food bowl is full of food she likes.

    I don't remember to close the door or pick the trash up and set it on the counter, but that is not the issue.  Why now?

    I will be buying two lidded trash cans for the bathrooms.  Julia and I have both cleaned up shredded tissue several times recently.  I just don't want my baby to get into something that will harm her.

    And we are keeping the pantry door closed so she doesn't steal her snacks anymore.

    Other than that, she has been pretty normal since her hearing issue.  I don't think she hears at all, but at times she responds to noise.  And no, it is not selective hearing.  I can say, "Corki, treat"  and she does not respond.  It makes me sad.

    Had a surprise telephone call from friends in Missouri today.  It was great talking to them and I realized it had been a while since I heard from them.  Glad they are doing well, but they seem to have more snow than we do!  Strange weather, eh?

    I told them that sometimes when I am at the computer at night I have a cup of hot water.  I have always liked hot water, which some people find strange.

    Last night I heated some water.  About 10 minutes later I grabbed the cup and went back to the computer only to discover.....another cup of hot water.  

    I say it again, the mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Peace and Love

    

s'no fun

 We hardly got any snow yesterday

    South and east of us got hammerd, while we came away with a literal dusting of less than an inch.

    But the wind was blowing, still is, and now we have a wind chill of 0.  That should go down during the night.

        Now the quesiton is what to do with recycling!  Do I take it out tonight and hope it does not blow away, or wait until morning and get up at some freakingly early hour and take it out then?  

    Decisions, decisions.

    Lat night I was looking at the NBC feed out of Chicago on my computer and they showed the storm track.  The listed Rockford, DeKalb, Dixon and ..... Flagg!  Flagg is in Lee County and has probably 60 residents.  That just seemed really strange to me.

    Snow is not bad.  When it melts, it soaks into the ground and replenishes the water lost last summer.  We did not have a lot of rain, so it would be good to have snow to get the ground nice and wet for spring.

    10 inches may be a bit much at one time, but some 2-3 inch snows would be a good thing.

    If you are in an area with a lot of snow, keep safe.  

    And remember to check those furnace exhausts!

Peace and Love

Whoray, I say

 I agree with the school board in Tennessee

    A schOOl board  in that vastly enlightened state recently voted to ban "Maus" from  being used in classrOOms.

    I have read "Maus" and am shocked, shocked I tell you,  at the naked mice in the bOOk.  It is a disgrace that young boys and girls are exposed to naked mice.  Of course, it is even more of a disgrace that they be exposed to the largest organized extermination of humans ever recorded in history, but that is secondary to the nakedness of the cartOOn mice.

    While we are talking about this, I suggest the board also cull the schOOl libraries of any illustrations of Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck.  These supposedly male characters are constantly without pants, which I think is confusing American youth and is the rOOt cause of transexualism.  After all, kids see these supposedly male figures compeltely devoid of any genitalia and may assume they are actually females trying to pass as men.  It is a secret plot by Disney to undermine the definition of family.

    Also, I think there are certain words that should be banned.

    Any word with a double o should be dropped from the English language immediately!

    Why?  Because to young boys the OO may remind them of bOObs.  

    I propose schOOl become skule, gOOd become gut with a hard T sound, just like those architects of the Holocaust intended.

    FOOl becomes fule, tOOl becomes tule....you get the idea.  And since we have three ways to say 2, tOO is not needed at all!

    The entire mathmatics system must be reimagined to elimate any number with a 00, which could also turn a pure, chaste mind  into one perverted and always thinking of putting dots in the OO or 00  he encounteres.  And the symbol for infinity?  Whatever pervert came up with that?

    We must band together and end the bOOb problem in our land.

    Because as we all know, there are far to many many bOObs roaming our streets.  And I am not talking female anatomy.

Peace and Love

what happened??

 I had today pretty much planned

    I was going to finally put away the outside lights, which have been laying in a tangle in the basement.

    But Julia got a call that a car she was interested in was at the dealership and would I want to go with her to look at it?

    Jackie said she would be fine for a couple of hours, so we went.

    Five and a half hours later, we got home.

    During that time Jackie dropped the remote from the tv and could not reach it. so she had no choice but to watch the same channel.  Could not turn it off, or change channels.

    Corki had to go to the potty and stood by the door two times before giving up and going to sleep.

    I stopped at the mobility dealer in Rockford only to discover he was out and would not be back and the person working knew nothing about the turning lift chairs for cars.

    Learned that two of the people who work at this dealership spoke French!  Neither from the same country either.  One from Haiti and one from Morocco.

    Jackie was happy to see us.  We brought food.  

    Yes, I was worried the whole time we were gone, but nothing major went wrong.  That is a good thing.

    Tomorrow I attack the lights.

Peace and Love

I think it was a hoar frost...it was pretty, whatever it is called.

Deer seem to like our yard

A close up of Covid......or a purple coneflower, whatever

I ended up buying a car Jackie could easily get into.....now, where do I put the wheelchair?

Upset?

 I watched a lot of football today

    Both teams I wanted to win lost.

    I liked SF because of the Chicago connection.  Gould was a kicker for the Bears, Grappalo went to Rolling Meadows High School, and Jimmy Ward played for NIU. 

    I liked the Chiefs because of Hahomes.  

    And I don't know/care if the names are spelled correctly.

    We had Iowa chops for supper.  Iowa chops are about 1 inch thick.  I got them at Headon's and used a recipe from on line......coat them with olive oil, sear on each sides for 2 minutes, bake in 400 degree over for 20 minutes.  Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

    I also made green beans from the garden and Julia made scalloped potatoes from a box.  It was a good meal.

    The recipe also called for heavy use of salt to give it more flavor.  But when I followed that advice last time, Jackie did not like it because it was too salty.  To be honest, it was a little too salty for me.  So I cut down on the salt this time.

    Because the chops are so big, we actually have enough for a second meal.

    Good football games, good food, and a good day in all.

    Hope everyone is well.

Peace and Love

reverse

 It's funny how life goes around

    When Julia was in high school, she would have to ask to borrow the car.

    Now that she has moved back, she still has to ask to borrow the car!

    When she was little, we cooked and did dishes.  Now she cooks for us and does the dishes.

    When Emily was little we would explain things to her about all sorts of things.  Now she explains things to us when we have questions about medications, Corki, how the internet functions, or what the hell was the password for my Apple account.

    We have changed that sucker so much, I have about 7 scratched out.  And that is since November.

    I just can't remember my user name and password for the account.  Writing it down does not seem to work, because, well, I don't always write it right.  

    I think both girls draw the line at the possibility of changing my diapers......if that day ever comes.  I hope it does not!

    I don't think I I wasted the day away (not in Margaritaville either.  In a poll recently taken, Margaritas were the most popular mixed dring in the US, followed by rum and Coke.  That's just in case you were in the mood for some useless knowledge.), but I did not do much.  Two loads of laundry and the annual museum meeting, a short nap and the first few pages of a  book I got for Christmas were all the things I managed to accomplish.

    I also made some coffee.  Yes, I made coffee.  In the coffee maker we got a long time ago.  I don't make very good coffee...it's either too weak or too strong.  This one may have been somewhere in the middle because it did not make my eyes bulge out right away.

    Now, if I can get to sleep tonight it will be a miracle.

    Friends out east, stay safe!  The worst may be over.

Peace and Love