How Cold Was It ?

Cold here today, 12 was the high and the wind chill never reached warmer than -10. So cold out I took my cup of hot tea out on the deck, tossed it in the air and caught it in a glass, aah, iced tea. Looks like everything will be froze up here by tomorrow morning.  At least I won’t need to water the flowers for a few days, tried today, but every time I poured water on the beautiful freeze dried flowers they broke of when the cup full of solid ice hit them—oh well!

How Cold Was It ?

Cold here last night, must be winter in Wyoming, finally.

Went for a walk and my shadow froze to the sidewalk, so cold when I got back I opened the refrigerator to warm up.

 

Still felt cold, think maybe I am getting sick, looking forward to getting a fever and finally warming up.

 

As senior citizens we felt like we might need additional help for the extreme cold. We called the fire department to see what we needed to do. They said start your house on fire.

Armistice Day Became Veterans Day

World War I ended, June 28, 1919, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. The fighting had ended seven months earlier with the armistice, signed on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. Armistice Day, as November 11 became known, officially became a holiday in the United States in 1926, and a national holiday in 1938. On June 1, 1954, the name was changed to Veterans Day, honoring all U.S. veterans.

In 1968, new legislation changing four holidays, including Veterans Day, to Mondays, creating three-day government weekends. Veterans Day was to be celebrated on the fourth Monday of October. It soon became obvious that America was not buying the change and not about to change Veterans Day because November 11 was a date of historic significance to so many Americans. Because of this the government backed off the change and in 1978 Congress returned the observance to its traditional date.

Really Bad Week

Started off the week with a sprained ankle, guess maybe guys my age should quit playing basketball, even if I do still have considerable game. OK, actually I did it stepping off a two inch step in Jackson Hole last weekend. By Tuesday I added a nose running, sneezing, itching eyes, cold. Thursday the flu set in. Today I am about as miserable as anyone can be.

I will attempt to remedy my maladies by watching dozens of football games in the next 48 hours, I believe it will work. And I have all the channels to give it a tremendous effort.

Wish me luck, I know it will be tough, but I have pillows properly arranged on the couch, assorted drinks, heating pads, throws, lap top, kindle reader and other goodies to get me through my time of need. And, of course, my wife is tending to me quite well. She went down to one of the local stop and rob’s and picked up a 7UP for me. When I finish it, I believe that will make, exactly one 7UP in the past several decades. Hey, tastes pretty good.

Back In School

Kids in America are back in school and instead of celebrating that fact, we are already looking at test score data. When I was a kid in grade school (1950s) we took one big test a year. Now kids seem to be tested over and over and we are never happy with the results. Maybe if we just had one test like the old days we could be happy.
Anyway, from where I sit I can hear kids on the school grounds, this time of year, and I feel like all is as it should be.

Garden Time

Spending my time in the garden, fishing, playing golf and traveling around, enjoying summer.  Soon summer is over and it will be back to work. Oh- never mind, forgot, I'm retired, don't work.. Well that pretty much ruined this post about going back to work, anyway, oh, forget it, sure is hot, not much snow left here in Wyoming.

Summer Ending Soon

 Notice the days are getting shorter? No more sun at nine in the evening. Fall may not be far off, but I really like the change of seasons.

Remember the old joke, name the four seasons? (Salt, pepper, mustard and catsup)

My seasons are, Golf, TV Reruns, Vacation and Football

Heat Wave

At four this afternoon it was 101 here in town and 66 degrees in the town I moved here from. Maybe my move was a bit premature, should have at least waited for winter.

Ø So – how hot has it been?
*It has been much too hot this summer, today I saw a dog chasing a cat and they were both walkin’.
*In the kitchen sink hot water now comes out of both taps.
*Today I bought my first stock-Gatorade.
*So far this summer the days have been: almost tolerable, hot, really hot and ARE YOU KIDDING ME!
*Late this afternoon the temperature dropped just under 90, I felt a bit chilly and went to the closet for a jacket, decided against the stocking hat and gloves

Heat May Be Getting Too Me

Think I have finally figured out why it’s been so hot the past week or so - its summer.

 

Q: Which is faster, heat or cold?
A: Heat, because you can catch a cold!

 

Sorry, the heat must be getting to me!

 

Cold and Flu Wins by a Knockout

I am starting to feel better, finally, after a month of the worst sinus problems in all my 65 years. Couldn’t breathe, couldn’t hear (my wife says it was even worse than my normal selective hearing), tough time sleeping and got little or no work done. Hope to be back blogging in a few days, the nice weather here in eastern Wyoming is helping. See you in a week or so.

Neil

Time For Senator McCain to Act Like a Statesmen Instead of a Putz

 Leading Senate Republicans are now telling the White House, they will try to block the confirmation of Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee to be secretary of defense, setting up a showdown vote on Friday.

Mr. Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska and decorated Vietnam veteran, had earlier appeared to have at least the 60 votes required to break a Republican filibuster. But Senator John McCain of Arizona, who is looking more and more like a disgruntled

 X-presidential candidate and other Republicans who had said they might oppose Mr. Hagel but would not back a filibuster. Now they are saying they will not support ending debate until they receive more detailed answers to questions about the administration’s response to the attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

And what exactly was Chuck Hagel’s role in Libya? The same as mine, and yours, not one single thing, and that my friends is what is wrong American politics, time to clean house, get in some new blood,  find people who care more about this country than their petty concerns.

 

 

Wanted - New Pope

The Pope is stepping down. Seems like an OK move to me, 85 years old is old enough to retire, even if you are Pope. I am not Catholic but would be interested in the job as I am semi-retired and looking for a part time job. Might have to share the job on second thought, I might be good for about 20 hours a week. Is there a golf course in Vatican City? That would influence my decision.

Iceburger for Lunch

Snow in the east and snow here in the mountain west. Looks like old man winter is back! Groundhog said it would be an early spring so this one should be fast moving.

Living in Wyoming is a pure joy, play golf one day and ski the next –gotta love it.

Did get pretty cold last night, had an iceberger smothered in chili for lunch just to warm up!

Nice Try Post Office

Looks like the Post Office will end Saturday mail delivery starting in august. Would save the government about two billion, they lost 15.9 billion last year. The Post Office would continue to deliver packages on Saturday, but sorry, no letters or junk mail.

Congress doesn’t like it, saying they can’t change the delivery schedule without congressional approval. Sounds about right to this old guy, congress wants the Postal Department to cut cost, they find a way, and congress doesn’t like it.  Oh-well!

Is this why we are having trouble over spending at the federal level?

Me thinks so!

Winter, Storms and Golf

This winter has been so open in our part of Wyoming that it reminded me we are still in drought. We need snow, we’ll take rain, but we need snow. Hope the weather is not setting up for another disaster like the one in 1886. Won’t happen because we are better prepared today than the ranchers of more than a century ago, we hope.

The Wyoming summer of 1886 was hot and dry; cattle went into winter in less than perfect condition. In November heavy snow came and it stayed for two months. In late January the snows came again, snowing for four days and three nights before letting up. By spring the bad news was apparent, piles of dead cattle, many others were wobbling from starvation. Wyoming in 1886 proudly boasted of it being the greatest place on earth to raise livestock with over nine million cattle on the range. By 1895 only three million were left.

The main lessons learned from drought and blizzards were simple. Put up hay for winter feed and sell down when the grass is bad in the summer. Cattle once again cover the pasture lands of Wyoming, but never again will ranchers overdo like days past. We are getting better and proud of it. But we still need snow or rain.

How dry and warm has it been this winter? I have played 18 rounds of golf since the first of December, shouldn’t happen in Wyoming. Don’t get me wrong, I am enjoying the golf, but right now I would rather go sledding, sit by the fire and sip hot chocolate.

Pro Sports - Tooooo Long

The Super Bowl is over, and so is football season. A season that now starts in late July and ends in early February. Eight months for something that once held our interest for September, October and November. Seems to me both football and basketball have stretched their seasons too long. Baseball always has been too long. I love watching sports, but after a couple of months am ready for the next season, not more of the same.

Maybe I will start watching more situation comedies and movies, ahh, maybe not.

Oh – and Congratulations Raven’s

Of Grounhogs and Super Bowl's

It’s Groundhog Day and the old hog saw his shadow. (I purposely called, Punxsutawney Phil, the old hog, because I still have never learned to spell Punxsutawney).

Looks like I need to get my garden ready and my mower blade sharp and ready to go. And I will, soon as it stops snowing.

Bad Joke of the day – oh, look I have two

What is a groundhog’s favorite book?
answer -Holes

What should you do if you find a groundhog sleeping in your bed?

answer - Sleep somewhere else

 

Tomorrow the Super Bowl – do you think Roman Numerals would die out completely if they started writing the Super Bowl like this?

SUPER BOWL 47

 

Drugs and Sports

Lance Armstrong, Ray Lewis and now PGA star Vijay Singh, what do they have in common. All caught or admitted to using some type of performance enhancing drug. Humm---remember when Viagra was the only performance enchancing drug?

And all this a few weeks after voters kept some of baseball's biggest star's out of the Hall of Fame, same thing, drugs that made them better.  

So do we just let them cheat or kick them out?

Spending Toward Prosperity

Can we Spend Our Way to Prosperity?

One, very well respected economist thinks we can. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has stated many times over the past five years that U.S. government spending is critical to our economic recovery and we should not cut spending to reduce the deficit – at least not right now.  

Countries that have tried reducing government spending, (see Greece); also reduce country's employment and GDP, when they reduce employment and GDP, they, of course, reduce tax revenue, which increases the deficit.

For those who worry, our government spending, although, quite a bit, higher than our government tax revenue is still relatively low as a percent of GDP when compared to that of other developed countries.

So maybe we are OK interest rates are still low and new jobs seem to be popping up.

 

So How Hot Was It ?

Might be too warm here in Wyoming, it’s January 27, and at 2:30 in the afternoon temperature is above 60 degrees. If we continue with these warm days trees will soon state budding, which is not always a good idea when more cold weather could be coming. Top few inches of my garden is loose, a little deeper there still is frost. Feel like I should water the grass but I will hold myself back for another week.

Clouded up later and I noticed six people and two little dogs crowded under the same smallish umbrella. Amazingly not one of them was getting wet—then I noticed it wasn’t raining.

 

No Budget, No Pay – Yeah Right

 

Well here we go again, “No Budget, No Pay,” its all rhetoric, no substance at all – none.

First ask yourself, how many Senators and members of the House are living paycheck to paycheck like the good ol’ boy writing this?

 

The new bill says if either house does not pass a budget bill by April 15, (the senate has not passed a Budget Resolution since 2009) they will not get paid. Not until the current congress (2 year session) ends. Then they will get their money anyway. Not much of a threat to most of the very rich that make up congress. Oh-well!

Too many Ploiticians and Not Enough Statesmen

Well, we have the swearing-in finished and the President in place for another four years.

Looked to me like he has a lot more gray hair than a few months ago. Guess the job and the campaign will do that.

This old guy didn’t need a speech to know what needs to be done, cut spending, hold the line on taxes, more jobs, less unemployment, and get people back to work.

I thought the Presidents best line was - "We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate," Obama said from atop the Capitol steps overlooking the National Mall.

Hope both sides try to get along and get something done looks to me like we still have too many politicians and not near enough statesmen.

Where Is My Invitation to the Ball?

Monday President Obama will be sworn in for the fourth time, only one other President, Franklin Roosevelt has this in common with President Obama.

Roosevelt was elected four times. Obama, well Chief Justice Roberts messed the oath up the first time and they had a do-over. And the Constitution states the president is to be sworn in on the twentieth of January, today, a Sunday. And for all of us out in TV land he will be sworn in tomorrow  when he makes the big speech, goes on a parade, then off to the dance and stuff like they always do on presidential inauguration days.

Feel bad, I did not get my invitation to the inauguration and the big ball afterward. DARN POSTAL SERVICE, they must have lost it, likely get it in March.

Oh-Well!

Throw The Bums Out

Voters sent almost everyone back to Washington in the November elections. Now a new Gallup poll says 75% of Americans are in favor of putting some kind of term limits on our elected officials. Only 21% say they are against a law limiting time in congress.

If you are a numbers kind of reader, both Donald Trump and the NFL replacement officials rated   an approval rating higher than our elected officials.

Problem is, most Americans feel it is the Senators and Representatives from other places that are the bad ones. Seems like we all like our own sleazy, corrupt, and ineffective elected officials, just not anyone else’s.

Put me down as one who really does not care for the elected officials from my state. They are all right people but too party-orientated, too fake conservative and all about re-election instead of the great state of Wyoming.

Debt Ceiling, Me and Entitlements

Time to raise the debt ceiling, so says Washington. I am having a tough time understanding how raising the debt ceiling is a deficit reduction plan- maybe it’s just me but seems like we need to lower dept to reduce the deficit.

The president wants a balanced approach and the speaker wants to match spending cuts to the debt. Are those plans, or just suggestions?

Remember in the old days we spent what we had then tightened up our belts and waited for the next pay check. Whatever happened to that?

As an old (or not so old) retired guy I am sick of listening to social security being called an entitlement program, as if it is some kind of welfare for us old codgers. I paid in for 47 years and now am a bad guy seeking an entitlement – i.e. – hand out from the government.

Just give me back my money with a reasonable amount of interest over the years and we will call it all square. Maybe just five or six percent compounded annually.

The government used my money, free of charge, for half a century, now I would like some of it back. Entitlement my ass!

Too Cold Last Night

Bit too cold for my old bones last night. Had nine below when I went to bed, it was up to six above when I got up. Not sure what it is now, both my thermometers froze last night.

So cold this morning when I went to the coffee shop today’s special was coffee on a stick. Heading back home, I saw a hitchhiker holding up a picture of his thumb.

Now that’s cold-can’t wait for spring!

Let It Snow

Looks like a winter storm heading in tonight-we have not had much snow yet, so let-er-blow. Weather app says blizzard conditions, yippee!

I once published a short story called, Where In the Snow is the Back Door. Hope it gets that bad again.

 

Government Job for Me ?

 Looks like I have been passed over again. With President Obama announcing Brennan as the new CIA Director and the nomination of Hagel for Secretary of Defense, looks like there won’t be anything else left for me. By the way have we ever had a high ranking government official called Chuck?

The Fiscal Cliff and a Four Point Shot

Looks like the fiscal cliff falling has only been delayed, not avoided. I ordered a parachute today, when they push me and my $300 savings off the cliff, I’m pulling the cord.

After last night’s Fiesta Bowl I have renewed hope for the government saving us from the dread cliff. If Oregon, or anyone else for that matter, can score a one point safety, anything is possible.

*What’s next-a four point shot in BB or a zero on the scorecard in Golf

Every Year It Starts Over

Jan 1, 2013 – Going on official record – “I love the New Year and I love New Year’s Resolutions.”

6:00 a.m. - Eight hours of sleep, healthy, balanced breakfast, went for a walk, did my stretching and lifting workout, spent some hobby time, did some putting away and picking up in my workshop.

8:00 a.m. - New Years are great-reinvigorating, life anew

9:00 a.m. - Feel like I need a nap, have a bit of an upset stomach, my shoulders, hips and feet ache.

10:00 a.m. – Doing much better now, reclining on the couch, watching first of many New Year’s Day Bowl Games, still resting after my workout, and dreaming about the next year.

11:00 a.m. - Very soar, dull pain starting on top of my head and ending on the bottom of my feet, not feeling well at all, will take a handful of pain killers and continue resting on couch.

I really do not like New Year’s—except for the Football

Noon – Drinking soda, eating chips and peanuts, still resting on couch, feeling some better, game has reached halftime, watching shootout on the Western Channel until second half starts.

“Maybe Next Year, never have liked New Years stuff, too much hype, just another day for this ol’ cowboy”

-Happy New Year-