Things I Am Contemplating in the New Year

Tiger Woods has earned 1.3 billion in his lifetime, not bad

1. Speaking of golf, I see where Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer were the number three and four earners in the world of golf last year. Not bad for a couple of guys even older than me.
2. President and his wife spent a nice few weeks in Hawaii. Hum-I stayed home and scooped snow.
3. Football fans, the BCS is over, thankfully.
4. The sequester, it actually did help cut spending – who knew, certainly no one in Washington.
5. Candidates are already lining up for senate races, presidential candidates cannot be far behind.
6. Why is the government set on giving to everyone the things I had to work so hard for?
7. How can I have three hundred channels and still watch five or six all the time.
8. The government announces how great America’s internet service is but it still trails most first world countries. Where I live in the Wyoming hither lands, we cannot use Hulu, Amazon downloads or Netflix, service much too slow.
9. And finally- When will everyone admit that global warming is the result of too many people on earth, sure it has other causes but if the population was the same as a century ago—no warming

Cold Weather and A Good Book

Glad to see the cold weather clear out of Wyoming. I watched the Packer, 49er game last night and felt bad for everyone there. I know some fans love the idea of attending one of the all time coldest games, but not me. Living in Wyoming I have experienced many cold weather days and now when it gets down to ten above, or colder, I stay inside. Did some ice-fishing when I was younger, but no more – too cold, I’ll stay inside with a warm drink and my easy chair.

Today it is back in the 30s and will be 40s the rest of the week. Here in the winter if it gets to mid-40s, with little or no wind, I head for the golf course.

How did I spend my cold weather time?

 Finished reading Lawrence Block’s, The Burglar Who Counted Spoons, I am a huge Block fan and this was another terrific book in the series. He is my favorite mystery writer, great stories, told with humor and remarkable writer imagination.

Just started Richard S. Wheeler’s, An Accidental Novelist - A Literary Memoir, this is a must read, can’t put it down.

 

So Cold the Old Cow Gave Ice Cream

Looks like it will get really cold tomorrow. Here in Wyoming we are used to it. Two years ago I walked to work (three blocks) with temperature -38 and wind chill of -52. Can’t say we get used to it, but you get to where you put up with it. The upside, our summers in Wyoming are spectacular as is late spring and fall. I hope everyone listens to the weather and stays home when the temps dip so low, it is supposed to be short lived, maybe one day and gone.

I remember as a kid growing up in the fifties and going out to milk the cow early in the morning. It was the first week of February and at five in the morning the temperature hovered between -30 and -35. I milked ol’ Bessie as fast as I could and ran into the house with a full bucket of ----you guessed it --- Ice Cream, yep, it was really that cold.

Football, Miley, Duck Dynasty and the Olympics

Football season is winding down, but come February Olympic Curling arrives, that should get my tired old blood moving again. Beautiful winter day here today, sweatshirt weather,  played golf, went for a nice walk, looks like tomorrow the wind comes up and it will be an, in the house day.

Have you ever noticed that when something is in the news, the news people will not let it go? Finally I give up reading as I reach the, who cares level. And then the news brings it up again, boring.

And at last, does everyone have to predict what will happen next year? Well, Yes!

Here is my list, five things happening in 2014

1.       Health Care will be in the news

2.       Miley will be in the news

3.       Duck Dynasty will be in the news

4.       Super Bowl will be a sleeper – again. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

5.       We will all, once again, be experts on ice skating and ski jumping during the Winter Olympics

6.       BONUS – Some Americans will learn the name of our Vice President.

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.