Almost time to ring out the old year

Happy New Year everyone. 
Yes, I know I'm early; so sue me.


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Hope everyone had a good Christmas.  I spent most of Christmas with a head cold, but had a good time anyway.  Two days later, on Sunday morning, I woke up with my right eye completely swollen shut, and throbbing, and my left eye barely able to open to a squint.  Turned out I had gotten conjunctivitis from the infection in my sinuses.   Couple days of antibiotics and they're back to normal, so it worked out ok.

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It's been cold and foggy around here, our warm spells mean it gets up between 25ºF and 30º F.  The past couple of days have been snow, which isn't all that much fun.

 

I took this picture this morning, it has been snowing all day and is about a half a foot deep by now.  I'll be glad when spring comes around.



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 So the Republicans are yelling that the Skivvy Bomber is the fault of lack of  security by the current administration; the Whitehouse  and the Democrats respond by blaming Bush (big surprise; how long is that line going to be used?)

May I make a suggestion?  How about everybody just STFU and worry about how to prevent future problems?  Airline security is a bad joke and everybody knows it.  The disaster was only averted by two things; the incompetence of the bomber, and everyday citizens who had the initiative to fight back.

So to Jasper Schuringa and the other passengers who took the bomber down, well done.

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Can't say I'm happy with sending more troops over to Afghanistan.  We've been told they are being sent over for a couple of years, then will be brought home.  That makes no sense; what if nothing has been accomplished by then?  Will they extend the time, or will they just pull out and leave?  All the enemy has to do is stall, then wait for the soldiers to leave.
If they aren't planning on winning, why bother sending anyone over to be killed?  They might as well leave now.
Just my opinion.

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This one is just for fun, since it's always been one of my favorite songs. It's been referred to as the unofficial national anthem of Australia. This version is one of the best, by the late Slim Dusty.




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Any favorites in this bunch?  Some of them are probably older than a few of my visitors.

          "Take on Me" by A-Ha
         "Twilight Zone" by Golden Earring
         "Wolverton Mountain" by Claude King
         "Wild Summer Nights" by John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band
         "Walk Like a Man" by The Four Seasons
         "Eye in the Sky" by The Alan Parsons Project
         "Na Laetha Gael M'Óige" by Enya
         "Time of the Season" by The Zombies
         "The Ballad of Thunder Road" by Robert Mitchum
         "Over the Border" by Eric Burdon

The next to last song was from the movie "Thunder Road" starring Robert Mitchum, who not only sang the ballad, but helped write it. Most people don't know it, but he played saxophone, and enjoyed writing music.

The last song is one of the newer releases by Eric Burdon; it was written by David Munyon, who you may remember from a song of his in one of my previous posts.

It's a wee bit chilly around here

Seems like the past few weeks since I last blogged have been filled with two things, snow and fog.

One day it's like this:

The next day we have this:

I've still been able to do some harvesting from my garden, however.

Swiss chard is doing fine, I just have to brush away snow for small leaves

Sage holds up well in snow

Rosemary is an evergreen, and much better fresh than dried

It's actually snowing right now as I write this, we may get four to eight inches today.   Personally, I'd rather have a Christmas that isn't quite as white as that.

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I think I'd like to go plinking with this guy:



H/T to Curmudgeonly & Skeptical

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I've been keeping up on the progress on the so-called Healthcare Bill; can't say I'm impressed; horrified describes my feeling a lot better.  It would seem to make more sense to me if someone listed the main problems with health care in this country, and then went down the list one-by-one with suggestions to fix each one.  Instead, we have some bloated, chimerical monster that seems to be more about building new agencies and bureaucracies, and consolidating the federal governments grip on the average citizen's life.  Not to mention the horrific cost, which will all go to maintaining said  agencies and bureaucracies.   This isn't about helping people, it is a power grab, pure and simple.  If you want to help people afford insurance, how about trying to fix the economy?  I don't care how affordable insurance is, if you are out of work you can't afford it.  And sticking employers with part of the bill is not the way to insure people or boost jobs.  If an employer has to put out too much on his worker's insurance, he will do one of two things; pass on the cost to the buyers, or dump part of his work force.  Neither one is good for the economy.   The bill is so full of pork now it is ridiculous, and these assholes in Congress and the Senate don't even have the decency to act embarrassed by the fact they are buying and selling votes to push this abortion through.

"It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress."
-Mark Twain


"When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not guilty.'"
- Theodore Roosevelt

"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office."
 - Aesop

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 Looks like there has actually been a couple of days without hearing about the latest exploits of Tiger Woods.  Honestly, does anyone really care how many bimbos he had?

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The Rain Man has died; I didn't even know he lived here in Salt Lake.

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If I don't see you in the next few days, I'd like to wish you Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to those who don't necessarily celebrate Christmas due to other religious beliefs.



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I know there has to be some favorites in this bunch, both rock and country.

         "Love Is Blue" by Paul Mauriat
         "Crossroads (The Crossroad Blues)" by Robert Johnson
         "Mississippi Woman" by Waylon Jennings
         "Both Sides, Now" by Joni Mitchell
         "If We Make It Through December" by Merle Haggard
         "I Touch Myself" by The Divinyls
         "Lawyers, Guns and Money" by Warren Zevon
         "You Ain't So Tough" by Heart
         "Black Blade" by Blue Öyster Cult
         "Bounce" by Bon Jovi

The last two in the list: