Good bye 2007...HELLO...2008

It was a very good year....or was it?

2007 had brought ups and downs as
it does to everyone's life. But I feel blessed
just the same.

Continuing of great friendships, and good
health, for the most part.

The King went in to get a partial knee
replacement in the Spring. And in the long
run it was a good idea. One of those where you ask
yourself a week later, what did I do this for?
A couple months later, you know why, as you
mend. It also brought retirement into his life.

Around the same time, I lost my second Mom.
She was ready, but we were not. Thoughts of
her daily, and surely of the holidays brought
how much we miss her. We know she is
our guardian Angel.

Summer brought projects for the yard.
And by summers end, we enjoyed them
to the fullest. As well as getting together
with our snowbird friends.

Fall brought a quick trip to San Diego, and
a reunion of old friends of a family that I use
to be married to and my kids still are joined.
And in our circle of travel, we got to visit friends and
family alike.

Now winter has coated our ground with
snow, at what seems to be daily. And
as the snow piles up, we are grateful
not to be in the working force and having
to fight the weather to go to work.

All of the holidays of 2007 have passed.
And we are facing the start of 2008. We
face it with great anticipation, and hopes
of good health, happiness, and hoping
it ends with a good choice to become
our President in the following year. If
not we will surely survive as we have in
the past.

So I wish all of you readers of this
stuff from the simple mind.... great
safety, and good health, the happiness
I leave up to you to do.

40 days and 40 nights?

40 days and 40 nights? Oh no, that was rain.... but this is beginning to feel like it..

And the Beat goes on

So this is snow day 15 right? We have had that many days that it snowed out of 30? As you can see Misty is having trouble seeing out to the road, and chasing the birds is out of the question, as she tries to climb up top..

I'm BAD....

I am so bad.... in the winter time....
I get up, take the dog outside and get the newspaper
in my pj's ... with my coat over them....
then I read the paper, drink coffee... in my pj's.
then I put a load of wash in... still in pj's
straighten out the living room, picking up stuff, still in my pj's
take the wash out and put it in the dryer, start the next load..
still in my pj's.
sit with a cup of coffee and watch the first 20 minutes of
Regis and Kelly, still in my pj's...
take the dog outside, with my coat over my...pj's.
It is almost 10am... and I am in my pj's.
I don't know why... they are soft and warm... and
most of all comfortable.

If I got to exercise, then all of this is not...
As I get up do the dog and paper and coffee,
then it is into my exercise clothes....
But snowy day? weekends? it is pj's.

Better late than Never

Opps...

I was up an hour or so earlier than I
usually am, and on the road shortly
after... spent the morning with my
daughter. It is nice to spend one on one
with one's child. Adult child especially.

So by the time I got back,well, what can
I say, I didn't even think of the blog. Guess
I am still in vacation mode...

So hope you are kicking back and enjoying
the season. The snow sure helps with the
enjoyment of the Christmas holiday.
So enjoy the time left as the year winds down.

The day after

Well, the hustle and bustle is over...
The high and quiet of the day. And
as the children reign over their bounty,
we say good bye to another Christmas.

I hope you all had a great day with your
families... we did... Good food, some nice
presents and one super great present. Good
company... and played the Wii game. What
fun, that has to be the all time greatest present
for all the family. What a great way to get the
competitor of the family off the couch. And all
ages can play.

As we headed for home, we thought about
how lucky we are, how blessed we are.
As we drove, we saw the season's lights gleaming
in the night. And return to home for the
rest of the phone calls from family and
friends...

My top present was from my daughter.
And she enlisted the rest of the kids.
I don't know if you have seen those
frames that sit on a table or hang on
the wall.... that show in a slideshow,
pictures from different parts of your
life. That is what I got. With the help
of her siblings sending emails of
pictures... I now have a on going
slide show of my family. Children,
grandchildren, great grandchildren,
weddings, my parents..both sets
that I claim. What a wonderful gift.

Now to the treadmill to walk off some
of the food, and looking forward to
putting another year to bed.... in
a week from now. And start an
fresh new one...

untitled.....

As 2/3s of the world gets ready to celebrate the birth
of a child of 2007 years ago.... on Sunday, we, a group of
over a 100, stood in silence for at least a half an hour before
the event started... The silence was even more noticeable with
children amidst us.

And the snow with its big flakes fell on us. We all stood in
silence, and in support of a family, who was there to bury
their young son of 7 weeks. All of us, with heavy hearts...
even with knowing that the infant was going to heaven to
join the very child that we, as Christians, celebrate the
birth of.

And even as the snow started to fall more, and
most of us stood there bareheaded, children and the adults
were silent as the words were spoken. And sang the songs.

And as we walked back to our car, and getting in as we looked
back... our hearts ached for the family, as we saw the father and
older son, start to bury the beautiful hand made casket made by
the father. As the snow changed back to the slowly dropping large
flakes of snow.
A moment that didn't escape us, as we talked about it at the luncheon after.

God be with you all.....

Merry Christmas

I am going to take a break....until after Christmas...
So unless something profound happens, I will be back next week.
This has been an up and down, this season... With the lost of a sweet
tiny baby in our church family... to some nice surprises...
So you all have a nice Christmas...
I leave you with a repeat....from 2006 a poem
by George A. Gladden,
There is no way I could say it better...


...

MY CHRISTMAS CARD LIST

I have a list of folks I know,all written in a book,

And every year when Christmas comes,I go and take a look.

That is when I realize these names are all a part, not of the book

they're written in, but of my very heart.

For each name stands for someonewho has crossed my path sometime,

And in that meeting they've become the rhythm in each rhyme.

While it may sound fantastic for me to make this claim,

I really feel that I'm composed of each remembered name.

And while you may not be awareof any special link,

Just meeting you has changed my life much more than you think.

For once I've met somebody, the years cannot erase

The memory of a pleasant word or of a friendly face.

So, never think my Christmas cards are just a mere routine

Of names upon a Christmas list,forgotten in between

For when I send a Christmas card that is addressed to you,

It's because you're on the list of folks I'm endeared to.

For I am but a total of the many folks I've met,

And you happen to be one of those I prefer not to forget.

Whether I have known you for many years or few,

In some way you have had a part in shaping things I do.

And every year when Christmas comes I realize a new,

The best gift life can offer is meeting folks like you.

So may the spirit of Christmas that forevermore endures

Leave its richest blessingin the hearts of you and yours.

My Christmas Card List written by George A. Gladden, Sr.

Merry Christmas, dear Readers, from the Wordtosser

Holiday Tipping...

Who do you tip?
I have heard of tipping
the garbage man and the
newspaper person. Also I
have seen one that tipped
the postman.

Why? If any of this went to
the extra bounds in their job,
then maybe I could understand.

But when I saw one of my
neighbors, about 15 years ago,
in a door to door postal service,
(we don't have it here in our little
burg, we have to go to the post
office to get our mail.) give
the mailman a $10 bill, I could
not understand that. I even asked
her, if he did anything extra special.
She replied, "no, just brings me my
mail." I told her, this man makes
3 times the amount that I made and
he is just doing his job. She smiled.

Then there are the ones who give to
the garbage man. This man also makes
more money than I made by quite a bit.
Now granted, he has to work most
holidays (they don't pick up on Christmas
and Thanksgiving, I believe) but still, it is
their job and they are well paid for it.

And why should I give a tip for
his services. I am the one who has to
go down to the ditch and get my empty
trash can he threw to the ground, and it
rolled into the near by ditch. I am the
one who has to second guess when
to get my trash out there. As they have
come anywhere from 7:50 am to 5:pm.
For years it came in the afternoon. Some
where between 1:30 and 5 p.m. Then we
must have gotten a new driver, because he
comes in the morning usually around 10.
But has showed up a couple times before
8. And when my neighbor who didn't get
her trash out in time, called...only to be
informed that they pick up from 6:30 am
to 5 pm. We really don't care when, just
give us a 2 hour window and keep to it.

Then there is the paper delivery person.
Now this person I have gave a holiday
(don't want to hurt anyone's feelings,
by naming the holiday) tip. In the past.
But not the one I have now. I have been
skipped over twice. No, going down and
buying a paper and be given an extra
paper on my contract, isn't an option to me.
MORNING PAPER, is suppose to be
delivered in the morning... and the operative
word is DELIVERED. The other thing is,
lately our paper gets here anywhere from
5am to 9am. I like to enjoy, as much as
one can, with the news these days, my
coffee and paper together in the morning.

So why should I tip for getting my own
garbage can out of the ditch and late
papers, if they get here at all? I am
old fashion enough to think, tipping is
for going the extra mile. For great
service, not just doing your job.
Especially for those who make triple
my job wages. And in my line of work,
we could get fired for taking a tip.

So do you tip these? And who else
do you tip?

Snowmen and Angels

It must be winter....
After the snow of yesterday, I built my first snowman of the winter. It was cold out there, so did a quick one... old fashion one, that you use what ever you find on the ground .


Some how it isn't as much fun, if you don't have a child with you to help. And doing angels in the show, well, I still do them, but not with much grace... the falling into the snow is the easy part. It is the getting up that is my downfall.... no pun intended. So with my grandchildren all grown up and not wanting to do these foolish things ( glad I outgrew that stage, as the foolish things are the fun things) ..... anyway I enlisted my pup... Misty to help... which I am not sure she was, as you can see, she wants to rearrange the arms.

Hope you are still young enough in heart to go out and do the foolish things...

Holidays

We are in the count down... only
7 more shopping days. 7 more
days of parties, ho ho, Merry
Christmas and Happy New Year.
Or the quick to the point.. Happy
Holidays, that takes care of all of
it... of course the political correct
people are fine with that one.

We haven't been much in to Christmas
for the last several years. We do the
gift exchange. We have talked most
of our friends into doing cards only.
We have a few that we give breads,
cookies and etc. that we made.

But for the most part, we are a silent
Christmas. We do believe it to be the
Lord's birth date, but it isn't that. I didn't
really think about why, we aren't over
joyed with the idea of Christmas. And
neither one of us are really a bah humbug
type people.

But today, I think my daughter hit it
right. It is the lack of a small child in
our lives. Christmas is for children.
That is one of the reasons why I have
talked our friends into giving cards. So
they can use the money to buy a child,
be it theirs or their grandchildren, a gift.

Without the wonderment, and excitement
of a child as they see the tree. As they
see Santa, as they see the gifts, well,
it just isn't the same.

With the King, it was his mother. She
always loved Christmas. It was a great
day to her. So he would get caught up
in her ball of joy. But the first Christmas
without her, (she had passed 2 months
before), he just couldn't get the energy
together. He had played Santa at the
nursing home that she was in the year
before she passed. Got great joy out
of stopping by her room, to have Santa
give her a kiss on the cheek, the kids
in the dining room that screamed with
joy, as he walked into the room. But
after that..(7 years ago) he just couldn't
do it anymore.

So we will have a quiet Christmas
morning. Coffee, braid stolen bread,
and watching the parade on the
television... and then out to our
daughter's house, for the Christmas
cheer with her family and his too.
Good food, good conversation, and
just a nice time.

And then it is over... and New Years
will come quickly behind. Don't make
promise I can't keep, so no new
resolutions, just think of how we
can do things without lousing up
another year. And thankful for the
good things of the year passing.

For your skiing pleasure

Believe it or not.... I was standing in the same spot as I took these pictures..... ahhhh...10x zoom

LOOK for the Union Label

So always look for the union label,it says
we're able to make it in the U.S.A.!

That was the song on television during the 70's
but unions has already put a sour taste in my mouth
by that time.

Now for the disclaimer..... not all unions are bad. And
a lot of them help a great amount of people.Especially
during the days of sweat shops and etc. During the
30', 40's and 50's It just wasn't true in my life time,
three times, three different states.

In 1960's the machinist union went out on strike in
San Diego, California. My husband was working for
the ship yards. It was the third week, that we finally
got some help. They were giving $25 a week for the men.
When rent was $50, utilities were running about $25 all
together, that gave us $25 to buy food for the 5 of us.
2 adults and 3 children. Talk about barely getting by.
It didn't give anything for extra's like car payments
(thankfully ours were paid for)and etc.for the families.

Yet, as I watched the news nightly waiting for word to
see if the union was getting closer to settling, I saw them
at the meetings. Sitting around the table. Fancy tables.
With drinks (not coffee and water) and fancy dinners, and
at one of the fancy big motels in Mission Valley.

Yes, the union boys were sitting there, meeting, eating
and their dinners cost more than we were getting for the
whole week. The men were ready to go back to work
after 3 weeks. Some were losing their cars, and homes.
But the union bosses said no. Stay tough... we will make
it. It lasted 10 weeks. We ate a lot of oatmeal and pasta,
as it was cheap and went the farest.
We never did make it up, the money lost for that strike.
As when we got close, it was time to strike again. We
left and moved to Washington state.
Strike One..

In late 1970's my second husband was working for a
meat packing company. After about a year, he was the
only mechanic they had. They fired one, and the other
left. He worked 6 days a week, 12 hours a day to keep
the trucks on the road. Then they brought in a boss and
one worker to help out, after 2 months. The new boss,
didn't know anything about mechanizing. He ordered parts
and etc, and kept the trucks scheduled for their repairs.

One day after working on a truck, the boss wanted it to go out.
My husband told him no, the brakes were not good enough.
He overruled. My husband told the owner, that the truck
could not go out as it was a safety issue. The truck stayed.
Then there was an incident over the wrong part. The boss
wrote my husband up, as he should have known the part
was wrong. It was the wrong part in the right box. My
husband was the one who found out it was wrong because
it wouldn't fit. But he was still written up.

My husband belong to the Teamster Union. He went to
Yakima to the big district office. He was listen to and then
was told, "You see, this would be a sticky situation for us."
We would have to have another mechanic at another shop
test you (my husband had 32 years of experience) and then
that would pit one shop against another. And that is not a
good thing for the union, So my advice to you is to go back
to your job, and just try to make the best of it, after all it is
the first time you have gotten written up. When my husband
told them that he pays them monthly dues to stand up for him,
he was told, "well... I am sorry but there isn't anything we can do."
He went back, the boss was smudge because nothing was going
to be done. Being my husband had a great working record with
this company and kept it going by himself for 2 months, the owner
told him, it would probably be best that he laid my husband off,
so he could get unemployment, before it got ugly with the boss.
The boss who had worked there for 2 months. My husband took it.
Strike two...

In Idaho, the right to work state. But the King worked for the
school district which has one of the strongest unions there is.
The teachers union, which mechanic can join. But they don't
really do anything for them, as they for the teachers primary. But
after having a horrible problem with his supervisor, he talked to
the union. While they tried to help out some what, they were
pretty toothless, as the supervisor was union too. Even though
this employee was a problem to several parts of the shop, he
still didn't have anything done to him. When the King saw the
writing on the wall, he retired at 55. Which I guess you could
say that was provided by the union... as the benefits are in
force by the union.
But Strike three anyway.

So you see, I don't care for unions. I have seen in the past,
that unions have kept bad employee, because they were
union members. I have seen where people had to pay
hundreds of dollars to join the union and pay a monthly
dues. Which amounts to paying to keep your job. No dues,
no job. So unions are not high on my list.

I know, I know, you are going to tell me that the unions
were wonderful for you. They did marvelous things. And
I say, I am happy for you..... but it doesn't always turn out
that way.

6th Street

For the life of me, I don't understand
town councils. How can they want
so much for their towns, yet talk about
destroying the beauty of it for money.

3 miles from us is the town of Sandpoint.
The inner city is growing by leaps and
bounds. Literally. We have a huge almost
a full block full, 3 story bank complex
that should be opening any day. At
least I have not heard of it being open
yet. It will be a bank on the lower level.
Offices I believe on the second level and
condo's on the top level. It over shadows
everything in town.

We have a smaller but as tall of a building
near the entrance of Sandpoint that has
a restaurant on the bottom floor. Ivano's.

So from first to 5th ...from Lake to Cedar
and some of the others to Larch we have
commerce.

In Sandpoint there are a few streets left
of beauty. Old houses, tall trees. Over by
the Memorial Field is a few.

But from Cedar to Larch on 6th street,
it is to take your breath away during
the spring to fall, and winter isn't too bad
either.

You see 6th Street has old houses, but
it is lined on both sides with the most
beautiful trees. Big trees. And it shades
the street in the summer. The fall leaves
rival New England.

Being a yard sale customer, I have walked
6th street on many occasions. I walk and
breath in the beauty. If you are ever in
Sandpoint, on a summer day, you have
to walk down it and appreciate it. And
maybe you better do it soon.

Because if the powers that be have
their way, it will be gone to the wayside,
as a lot of old Sandpoint has gone. See
powers that be want to make it commercial
zone.

6th Street from Cedar to Lake is already
commercial. And from Larch to the North
is and will be a big commercial project of
stores and housing. So you see this is just
a short stretch of 4 or 5 blocks of beauty.
Old time hometown beauty. It will surely
be a crime and a shame if they make it
commercial.

And I am sure the people who live there
will be at the meeting to protest this. And
the rest of the town will figure it isn't my
neighborhood. But that too is sad, because
next time it could be their neighborhood that
goes thru the change, such as this.

WAR IS HELL

War is hell, why do we pretend it isn't?
Is the news media, the liberals, trying to
break down the CIA and the men who have
a job to do, breaking the enemy, to give
us the info we need to win a war?

Do they think that if we are nice to their
guys, they will be nice to ours? Haven't
they seen the tapes of the enemies cutting
off the heads on television of our men? That is
better than water on the face? Haven't they
seen our men hanging from bridges..their
burnt bodies hanging there? And they think
if we are nicer, they will be too.. NOT...
WAR IS HELL.

Over the years, what the Arm Services did
to get information from the enemy was not
up for public info. Why should it be now?
To tape the actions, doesn't make sense to
me, but to burn those tapes does. It is none
of the public business to know how they
handle it. WAR IS HELL.

The Japanese pulled the nails off of our
men's feet and hands to get our men to
talk. The Germans put electric wires to
the genitals of our men. And the Vietnamese
were not any better.How can we, as the public,
tie the hands of the Arm Services, CIA
and other agency that have a job to do?

This is not our citizen that they are doing it
to... it is the ENEMY... What part aren't
they understanding? WAR IS HELL...

Always has been, always will be, unless
we give in to the goody two shoes, who
don't want to see any harm come to anyone.
God help them, if their sons or daughters
go overseas and are caught by the enemy.
Then you will really know what HELL is, right in
our backyards.

Moving your stuff...computer style

As you have read in the past
week and half, I have gotten
a new computer. Which is nice.
Kind of.

I had saved a couple months
ago, some of my stuff. Because
I was having so much trouble with
my old computer. And was afraid
it would crash one last time and
everything would be lost.

So there I was trying to get the
past 2 months of stuff out of the
old and into the new. Which would
have been a heck of a lot better or
easier had my cd writer been working.
But that decided to give me faults
hopes by looking like it was working
only to be shot down, telling me that
the cd had fail.

So one by one, I sent each thing
to myself from the old computer.
Quickly turning off the internet
on the old computer. Then
going on line with the new computer.
and receive it. It was a v-e-r-y s-l-o-w
process as I have dial up. And about
half of what I had left was pictures,
which took a lot of time to download.

One night I loaded everything up,
left the computer online while I
went to bed and slept. Only to
have the whole thing back load
on to the old computer and
have it freeze in the middle of
it. So that started the doing it
10 emails at a time and disconnect.

And praying it sent before it
froze, and cussing when it froze.

It was like moving from one house,
box by box. Taking 10 boxes, and
leave them at the new house. Then
go back and get 10 more, and leaving
them at the new house. Then after it
is all over... Going thru the boxes and
putting the stuff away in folders...one
box at a time. The worse being the
pictures. Although some of the documents
were no picnic, until it dawned on me
if I did them as attachments it went
better.

As I took each thing out of the old
computer, and deleted that area, the
computer acted a little bit better and
froze up less. But as I got 99% of the
good stuff out, the computer finally
refuse to open up again. This is
something I don't want to go thru
again. And I could tell you, that I
have a plan to copy to cd each month
what I have new in it. But I know it
will be like the papers I have said
I would file as I went along in my
file cabinet. I have a stack 2 feet
tall on my desk to be filed. Best
laid plans of mice and men.

Gosh, I hate moving and packing.
I am glad this one is over. Now for
the unpacking. Putting pictures
in folders and then download them
to a cd. And that I will do on a regular
basis.

WHO BLINKS FIRST....

As we know, it is the time
to get that list out of Christmas
cards to send out.

If you are like me, you will make
a list after Christmas of those who
sent out cards to you. That way,
maybe cutting the list down some.
But that isn't always true, as some
one stops sending cards, but then
there are others who will start sending
cards to you.

So there you are, armed with the
list. You start at the top and head
down... sending to family, of course.
That is a given, for the most part.

But then there are the ones who
you have not seen in 23 years or
so. Do you send out a card or not?
Do you think about how they are
probably sitting there, wondering
if you are going to send a card.
Ready to cross you off their list,
if only you wouldn't send a card to
them.

There are the ones who send out
1 to 2 pages of how their year went.
I have to start looking into that,
as I am tired of trying to write the
same thing 34 times. Or something
similar. But mine would be about
half a page at best. But at least I
would not have to write it over and
over.

So down the list you go, checking
off each one that you send out. Leaving
a few behind....hoping, maybe, they
will not send one if you don't. Because
you don't have a clue what to write in
yours to them. They have been away so
long, they don't have a clue what your
kids names are, or what they are doing.
You haven't done anything earth shaking,
so you write.. "we wish you wonderful
holiday's with your family" etc. etc.

So who blinks first? Will it be you...or
will you get that card in the mail?

DAY in INFAMY

It was 1957 and I was in high school, my
senior year...It was my history class. And
I am sure we had been taught about the
subject many times thru the years. But today,
seem different.

Miss Riley,our teacher, all 5'1 of her, is walking
back and forth across the head of the
class... with a copy of a book in her hand. (I
can close my eyes and see her now, 50 years later).

Today...16 years ago... was a Day of Infamy'
telling about the speech that Franklin D. Roosevelt
gave.

"Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date that will
live in infamy...the United States of American
was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval
and air forces of the Empire of Japan. "

It started the first time I really listened.
Her presentation of it, the book we were about
to read about that famous day of 16 years ago.
(at that time..66 now)

I read the book, and started my interest and
wonderment of the government. I am sure
Miss Riley, did not expect my take on it.

As the book told about how they postpone
the news of the Japanese ships approaching
Pearl Harbor, how they had broke the code,
but didn't want Japan to know, they knew the
code.

How the Secretary of State played golf so
he could not be reached to go to the office
to meet with the Japanese officials until that
afternoon. So they could shame the Japanese
officials about attacking with out notice. And
we went to war... with all the citizens, who
were against involvement of the United States
in the war going on overseas, suddenly running
to join up to fight the Japanese.

We wanted in the war that bad, wait a minute..
we didn't, the government did. What heady
stuff for a 16 year old to read.

A Day in Infamy, in deed... a moment of
silence for all those who died that day...and
since.

Newspapers and Books

Newspapers and book are taking
a beating right now. Papers are
cutting staff.

Now Newsweek tells us more
and more books are going on
line, so are books in print in
trouble too?

I sure hope not. Nothing is better
than curling up with a good book.
Be it a cold winter day or a day
at the beach or park. And not on
a screen.

Besides how is this going to work?
Is everyone going to have to have lap
tops? This is not good. If they were
to go strictly online, does that mean
those with money get the news. And
those without don't get the news? Or
get to read a book?

What about those over 60, who can not
or choose not, to go the computer route?
Say nothing about spending $400 and up
to stay in touch. Also doesn't this give
more to the isolation of people. After
these two weeks, I can tell you, sitting
by myself is no fun at all. Sitting with
the King watching television, sure the
heck is better than sitting here at the
computer by myself.

And isolation is not a good thing for our
society either.

New and Improved??

As we progress thru life,
(not exactly the best of
wording, for lack of better
ones) we seem to lose a
lot.

Back in the 70's the 8
track tape was the best.
Or at least we thought so.
Then along came the cassette.
And records were still holding
in there. Even the manufactures
kept producing machines that
could play the combo of the 3.
Remember the record player on
top, the cassette and 8 track
side by side and if you had a great
model there was the AM-FM radio.

Now people look at you as if you
are from the dark ages if you mention
any of these. As CD's are the product
of choice. And to make it worse, it
is hard to get, and then only at yard
sales.... a player for any of the top 3.

Movies have gone the same way.
VCR are going, going, going. Some
machines have it so you can still
play both. One of the good things
is you can still record on Video's. And
while cameras record, but cd's don't
record show on TV, But there is
another gadget that does that. TiVo,
and etc.

It is rare to see anyone recording
life on a camera now that isn't a
digital. Some do 10 seconds to a
little more on their digital still camera.
It zaps the battery, so it isn't long.

Now television comes in HD and
Blue Ray? What ever that is. I have
looked in the stores that sell those
and they don't seem that much different
from the televisions of 5 years ago, pictures
wise. But if you don't by HD television soon,
you won't be able to see television as
well, they say, as the networks are
going to stop sending out the signal
for those, and go to HD and etc. only.
So what do we do with the 2 televisions
we have, say nothing of the one we have
in reserve, in case one of the other two
die?

And then we come to computers.
Having just changed everything
over from my old computer to the
new one. Coming from XP to Vista.
Being the old computer was trying
to die on my each time I ran it, it
was a hurry thing. The CD/DVD decided
not to work anymore. So it was a
slow process of emailing myself folders,
and hoping the machine would not
freeze while sending. Plus the slowness
of dial up.

After finally getting 99% of the folders
save, the old computer gave up the ghost
to be put in permanent freeze.

As I was taking things out of the email
area, and placing them in folders of choice
on the new machine. and then backing up
on cd....it dawns on me. The new computer
does not have a floppy disk player. What the
heck am I going to do with the 40 to 60 different
floppies of pictures I have and documents
that I have on them? As far as I know there is
no such thing as a strictly floppy disk player
that you can plug into your computer.

So I try to convince myself that, I have not
looked at these floppies in several years, so
like boxes in your garage, you don't need it.
But the pictures, legal documents that I copied
to floppies many years ago... to keep forever...
Are forever gone... hopefully my memory in my
head doesn't remember any that were needed.

Progress....not such a happy place to be some
times.

Sports

How many sports channels are there?
ESPN has several and there are others.

Yet when one has just one channel, and
it carries sports all day long, well, it gets
a little maddening.

Normally we have enough going on
that we don't notice how much sports
is on ABC. But this weekend we were
a captive audience due to weather.

We get ABC and a snowy FOX. Both
of them had sports. While I enjoy the
Seahawks games, the King could care
less about any sports. He does watch
NASCAR off and on. Mostly off. But
this weekend if it wasn't sports then
it was infomercials. You know where
they spend a half hour to an hour trying
to get you to buy a product. Most of
the time loser's type products. (you can
buy a house for $10 and sell it for thousands).
Or spray hair and etc.

Thank goodness for movies. And we
do Netflex.

Baby Boomers

As we head to January, the talk
is of the baby boomers and Social
Security. And THEIR early retirement.

See they actually aren't suppose to
collect until the year 2011 or so. If
they wait until they are 66 as the law
was passed.

I find this ironic, that THEY want to
retire early at 63. Because, if you
recall right a few years ago, it was
the very BABY BOOMERS who
were pushing for the late retirement.
Wanting to push it up to 70, if they
could. So the settlement was 65 and
half to 67 as the years went by.

They were afraid that those of us
born before the WWII would drain
the Social Security system dry.

Now that they are getting there
themselves, it is where is my
SS. How funny.

Then there is the standard old
group, who don't think we should
retire at the age of 63 or 65 or even
67. After all people are living longer.
So far the one's I see saying that,
are those who we would call pencil
pushers. In other words they earn
their living with their mind.

Let me hear from the laborers. Let
me hear from those who lift 50 pounds
or more. On a regular basis. Over and
over. Push and pull 100 pounds for
hours a shift.

Being one of those kind, I can tell
you, when someone else's life depends
on if you can keep lifting, pushing and
pulling. You keep in your mind if you
should give up the job for the safety
of others. I was a nurses aide for over 17
years. I lifted humans out of bed, to wheel
chairs, I had to lift them up in bed. Some
times with another aide, and sometimes,
not. More likely not, as we worked short
handed many many times. And the machine
lifts were for those over 170 pounds.

I went to the Noc shift where I would be
required to move people in bed. And I could
handle that. But then they changed the rules,
and were having us get people up at 5am.
Again, lifting. I knew my time was coming,
so I opt to go out at 63 before I dropped
someone.

How many construction workers could
drop material on another workers? How
many just don't have it to move over 100
pounds on a regular basis? Like it or not,
our bodies do wear down. Might be able
to walk miles, or run a mile, but lift? Some
one else can get hurt if you don't?

So if the desk jockeys want to keep working,
they can go for it, but don't make it for the ones
who have to do manual labor.

And Baby Boomer, what happen to your
thoughts that the person should stay in
the work force until they are 67? Not so
easy, when you are standing at the door,
of retirement.

How high is the snow, Mama

As a take off of Johnny Cash's song, "How high is the water, mama"... this shows what we woke up to. When Misty went out side first thing this morning... I let her down from me carrying her out.... and she disappear into the snow, and popped up seconds later to hop to under the tree where it wasn't over her head... As you can see below, Rokon looks out disgustedly, as she realizes her days of travels outside are over for the winter, or at least as long as we have the snow.

And the answer to the question? we have 22 inches and still coming...