Could be one long day. But wait? Why do I still have granddaughter? Daughter said she expected to be home from her double shift at ten and you know baby does not sleep in her crib when mommy is home…..So she stayed up late last night. Still does not feel like Friday though.
Happy Friday on a Thursday evening in on the left coast.
I just took the trash out and booked the mobile dog groomer for 8 a.m. tomorrow/Friday morning. So I’ll need to be up a bit early to move my Jeep out the driveway to make room for him, then work starts at 9. I have a story (port related) to do for our 1-year retrospective of the Covid-19 experience we’ve all been through and that’s due sometime next week.
How can it be almost March already?
I think the time goes back again to day light savings time — which means the clock in the car and on the kitchen wall will be correct. I kept meaning to get to that … Oh well.
Hi all. It has been one long day for me, starting at 0300 on Thursday, and should end this morning around 1000. Had clinicals in Roswell and night shift in Ruidoso. Caught 1 hour of nap in the parking lot prior to night shift.
Morning! The moonlight is amazing…the moon shadows reflecting upon the snow makes it appear to be daylight…just a lovely start to the day…with coffee in hand….
My guess is that is some sort of frozen water, snowflakes, ice. It looks like fern and flower blossoms…beautiful shot Cheryl.
(Ann’s birthday was the 6th I think…I remember wishing her a happy day on FB…but hey…it is her birthday month right? I like the idea of having the whole month instead of just one day!…Happy Birthmonth Ann! 😊 ♥️) Lions to all!! 🦁
Hello everyone! Beautiful header! And yesterday’s bluebird was as well. I’m going to say this one is ice on glass, either a windshield or windowpane. It’s a nice composition with gorgeous detail! Ice and snow can give the most stunning effects. I remember a particular ice storm when I lived in Indiana. It covered 6 or 8 inches of snow and when the sun glistened on it, it made even the ugly electric lines look like a work of art.
The header is either ice on glass, as Debra said, or a shallow pool of water with ice over it. The designs are from the water stirring just before freezing.
Fun to see you all so chipper— though I have no idea how RK can even type after so many hours!
If anyone is following the Ravi Z fallout, World posted an apology from two board members which is they type of letter I would expect/hope to see from Christians.
Yes, that looks like frost on the window. I have seen many beautiful photos of this lately on my Facebook feed.
I have a friend who was out snowshoeing and lives in the area near the birding area I was recently commenting about. She found a Great Horned Owl dead with a rabbit foot in it’s claw. She thought the owl was headless and had no idea what kind of bird it was, but decided to go back and get it to take a closer look. She did so and found it did have a head and what it was. She contacted the DNR, who told her to keep it in a safe place until they can come and get the carcass. She videoed her doing so and is keeping it in a cooler on ice since we have had above freezing temperatures. They will send it to Chicago. Apparently, the owls between here and Canada are starving to death and they are unsure of the reason.
As per the discussion from yesterday: I have a coffeemaker that does both the pots and singles. I am down to a cup from the pot first thing in the morning. My husband has it ready to go the night before and whoever is up first (usually me) starts it. I have tea or, rarely, a cappuccino made on the single use side of the coffeemaker.
My husband loves breakfast, so if it is anything more than toast, fruit and nuts for me, he has made it.
I generally do laundry on Tuesday, but will change if I need to do so.
I enjoy playing Risk or other games and that is something I miss with the Covid separation. My husband does not care for much game playing. Our friend, who just passed away, was an exception for him. We played board or card games with him and his wife most Fridays all summer long. I will so miss that along with the other things we did together. Life is all about change for sure.
Good morning! Y’all always add joy to my days. Thank you each for posting and livening up my somewhat dull life. This week Art’s car has been in the shop so I have not even been able to go grocery shop except for on Monday. At least it has been sunny out most of the week, although today is a rain day.
Michelle – That cartoon (the Texas couple sitting on the front porch in the cold) reminds me of a Babylon Bee article about how Californians who moved to Texas feel at home since the power was out.
I need to get the car moved to make room for the mobile groomer who’s due here in 30 minutes — and figure out my day and what I can write to make the editor happy. The homeless encampment assignment went well yesterday, a little strange to up up (that early!) and dressed and out on the streets for work, but it was time.
Our photographer was also very helpful, she’d gotten there before I did and gave me a couple colorful anecdotal tidbits with a quote or two; one of them worked perfectly for my lead so I gave her a double byline on the story.
Meanwhile, the cat is hungry and is about ready to start flinging things off the kitchen island.
Wait, he tricked me. Thursday night came and I slept all night. Somewhere in there, daughter got home. All is well. She has today off as she worked extra so no child care for me toay beyond the usual. Husband is off to Boise for his infusion. He is taking nineteen along. She sits at his sister’s house and watches tv in the garage so she is excited.
We’ve had several folks from church migrate there, with another couple about ready to leave. Texas is now being referred to as “The Promised Land” by our pastor
Spring is around the corner, just ask the birds! Watch for bluebirds and pine warblers – just a couple species that start to make an appearance in late February and early March. Photo courtesy of Mark Moschell/Creative Commons. https://t.co/opm02fYXqSpic.twitter.com/nvUSWADI5t
CBD upate: one package is now in Corunna, Indiana. The other is moving in the USPS network and is on track to be delivered on the expected delivery date. See? Isn’t this internet stuff handy?
Yep, the header is a windshield with three different kinds of winter precipitation on it. At top left is a wave of ice from where snow melted and refroze. Along the bottom is at least two different forms of frost, some that look like ferns or leaves. And I love the two “flowers” of frost; to me they look a bit like gemstones. And on top of it is some really tiny snowflakes. The whole scene is probably just about two inches from side to side, which suggests just how small those snowflakes are.
When I photographed it, the two round frost flowers and the frost ferns made me think of a flower garden, February version. But the background makes me think a little bit of a starry night, and the whole scene, including the “wave” of ice, of an underwater scene.
My brother who does building said once that he never understood the argument that similarities between animals proves evolution. He said that if he builds several houses and people walk through them all, presumably they will see some similarity between them, not only because they are all houses and have similar functions, but because the same man designed and built them all.
As I have begun to do macro photography, it has often been fascinating to me how one item looks like something totally different: frost looking like a fern or a feather, for instance. And those teeny tiny little snowflakes look an awful lot like flowers. I also got some shots of bigger snowlakes and sent AJ one or two; the focus on this one isn’t on the snowflakes, but on the scene. But the individual elements in it are beautiful, too.
OK, I have been able to look at my photos from our outing this morning. Almost two years ago we found out about an area in our region called Goose Pond that is said to be an amazing place to see birds with well over 100 species seen there at least once, but most noteworthy are the large flocks in winter of multiple species of waterfowl–especially snow geese, but also white pelicans, sandhill cranes and an occasional pair of whooping cranes, and more.
We heard about it too late in the year two years ago; we drove down in the spring and managed to see several dozen white pelicans (in Indiana?!) and quite a few coots, and a handful of representatives of other species, but no really great sightings of anything. Oh, and one lone snow goose on the ground, I suspect with a broken wing or other injury that didn’t allow it to leave with its flock.
We have since made two or possibly three other trips down there and have seen some pretty birds, but never any great numbers of birds or amazing sightings.
Today I suggested we try again, knowing that this time we were in the right season to see snow geese. Logistically we can’t get there super early, which would probably bring the best sightings, but the clouds were a mix of white and pink and purple and while we didn’t see anything but coots really close, we saw lots of coots, ring-necked ducks and I think some northern shovelers plus some other ducks not yet IDd, tundra swans, red-winged blackbirds, Canada geese and mallards, sandhill cranes . . . and flocks overhead of thousands of snow geese. I don’t know whether I got any really great photos, but to stand on the ground and watch while flock after flock flew by in various configuratons was a really sweet opportunity.
I had orded 50 books from CBD that were on clearance for around 1.99 each. They will be donated to the prison ministry I support. I was told that they would arrive in two packages and that one batch was backordered. Surprise, surprise! They both showed up yesterday afternoon. If they each go into a separate prison and are read by multiple prisoners, that is a lot of outreach for 2.00 each. I think my more substantial donations to church do not have near that impact.
As for migrating Californians changing the politics of other states, that seems to be happening based on places like GA (and Texas is expected to possibly flip to blue as well in the coming years).
Folks from our church would be going both for the financial breaks but also for the more conservative politics (while they last). Then again, anything pretty much would be cheaper and more conservative than California is right now.
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Oh, my dogs look and feel (I can tell) so much better. Tess is glossy and soft, SO black and white, she really is beautiful; Cowboy has lost all those horrible and unruly chunks of fur coming out by the handfuls (it’s that season) and looks amazingly handsome. Their nails are trimmed (I could hear Cowboy almost dragging his feet across the wood floor every night).
The one source I really needed to talk today is available — it’s the upside of city elections approaching — folks who are looking to run will definitely get back to you now (and before your deadline) 🙂 Happy to cooperate and get their name out there when they can.
Blue state exodus could flip the political map upside down, turning red states purple
The great migration is capturing the attention from the country’s biggest banks and tech firms
The country’s blue state exodus is shaking up demographics in red states that are serving as landing spots.
States like Texas and Florida are seeing an influx of Democrats looking for more affordable, tax-friendly costs of living, turning these once Republican-strongholds into purple toss-up states.
Even before 2020, demographics in the sunbelt began to tilt driven by favorable financial perks and economic incentives that conservative states have to offer. However, those trends have accelerated amidst a pandemic-induced recession, and with more jobs now being able to operate via remote.
“West Coasters are going to Texas and East Coasters are going to Florida, and it’s no coincidence that Texas and Florida are red states that don’t collect state income taxes,” FOX Business’s Jackie DeAngelis told colleague Connell McShane on “After the Bell.”
In California, some of Silicon Valley’s major players are escaping the nation’s highest income tax rate, 13.3% for Texas, where businesses on average can save 32% of their operating costs. After Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced its headquarters would relocate from San Jose, California to Houston, Texas, Oracle, Oracle followed suit moving its base from Redwood City, California to Austin, Texas.
On the other side of the country, notable Wall Street banks are moving from New York City to Florida, as businesses are realizing that high tax rates, high housing costs and strict regulations have made it challenging to live and work.
“But as people leave the blue states for the red states, what they’re not doing is changing the way they vote, making the red states more purple than they were before,” added Fox Business’ DeAngelis.
Even the Lone Start State’s Sen. John Cornyn has taken notice of the incoming wave of blue when recently admitted that “Texas is no longer a reliably red state. …
________________________________
In summer we have pelicans (they nest near us and feed on the small lake just north of our place. We also have sandhill cranes, and Canada geese. We’ve had trumpeter swans fly low right over our house during migration – those are big birds!! Last year, I believe they nested on the small lake, but not sure. We did see them off and on through the summer.
Saturday morning here and so nice to sleep in a bit. Getting up at 5 something makes for a very long day. Speaking of which, did rkessler make it home from her marathon shift??
Chas, we listen to what you say. I know all about boring and nothing new, but share anyway.
Chas, I remember you use to go to Myrtle Beach for a vacation. Did you ever go to other beaches? I went to Myrtle Beach once with a college roommate whose extended family rented a beach house there. It is the only time I have ever stayed in a big beach house. We had our own private room. It was actually on the inland waterway. I was not too comfortable around her relatives. Especially I was bothered when an older lady told me I was too old to keep wearing my hair long. I was in my early twenties. Why is that the main thing I remember about that trip?
Oh, Virginia Beach has that slogan, Virginia Beach Is For Lovers. When we went there, Art and I discovered it was also for biting flies. They landed all over our legs and we finally gave up and left. The other folks there did not seem to have a problem so they must have known to take repellent.
I am in a dreaming about going to the beach mood. Maybe the springlike weather has prompted this.
I wonder if the “greater Idaho” idea would catch on around here and make Western Illinois part of Missouri or Iowa. We could also convince St. Louis to join Illinois. Hmm.
For Emily. Her next cake to delight others. I had a coworker about 30+ years ago who was from the Phillipines. A relative of hers made this type cake, but not with fruit on the sides (only on the top). It was one of the best cakes I ever had.
so I took pictures, as I always do, of the Book festival yesterday. Then it turns out that my new computer does not have a slot for the correct sd card. What to do?? I checked my camera and it had a couple of places to connect a cable. My phone and modem don’t work so I had a bunch of cables sitting here and decided to try my luck. I found one and was able to import all the 478 photos in my camera. Now to organize them.
Bodega Bay, the site of the Alfred Hitchcock movie “The Birds” is 20-25 miles west of us. The water off the Northern California coast is freezing and the coast rocky. It’s a great place to hike and admire the scenery.
My one son has not swum in the ocean since childhood. “I grew up in Hawai’i. Why would I want to go into freezing water?”
I think the slogan you are looking for is “Don’t Californicate my state”.
All are welcome to move here, but remember WHY you did it and don’t try to change it to where you came from. If it was so good, you should have stayed there. If you want this kind of life,come on down. Probably not the best thing for a real estate agent to post. Florida has not income tax. Their property tax is high, but there are dozens and dozens of discounts. Alabama has low property tax and a fairly low income tax. What we do have is a lodging tax. The tax collected off of our beaches pay for services and education in the more rural counties.
It looks like it’s Friday night and everyone is bored.
What’s everyone reading these days? I’m reading through a book of three black classics, beginning with Up from Slavery, which after starting I realized I’d already read, but I’m rereading it.
Somehow I also am managing to read through two series at the same time, which I don’t think I’ve ever done before. The Narnia books (I’m up to Silver Chair) and the Anne of Green Gables books (I just finished book #3, which I think means everything else will be new to me). I’ve read the Narnia books 8 or 10 times, the first “Anne” three or four times, the second and third once each I think, but never managed to get any others from the library, so I finally bought the set so I can read the rest of them.
Bored? No, not really. Just keeping an eye on the sick folk.
Books: Joel, Psalms, Galatians in the Reader’s Bible
Fast This Way (still trying to figure out why and how Christians fast)
And a bunch of homeschool stuff
Periodic books from the library to keep an eye on daughter’s selections
Trying to catch up on the stack of magazines that has accumulated.
More success in my day!! My neighbor has a bunch of kids and some adults in his yard. I went out to get my papers burned. by the way the matches here are terrible. It took almost a whole box to get my fire started. I digress. So I watched and cheered the makeshift water slide and then asked if anyone could help me. One guy was willing but I didn’t want to spoil his fun. I got the ladder out which I was not planning on climbing and got my vehicle key. Then I saw a dad whose kids were sliding and he was only watching. So I asked and he came right through the hedge to help. The car I am borrowing had the drivers door lock stuck in the lock position. The rest of the doors were open, but not that one and the centre console is quite wide. It took both of us – he pulled it up with my leatherman pliers and I used the key to try and turn. Success!! I will not be locking it again.
Then as we walked back down to the neighbors yard he saw or almost bumped into the ladder I had set up to clean off the screen of pine needles on the water tank. So he took a minute to clear that for me. Wonderful. I put the ladder away and my chores were done.
I even called the neighboring grade two teacher to come watch. She is young, new, and quite lonely. We are going to a play tonight by the high school kids.
I’m reading the Narnia books to Tiny. Sixth was listening in the other day. He was squirming around in a circle next to me and hanging over the end of the couch and looking out the window, and I wasn’t sure how much he was getting out of it. We are on ‘The Magician’s Nephew’ and since I read an average of two chapters in a sitting, we had moved from the scene with the hansom cab on the London street to the beginning of the creation of Narnia. I was reading the part where they all see a lion coming towards them, and how the Witch was frightened, and Sixth suddenly pipes up, “The Witch could use her knife.” The knife had not been mentioned since the London street scene, but that squirming child had noted the detail and not forgotten it.
DJ wrote, “Having nothing to say has never held any of the rest of us back.”
Indeed. Yesterday I wrote a longish post on the “excitement” of changing my laundry day. Whoopee!
I told Nightingale that same story. She kind of shook her head and said, “You can make anything into a story!” She has said that a time or two before when I have recounted some mundane thing to her in a non-boring way.
Kizzie, yes, I once took on teaching three young boys, two of whom were twin siblings, Sunday School at the tiny church for a year. The twins had been the despair of the pastor’s wife who taught them, because of their behaviour. I took the position that they could stand on their head if necessary, so long as they remained in the room and listening. And they did. I made things as interesting as I could, with shadow boxes, dioramas, play acting, etc, to illustrate the lesson and help them engage more. I actually got those three boys to memorize the Suffering Servant passage in Isaiah 53 and say it at the Christmas Concert at the end of the year.
Roscuro – Several years ago, I read something that made me cringe. A pastor taught the children of his church that coloring or drawing during the sermon was of the devil. 😦
I have them colouring sheets too… As for that pastor, what you said brought to mind Jesus stopping down and drawing in the dust (never says what) when the Pharisees brought the woman caught in adultery to him. Then there was Ezekiel, who made dioramas by God’s command – he frequently preached by illustration. There is a subsection of pastors who take themselves far too seriously and take offence if even the smallest members if their congregation appear to not sit in reverent awe at their words. I think I know what Jesus would say to them, since he said it to his disciples.
I have been reading slowly through Courting Misfortune by Regina Jennings. It is a historical novel about Joplin, MO. The lady lead character is working as an undercover agent for Pinkerton out of Chicago trying to locate a young lady who was kidnapped. It is quite good. The print is too small so I use my large magnifying glass which is cumbersome and slows me down.
I have had a few of those wigglers. We do tell them to sit during the sermon. They can practice their mind wandering techniques while sitting still in preparation for the many extremely boring meetings they may have to sit through.
I also just finished Five Bold Choices: Rise Above Your Circumstances and Redefine Your Life. That is the book I bought 50 copies of to send to Christian Library International for prison ministry.
Husband brings a small folder that holds a sketchbook and all his art pens and pencils to church. He draws through the message – usually putting a portion of the message into the picture.
Kids in our church color and ‘sketch’ during the sermon. All of us have picked up more than a few colored pencils or crayons that drop and roll in between the seats in front of us and land at our feet.
When we were little girls we sat next to our parents during the church service. If Mom or Dad noticed us getting a little wiggly they would pass their bulletin over along with a pencil. We then knew we could doodle on the bulletin which made us very happy little girls 😊
I had my hair trimmed today then ventured on over to Sam’s to pick up fixins for the dinner I am to prepare for our small group here on Tuesday. Sams had no chicken…none, nada. Where the chicken should have been was bacon….and fish! I thought we might be having a shortage of chicken just like the toilet paper event. I drove on over to King Soopers and they had chicken…but not a lot…I managed to snag a big package of chicken breasts though…whew! 🐓
I bought a burrito tonight (take out, drive through); it must be take-out night (Friday, so I guess that makes sense); the line was long and we didn’t even move for the longest time
Wandering Views 
Friday? I feel like I did not sleep at all last night….
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Could be one long day. But wait? Why do I still have granddaughter? Daughter said she expected to be home from her double shift at ten and you know baby does not sleep in her crib when mommy is home…..So she stayed up late last night. Still does not feel like Friday though.
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Where is the rest of the crew? I don’t usually spend a lot of time talking to myself.
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Okay, I suppose if you looked back at posts, I do spend quite a bit of time talking to myself. But not usually in the morning.
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It is Friday here!
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Good morning, Jo! There is a special post number ripe for your picking on the Thursday thread (and it’s still Thursday here.)
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ooo, what a beautiful, intriguing photo!
Happy Friday on a Thursday evening in on the left coast.
I just took the trash out and booked the mobile dog groomer for 8 a.m. tomorrow/Friday morning. So I’ll need to be up a bit early to move my Jeep out the driveway to make room for him, then work starts at 9. I have a story (port related) to do for our 1-year retrospective of the Covid-19 experience we’ve all been through and that’s due sometime next week.
How can it be almost March already?
I think the time goes back again to day light savings time — which means the clock in the car and on the kitchen wall will be correct. I kept meaning to get to that … Oh well.
I did some laundry tonight. Totally random.
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Happy (maybe) birthday Ann — and so good to read the news re the heart checkup, Kevin.
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Hi all. It has been one long day for me, starting at 0300 on Thursday, and should end this morning around 1000. Had clinicals in Roswell and night shift in Ruidoso. Caught 1 hour of nap in the parking lot prior to night shift.
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I’m going to wait to explain the header photo, after people have had a chance to guess what they’re seeing. My husband really loved this one.
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The header photo is a flower in the snow?
Good morning Cheryl. All the others are still in bed.
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Morning! The moonlight is amazing…the moon shadows reflecting upon the snow makes it appear to be daylight…just a lovely start to the day…with coffee in hand….
My guess is that is some sort of frozen water, snowflakes, ice. It looks like fern and flower blossoms…beautiful shot Cheryl.
(Ann’s birthday was the 6th I think…I remember wishing her a happy day on FB…but hey…it is her birthday month right? I like the idea of having the whole month instead of just one day!…Happy Birthmonth Ann! 😊 ♥️) Lions to all!! 🦁
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Hello everyone! Beautiful header! And yesterday’s bluebird was as well. I’m going to say this one is ice on glass, either a windshield or windowpane. It’s a nice composition with gorgeous detail! Ice and snow can give the most stunning effects. I remember a particular ice storm when I lived in Indiana. It covered 6 or 8 inches of snow and when the sun glistened on it, it made even the ugly electric lines look like a work of art.
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I was sitting here, and it occurred to me that God can do a million things a once.
One of them is just sit here with me.
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While you’re sitting there, Chas, you can read the funnies.
The header is either ice on glass, as Debra said, or a shallow pool of water with ice over it. The designs are from the water stirring just before freezing.
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Exactly Chas. We need you here to pray for us. I was thinking just the other day…you have prayed for BG most of her life now.
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Fun to see you all so chipper— though I have no idea how RK can even type after so many hours!
If anyone is following the Ravi Z fallout, World posted an apology from two board members which is they type of letter I would expect/hope to see from Christians.
Sobering. Here’s the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HlTxIEUqehndmZjunfYSMV8br0vMlusu/view
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That first cartoon, Peter, is brutal but very true.
Ramirez’ smart cynical humor appeals to me way too much.
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Lovely thought, Chas.
Yes, that looks like frost on the window. I have seen many beautiful photos of this lately on my Facebook feed.
I have a friend who was out snowshoeing and lives in the area near the birding area I was recently commenting about. She found a Great Horned Owl dead with a rabbit foot in it’s claw. She thought the owl was headless and had no idea what kind of bird it was, but decided to go back and get it to take a closer look. She did so and found it did have a head and what it was. She contacted the DNR, who told her to keep it in a safe place until they can come and get the carcass. She videoed her doing so and is keeping it in a cooler on ice since we have had above freezing temperatures. They will send it to Chicago. Apparently, the owls between here and Canada are starving to death and they are unsure of the reason.
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mumsee, sorry to hear about your night and the mommy not showing up when she was supposed to do so.
Happy birthday, Ann.
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As per the discussion from yesterday: I have a coffeemaker that does both the pots and singles. I am down to a cup from the pot first thing in the morning. My husband has it ready to go the night before and whoever is up first (usually me) starts it. I have tea or, rarely, a cappuccino made on the single use side of the coffeemaker.
My husband loves breakfast, so if it is anything more than toast, fruit and nuts for me, he has made it.
I generally do laundry on Tuesday, but will change if I need to do so.
I enjoy playing Risk or other games and that is something I miss with the Covid separation. My husband does not care for much game playing. Our friend, who just passed away, was an exception for him. We played board or card games with him and his wife most Fridays all summer long. I will so miss that along with the other things we did together. Life is all about change for sure.
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Good morning! Y’all always add joy to my days. Thank you each for posting and livening up my somewhat dull life. This week Art’s car has been in the shop so I have not even been able to go grocery shop except for on Monday. At least it has been sunny out most of the week, although today is a rain day.
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Michelle – That cartoon (the Texas couple sitting on the front porch in the cold) reminds me of a Babylon Bee article about how Californians who moved to Texas feel at home since the power was out.
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Yay, now it really is Friday
I need to get the car moved to make room for the mobile groomer who’s due here in 30 minutes — and figure out my day and what I can write to make the editor happy. The homeless encampment assignment went well yesterday, a little strange to up up (that early!) and dressed and out on the streets for work, but it was time.
Our photographer was also very helpful, she’d gotten there before I did and gave me a couple colorful anecdotal tidbits with a quote or two; one of them worked perfectly for my lead so I gave her a double byline on the story.
Meanwhile, the cat is hungry and is about ready to start flinging things off the kitchen island.
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I vote for ice on a windshield
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Wait, he tricked me. Thursday night came and I slept all night. Somewhere in there, daughter got home. All is well. She has today off as she worked extra so no child care for me toay beyond the usual. Husband is off to Boise for his infusion. He is taking nineteen along. She sits at his sister’s house and watches tv in the garage so she is excited.
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Peter, that’s funny (10:06)
We’ve had several folks from church migrate there, with another couple about ready to leave. Texas is now being referred to as “The Promised Land” by our pastor
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Almost looks like Cheryl’s pic
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I hope those Californians migrating leave the Liberal politics behind. Otherwise Texas will be like California is now.
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CBD upate: one package is now in Corunna, Indiana. The other is moving in the USPS network and is on track to be delivered on the expected delivery date. See? Isn’t this internet stuff handy?
Lions to all.
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More and more Oregon counties are passing the Greater Idaho deal.
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https://www.greateridaho.org/
I knew you would be interested. Even California wants to join in. And Washington.
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Yep, the header is a windshield with three different kinds of winter precipitation on it. At top left is a wave of ice from where snow melted and refroze. Along the bottom is at least two different forms of frost, some that look like ferns or leaves. And I love the two “flowers” of frost; to me they look a bit like gemstones. And on top of it is some really tiny snowflakes. The whole scene is probably just about two inches from side to side, which suggests just how small those snowflakes are.
When I photographed it, the two round frost flowers and the frost ferns made me think of a flower garden, February version. But the background makes me think a little bit of a starry night, and the whole scene, including the “wave” of ice, of an underwater scene.
My brother who does building said once that he never understood the argument that similarities between animals proves evolution. He said that if he builds several houses and people walk through them all, presumably they will see some similarity between them, not only because they are all houses and have similar functions, but because the same man designed and built them all.
As I have begun to do macro photography, it has often been fascinating to me how one item looks like something totally different: frost looking like a fern or a feather, for instance. And those teeny tiny little snowflakes look an awful lot like flowers. I also got some shots of bigger snowlakes and sent AJ one or two; the focus on this one isn’t on the snowflakes, but on the scene. But the individual elements in it are beautiful, too.
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I did not realize FAcebook had permanently removed the move Oregon’s border page.
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OK, I have been able to look at my photos from our outing this morning. Almost two years ago we found out about an area in our region called Goose Pond that is said to be an amazing place to see birds with well over 100 species seen there at least once, but most noteworthy are the large flocks in winter of multiple species of waterfowl–especially snow geese, but also white pelicans, sandhill cranes and an occasional pair of whooping cranes, and more.
We heard about it too late in the year two years ago; we drove down in the spring and managed to see several dozen white pelicans (in Indiana?!) and quite a few coots, and a handful of representatives of other species, but no really great sightings of anything. Oh, and one lone snow goose on the ground, I suspect with a broken wing or other injury that didn’t allow it to leave with its flock.
We have since made two or possibly three other trips down there and have seen some pretty birds, but never any great numbers of birds or amazing sightings.
Today I suggested we try again, knowing that this time we were in the right season to see snow geese. Logistically we can’t get there super early, which would probably bring the best sightings, but the clouds were a mix of white and pink and purple and while we didn’t see anything but coots really close, we saw lots of coots, ring-necked ducks and I think some northern shovelers plus some other ducks not yet IDd, tundra swans, red-winged blackbirds, Canada geese and mallards, sandhill cranes . . . and flocks overhead of thousands of snow geese. I don’t know whether I got any really great photos, but to stand on the ground and watch while flock after flock flew by in various configuratons was a really sweet opportunity.
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Idaho is the promised land for most of our friends. Makes it complicated to visit–unless they all gather at the same party, which would work!
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They even took one of our pastors and my prayer partner (his wife). I call it “St Mark in exile.” My husband thinks that sounds mean.
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The road less taken.
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We get pelicans here, too.
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I had orded 50 books from CBD that were on clearance for around 1.99 each. They will be donated to the prison ministry I support. I was told that they would arrive in two packages and that one batch was backordered. Surprise, surprise! They both showed up yesterday afternoon. If they each go into a separate prison and are read by multiple prisoners, that is a lot of outreach for 2.00 each. I think my more substantial donations to church do not have near that impact.
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I have my prayer call in one hour. Time flies every Friday.
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Texas would be way too hot and dusty for me.
As for migrating Californians changing the politics of other states, that seems to be happening based on places like GA (and Texas is expected to possibly flip to blue as well in the coming years).
Folks from our church would be going both for the financial breaks but also for the more conservative politics (while they last). Then again, anything pretty much would be cheaper and more conservative than California is right now.
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Oh, my dogs look and feel (I can tell) so much better. Tess is glossy and soft, SO black and white, she really is beautiful; Cowboy has lost all those horrible and unruly chunks of fur coming out by the handfuls (it’s that season) and looks amazingly handsome. Their nails are trimmed (I could hear Cowboy almost dragging his feet across the wood floor every night).
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The one source I really needed to talk today is available — it’s the upside of city elections approaching — folks who are looking to run will definitely get back to you now (and before your deadline) 🙂 Happy to cooperate and get their name out there when they can.
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https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/blue-state-exodus-could-flip-the-political-map-upside-down-turning-red-states-purple
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Blue state exodus could flip the political map upside down, turning red states purple
The great migration is capturing the attention from the country’s biggest banks and tech firms
The country’s blue state exodus is shaking up demographics in red states that are serving as landing spots.
States like Texas and Florida are seeing an influx of Democrats looking for more affordable, tax-friendly costs of living, turning these once Republican-strongholds into purple toss-up states.
Even before 2020, demographics in the sunbelt began to tilt driven by favorable financial perks and economic incentives that conservative states have to offer. However, those trends have accelerated amidst a pandemic-induced recession, and with more jobs now being able to operate via remote.
“West Coasters are going to Texas and East Coasters are going to Florida, and it’s no coincidence that Texas and Florida are red states that don’t collect state income taxes,” FOX Business’s Jackie DeAngelis told colleague Connell McShane on “After the Bell.”
In California, some of Silicon Valley’s major players are escaping the nation’s highest income tax rate, 13.3% for Texas, where businesses on average can save 32% of their operating costs. After Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced its headquarters would relocate from San Jose, California to Houston, Texas, Oracle, Oracle followed suit moving its base from Redwood City, California to Austin, Texas.
On the other side of the country, notable Wall Street banks are moving from New York City to Florida, as businesses are realizing that high tax rates, high housing costs and strict regulations have made it challenging to live and work.
“But as people leave the blue states for the red states, what they’re not doing is changing the way they vote, making the red states more purple than they were before,” added Fox Business’ DeAngelis.
Even the Lone Start State’s Sen. John Cornyn has taken notice of the incoming wave of blue when recently admitted that “Texas is no longer a reliably red state. …
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In case you are wondering why I haven’t said anything.
I just told you everything there is to say.
It has been that way lately. And it isn’t fun.
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In summer we have pelicans (they nest near us and feed on the small lake just north of our place. We also have sandhill cranes, and Canada geese. We’ve had trumpeter swans fly low right over our house during migration – those are big birds!! Last year, I believe they nested on the small lake, but not sure. We did see them off and on through the summer.
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I have seen no pelicans here except for tourist souvenirs.
My gingerbread in the oven smells heavenly.
We only had three on this afternoon’s prayer call. Lots to pray about.
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Saturday morning here and so nice to sleep in a bit. Getting up at 5 something makes for a very long day. Speaking of which, did rkessler make it home from her marathon shift??
Chas, we listen to what you say. I know all about boring and nothing new, but share anyway.
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Chas, I remember you use to go to Myrtle Beach for a vacation. Did you ever go to other beaches? I went to Myrtle Beach once with a college roommate whose extended family rented a beach house there. It is the only time I have ever stayed in a big beach house. We had our own private room. It was actually on the inland waterway. I was not too comfortable around her relatives. Especially I was bothered when an older lady told me I was too old to keep wearing my hair long. I was in my early twenties. Why is that the main thing I remember about that trip?
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The gingerbread tastes heavenly.
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I have visited Virginia Beach. I like Surfide better.
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If I can get it together, I have a long entry for tomorrow.
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Oh, Virginia Beach has that slogan, Virginia Beach Is For Lovers. When we went there, Art and I discovered it was also for biting flies. They landed all over our legs and we finally gave up and left. The other folks there did not seem to have a problem so they must have known to take repellent.
I am in a dreaming about going to the beach mood. Maybe the springlike weather has prompted this.
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Kim, DJ, Michelle, and Ann live not too far from beaches. Anyone else? Maybe Jo?
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Guess what?
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I live close to several beaches.
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Since this is the 57th day of the year…
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I got 57!
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Chas said a lot at 8:26.
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Who cares? Older brother, you need to get a life. Unbelievable.
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I wonder if the “greater Idaho” idea would catch on around here and make Western Illinois part of Missouri or Iowa. We could also convince St. Louis to join Illinois. Hmm.
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For Emily. Her next cake to delight others. I had a coworker about 30+ years ago who was from the Phillipines. A relative of hers made this type cake, but not with fruit on the sides (only on the top). It was one of the best cakes I ever had.
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Northern California would like to join with Idaho.
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Yes, leaving all major cities behind. And expectations of the government providing all.
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so I took pictures, as I always do, of the Book festival yesterday. Then it turns out that my new computer does not have a slot for the correct sd card. What to do?? I checked my camera and it had a couple of places to connect a cable. My phone and modem don’t work so I had a bunch of cables sitting here and decided to try my luck. I found one and was able to import all the 478 photos in my camera. Now to organize them.
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Having nothing to say has never held any of the rest of us back.
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Lots of pelicans here. I love seeing them perch on top of the old posts near the fishing pier
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For any technology questions, see Jo.
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Mike told me about a nice place in Winchester. Foreclosure. 140,000.
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There is also a nice eight bedroom, three bath for three million.
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Bodega Bay, the site of the Alfred Hitchcock movie “The Birds” is 20-25 miles west of us. The water off the Northern California coast is freezing and the coast rocky. It’s a great place to hike and admire the scenery.
My one son has not swum in the ocean since childhood. “I grew up in Hawai’i. Why would I want to go into freezing water?”
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The second has a nice set up for sheep.
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I think the slogan you are looking for is “Don’t Californicate my state”.
All are welcome to move here, but remember WHY you did it and don’t try to change it to where you came from. If it was so good, you should have stayed there. If you want this kind of life,come on down. Probably not the best thing for a real estate agent to post. Florida has not income tax. Their property tax is high, but there are dozens and dozens of discounts. Alabama has low property tax and a fairly low income tax. What we do have is a lodging tax. The tax collected off of our beaches pay for services and education in the more rural counties.
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A $3 million sheep farm lol
Where I’d slip on some ice and blow my other knee out.
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Why would you be outside? That is the dog’s job. Wait. Your dogs are inside. Well, I don’t think the sheep would like being inside.
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We may all have to be inside just to be safe
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It might smell
They have mobile groomers out there, right?
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Sorry, my daughter is moving. She uses sheep clippers on dogs.
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I have never known her to have a repeat customer.
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Somehow, I think I am glad I don’t understand any of this.
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Hi Chas. What did you have for dinner?
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haha
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I live close to several beaches (on lakes) and when I’m working, I’m right at the beach (well, just up the hill in the chalet).
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It looks like it’s Friday night and everyone is bored.
What’s everyone reading these days? I’m reading through a book of three black classics, beginning with Up from Slavery, which after starting I realized I’d already read, but I’m rereading it.
Somehow I also am managing to read through two series at the same time, which I don’t think I’ve ever done before. The Narnia books (I’m up to Silver Chair) and the Anne of Green Gables books (I just finished book #3, which I think means everything else will be new to me). I’ve read the Narnia books 8 or 10 times, the first “Anne” three or four times, the second and third once each I think, but never managed to get any others from the library, so I finally bought the set so I can read the rest of them.
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Bored? No, not really. Just keeping an eye on the sick folk.
Books: Joel, Psalms, Galatians in the Reader’s Bible
Fast This Way (still trying to figure out why and how Christians fast)
And a bunch of homeschool stuff
Periodic books from the library to keep an eye on daughter’s selections
Trying to catch up on the stack of magazines that has accumulated.
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More success in my day!! My neighbor has a bunch of kids and some adults in his yard. I went out to get my papers burned. by the way the matches here are terrible. It took almost a whole box to get my fire started. I digress. So I watched and cheered the makeshift water slide and then asked if anyone could help me. One guy was willing but I didn’t want to spoil his fun. I got the ladder out which I was not planning on climbing and got my vehicle key. Then I saw a dad whose kids were sliding and he was only watching. So I asked and he came right through the hedge to help. The car I am borrowing had the drivers door lock stuck in the lock position. The rest of the doors were open, but not that one and the centre console is quite wide. It took both of us – he pulled it up with my leatherman pliers and I used the key to try and turn. Success!! I will not be locking it again.
Then as we walked back down to the neighbors yard he saw or almost bumped into the ladder I had set up to clean off the screen of pine needles on the water tank. So he took a minute to clear that for me. Wonderful. I put the ladder away and my chores were done.
I even called the neighboring grade two teacher to come watch. She is young, new, and quite lonely. We are going to a play tonight by the high school kids.
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oh, didn’t mean to be anon.
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I’m reading the Narnia books to Tiny. Sixth was listening in the other day. He was squirming around in a circle next to me and hanging over the end of the couch and looking out the window, and I wasn’t sure how much he was getting out of it. We are on ‘The Magician’s Nephew’ and since I read an average of two chapters in a sitting, we had moved from the scene with the hansom cab on the London street to the beginning of the creation of Narnia. I was reading the part where they all see a lion coming towards them, and how the Witch was frightened, and Sixth suddenly pipes up, “The Witch could use her knife.” The knife had not been mentioned since the London street scene, but that squirming child had noted the detail and not forgotten it.
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Roscuro – I’ve read that some children can actually listen better when they are allowed to squirm or move in some way.
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DJ wrote, “Having nothing to say has never held any of the rest of us back.”
Indeed. Yesterday I wrote a longish post on the “excitement” of changing my laundry day. Whoopee!
I told Nightingale that same story. She kind of shook her head and said, “You can make anything into a story!” She has said that a time or two before when I have recounted some mundane thing to her in a non-boring way.
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I got two packages today from the same place. One was backordered and sent later than the other.
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That cake is quite the showstopper. It would be fun to try a piece. You will have to fill us in, Kizzie.
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Kizzie, yes, I once took on teaching three young boys, two of whom were twin siblings, Sunday School at the tiny church for a year. The twins had been the despair of the pastor’s wife who taught them, because of their behaviour. I took the position that they could stand on their head if necessary, so long as they remained in the room and listening. And they did. I made things as interesting as I could, with shadow boxes, dioramas, play acting, etc, to illustrate the lesson and help them engage more. I actually got those three boys to memorize the Suffering Servant passage in Isaiah 53 and say it at the Christmas Concert at the end of the year.
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Roscuro – Several years ago, I read something that made me cringe. A pastor taught the children of his church that coloring or drawing during the sermon was of the devil. 😦
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I have them colouring sheets too… As for that pastor, what you said brought to mind Jesus stopping down and drawing in the dust (never says what) when the Pharisees brought the woman caught in adultery to him. Then there was Ezekiel, who made dioramas by God’s command – he frequently preached by illustration. There is a subsection of pastors who take themselves far too seriously and take offence if even the smallest members if their congregation appear to not sit in reverent awe at their words. I think I know what Jesus would say to them, since he said it to his disciples.
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Ezekiel’s diorama of Jerusalem under siege actually inspired me to make my own diorama of the siege when teaching my class Old Testament history.
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I have been reading slowly through Courting Misfortune by Regina Jennings. It is a historical novel about Joplin, MO. The lady lead character is working as an undercover agent for Pinkerton out of Chicago trying to locate a young lady who was kidnapped. It is quite good. The print is too small so I use my large magnifying glass which is cumbersome and slows me down.
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I have had a few of those wigglers. We do tell them to sit during the sermon. They can practice their mind wandering techniques while sitting still in preparation for the many extremely boring meetings they may have to sit through.
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I also just finished Five Bold Choices: Rise Above Your Circumstances and Redefine Your Life. That is the book I bought 50 copies of to send to Christian Library International for prison ministry.
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100?
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How did that happen?
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Happenstance? The stars lined up? Sovereign God? I will take the third.
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Husband brings a small folder that holds a sketchbook and all his art pens and pencils to church. He draws through the message – usually putting a portion of the message into the picture.
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I bring a small notebook to write notes if I can pay attention enough to do so.
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Kids in our church color and ‘sketch’ during the sermon. All of us have picked up more than a few colored pencils or crayons that drop and roll in between the seats in front of us and land at our feet.
I tend to take notes during the sermons.
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When we were little girls we sat next to our parents during the church service. If Mom or Dad noticed us getting a little wiggly they would pass their bulletin over along with a pencil. We then knew we could doodle on the bulletin which made us very happy little girls 😊
I had my hair trimmed today then ventured on over to Sam’s to pick up fixins for the dinner I am to prepare for our small group here on Tuesday. Sams had no chicken…none, nada. Where the chicken should have been was bacon….and fish! I thought we might be having a shortage of chicken just like the toilet paper event. I drove on over to King Soopers and they had chicken…but not a lot…I managed to snag a big package of chicken breasts though…whew! 🐓
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A chicken shortage? That’s weird.
I still have toilet paper I bought a really long time ago during 2020. I bought a lot of it.
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I bought a burrito tonight (take out, drive through); it must be take-out night (Friday, so I guess that makes sense); the line was long and we didn’t even move for the longest time
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Oh look, my old login worked for the first time in ages
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The cat’s acting up again
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This surely is a chatty bunch!
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