Good Morning!

Overcast, no wind, and temp is in the teens. No precipitation forecasted for today.

Well we made it through the inauguration and on our way to what I hope is a less controversial four year term. I know there are some of you that think Trump was the "best" president we have had and there are about an equal number of people that think he was the "worse" president we have ever had. Well, to each his own, and hopefully we can have less polarization than we have now. 

"Our" main issue should be working together to get thru this COVID-19 pandemic. Hopefully, we can all get vaccinated soon and life will get back to some sort of normalcy. OH, that brings up a favor I have for all of you. I have a very good friend that has COVID-19 right now. How about saying a get well prayer for "Jim's friend" right now.  Thanks.. 

Sherry and I have been doing the same as we have been doing for the last months-staying home. We have not started getting our shots, but tomorrow we will go on-line and see if we can get an appointment before the system crashes... I am VERY disappointed with the way the medical facilities/county health departments/state health departments have handled the communications for getting the vaccine. It's not like they didn't know that they were going to have to have a system in place. Sherry's mother who is in her 90's has not been informed when she can get the vaccine, however I also know of people a lot younger than her already vaccinated.  Something is wrong.. (I don't have any problem with essential workers of any age getting vaccinated first..) UPDATE: MN has now changed their weekly vaccine registration. Seniors can apply on-line for 24 hours and they will draw random names for the 8,000 available shots on Wednesday. There is also a phone number you can call.  Random picks will be notified. Maybe...

We had a nice surprise yesterday afternoon while watching the football playoffs. I seen movement in the backyard and when I looked out into the backyard there stood "small", "medium", and "large" bucks looking towards the house. So, all three of them made it through the hunting season. No, we did not have a camera ready to get a good shot. The background is all white, so it would have made for a nice shot to get all three of them with their heads up because the antlers would have been in contrast to the snow behind them.  Next time..

Sherry has kind of slowed down on quilting and has started digging into the closets. So she is working in this one closet and she comes over and says "this one is yours"! Well, it was a cardboard box that said "Hong Kong" on the side. We were in Hong Kong in the early nineties when I was sworn in as District Governor in Lions. It was fun going thru the "stuff" in the box, but all the "stuff" in the box went into the recycle bin.. For all of you that have not been to Hong Kong, Hong Kong has more skyscrapers than any other place in the world.. I can remember driving to the cities after we had been to Hong Kong and laughed when we looked at the Minneapolis skyline in comparison to Hong Kong. Quite a place, but I will never being going back, even if I had a free round trip ticket.. However I must say that it was very clean, considering the population.

I'm still working in the breezeway and slowly sorting/throwing things from the garage. I have a feeling I will be mowing lawn before I'm done. I'm going to take a little break and get all my woodcarving tools together and do some carving. I haven't done any carving since we were in Branson about a year ago. Golly, it really doesn't seem like it was that long ago-sometimes. I have a feeling I will have to do some sharpening before I get into the actual carving. Yesterday I watched a Wisconsin carver doing a demonstration on YouTube Carving. For anyone who has a little over an hour to spare, you can watch as a figure comes out of a piece of word.. 👨

As I have been sitting here writing this post, two of the fawns from last year are busy trimming down the black eyed susan's that we transplanted last fall. Oh well, if they don't come back, we got more to transplant. I think they will come back, because we usually trim them back in the fall anyway, probably not quite as close to the ground as the deer are doing tho. Now there are four out there eating now. Luckily the snow isn't very deep (maybe 4 inches) so the deer are not having any problem getting to the grass. I can remember last winter when the snow out there was well over three feet deep.. We can use the moisture, but I would rather see it come as rain next spring when the frost is out of the ground.  Now some of them are heading down to the creek, probably to get a drink of water.

Speaking of water, I had to put in a different heater in the pond for the fish. This one is a little higher wattage, so there is a little open water by the skimmer. There are all sorts of tracks going over to the open water. The water is nice and clear, so you can see the fish swimming below the open water and going out under the ice. I thought we might have lost them because the pond/skimmer was totally frozen over. There has to be open water someplace so the toxic gases in the water can escape or it will kill the fish.

Well, I guess it's time to go out and get to work in the breezeway. All the deer are now gone for a while, they will come back and go into the woods west of our place.

Have a good day and stay healthy..

Jim

My Personal View

I will forewarn you that this blog is going to be about the incident at the Capitol Building. I know that "incident" is not the word that I probably should be using and there are many other words that could be used. No matter what the word is, I'm sure all of you know what I'm talking about so we will just leave it at that. If any of you condone what happened on Wednesday and accept what happened, I suggest you stop reading and delete this post. You are NOT going to be happy with what I am about to write.

First, I am not a Republication or Democrat. I have voted for both parties and I have voted for winners and losers.. When the vote count is over, I accept the count of the individual States and the Electoral College. When I vote, I base my decision on the individual NOT the party. I DO NOT believe either of the parties is any better than the other. Sure they have different platforms, and that is good. However, to say that ANY President is bad is a bunch of BS. All presidents have pushed through good/bad legislation. We all know that there are three branches and the branches can prevent any President from fulfilling his promises prior to election. So to say that a President was "the worst president" is also a bunch of BS. However, I do understand that there are people that are die-hard Republicans and Democrats, and I take that with a grain of salt.

I'm not writing this blog about my lack of party affiliation, I writing this blog because I am very disappointed with the way the REPUBLICAN party is/has reacted to what happened on Wednesday. Anyone who does not believe that the President and his cronies were not involved in the group that stormed the Capitol need to take their head out of the sand. Our President has been talking about this weeks before now. I know that there are many that feel the election was rigged. So how do you know that, what would make you think that? Well, I'll tell you why, because you either heard it on FOX News, read it from a Right Wing Media site, or from a friend on a Media site like Facebook. Some of you are educators and one of the ways you teach children to remember something is to tell it over and over. When "someone" says PRIOR to the election that "if I don't win, the election is rigged", I knew at that time that there was going to be problems, IF he didn't win.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. 

The votes were counted/verified by the states and sent to the Electoral College. The President "calls" and wants to "find" votes so he has more than Biden.. HOW much evidence to you need to realize that the President LOST! Oh, I almost forgot the 50 plus lawsuits by his cronies that were all thrown out including one by the Supreme Court! Also remember that Biden won by "Millions" of votes..

I do not have any problem with "peaceful protests" however, what happened on Wednesday was far from peaceful. I think that there were many people who where what I would call "followers" and that many of them got caught up in the "wave". However, that doesn't automatically make you innocent. You are still a part of the crime and have to face the consequences. Let's put it this way, IF you were on Capitol property and had a cell phone that was turned on, you are known..

Granted, there were terrorist that were there to do harm. It boggles my mind that there actually were terrorist in the group that actually were looking for Vice President Pence and wanted to hang him. That is unbelievable.. So the question remains, Who would want to do that? You can form your own opinion, my opinion is Pence was thrown under the bus because he would not go along with the President's wishes, which by the way, would have been against our Constitution.. 

In my opinion, there are many people in all levels of government that have explaining to do, and may need to be prosecuted. My only hope that there isn't a bunch of hand slapping, and that they have to do time in jail to think about what they done, or pay a hefty fine and all the money is given to needy services..

I am very happy that I am not a Republican or a Democrat so that I can look at this for what it really is. I would be just as critical of the Democrats if they were the ones responsible for what happened. President Trump is the instigator, however, ALL of the Republicans in office are just as responsible, because THEY did not stand up to some of the Presidents statements. I feel sorry for the true Republications that believe in their platform, but are afraid of the Republican base that is part of the Trump CULT. (I told you that you might not like what I was going to write..) 

IF I was as I will call a "True Republican" and not the "Radical Right" I would sit back back and maybe rethink my position.  I have read all sorts of comments on Facebook how our country is going to completely fall apart on January 20th, well, I got news for you. It won't UNLESS you want to promote it. 

I have spent most of my time since Wednesday watching the different media, EXCEPT Fox News, and have listened to many many people from different positions. I do not necessarily listen to the newscasters. However I was surprised to hear that Timothy McFay who blew up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City 30 some years ago visited the terrorist group that planned on kidnapping and possibly killing the Governor of Michigan a short time ago. These radical groups did not just sprout up, they have been around for a long time. However, the last four years their fuses have been lighted..

The funeral procession for the officer killed inside the Capitol is on TV right now. How tragic. I do not condone the lost of any of the people that died because of the overtaking of the Capitol. The veteran that was shot by the Capitol police paid the price. However, we do not know what would have happened had she gotten in.. There were many of the rioters there were out to do bodily harm.

It boggles my mine that there was not more blood spread at the Capitol.  Maybe it's a good thing that the events happened as they did, (except for the killings). I know that there were many people what were scared to death (I can relate to that) and there was destruction inside the Capitol (which can be fixed) and none of the Capitol's historic statues/paintings were not destroyed. It was a real wakeup call, and it should never happen again.

I know that there are probably some of you that will just laugh at what I am about to write about, but if you haven't witnessed it, you have NO idea what I am writing about.. It all goes back to Germany.. Wither you believe it or not, we were going down the same path as Hitler's regime. I spent over four years in Germany and met many German citizen and NOT ONE of them would admit that they were part of the regime. I also met Germans who were prisoners of war that were in POW of camps in the US. They were all happy to be in the US and not part of the war. I was at one the death camps twice in Germany and seen the horrific photographs of the experiments done on prisoners' before they cremated them. I do not believe that the population of Germany believed in what happened "prior" to Hitler, but were "brain washed" after he came in power. Thankfully, President Trump did not get reelected, because he would not have done this, but he would have loved to have had the power.

ANYONE who supports President Trump from now on until the end of his tenure, has the same blood on their hands as does the President. What has happened is inexcusable and anyone that supports this is in the same group..

Now it has been reported that there was someone who had COVID in one of the secure rooms, and some of the people in there were not wearing masks and were asked to do so, but refused. How Inconsiderate..  Oh, and as you may have noticed, most of the terrorist weren't wearing masks. So now they can carry it back to their home states to infect people at home. Oh, they should be so proud when they go back home and infect their family/friends!

So what really got us into this situation? Personally, I believe it was Social Media.. If the President, you, and me were not able to got out and make outlandish comments/lies, we would not be in the situation we are now. I do not comment very often on Facebook, but I do do a lot of reading and I do go back and look at people who makes comments. Oh, it's surprising what you can learn about people..

In closing, I am 79 and pushing 80 pretty hard. I am past the point where I am really concerned with what people think about me. I have my own opinions as do you, and THAT is what makes our country great. I have been places where that is not the case. There may be some of you that do not understand how fortunate you are to live in the United States. I just hope that we can keep our country free as it has been. That does not mean MAGA which in my books has also been a bunch of BS. Our country was great before Trump every became President.

One of the interviewee's just mentioned that the Radical Right wants a Civil War. Is that what you want?? Heaven Forbid..  The United States is better than that.

However we must protect our security people. I really doubt the Radical Right will be using "rubber bullets. The security people/military (if needed) must fight fire with fire. I hate to think what will come next. I'm afraid blood will flow..

Late Note: The FBI has already received over 40,000 "tips" on the Capitol terrorists. Good for the 40,000...

Stay Safe  Jim

Sunday Morning

Good Morning. Clear skies, no wind and the temperature is up to 17 degrees, and the low last night was 11.8 degrees. The forecast for today is for a high in the low 30's.  The trees are frosted this morning from some fog last night. The birds are busy having breakfast and there has been a pileated woodpecker coming off and on for some suet.

It's now time to close down 2020 and that means archive email messages, and pictures. I archive all email messages (except those deleted) both received messages and sent messages. I know, "why do you want to keep all that stuff!", well I have information in email messages that contains activation information for some of our software applications and information from prior conversations. 

The pictures are another story.. We have two cameras and two iPhones, which means there ends up being many pictures (1000"s) per year. I have come up with a file naming process that is year-month-day-hour-minute-second-camera file name-camera name. That may seem like and overkill, but there are times when we are using more than one camera, it comes in handy to have the time down to seconds. Many newer cameras default filename is that configuration. This filename configuration really ends up being a "picture diary". I also use my iPhone for taking "informational" pictures during the year. As an example, if I take something apart, I might take pictures of the process so I know how to put it back together, or if I'm going to buy a replacement item, I might take picture of the original. (replacement car batteries is an example.)

While I am working on these two projects, we are also in the process of totally redoing our breezeway between the house and the garage. Since Sherry now has the back bedroom as her sewing/quilt room (she could use more space..) I have moved to the breezeway. Well, since we built the breezeway, we really haven't heated it in the winter time. Now, that we are using it, we found out that when I built it, I screwed up insulating it. First of all, the house and garage are not parallel to each other.. The front of the garage is 14 feet from the house and the back of the garage is 15 feet 6 inches from the house. Oh yes, all sorts of interesting problems. Anyway, somewhere in the process I didn't insulate properly and now we are having a condensation problem, which will turn into a mold problem. So, we will limp through this winter and then I will totally remove all of the interior sheetrock/insulation on the walls/ceiling and redo the room. We will also put in new electrical and heating so it is warmer out there. Another project... (never ending)

While I am doing my projects, Sherry is in the process of taking down Christmas decoration and trees. Yes, I did say trees... I'm not sure, but I think the count is close to a dozen.. That is a whole story in itself and will be a future blog.

In closing, I would like to say "thank you" to my old acquaintances for their newsy emails. I always appreciate communicating with friends and hearing what is happening in their lives. Here's wishing all of you a great 2021. For those of your that are recovering from COVID, you are in my thoughts and prayers.

Jim

Happy New Year Everyone

I started 2021 off right, I slept in until almost 8:30!  It's cloudy, calm, temperature is in the 20's, and about an inch of snow on the ground. Not bad. The year ended on a somber note and hopefully 2021 can bring us better memories. It seemed strange to see the ball drop at Times Square and not all the people. I guess it all started with the Macy's day parade being a couple blocks long and ending with a couple hundred people at Times Square. Today we watched the Rose Bowl Parade Celebration which was different but interesting. The committee put together a two hour presentation on past parades. It was fun to see how technology has changed the parade over the years.

Today is a quiet day and I need to go out and fill the bird feeders. No birds is a good indication that the feeders are empty.  It will take a one gallon milk jug full of sunflower seeds (no hulls) and three suet cakes to get all the feeders filled. It is surprising how fast the birds will be back at the feeders. 

The 2021 calendar looks pretty empty except for upcoming birthdays. Hopefully, places will be able to open up again shortly, but the health organization stresses that it will take some time for the pandemic to be over. They still haven't determined if when you build up an immunity if you still be able to spread the virus. I hope our immunity will also prevent us from spreading it to someone else who has not been vaccinated.

I was reading an article the other day about the World Health Organization working with airlines and other organization about developing an Immunization Card of some sort that will be on your smartphone and it will show if you have been vaccinated or have an immunity to the virus. You would have to show this in order to board a plane and I wouldn't be surprised that other organization might also request to see the information. It could easily be set up in such a way that it could be viewed by other businesses.  As Governor Coumo said the other night, we are about to enter a "new normal". Normal as we use to know it might never come back, or come back with some changes.. I personally think that our smartphones will become our new form of identity.  There will be no need for drivers licenses as we know them today. Credit cards as we know them will also be gone. The technology is already here and is being used by many people. It wasn't very long ago when I went into the bank to get some cash for our trip to Branson. The teller was a younger person and after he counted out my money, he said "It won't be long before we won't be doing this anymore." (I still have over half of that cash left.) This pandemic is going to open many doors and close as many. So you may think some are good and some you might not like, but the bottom line is, "change is coming.."   

Well, since I started writing the blog, I went out and filled all the feeders and put out some suet. Yep, got all sorts of visitors.. 

This posting is long enough, stay healthy, and to my friends that do have COVID and to those that are recovering from it, get well soon and you are in my thoughts and prayers.

Jim