The last day of the decade????

Happy last day of the year (and decade?):

The picture here is one from Photography as Art series, but it looks like Shanghai China.

I made an apple crisp today, to eat tonight as I celebrate the coming decade alone once again.

I will not watch the ball fall in New York. Instead, I recorded To Kill a Mockingbird a few days ago. It is such a good movie I may watch it as the New Year arrives later tonight.

As I told you yesterday, I am in contact with other Schwindt relations in Argentina. They are in Buesnos Aires, five hours ahead of us here. It is just across the bay from Uruguay, on the east coast of Argentina. My grandfather, Joseph Schwindt went there with his brothers, Georg, Johannes, and Franz to Argentina. He was the only one that left, so I wonder if the other Schwindts there are descendants from the other 3 brothers.

Mecha Schwindt, from there, tells me there are over 600 Schwindt families there in eastern Argentina. My dad is so surprised to hear all of this. He did not know if any Schwindts lived there. Los Schwindt, Mecha Schwindt and Mercedes Schwindt all contacted me on Facebook. I believe one or more of them searched Schwindt on Facebook and found me.

Mercedes tells me her great grandfather was Johannes, but I wonder if it was my grandfather's brother? I wrote her to ask around about that.

I have never been interested in genealogy. Paul Schwindt, my cousin in Portland, put together a history of the Schwindt family starting in the 18th century. Most of my relations on the Schwindt line were born in Saratov Russia, a big city in western Russia. All spoke German.

Enjoy the remainder of the decade.

Happy 2010.

Steven

The last Hump Day of the year

Hello again:

This picture and the next few pictures will be from an email I got from Bill Mosier, a friend in Eugene. He sends me funny and serious emails. The series for this email is called Photos as Art.

This picture is a timed photo of lightening in the desert.

I am getting to know my relation in Argentina. I have been in touch with Los Schwindt, Mecha Schwindt and Mercedes Schwindt. Two of the three speak English fairly well. Los does not so I use the Google Translator to find out what she says in Spanish.

I finished Snow Falling on Cedars last night. I am going to watch the movie again. The movie, like I said, just hit the major points of the novel. The book is so much better than the movie. That is the case regularly with all movies: the book is so much better than the movie.

Steven

Spitting snow outside here

Hi:

The picture here is my college file, an old Olympia box from my college days. You can see from the price on the box that beer back then was $3.95 per case of beer, that is 24 bottles of the beer.

This box holds my college notes and tests. I am surprised, sort of, how smart I was back then. With no computers back then I used a typewriter. It is fun to see the professors correct my typing.

It is starting to snow outside and it is quite cold.

I am about 3/4 finished with Snow Falling on Cedars. It is a very good novel. I can tell from the movie made from the book the movie just touched on the issues of the book. The book is so much better than the movie, something I find with every book that is turned in to a movie.

I bought a yo-yo yesterday, but the cord does not wrap very easily. I found, a few weeks ago, a yo-yo website. The yo-yos for sale there range over $50.00 and up. I paid much less but maybe I need to get a good one. I do miss the one I had in high school. It was a dark green one and I loved it.

I got a message on Facebook from Mecha Schwindt in Argentina. My grandparents went to Argentina in late 19th century but left to come to Oregon in 1907. I found out there are over 600 Schwindt family members in Argentina. My father tell me not only did his parents go to Argentina but also five of my grandfather's brothers and sisters went there too. I posted two messages on a Facebook Wall of Los Schwindt, telling the group who I am, who my grandparents were and when they left Argentina.

I have a picture of my grandparents and three of my aunts and uncles, taken when the family was still in Argentina. I plan to get it put on to a CD then post the picture on the Argentina Schwindt Facebook page. The Schwindts' of Argentina want to know about my family and me.

My dad was quite surprised at what I showed him. I told him to get his passport because we may be heading to Argentina in a few months to visit the Schwindt families there.

Enjoy the snow here.

Steven

The week in between...

Hi again:

The picture here is another from Washington D.C. Too bad I have to use Washington pictures of deer when we have so many here in Oregon.

I am in contact with Mecha Schwindt in Argentina. My grandparents came from Argentina in 1910. I found out today, from a posting on Facebook to me, that there are over 600 Schwindts in Argentina. I think it was probably my grandparents brothers, sisters and cousins there that stayed there after my grandparents moved to the Jordan area, 14 miles southeast of Stayton.

My father will be so surprised at this information.

I had to use the Google translator to find out most of the posts on the Argentina Facebook, although Mecha wrote me in English.

What are your plans for New Year's Eve? Me? Probably reading a book again. I started and finished 3 books this last week. Nothing to watch on TV as most shows are re-runs, so I read.

Now I am reading a 1994 novel, Snow Falling on Cedars. I watched the movie the other night and some places in the movie were confusing so the book will fill that in for me.

I have 3 more books waiting for me at the library but I will not go there until next week in order to give me some time to finish the 3 other books I have here. One is Googled: The End of the World as We Know It. Another is Too Big to Fail and the last one is a book of Chinese recipes. I need to make a copy of two dumpling recipes in this book.

Stay warm and dry.

Steven

Boxing Day and the Feast of St. Stephen

Hi again on Boxing Day and my Feast Day (of Saint Stephen):

The picture here is a deer in Washington D.C. that appeared in the James Fellows email.

Here is a quiz for you. To see if you are like me, a hardcore Oregonian. The article containing this test appeared on Opinion Page of today's Oregonian, an article by Matt Love.

There is no passing score, but the higher the mark, the more hardcore you are.

1. I've visited Timberline Lodge.

2. I've picked blackberries.

3. I've visited Fort Clatsop.

4. I've sat around a bonfire on an Oregon coast beach.

5. I've visited the Oregon Country Fair.

6. I've seen a play at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

7. I've seen a Portland Trail Blazers game live.

8. I've attended a Civil War football game.

9. I've visited Bonneville Dam.

10. I've visited the Capitol building in Salem.

11. I've walked part of the Oregon Trail.

12. I've visited Crater Lake.

13. I've visited Multnomah Falls.

14. I've visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

15. I've visited the Wallowa Mountains.

16. I feel depressed when I see a fresh clear-cut.

17. I've hunted game.

18. I know where Celilo Falls used to be.

19. I've seen "Drugstore Cowboy."

20. I own some article of Pendleton Woolen Mills clothing or bedding.

21. I've read something by Stewart Holbrook.

22. I never drink bottled water.

23. I hate pumping my own gas when I visit other states!

24. I've returned cans and bottles and immediately bought more beer.

25. I've had a 10-minute or longer conversation about an Oregon microbrew.

26. I've visited an Oregon winery.

27. I've eaten pears or apples off a tree near Hood River.

28. I've tasted a hazelnut milkshake from Burgerville.

29. I know some of the lyrics to "Louie, Louie."

30. I know who Steve Prefontaine was.

31. I "know" a professional who uses marijuana regularly.

32. I've played Hacky Sack.

33. I know who said, "We want you to visit our State of Excitement often. Come again and again. But for heaven's sake, don't move here to live."

34. I wince when I see an SUV with a California license plate idling in the parking lot of a real estate office.

35. I've started and finished "Sometimes a Great Notion" by Ken Kesey.

36. I've read "Livability" by Jonathan Raymond.

37. I've read an entire book at Powell's while sitting in the coffee room.

38. I've run naked in the Oregon woods, desert or beach.

39. I've either fished for salmon or seen salmon spawn in the wild.

40. I've seen either a coyote, bear, deer or cougar in the wild.

41. I've ridden a bicycle in the past month.

42. I've climbed a tree in the past year.

43. I've attended the Pendleton Round-Up.

44. I've seen the Painted Hills.

45. I've visited the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

46. I've attended the Oregon State Fair.

47. I've either run the Hood to Coast or biked U.S. 101 or climbed Mount Hood or hiked all or part of the Pacific Crest Trail or surfed in Oregon's oceans or windsurfed in the Columbia River.

48. I've cut my own Christmas tree.

49. I've ridden in the Oregon City Elevator.

50. I never use an umbrella!

I answered no on eight of them (19, 21, 22, 27, 36, 38 47 and 50--but not anymore---).

I am making myself another treat today. My cranberry pie is cooking now.

My next fudge I will freeze and open on the 4th of July.

Boxing Day (today, Dec. 26) is celebrated in the British Empire (what is left of it). It for the staff for the upper class who had work on Dec. 25.

How about this, no rant on Christmas in this posting.

Steven

Boxing Day and the Feast of s

Oh, Christmas Day....

Hi on Christmas Day:

After my rant yesterday about the flakiness of this day (early Christians hijacked a pagan holiday and attached the birth of Jesus to this day to keep people away from the pagan holiday).

Remember whomever wrote Mark had no Christmas myth in his account so it never happened. Later gospel writers had to account with claims that Jesus was the child of no known father, the bast...d, so they created the Christmas myths to counter this claim of a fatherless Jesus.

Be like me, I don't believe much what I read in the Bible. Most of it is stories and myths. It bears no relationship to reality. Just wait until you hear what I say about easter. We have no idea how he died and there was no resurrection. Even whomever wrote Mark shows an empty grave, meaning it could be the body was stolen. This is what I believe, no resurrection and no idea how he died.

The picture here shows Haystack Rock in the distance, just south of Seaside.

Happy Holidays to all of you. Or, if you prefer, Marry, Mary, or Merry Christmas.

Steven

Christmas Eve

Good morning:

It is Christmas Eve even though Christ was not born this time of year. The early Church took over a pagan holiday on Dec. 25 to get people away from the pagan celebration. We have no idea what month of the year he was born.

I watched a four hour program on Frontline last week and this week called From Jesus to Christ. It showed me I was so right to believe only what is written in whomever wrote Mark (we don't know who wrote the four gospels: It certainly was not Mark, nor Luke, nor Matthew, nor John) is the one to sort of believe. This writer wrote about 60 years after Christ died. It ends with an empty grave. Whomever wrote Matthew wrote next. Then came Luke; whomever wrote Luke wrote the gospel as part one and the Acts of the Apostles as part two; John wrote his gospel about 100 years after Christ died. Who can believe anything he wrote.

We either believe the ancient writers wrote the literal truth and we are smart enough to realize it is allegorical or we believe the ancient writers wrote the allegorical stories and we are so dumb to believe that the writings are to be taken literally. I believe the latter one, we are so dumb to read the gospels as the literal truth. Mark ends with an empty tomb. Nothing else. (if you read whomever wrote Mark, he did not write the last chapter in the book. All experts agree on this).

This rant is on the belief Jesus was born this time of year. We don't know what month he was born but it certainly was not in winter.

This morning I lost my coffee cup around here, somewhere between the kitchen and my office here at home. I still cannot find it after six searches.

The picture here is the battery pack in the Nissan Leaf, the new electric car from that company. It has 48 lithium ion batteries in it. It gets between 100 and 150 miles between charges. Our cars will have close to 100 lithium ion batteries, giving our cars a much better range than these cars. I saw a presentation online by the sales person telling us the car will sell comparable to a Camry, over $40,000. We will charge between $5,000 and $7,500 to take out your engine and exhaust system and replace it with batteries, a controller, an electric engine, and a charger.

Time to make my peanut butter fudge.

Steven

Big Question

Hi again:

I got this email on Facebook from a Los Schwindt. I do not recognize this language. Can any of my readers know what language this is? It does not appear to be Spanish, or so I think.

Creemos que por lo dificil de nuestro apellido somos pocos pero si abrimos cualquier guía telefónica podemos ver que somos más de los que creiamos ser.Si tu apellido es Schwindt o alguien de tu familia lo tiene podes unirte a este grupo y entre todos tratar de armar un arbol genealógico o algo por el estilo.Puede suceder también que como el apellido resulta dificil de escribir algunos tengan el mismo apellido pero con variantes por ejemplo una v en vez de w, sin la d o sin la t final, etc., si alguien sabe que su apellido original es Schwindt, pero lo tiene mal escrito, claro que también puede unirse.Si no tenes este apellido igual podés unirte, quien no te dice que en algún momento te encuentres a algún Schwindt en tu vida.


This is the description from the Facebook page of Los Schwindt.

If you recognize this language, write me at schwindt68@hotmail.com.

Thanks so much.

Steven

One great Christmas coming...OSU lost...

Like I have been telling you all season long, how well I feel depends on whether OSU wins or loses. It appears OSU did not want to play last night, probably due to the loss in the Civil War.

So this will be one great Christmas this year as OSU lost big in their Bowl game, a minor bowl if ever there was one.

I fully expect to see U of O win the Rose Bowl. Combined with a loss by stupid beavers, a win by the Ducks will make this the best of the year.

Steven

Mid-week or Hump Day

Hi again:

It is cold this morning, 22 degrees outside when I got up. (That is -5.55 Celsius).

The picture here is from six months ago on the 4th of July.

I may make fudge, freeze it and take it out the next 4th of July. A connection, as it were...

True Blue is such a good book it is hard to put down. I want to sit for hours to finish it in one reading.

I put walnuts in my fudge yesterday. This is the first time I put walnuts or any nuts in my fudge. I did not put nuts in fudge in the past as it takes the place of more chocolate. But I had a lot of walnuts so I added some to the three batches of fudge I made yesterday. It does make it taste better, I must admit.

I may go the 11:00 pm Mass tomorrow, the Christmas Eve Mass here. I don't want to go the 7:00 pm Mass as that is a Children's Mass, quite boring and way too long.

Marry Christmas to all of you.

Steven

Christmas Tuesday

I guess the spell checker does not check the title of the posting. So it goes.

Steven

Christmas Tueday

Merry, Mary, Marry Christmas:

How is your Christmas week going? Today was my fudge cooking day. I made 3 batches of chocolate fudge today. Two as gifts and one for me. I had to use butter instead of margarine that the See's Recipe called for. I wonder if it tastes different by using butter. For the first time I added walnuts to my fudge.

Tomorrow I will make peanut butter fudge.

On the 24th I will make a cranberry pie for my dad.

I already make peanut brittle.

I am reading True Blue by David Baldacci. It is a page turner from the first page. I read it in all sorts of places. Today I put a walnut on the fence next door to see if a squirrel would come to get it. I continued to read my book as I watched to see if the critter would come. He never came back for the walnut.

The picture here is the first flight. The new Boeing Dreamliner is longer than the distance of this first flight.

Happy Holidays.

Steven

Pouring rain outside

Hi:

Here is a picture of the Old Executive Office Building at night. It looks so much better at night.

It is raining all day today. I went on errands in the car today instead of on my bike.

I now have library books to be keep me busy for the next two weeks. I will read every night instead of watching reruns on TV.

My books are:

A Rumpole Christmas by John Mortimer. I love Rumpole on TV but the novels and short stories are great.

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson. I saw the movie the other night but it was confusing, so I will read the novel this week. I have never read this novel before.

Googled: The End of the World as We Know It by Ken Auletta. I like the way this author writes. I read most of his other books.

Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System and Themselves by Andrew Ross Sorkin. I have read two books on this topic already. I saw this author on C-Span2 a few weeks on BookTV.

True Blue by David Baldacci. I find this author the best among the mystery writers. His novels are so much better than what other best-selling authors write.

I will finish up Cheap tonight then on to the Baldacci book.

Stay dry and Happy Holidays.

Steven

the start of Christmas week

Hi again:

The picture is what we don't have this year, a potential for a white Christmas. This picture is the backyard of James Fallows place in Washington D.C.

It rained most of the day here today. I rode my bike to Safeway near noon, but got somewhat wet even though I wore a hat. Me in a hat, there is something to behold. I rarely wear hats, so unlike my dad or my kids. I think wearing hats skipped a generation with me and my fellow baby-boomers.

The book Cheap is quite interesting. The author explores all sorts of our efforts to get stuff at below the posted price. In China, negotiating the price is the norm. It is better if you are native Chinese and not a laowai (pronounced "law way"), a foreigner like me.

The part of the book I am reading now is our fascination with outlet malls. Americans travel great distances to save the few dollars at an outlet mall, so much so Americans have travelled from the earth to the moon 44,000 times each year.

The closest outlet malls here are Woodburn and Newport. I have been to both but found little at each place that interest me.

Have a good Christmas week.

Steven

cooking today

Hi again:

The picture here is the Old Executive Office Building, once described as Washington's ugliest building.

I spent a few hours today cooking in preparation for Christmas. I made my cranberry pie again, this time at 36 minutes instead of 40 minutes. It looks so very good.

I also made some peanut brittle. It is a sticky recipe so I like to make it only once. We shall see if one batch is enough for this season. I don't care for it, but others like it a lot.

I have a shopping list for tomorrow as early this week I will finish my cooking.

I have 12 quarts of sauerkraut to get out of here. I put that stuff on my cheese list. It is so easy and cheap to make, but I have to give it all away. My dad will get the vast majority of sauerkraut from me for Christmas.

I finished Pirate Latitudes. It is quite the page-turner of a book. The last 100 pages you must read in one sitting as you cannot put it down.

I see I have the latest David Baldacci book waiting for me at the library.

I am reading Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture by Ellen Shell. It shows the rise of our seeking cheaper and cheaper stuff. I can see the coming of goods made in China. I read where over 4,000 factories closed this past year as demand for cheap goods from China dried up. Over 3,000,000 factory workers were laid off.

The Chinese government wrongly thinks it can spur domestic demand to make up for the lack of demand in the west; in other words, it believes it can sell the same goods to the locals that it used to sell overseas. What a joke. Do not believe what you read from the Chinese government on the growth rate there. It needs at least 8% annual growth to keep the population happy. It is in the negative region now but you never hear China tell you that. Remember, that government lies and lies and lies.

End of this rant.

Stay dry this week. Happy Holidays and Merry, Mary, Marry Christmas to all of you.

Steven

Hi again

Hi:

The picture here is one of the moon's of Saturn, Iapetus. The light and dark material is ice. It takes 80 earth days for this moon to make one revolution. As it slowly turns the ice surface facing the sun thaws and is blown to the dark area where it freezes again.

I am reading Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton. This book was found on his computer, fully completed, after his death earlier this year.

Unlike his other books with strange science, this takes place in 1665. You can tell he did a lot of research for the scenes in the book. Jamaica is held by the English, but other islands are held by Spain. Pirates abound in this area. I am about half way through this book, and like all of his prior books, this one too is a page-turner.

My cranberry pie I made yesterday was so very good, a nice surprise for me. I usually don't like whole cranberries but these add a slight sour taste to the pie. I made this pie in order to test it out as I plan to make it for my dad for Christmas if it turned out alright. It is more than alright, it is quite tasty.

I also made another batch of fudge yesterday. I put in the frig right away. I have not tested it yet to see if it set up.

Today I will make some peanut brittle. Again, I don't care for peanut brittle, but it will be part of the my gift-giving this Christmas.

A week to go until we have Christmas eve. Mary, Marry, Merry Christmas to most of you and Happy Holidays for the people like me.

Steven

Hump Day

Good morning:

The pictures I got here from James Fallows, a writer for the Atlantic magazine. I get an email from him every day.

The top picture shows you how millions of people live in China.

The bottom picture is Beijing a few weeks before the Olympics there. This is what it looks like in most big cities in China. Shanghai was the same. I just wonder what happened to my lungs during my two years in China.

Those of you who seen the video I added, what are your thoughts on the "silent monks" treatment of the Hallelujah Chorus.

The Republicans are so stupid...so very stupid. I hope they fade in to the background and try to elect only those who are tea party members. No one of those jerks will ever get elected.

Enough of my rant today.

Steven

To run video

Hi again:

To run the video below, just click on the white arrow in the lower left hand side of the picture. It will start the video. Just sit back and be amazed as the "silent monks" sing the Hallelujah Chorus.

A special video for you

Hi again:

This is my first time trying to attach a video to this blog. Click on the white arrow.

We sang the Hallelujah Chorus in glee club at Regis High School. But this is a funny version of it, since it has been around for such a long time. In this one you see the Boston Gay Men's Chorus together with a group of "monks" who have taken a vow of silence. See how they sing the chorus.

I don't know if this will work, so I am posting it and trying it there. It will not play here as I write this, but I think it may work once posted.

Enjoy.

Steven

Tuesday after...noon....

Hello:

It has been raining here all of the time for the past two days. It is indeed good to have a winter storm here to refill the ponds behind the dams here.

The picture here is a country road near the fruit and vegetable stand we went this last summer.

There is little traffic in our small town. We have 7,700 people in Stayton. This was according to the 2000 census here. It will change little according to the 2010 census that is upcoming.

This is a radical change from Shanghai China, where there are 18,000,000 people. There are people outside there 24/7. The traffic is so bad there, it takes 45 minutes to go 4 km every morning. After dropping Wenny off at the subway station, it takes me 10 minutes to travel the same distance back to our apartment there.

Some people think China is now a world power on par with the U. S. Tomorrow I will show you two pictures that contradict this view.

Stay dry and warm.

Steven

Monday morning

Hello:

It is cold here but only 30 degrees, not the -0- degrees it was last week at this time.

The picture here is Depoe Bay on the east side of the highway.

My See's Fudge did not set up yesterday. I used a recipe a friend sent me. The ingredients are chocolate chips, margarine, 2 eggs and powered sugar. The recipe for See's Fudge I found online also had marshmallow cream and evaporated milk. My recipe did not.

I made peanut butter fudge yesterday. It worked out fine. It is a gift for Christmas so I need to freeze it for a week until Christmas.

Like I said, most of my gifts for others this year is food. A new way for me to give gifts. Canned goods, fudge, pies...

I have been contacted to be a part of clinical study. I will let you know more about it the more I learn about it.

Winter arrives in a week. Hope you are staying dry and warm. Once winter starts the days start getting longer. By Jan 21 we will have 30 minutes more of sunlight than we see now.

Steven

Warming up here

Good morning:

Even though this picture is a little blurry, it shows the farm stand where we got corn, tomatoes and prunes during the summer. There is a rumor that it will not be open next year. I will be sad if it no longer open. It had very fresh vegetables and fruit.

It has warmed up here. This morning it was 32 degrees out when I saw our outside temperature. Much better than last week when we had 0 and 4 degrees on four different mornings.

Once I finish today's paper, it time to experiment with my cooking. I will try a new fudge recipe and a cranberry pie today. If both turn out correct, then I will repeat the process in the middle of next week, most of my gifts for others at Christmas are things I cook.

I spent last night reading Superfreakonomics; it is such a good book.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Steven

Ice and slick

Hello again:

This morning it was so icy out. We had about 2 inches of ice over everything this morning. It has been warming up already, so I do believe the ice is gone.

The picture here is a ring of dark matter in the sky, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Dark matter remains a mystery, although I believe it is what is left over from the Big Bang.

This week I plan to test my recipes. I want to try See's Fudge, a cranberry pie, peanut butter fudge, peanut butter cheese fudge, and Korova Cookies. I may also try some peanut brittle.

Most of this stuff will be gifts for friends and family for Christmas.

I will not eat peanut brittle nor will I eat peanut butter cheese fudge.

Too many good recipes to try.

I will let you know how each comes out.

Steven

Information

Just a reminder that you can join me as a follow on this blog if you have a gmail address.

Look in the right column on the main blog page to do this.

Happy Holidays.

Steven

The cold weather ends soon????

Hi:

The picture here is from my nephew Richard, showing a sunset he photographed.

Four degrees again this morning upon arising. Today, later, a winter storm hits us with snow, turning to freezing rain, then to traditional rain in the middle of the weekend.

This deep freeze has lasted too long for me. I want ride my bike to the library and store but it has been too cold to get on a bike.

A good weekend to stay inside to read my book this weekend.

A friend sent me the See's Fudge recipe, so I will try making it. I need to go to Safeway to get some ingredients yet to do this.

I found a peanut butter fudge recipe yesterday. But I also found a peanut butter cheese fudge recipe. If I don't want to eat fudge I will make the latter one as you know how much I hate cheese.

The peanut butter fudge recipe uses Velveeta cheese, which I use as bait in Marion Lake. Bait is the only good reason to buy Velveeta cheese.

Stay warm and dry this weekend.

Steven

The COLD continues

Hi again:

It is quite cold here still. The past few days it was -0- when I got up. Today it warmed up to 4 degrees.

I do not watch local news so I don't know if snow is in the forecast. We would be deep in to snow if we had moisture during this cold break.

The picture here is the bridge at Newport from the distance of a very low tide.

I finished Typhoon last night. Then I had a very weird dream where I was in Shanghai looking for a road address in Stayton. I had my fishing pole with me, so when a large group of us were walking through water, we came to a jetty near the ocean. I caught a small Chinook salmon, but we had to check it if had a clipped fin. Like I said many times, dreams can be fractured fairytales. The story in Typhoon took place first in Hong Kong, moved to Shanghai, went to Beijing and ended up in Shanghai.

Tomorrow I will make some applesauce. I am getting tired of eating apple crisp. So I will mix Granny Smith apples with Fuji apples in this applesauce.

My next book is Superfreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance. I read their first book Freakonomics. I read this latter book before I went to China but now I have it on my Kindle in case I want to refer to it.

I hope you are staying warm.

Steven

Even colder today

Hi again:

It was even colder this morning when I got up. Yesterday morning it was 10 degrees. This morning it was -0- degrees. Now that is very, very cold.

The picture here is one taken by one of my nephews on the way to Mt. Hood. It shows Mt. Hood in early winter.

We must be in an El Nino situation again this winter. The bad storms are tracking to California instead of hitting us. The big storm that dropped snow in Sacramento is now east of the Rockies, creating havoc among all of the residents there and the east coast. I do believe we are the only dry place in the United States today.

I am really liking Typhoon, the novel I am almost finished with now. The first part of the book takes place in Hong Kong during the time of the turnover. The book's title refers to a CIA plan to grow dissent in China to force the overthrow of the Commies there. The middle part of the book takes place in Shanghai, in places I readily recognize from my time living there. The last part of the book takes place in Beijing, where I never visited during my time there. The book even mentions Xi'an, where I lived and worked for six months.

One reason the novel is so good is that I cannot predict how it will end. I have less than a hundred pages to go. I plan on finishing it this evening.

I wore my new coat when I purchased in Port Townsend WA last Spring. A major department store was under a liquidation sale when we visited it. I got a heavy winter coast there for $32.00, with a printed list price of $160.00. This coat is very, very warm when I took it outside today. I really like this coat.

I made my apple crisp yesterday. This time I cooked the raw Fuji apples for 15 minutes before putting on the topping. This ended up with very tender apples under the topping. It is so much better this way.

I trust you are staying warm these days.

Steven

The weekend ends soon...

Hi:

A little warmer today; instead of 15 degrees, like it was yesterday, it was 25 degrees this morning. No rain or snow yet.

The picture is one you recognize.

I woke up at 1:00 am last night, for some unknown reason. I read my book for 45 minutes then went back to bed. Typhoon reads very fast and is an excellent book.

I recorded all three of the Lord of the Rings today. TNT broadcast there movies in a row today, so next week, some evening I will turn off my computer and watch then in order.

Do you watch White Collar on USA channel? The Fall Finale on Friday shows a very surprise ending, completely out of character with the theme of the TV show. Kate, the reluctant girlfriend of the main character, is being held by Peter, who is married on the show to the prettiest character. There was no prediction that this ending was proper. I could rant more on this but I will not bore you with more.

Continuing on the TV theme, the series ending for Monk was very lame.

Nineteen days left before the big holiday.

Steven

Cold---COLD this Saturday morning

Hi:

It is very cold here this morning, 15 degrees by our outside temperature. That is -9.5 Celsius. No snow yet, just this bitter cold.

The picture here is the American-born panda heading back to China to live where its parents lived in Sichuan area. Some say it goes back because we owe China so much money for the government bonds it owns from the U.S. Not really, this off-spring was suppose to go back in 1997 but the parties agreed it could stay until now.

I did see panda bears when we visited Hong Kong. I posted pictures of those back in the days when I was in China and this blog was on yahoo.com. I will post those pictures next week to remind you of what I posted while in China.

I started Typhoon last night. It is a very good novel. It starts near the time Hong Kong goes back to China as the English 100 year lease expired.

My fudge is so very good but I must limit myself to 3 to 4 pieces per day. I will put on so much weight if I eat more that a day. The problem is, though, I ate 4 pieces already so no more for the rest of today.

Very little BookTV this weekend as the U.S. Senate is in session over this weekend. C-Span2, which has BookTV every weekend also broadcasts the Senate when it is in session.

Stay warm this weekend, a great weekend for me as the Ducks won and the beavs lost. Cannot ask for anything better than that.

Steven

Friday here now...

Hi:



I soon will be heading out to dinner with Connie for a belated celebration of my birthday. My birthdays are no longer important to me so they pass me by every year. I don't care if I have another birthday...



The picture the Telsa Roadster. It lists for $109,000, but you can get a $42,000 discount on this all-electric car. It costs so much because the founder uses cell phone batteries hooked together--6,600 cell phone batteries lumped together. But because he uses so many he needs to put a cooling system throughout the many batteries.



My back remains very tender. I sit on a heating pad every time I sit down. Now that the back spasm is all gone, it appears I tore a muscle in lower back on my left side. It is very sore in just one small area of my back now.



I see the new Michael Crichton book is coming to my library soon. This book was found among his papers after he died so this will be his last book. I read almost everything he wrote while he was live. I look forward to reading to the last book of this author.



My Ducks won last night, making me so very happy. This will be a very great weekend as my Ducks won and the hated Beavs lost. If you watched the game you saw the better team was obviously the Ducks. When the Ducks fell behind I had no doubt they would come to beat them. I do believe the Ducks are the best team in the nation now. They will beat the other OSU in Rose Bowl.



I went to the Rose Bowl in 1995 but I rather doubt I will make to California this year.

Enjoy your cold weekend.

Steven

60 years + 1 day....

Hello again:

I made my fudge and canned 8 quarts of sauerkraut today. I got more sauerkraut than I thought I would. The cabbage stayed in the crock for five weeks, as the temperature went down in the house. Since I do not eat sauerkraut so I cannot taste it to see how it is.

My fudge is very good, but I put the marshmallow cream in last after the chocolate. The next time I will put the marshmallow cream as soon as the milk, sugar and butter are up to temperature. I will add the chocolate as the last item.

The picture here you recognize.

My sauerkraut is in the canner right now. Since I have 8 quarts I am cooking four at a time in the canner.

This is the first batch of fudge I ever made. It is quite good but with small marshmallow pieces inside of it.

I need lids as I have none here. Safeway had none, but Ace Hardware had a small supply.

Not much else happening here except the cooking today.

Steven

60 is the New 40

Hello:

Today I turned 60, but I don't feel like it. I ride my bike everywhere around here.

The picture here is me in Hong Kong. You see downtown Hong Kong in the background of this picture. We are on a hill and park just outside of Hong Kong.

I have all the necessary ingredients to make fudge tomorrow morning. It seems odd to me that 7 oz of marshmallow cream, 12 squares of chocolate and 5 oz of evaporated milk makes four pounds of fudge. Maybe it is the 3 cups of sugar added to this mixture.

Most of my family here will get food I made this summer or this winter. I am learning to cook. I could ask my ex-wife for her fruitcake recipe but I don't like to eat fruitcake (it is on my new Popcorn list).

Tomorrow I take out my second batch of sauerkraut from the crock. I will can all of this sauerkraut. My dad will get more than a few jars of this stuff for Christmas. (Sauerkraut is on my Cheese list--something I will never eat as I don't like the taste of sauerkraut).

What do you do with many green tomatoes? I have quite a few of them.

My to-do list for tomorrow is

1) Make fudge

2) Can sauerkraut

3) Clean out garden area.

After every event I must sit down with a heat pad on my back. My back is very tender still.

I am reading The Men Who Stare at Goats, a 2004 book on a black ops for spies who tried to kill goats with thoughts. One general, early in the book, thinks he can walk through walls. Walls have molecules and he has molecules, so it should be, he thought, he could move his mass through the mass of the wall. All he got was a sore nose from his efforts.

Except for Harry Potter, I do not like to see movies based on books I read. Having read all of the Twilight series, I find the movies lacking many important scenes that carry the story forward. Also characters in the book with big roles are not explained in the short movie time. All of this points to the fact I will not got see the movie The Men Who Stare at Goats.

I picked up 3 more books from the library today.

On Thin Ice: The Changing World of the Polar Bears by Richard Ellis. I saw him on Sunday on BookTV; ordered the book from the library as I watched the TV program. It was ready by yesterday. This book comes from the Stayton Library.

Super Freakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dunbar. This book is from the Newberg Library. I really like the previous book by these authors, Freakonomics.

The last book is Typhoon by Charles Cummings. From the Silverton Library, this is a novel I hear or read about two weeks ago. Set in Hong Kong near the time of the transfer of ownership to China and later near and around the Olympics in Beijing.

I cooked dinner here for Nolan tonight then we went to the DQ for ice cream. I got a larger than usual Chocolate Extreme Blizzard. It now sits half eaten near me here.

From my to-do list for tomorrow you can see I took it easy today, after all I am 60 today.

Hope you have a great week. Stay warm.

Steven

It is a Blue Moon month

Hi:

It is a Blue Moon month. This means we have two full moons in December, one tomorrow and one on December 31. "Once in a blue moon..."

The picture here you will have to click on to enlarge the map. It comes from an expat in Shanghai. Each map is how others see China. One is how Shanghai sees. Another one is from Beijing. Another one is how Hong Kong people see the people of China.

I got this map from an email from James Fallows, an Atlantic writer who sends out a daily email. I like his emails as he spent three years in China, both in Shanghai and Beijing.

I published Ray's poems again today. But after sending a copy to my Kindle I opened what I thought I sent to the Kindle page and I became very upset. I thought I published the wrong copy. So I deleted that copy from my computer, looked up a more recent version of the poems, edited those like they need to be done. I then looked on my Kindle to see what published on Kindle page. I did in fact send the correct one to Amazon. I apparently opened the wrong version on my computer, thinking that is what I was sending to the Kindle page.

Luck was with me as my Kindle copy showed it was the correct one. But I had deleted from my computer. So I had my Kindle open as I corrected an older version of the poems.

The Second Edition will be ready in 48 to 72 hours but I think it will be ready by tomorrow. Once it is available on the Kindle page it is up to me to promote it.

Steven

MOnday again

Hello:

The picture here is a sample of what happens too often in China. The air there is very bad. You cannot see more than a mile or two at any time. It is air pollution. I do wonder what the air did to me.

My back is much better today. It does not hurt anymore.

We have been editing Ray's poems. They are now ready to go on Kindle. I sent the poems to my Kindle and it looks very good.

Steven

Sunday night here...

Hi again:

This is a very sad picture of dead soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The military does not like to release these pictures but this one appeared on the James Fallows email I get every day.

My back still hurts but now it hurts in one place, on the lower left side. I do believe I pulled a muscle in my lower back trying to get the refrigerator into the house last week. I was pulling it up three stairs in the back of the house. I got it up two steps but I could not get up the top step. I pulled and pulled and then I felt a severe back spasm. The rest of my lower back has healed pretty good but the left lower back is very sore now.

I opened a jar of my canned pears today. I canned them with the peelings on the pears. They are so very good this way.

The closer it gets to Wednesday the more I think 60 is the new 40.

I am growing my mustache again. I started it when I was 19 and in college. After a few months of it, I started to grow a beard also but after two weeks I noticed it was coming in dark red. My dad has red hair and some of his brothers and sisters have red hair. I thought I missed this recessive gene but it displayed itself in my beard. Needless to say I shaved my beard, never to try it again. At the time, my hair was dark brown, so with a dark red beard does not seem to go together.

I promised myself I would cut back on ordering books from the library, but on weekends on

C-Span 2 there is BookTV which provides me with great suggestions.

Have you seen the TV ad for the Amazon Kindle yet. I saw it last night (actually I had to stop fast-forwarding through the commercials to watch it).

Steven

Turkey in the oven now...

Hi:

My turkey is in the oven now. I forgot to take the giblets out of the neck cavity so I just did that, about an half an hour into cooking. But the turkey is now in the oven again.

If I stand up too long I feel my back getting worse. I feel a spasm going on and it hurts like crazy then. I almost dropped my 17.5 pound turkey putting it in the oven as my back was in spasm at that point.

Did you go shopping yesterday or are you shopping online more this year?

The picture here are workers at a factory in China. Notice two things about the picture: one, every employee wears a uniform and two, they are all standing in order like during a fire drill or waiting to start work. Both things you do not see in the United States.

I must admit I slept most of the day yesterday as it helps my back heal. So I was up for about an hour at 1:00 am.

Hope you have a good holiday weekend.

Steven

Blue? Tan? White?....no, Black Friday?????

Hi:

The picture here is a very low tide showing what it looks like on the Newport Waterfront.

You usually see water here, but this a is negative low tide showing the muddy sand.

My back is getting better as each day comes and goes. I do plan on taking it easy over the next few days to see how I recover from the back spasm I suffered a few days ago.

I did eat too much yesterday, so much that I had just a small piece of apple pie for dessert. My brother Randy and his wife, Colleen, prepared a feast for all of us. I ate just one plate of food, but it filled me to over full.

BookTV is four days this weekend, so I am watching six programs I recorded so far this weekend.

You know I am a liberal so I assume not all readers agreed with the the 27 Reasons to Give Thanks I posted yesterday. If you want, you can give me your thoughts on that list.

Steven

TURKEY DAY NOW...

Happy Turkey Day:

The picture here are the donut hamburgers I made a month or so ago. On this day when we eat so much I recommend you not make these things. I did not care for it, but I did not use the right kind of donuts. The recipe calls for Krispe Creame donuts.

I will keep my remarks short on this day. Instead, I publish here 27 Reasons to Give Thanks Today:


THANKSGIVING


27 Reasons To Give Thanks

We're thankful President Obama is thinking long and hard about committing more troops and money to Afghanistan.

We're thankful President Bush feels liberated now.

We're (not) thankful Dick Cheney has elected to move from his undisclosed location to the media spotlight.

We're thankful Al Franken has gone from playing self-help guru Stuart Smalley on Saturday Night Live to helping rape victims receive justice from their employers.

We're thankful for the healing power of beer.

We're thankful there are some on the right who think Glenn Beck is "incoherent," "mindless," "erratic," "bizarre," and "harmful to the conservative movement."

We're thankful for long hikes on the Appalachian Trail.

We're thankful Michael Steele understands that he can't "do policy" and that no one has any reason to trust his "words or actions."

We're (not) thankful for "birthers," "deathers," "tenthers," or "tea baggers."

We're (not) thankful conservatives believe they love America so much that they can root for our President to fail and for our nation to lose out on hosting the Olympics.

We're thankful NFL players refused to "bend over and grab the ankles" for Rush Limbaugh.

We're thankful six companies have resigned from the Chamber of Commerce due to its denial of climate change science.

We're thankful Falcon "Balloon boy" Heene wasn't actually in the balloon.

We're thankful Lt. Dan Choi and Lt. Col Victor Fehrenbach bravely spoke out against Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

We're thankful Shep Smith doesn't always drink the Fox News kool-aid.

We're thankful more than 80 companies refused to lend their sponsorship to Glenn Beck's hateful rants.

We're thankful there are progressive organizations in D.C. lobbying for a two-state solution in the Middle East.

We're (not) thankful for the filibuster.

We're thankful that more than 20,000 of you stood up to Bill O'Reilly's harassment machine and called for impeachment hearings against torture advocate Jay Bybee.

We're thankful that Iran's authoritarian rulers live in fear of their own population.

We're thankful we'll no longer have to listen to nativist rhetoric on CNN and global warming skepticism on ABC News.

We're (not) thankful for bailed out CEOs who think they're doing "God's work" by doling out billions in bonuses.

We're thankful for the legacy of the Liberal Lion.

We're thankful Bill O'Reilly won't be following us home for Thanksgiving.

We're thankful a "wise Latina" sits on the Supreme Court.

We're thankful our boss helped rescue imprisoned American journalists in North Korea.


This all came from The Progressive Policy Institute.

Steven

TURKEY DA

The Day before Turkey Day...

Hello:

My back is aching so bad today. I rode my bike to the store and then came back to cook two apple crisps. One is for my brother's dinner tomorrow, where I am going for turkey. The other apple crisp is for me.

I use Fuji apples, a harder winter apple. I have to pre-cook the apples for 10 minutes alone. I then add the topping and cook the thing for another 30 minutes. In this way the apples get soft.

The picture here are of the same thing, the butterfly galaxy. The pictures are taken at varying distances. The newly-repaired Hubble Space Telescope takes such interesting pictures.

I have been applying a heat pad to my lower back. This gives me great relief.

Tomorrow I will give you 27 reasons to give Thanks on Thanksgiving. It came from a liberal think tank in Washington. I made copies for Nolan and Connie. Nolan is such a conservative he believes everything Bill O'Reilly and that dunce Glenn Beck say.

Steven

Tuesday evening

Hi again:

My back is now just very stiff. I do not want to do anything quickly as it may go into a spasm again.

The picture here is Uranus, which rotates on it east/west axis, not like all other planets.

I took a muscle relaxer pill today. It knocked me out for over 2 hours this afternoon. I will stay up later tonight as a result of that long nap.

I am taking my turkey out of the refrigerator tonight and I plan to cook it on Friday. On Thursday, we are going to my brother's home in Wilsonville.

I picked up four books at the library today. I may read only one or two of them. Right now, I started True Compass, the memoir of Ted Kennedy. He was a liberal like me.

Tomorrow I will drive Nolan to his doctor's appointment in Salem. I take my Kindle with me and I will finish at least five stories on it waiting for him to finish with with his doctor.

I do hope this is a short week for all of my readers. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Steven

Monday, Monday.....

Hello:

Not too bad a of a day here. No rain but cold outside.

The picture here is from the Sagittarius galaxy. This is what I am with a December birthday coming up.

I will be 60 next week, but I don't feel that old. Like my cousin told me a few years ago as she turned 60, 60 is the new 40. So instead of being 60 I really am 40 now. That is more like it....

I made some brownies yesterday and today I put some of my canned peaches on them. So good....

I put a note on Twitter and on Facebook about writing this blog. I wonder if I will get other readers from other parts of the country.

We are finished with a re-reading and more corrections of Ray's poems. We edited them and edited them before we published the first version, but since then we found more and more mistakes, including three today. Tonight Nolan will read the originals of the poems to me as I have them on my computer. We will make one final correction in this way, then I will publish version II on the Kindle. It will take a few days before this new version is up on the Amazon Kindle page.

I joined a few Christian blogs today in order to promote the book of poetry on those sites. If only they knew what I believe and do not believe.....

Ray was a devote Catholic and his poems reflect those ideas.

Almost time for dinner here.

Steven

Where were you????

Hi again:

46 years ago today our world changed like we have seen it change before.

It is amazing I still remember how I found out. I was in the 8th grade ready to give a report on a government official's trip to South America. The phone in our classroom rang, so I did not get up to give my report. Sister Rose Imelda, our teacher and the principal of St. Mary's Grade School, took the call and then told us what was happening in Dallas. I did not give my report. We went to Church for a Mass for our slain president.

I went to Mass the next day too, Saturday. After Mass the priest asked to raise the flag at our school to half staff. From Cub Scouts I remembered you raise the flag to full and then lower it to half.

Our TV then was black and white so we watched TV the entire weekend.

What are your memories of this fateful day?

Steven

Sunday evening

Hi again:

A good weekend as the Ducks pull it out in two overtimes. But the Beavers won too, so that makes it a good weekend, not a great weekend.

On Thursday Dec. 3 the Ducks and the stupid beavs play with the winner going to the Rose Bowl. I remind everyone again that last year the beavs had the chance to go to the Rose Bowl but lost to my Ducks as the Ducks scored 65 points against the beavs defense.

I wonder if my headache all day today is a result of no caffeine here today. I usually drink four cups of coffee each day but today I did not drink any. I have a sinus headache all day today. No pills or an hour nap failed to get rid of my headache.

Tomorrow I will make decaffeinated coffee to wean myself off of caffeine. I will see if this headache goes away by tomorrow morning.

I rarely get headaches so having one all day is unusual for me.

My back gets better if I take 3 pills each morning. It has been getting better all day today.

The picture here is Haystack Rock near Seaside on the northern Oregon coast.

Steven

Weekend is here...

Hello:

How is your weekend going?

The picture here is the north jetty in Newport. It appears new rocks have been added to it since I saw it last before I went to China for two years,

My back is still very sore. I am using a heat pad against my lower back as I sit writing this. I take pills to help relax it, but it so sore when I get up in the morning. I cannot lean over to pick something off the floor when I first get up. I need to stretch it and work on it before I can lean over.

I have a few things hanging outside but I rather doubt the stuff will remain out there for very long, as showers are here all day.

I did not go see the movie last night, but I may head to the movie at 4:30 pm today. I would normally ride my bike, but my back is so sore I cannot lean over it. So I must walk to the store later today and then walk to the movie theater later.

I plan to cut back on getting books from my library and instead read more on my Kindle. Every Monday I add stuff to it from newyorker.com and other magazines. I rarely read what I put on but now I plan to read at least 5 articles a day for the next few weeks.

I now have 42 pages on my Kindle, with 12 items on each page. So much to read and so little time.

Amazon appears to promise a new software update to let us have folders. This is has been the most requested item among Kindle owners, folders so I get away from having 42 pages on my Kindle.

Have a good weekend.

Steven

Raining on Friday

Hi again:

The picture here shows what 10 pounds of prunes look like after they have been dried. It filled a large bowl and I have eaten them all by now. Next summer I will try to get 35 pounds of prunes to dry in order get more than I got this year.

We have another rain storm here, the third one or so this season. This means we are getting a lot of snow in the mountains. I used to ski but have not done so for many years. I do not know if I will try to ski this year. I do wonder what lift tickets cost these days, both at Bachelor and Hoodoo.

No one interested in my friend's property I listed here a few days ago?

What are your plans for Thanksgiving? I am going to my brother's place in Wilsonville this year. We have two frozen turkeys here. I got my last one at Winco for $3.85; it is 17.5 pounds. It was 22 cents per pound if you bought $50.00 worth of other groceries.

Are any of you going to buy the Palin book? Not me, even though we can get it for $9.00 at Amazon, Walmart or Target. I have no interest in her. I do hope she runs for President in 2012 as Obama will destroy her in an election then.

I have been using Fuji apples for my apple crisp. I can cook it for only 30 minutes or the crust will get too hard. Fuji apples need a longer cooking time. I still have some here so I will try to cook the apples for 10 minutes first before adding the topping to see how that works.

I plan to see New Moon tonight. I will go the Star Theatre in Stayton, which is showing it. I am a senior for pricing there. Instead of paying the $7.00 regular fee, I pay $5.00.

Enjoy your weekend.

Steven

Hump Day

Hi again:

How are you doing today?

I was able to hang a towel and two pairs of pants outside today. All dried very well. I love the way a towel feels when it is dried outside.

The picture here is an electric car from a recent meeting in Portland.

I was trying to move a refrigerator from the garage to the kitchen but I could not get it up the three steps. I got it up two steps but could not get it up the third step. One of the attempts I wrenched my lower back, so now I sit with a heat pad on my back.

We need to move the house frig to the garage but that will be easier going down the three steps than up the stairs.

I went shopping at Winco today. I spent over $68.00 so I got a turkey for 22 cents a pound. The 17.5 pound turkey cost me $3.85.

Steven

Tuesday....Tuesday....Tuesday....afternoon.....(soon)

Hello:

It sure rained and blew hard last night. I see on the news that a roof blew off a building in Seaside last night.

The picture here is rock cliff just east of Newport.

I have a friend who owns some property east of Stayton, on Old Mehama Road. They want to sell their property. Here are the facts on the property.

Three tax lots, totaling 7 acres.
Triple wide mobile home on a foundation.
Two bedrooms
Two full bathrooms
Two car garage
Shop and stall barns for livestock
Two wood-burning fireplaces
Very nice kitchen
Jetted tub in master bedroom
Fenced yard
Fenced livestock area
Deck with nice entertainment area

I have some pictures if you want to see some. (The picture here is NOT the property).

If you want see it, the address is 18074 Old Mehama Road, Stayton Oregon 97383.

Original price was $250,000 but now it is $235,000.

Write me (schwindt68@hotmail.com) or call me (503-871-0201) if you have any interest in seeing this property.

I am nearly finished with Where Men Win Glory. In the last 75 pages we get the details of how Pat Tillman died of friendly fire. His unit was split into two units, one to take a disabled Humvee to a paved road so a tow truck could get it. The other half paralleled the first unit to go a village thought to hold Taliban fighters. On a hill above the second unit going to the village gunshots were coming from the hill above the east from Taliban. The first unit thinking it was coming from all Taliban shot and shot and shot at the other half of its unit, killing Pat and wounding others.

I hope the President reads this book. I hope he decides to get out Afghanistan and Iraq at the same time. He is taking a long time to make his decision on sending more troops there. I hope he decides not to send more troops there and instead starts reducing out numbers there, getting out of there by March 1, 2010.

Steven

Monday, Monday, Monday....

Hello:

The picture here shows dust clouds in space.

I am almost finished reading Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer. It is an excellent book, telling me clearly the President needs to get out of Afghanistan. Set the same time frame to get out Iraq and get out of that country too. Pat Tillman, the NFL player who signed up for the Army Rangers after 9/11, giving up a $3.6 million contract with the Arizona Cardinals. The Introduction to the book tells us Tillman was killed by friendly fire. Another friendly fire incident happened within days of "rescue" of Jessica Lynch, in which 17 of the 18 who died were killed by friendly fire. The book is the story of Pat Tillman and his family and friends plus stories of friendly fire throughout both countries.

I cooked another apple crisp, this time cooking it longer, 32 minutes. This is as long as I want to cook it as the topping gets too hard if I cook it longer. The apples, Fuji this time, need to be cooked longer so I will cut the apples into smaller pieces the next time I make one. Maybe my apples will get softer this way.

Have a good week.

Steven