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

Sunday morning now

Hello:

The picture here a Metropolitan, an older car I saw at the Jordan Dinner in September.

I did not go to the library yesterday. Instead, I have two books here I want to read before getting the now seven books and three DVDs waiting for the me there at the library. I am reading the email book I told you about yesterday plus I need to finish Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer. This book tells we should get out of Afghanistan. The British and the Soviets could not conquer that country and we cannot do it either.

CBS This Morning today says the Silk Road starts in Xi'an (again, SHEE-an) but I know it starts in Shanghai, farther to the east of Xi'an. China Road, a book by Rob Gifford, is about a trip along the Silk Road in China starting in Shanghai and ending on China's western border.

I do hope your Sunday goes well.

Steven

Saturday morning here

Hi again:

The picture here I took from the deck of our place in Depoe Bay. Pretty place but no beach to walk on here.

I hung some towels outside today after washing them. It is cold today, so they may dry by sublimation.

Not much happening here today. Watching the Jay Leno show from last night. I record it every night so I do not have to watch the commercials. I rarely watch live TV except for C-Span 1 and C-Span 2.

I am going to the library later as six books and two DVDs await me there.

Steven

TGIF

Hi:

The picture here is a small bay near our apartment in Depoe Bay.

We saw 2012 today and I thought it to be so very funny. All of the destruction was so very funny to me. Also the planes avoiding the falling freeways and buildings was so hilarious. When I sat down the girl to my left told me she yelled and cried a lot during movies like this. So she yelled and cried as I laughed. Nothing surprised me in the movie.

I finished Cheating Death. It is such a good book, and I highly recommend it for your reading enjoyment and as a learning event for you as it was for me. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is the author. He is a commentator on CNN but I rarely watch that station. I never and I mean NEVER watch Fox news.

My next book is The Tyranny of E-Mail: The Four Thousand Year Journey to Your Inbox. by John Freeman. This book sounds so interesting so I will tell you about it in future postings here. I know it is about correspondence throughout the ages.

I made some more apple crisp, this time cooking it at 375 degrees for only 27 minutes. The apples are not fully cooked, so the next batch I will cook nearly 30 minutes.

I hope you have a good weekend. It is suppose to dry and very, very cold.

Steven

H here now...

Hello:

The picture here shows dark matter in the middle of this galaxy. Dark matter is still under study, although I suspect it is what is left over from the Big Bang, which happened about 16 billion years ago.

I know some readers think the world was created 6,000 years ago, but that is crazy.

This site is about 2 seconds too late so this posting is short.

Steven

Day off?

Hello:

The picture here is a sidewalk in downtown Stayton. See the date on the sidewalk, 1919. Only the oldest part of town has old sidewalks like this one.

I will take bike ride around downtown Stayton, taking more pictures, to give you a better idea what it looks like. Of course, that ride will be on a day that is nice outside, not like the past few days or even today.

Last night Frontline on PBS had two hours on Sick in America. The first hour showed us the good health care systems around the world, in England, Taiwan, Germany and Switzerland. Each of those countries have good health care, compared to the broken-down system we have in America. The second hour looked at the major problems with our health care system. It showed Microsoft, with free health care insurance for its employees. The best example of how it does work but this is just for Microsoft. What Congress is working on is a band-aid and not much more. Go to pbs.org to watch the two hours of the show, the one showing the health care programs around the world and then getting sick in America.

You will get sick watching the second hour, especially after watching the first hour.

The R's in Congress just want to continue with our existing health care system. Republicans now make us just 20% of the voters now. With this attitude and the strong move the far right, that percentage will fall even lower. Too bad we cannot find a good third party to fit the most of us liberals.

The business model for insurance companies is to insure the healthy and eliminate the unhealthy.

Why do we put up with this especially when we see what other countries do for its citizens?

Banks and the post office are closed today for Veteran's Day.

I do not know why the paragraph separation works at times and not at other times. We shall see how it works now.

Steven

Cloudy here

Hi:

The top picture is a stream of power coming from a star in a nova.

The bottom picture from one of my favorite TV shows, Glee. It on TV every Wednesday. I was in Glee in high school, but not like this glee club.

It has been raining here this morning, but is partly cloudy now. I hung some towels outside and I am watching the weather closely the weather. I do not want to get my clothes rained on this afternoon.

I am still reading Cheating Death. It is a most interesting book.

There is now a Kindle application for the computer. I downloaded this morning and it looks OK, but I still do not like to read stuff on my computer. I would much rather read articles on my Kindle.

This morning, I put 5 articles from the Atlantic online for my Kindle. Much better to read on my Kindle.

I did find out I can download the Kindle for your PC application to five different computers.

Let us hope it does not rain during the next two hours.

Steven

Monday morning here

Good morning:

The picture here explains itself, I do believe.

It rained hard here yesterday. I decided to ride my bike to the store to get the Sunday paper. Boy did I get wet, even though I was wearing a hat. I had to change clothes upon arriving home after that short bike ride.

I am reading Cheating Death by Sanjay Gupta, M.D. He makes very good arguments for cooling of heart attach victims. Also no mouth-to-mouth during CPR. Just do chest compressions only and use a defibrillator. It is a fun book to read and a very fast read.

I made an apple crisp again yesterday. It is so good. This is the fourth time I made it; I am getting better at doing it.

I typed 20 pages of Ray's poems this past weekend. I am not going to type anymore as there are too many words I cannot read.

I see a new book by Phillip Pullman, the author of his Dark Material trilogy, which I read on my Kindle when I was in China. His new book is The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. I will reserve this at the library but there is no American publication date yet. It will be published around Easter in the United Kingdom but no American date set yet. I can also check to see if it is available soon at the Kindle store. I can easily get it there if I want to read it sooner.

Stay dry this week.

Steven

Saturday morning

Good morning:

The two pictures here are the most diverse. The bottom is a nebula fracturing light. The top one is a guy trying to launch his new boat.

Last night I started typing one of Raymond Geraths epic poems. I started with shortest one, 45 pages long. I got 10 pages typed last night; I plan to type 20 pages today and the rest tomorrow. Ray's handwriting is worse than mine so there are many ***** for Nolan to look at when he returns here on Monday.

It is cold and wet here today. I have four books and one DVD waiting for me at the library. I will ride my bike there later this morning.

Later today I will find out if this is a good weekend or great weekend, depending on how big the Ducks win and the how much the Beavers lose.

Steven

Tis Friday again...

Hello:

The picture is a the Dumbbell Galaxy. Great picture from the Hubble Space Telescope.

So many books here and such little time to read them. Last night I bought a book for my Kindle on marketing for ebooks. I published 3 books for the Kindle but I need to know how to market the ebooks. I have published articles on the Kindle/Yahoo site, and on the Kindle Social Network. I sent an email to Len Edergly; he has a Friday podcast of the Kindle Chronicles. But I see from the the Kindle Chronicles website that my email was not mentioned in the podcast. I will listen to the podcast shortly but I do not expect to hear about the two books of poetry I told him about.

I am feeling much better today. I don't know what I had but it was not a cold nor the flu.

Hope you have a good weekend.

Steven

Hi again

Hello:

How are you doing this late in the week?

The picture is one of my "oh sh..." ones. I have 12 of them so you will see more of them in later posts.

I had tea this morning but I watched Black Coffee on TV, recorded from last night. This episode was on The Perfect Cup, which got me thinking about a good cup of coffee. I made one using my single serve set-up. The coffee is much better this way so I may try making it again tomorrow. I usually use a French Press, which makes excellent coffee but not as good as my single serve set-up.

We shall see how drinking coffee affects my sleeping tonight. Usually, drinking coffee in the afternoon severely affects my sleep pattern.

I spent this day taking it easy after returning from the dump. I still not feel very good, but we shall see how it goes tomorrow.

Tomorrow I am hooking up an older VCR to my TV here. I have a few tapes to watch so I can see them. I have a channel 3 come up on my TV, so we shall see how this will work.

I have a DVR in my DirectTV receiver so I record my TV shows on that device.

It is now past 4:00 pm and I still have had no lunch. I am just not hungry. I ate two pancakes for breakfast and nothing since. We shall see how much dinner I eat.

Write me if you have any questions or comments about what I write here or what I fail to write on this blog.

Steven

H here now...

Hello:

H stands for Thursday; I get this from my time at the U of O. Classes were on M, U, W, H and F.

The picture here is my last picture of the great white shark. Interesting, this top predictor in the ocean. Or at least I thought this to be top predator until on NOVA I saw a great white attacking a seal, but a killer whale snaps on to the shark. Now we know the top predator in the sea.

Last night I felt I was getting a cold, but after 9 hours of sleep I feel better today. I have a headache, something I hardly ever get.

We went to the dump today, to take all of the paint products to the dump. There you go up the building, stay in your car and the clerks take away the paint from your vehicle. They mix it together to get a grey paint they sell there. But you better the correct amount of grey for your needs, as the next batch will be a different shade of grey.

I do plan to take it easy as I am afraid of catching the cold...or worse. It is lunch time but I am not hungry at all.

The rain has started outside.

Steven

Nice day today

Hi again:

The picture tells the story of it.

Today is a very nice day. We took a two hour walk this morning to visit some homes we are considering buying. I will post some pictures later here to show the house we picked to buy once the grant comes in.

Have you gotten a swine flu shot yet? I have the regular flu shot already, but I may not get the swine flu shot. I believe the swine flu is affecting young children and younger adults. I have not heard older people like me getting the swine flu.

I know the years I get a flu shot, I do not get the flu. Those years I do not get a flu shot, I get the flu.

Do you read on a Kindle? If so,write to me to tell me that. I published two books of poetry by other authors. My last book is by the late Raymond Geraths. He was a devout Catholic so many of his poems reflect that faith.

I will send you the link to this book of poetry is you indeed read a Kindle.

Are you enjoying your day today?

Steven

Good morning

Hi again:

As I look at my bookshelf in my office at my home I gaze upon my canned products:

the purple of the prunes
the yellow of the peaches
the white of the sauerkraut
the brown of the applesauce
the green of the asparagus
the yellow and red of the tomatoes
the paleness of the pears

It was indeed a busy summer for me as I learned how to can fruits and vegetables. I do not like sauerkraut, so the canned stuff I give away to my dad and others who like it. My second batch of sauerkraut is fermenting now, and should be ready the day before Thanksgiving. I canned 5 jars of it with the first batch and will get 4 t0 5 more when this one is finished.

I also froze a crate of strawberries and made some freezer blackberry jam, both of which do not show up on my shelf.

The picture is one of the "oh, s...." ones I have here.

My clothes I hung outside yesterday barely got dry after almost 8 hours outside. My flannel shirt did not get completely dry so I had to hang it inside for another 12 hours to get it dry.

I heard yesterday that only 2% of the people in the U.S. plan to enroll in the public option part of the health care plan. So all of that talk in Congress is much ado about nothing.

I hope your week goes well.

Steven

Now on Standard Time again.

Hi again:

I take it all of you turned back your clocks either last night or this morning. I did it this morning, thinking as I was getting up there is something I should do but could not remember it. I finally did remember it.

The Oregon game was so good last night, I count this as a great weekend, even through the hated Beavs won too. But the Oregon win last night was monumental. If the Ducks win the rest of the way, then maybe the Ducks will be playing the big guys for the national championship, assuming others lose another one in the next few weeks. The Trojans gave up only 42 points in all of its prior games, but gave up 47 points just to the Ducks.

One of my cans of asparagus did not seal yesterday. So I put new water in the jar, and put in my canner. It sealed nicely. I must remember to wash off the top of each filled jar with a damp cloth before putting on the lid. I did this and it sealed very fast after taking it out of the canner.

The picture is a triple galaxy. I am amazed the pictures the Hubble Space Telescope takes.

The TV show Lost will not be on until 2010. Now they are advertising it as the Final Season. That is 2 years too early.

The Shaw Parrish breakfast was this morning. I found out where the Knights of Columbus gets it sausage--from a place in Salem on Silverton Road. They buy 35 pounds of sausage for the breakfast, cooking it up Saturday for insertion into the gravy on Sunday morning. Like I have been telling you, it is the best sausage gravy I ever ate. One friend wrote me to tell me she makes better sausage gravy but we shall see later.

The next breakfast is December 6. I will be there as usual. I can eat one big plate of eggs, hash browns and biscuit, covered by sausage gravy. Nolan can eat two big plates of it when he goes with us, but he has not been there this year yet.

That big breakfast is enough for me for the rest of the day.

I was able to hang some clothes outside today, even though it is getting only to 59 (15 degrees Celsius). I will keep them outside for the next 3 to 4 hours to see if the towels and my flannel shirt gets dry.

I plan to take my camera outside this afternoon to take some pictures of the trees turning color.

No trick-treaters last night. Which means I get to eat the Butterfingers I bought for them.

I usually buy some candy I will never eat. Snickers or Milky Ways, for example. I do not like caramel. It is on my "cheese list"; I hate the taste of caramel, burnt sugar in my mind.

Not much else to tell you.

Steven