Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Picture for U...

A street in Stayton with flowers abloom. Also not much traffic in Stayton these days. Steven

U morning...

Hi again: Still raining outside. My effort to hang clothes outside failed once again. It was not raining yesterday but started raining during the night. I had to take my clothes off the line and put them into the dryer. It is suppose to warm up tomorrow. Should be 60 degrees but we shall see. I don't watch local TV news so I am not up on the weather forecast. Local TV news is a joke as far as I am concerned. Stories too short and too many commercials. I am about half way through The Futures, a history of the Chicago Board of Trade and how it came to be. As I mentioned Thursday night starts the used book sale for the library. They must have over 10,000 books there. Hard bound books sell for $1.50 on Thursday night, go down to $1.00 for Friday then $5.00 per bag of books on Saturday. But I have so many used books here I am looking for just a few on a list I have. I do hope your week is going well. Steve

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Picture for Sunday...

Soon, soon, I hope... Steven

Sunday morning...

Hello: I was up early this morning. I went back to bed at 6:00 am and slept until 9:00. I am now reading The Futures, a history of the Chicago Board of Trade. Over the past two days I read and finished I Beat the Odds by Michael Oher. He is the subject of the book and later movie, The Blind Side. He likes the book and has a few problems with the movie, but likes it too. Thursday night, Friday and Saturday there is a used book sale put on by our library. I am going there on Thursday night to find three books only. One is biography and two are novels. I don't know if they will have the three books I am looking for but it worth the try. Hope your Sunday goes well. Steven

Friday, March 25, 2011

Pictures for F






The top picture shows the teas of the U.S. In grocery stores in China all you see there Nestle instant coffee and Lipton teas.
The bottom picture is what we hope to see very soon.
Steve

F here already

Hi:

So sorry for not posting much this week. So busy with a variety of things. But now I am back.

I finished All the Devils are Here. This is a good book on the financial meltdown, looking at each part, ranging from Frannie and Freddie, Goldman/Sachs, the subprime lenders, Merrill Lynch, a whole variety of criminals who did all of this. This book gives you the best overview of what happened.

I mailed my Parker 51 fountain pen to get repaired. It is leaking ink inside of it. My mother gave this pen to some years ago. She got in 1947 when she was in high school. The pen has her maiden name on it, Dorothy Branch. This 64 year old pen has been with me for so many years. I find it much easier to write with a fountain pen than with a ball point pen.

The library does not open until noon today, so I will go there this afternoon. I have three books waiting there for me. Plus the book I just finished is due today.

Are we in for a wet weekend here??

Steven

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Picture for today...


I can hardly wait until we see this again. It smells so good.

Steven

Sunday now...

Hello:

I am watching Bill Maher on TV. He has my kind of politics.

I am not feeling well today. I threw up about an hour ago. First time in ages....

I am not hungry. I was eating a few filberts when I felt sick.

I am not reading. I am watching TV instead.

This is a short posting as I feel not well.

I do wonder what what is happening to me.

Have a great weekend.

Steven

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Picture for today


Coming very soon around Stayton. I can hardly wait.
Steven

Nice day on this Saturday

Hello:

I hanged a towel outside today to see if it will dry out there. It is sunny outside but not too warm.

I made some unbaked cookies today. I use crunchy peanut butter instead of walnuts in the cookies. These cookies are so easy to make and so good to eat.

It is past noon here already and I have done no reading yet. Doing laundry here. On my third load already.

Another bifurcated night for me. Went to bed early last night, but woke up at 3:30 am. I stayed up until 4:30 then went back to bed until 8:00.

Got up to make breakfast for Nolan and me and to make his coffee and my coffee. Nolan gets decaf coffee per his request. I grind my won beans and brew my coffee in a French Press. Nolan gets his coffee in a drip coffee maker. But the decaf coffee I got from Costco is so very good compared to the Folgers coffee it replaced. It is as good as the coffee beans I grind every day.

Watching the breaking news from CNN as emails. We sent 110 cruise missiles into Liyba. Wonder what they hit?

Steven

Friday, March 18, 2011

Pictures for F



What we can expect next month, I hope.

Steven

The weekend has arrived...

Hello:

I drove to a garage sale today but found nothing there worth buying.

I am cracking two cups of filberts. I will call my Dad to give him the rest of the big bag of un-cracked filberts. I had to put a glove on my right hand so it would not get so sore. I don't know yet what I will do with the cracked filberts. I may roast them and then cover them with chocolate.

My phone is now charging. I am so glad it getting charged now.

Tonight I will read my book. Nothing on TV. I don't watch football nor do I watch basketball on TV at all anymore. So the NCAA tournament holds no interest to me.

I am still eating my chicken soup I made last Monday. It is so good for dinner. I love left-overs.
I think I will get two more dinners out of my soup. Not just chicken, but with water chestnuts, a carrot, noodles, snow peas, mushrooms and chicken broth. So tasty...

Hope your weekend goes well...

Steve

Thursday, March 17, 2011

H picture


This picture comes from the KinWorm website. It is a Kindle site. I like this picture.
Steven

A very busy H

Hello:

I was so very busy today. First to Costco and then to find a new charger for my phone. No luck in Stayton, so tomorrow back to Salem to find another charger.

I am trying to read one New Yorker a day these days. I get them from the library used magazine booth. I have about 20 of them.

I am still All the Devils are Here. It is such a good book.

Not much else happening here today.

Hope your weekend goes well.

Steven

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Hump Day picture


This is one only steel dam in the U.S. or even the world.
It is located in Michigan.
Steve

W today

Hello:

It snowed for about an hour today. I checked the outside temperature, and found it to be 29 degrees. The snow did not stick at all. Just surprised to see it snow this late in the winter.

I am still reading All The Devils are Here. The two authors indicate nearly everyone involved in the meltdown. It ranges from Greenspan to the Moody's to the Fed and to Congress. I agree with everything these authors tell us about AIG and J.P. Morgan as major jerks in all of this.

I did not sleep well last night. I got up at 4:30 this morning and read for awhile and watched some recorded TV shows. I went back to bed around 7:00 and had trouble going to sleep for another hour. I think it maybe the caffeine coffee I am now drinking after two weeks off of coffee. I try not to drink coffee in the afternoon. But the past two days, I have been drinking coffee well into the afternoon.

Not much else happening here today.

Hope your Hump Day is going well.

Steven

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Pictures for U...



The top picture shows a Kenyan sand dam.
The bottom picture shows a Canadian underground dam.
Again, these come from the Popular Mechanics website, giving credit where credit is due.
Steven

U today

Hi again:

It has been a busy time for me the past three days. I want to post on this blog every day but I keep forgetting.

I am now reading All the Devils are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis. I have read at least 10 books before this one on meltdown. This has a better background of the jerks of banks that caused this.

I am finishing the tax exempt status for my client. I need just two things to finish it.

I am making the Best Chicken Soup today. I got this recipe on cooking.com website.

Hope your week is going well.

Steven

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Pictures for Sat.



I got these pictures of various dams from the Popular Mechanics website of its magazine.
The top one is a cedar dam in Japan, to stop runoff and landslides.
The bottom picture is dam in Russia at night.
Steven

The weekend is here...

Hi:

The weekend has arrived. A very wet weekend, with an hour short as daylight time starts Sunday morning.

Taking it easy today, listening to the Kindle Chronicles. In this issue of the podcast, a pastor back east has a Kindle family reading group.

There are only two people on my Amazon Kindle account are my dad and me. He never turns on the whispernet and relies on me to update his books. He has a Kindle 1 and I have a Kindle 3. I gave Nolan a Kindle for Christmas and he has not read one book on his Kindle yet. He takes it with him to show his clients what a Kindle looks like. I registered his Kindle in my name so he could get some of my books on his Kindle. Now his Kindle is unregistered.

I will do my client's tax exempt status on Monday. It will not take long to do this, as I finished most of it two weeks ago. I need to add just two things to the application. Next week he will stop by to make a check to the IRS for $400 as the fee for filing this form.

Hope your weekend goes well.

Steven

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Picture for H


A good example of how the crazy Rs and the Tea Baggers think. Of course you know I am flaming liberal and proud to admit it.

Steven

H now

Hi:

Sorry for such a long time between posts. I was so very busy the last three days, writing a grant for a client. The twenty pages of questions were all essay questions. My document ended up 19 pages long, single spaced. What a job...

I am now reading Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All. It is good book showing how the anti-vaccine tells lies and not even half-truths about the effects of vaccines. Whooping cough was the first target of these jerks. I will not rant any further, but I highly recommend this book.

I am taking it easy today after the last five days of working on that grant.

I was so busy I failed to open my Kindle. It is Thursday today and yet the last download to my Kindle had been Monday.

I had to mail this grant material in instead of sending by an email attachment. It has to be there in Philadelphia by 4:00 pm tomorrow. I mailed it yesterday by Express Mail, but to cost me $40.00 to get it there by tomorrow at 3:00 pm.

Birthdays continue the next two days, first my ex-wife is tomorrow and a friend in Eugene is on Saturday.

I may check to see if there any garage sales this weekend. The Stayton Mail has a web page of advertised sales. I will check it later today.

How has your week been?

Steven

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Sunday picture


I don't call it "global warning;" instead I call "climate change." Still proof, would you not agree?
Steven

Near the end of this weekend

Hello:

I am back to just posting text and then posting pictures after seeing what happened yesterday to my post there.

I planted my peas today. Only one of the 13 peas failed to germinate so planted 12 new plants.

I also fertilized my rhubarb today, as I saw it coming up in just two places. Last summer I got five cutting off my rhubarb having fertilized much later in the spring. I love cooked rhubarb and I have four packages from my 5th planting from last summer. I used one to put in a chocolate cake instead of water. Made the cake so good with rhubarb in it.

I will finish The Inner Circle tonight. Not a page turner like a David Baldacci novel, but interesting enough.

Breakfast was so very good this morning at the Shaw parish. Sausage gravy over biscuits and eggs and hash browns.

Steve

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Dryer weekend is here...


Hi again:
This picture is from last summer and my first attempt at growing tomatoes upside down. I may try three of these this summer.
Wanted to remind you of what happens in summer.
I am enjoying reading The Inner Truth, but the characters are not well developed. But it is an easy read.
I am working today and tomorrow, in order to meet a deadline next Friday.
Tomorrow is the best parish breakfast, the one at Shaw Parish. Sausage gravy over biscuits, with eggs and peaches too. It is the best sausage gravy I have eaten here in western Oregon.
I am trying once again to post a picture with this post. We shall see how it goes.
Hope your weekend is going well.
Steve

Thursday, March 3, 2011

H pictures



The top picture is a lake in China, but it could be in Oregon.
The bottom picture shows southern Australia, the Melbourne area, taken from the Space Shuttle.
Steven

H eve nears here...

Hello:

It has been raining hard here today, but not now. It is very wet outside.

I cannot access our local library here as my password no longer works. It goes in automatically when I go to the site, but starting last night it did not work. I need to go to our library later today to find out what went wrong.

I am listening the Kindle Women podcast and each of the three are surprised at the ferocity of Japanese treatment of prisoners. They never learned this in school or after they got out of school. The are discussing Unbroken. I am going to send them an email to read The Rape of Nanking, one of the most interesting books I ever read. What the Japanese soldiers did to the Chinese in that city defies description. I could not believe what the Japanese did in that city.

I did not read Unbroken; the same author wrote Seabiscuit one of the best books I read in the last two years.

What are your plans for the weekend? Me, I am working both days as I need to finish a project by early next week.

Steven

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Space pictures for today...



Today's top picture is Japan from the Space Shuttle.
The bottom picture shows Europe at night.
Remember when I posted a picture of North Korea at night? No lights at all.
Steve

Mid-week now...

Hi:

I tried to make chocolate shortbread cookies today, but it did not work out. A very simple recipe: 2 sticks of butter, 3/4 cup of sugar, mixed together until creamy. Then add 1 and 3/4 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of chocolate powder. I apparently did not mix the butter and sugar together well enough. I am suppose to make it creamy but it was not like that. My batter ended up dry so I could not make balls of the stuff. So I added some vegetable oil to it make it bound together. Well.....I tried....

My back is still sore so no coffee again today. I have no coffee or tea since Sunday. It is day-to-day thing.

I am now reading The Inner Circle by Brad Meltzer. I need a good novel to get back into reading for a long time. I have been reading articles on my Kindle, not books.

I am still not very hungry these days. I had breakfast at 7:00 this morning, a small waffle. For lunch I made some french fries and chicken nuggets. I got this stuff last week when reading The French Fry Connection, a series of articles in The Oregonian in 1999. I found it on their website and copied it to my Kindle to read it again. Made me hungry for french fries. I know, a strange connection...

Once again, downloaded Morning Edition stories early today and forgot to listen to them. Had to add ATC to the list and will hopefully listen to both shows tonight.

Tomorrow starts the March birthdays in my family. Randy, my youngest brother is March 3. My dad's birthday is this Sunday. My younger brother Kenny is the next day. My ex-wife is the 11th. One of my ex-girlfriend's from Eugene is March 12. My late mother is March 19. Then comes my son Jeffrey, March 28 and my oldest son Dr. Brandon, March 29.

During a break in the rain here, I made a trip to the library on my bike. I would rather ride my bike to the store and library. Tomorrow a trip to the store.

Enjoy your March.

Steven

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Pictures for U...




Pictures from the Space Shuttle, not the one up there now, but the last one.
The top one shows South Africa at night.
The bottom one shows Japan, highlighted by Mt. Fuji.
I will have some more pictures in later posts.
Steven

Finally stopped raining

Hi:

It has been raining here since yesterday morning but now it has stopped. What a wet week...

I was so busy yesterday, getting up at 4:00 am. By last night I was very tired so I went to bed and slept for 10 hours.

I have given up on coffee or tea for the time being. A place on a part of gum is swollen and hot stuff irritates it. It is getting better today so maybe I can make coffee tomorrow morning.

I have four books waiting for me at the library. Two other books expired last week, but I think I read one of them already. The library closes at 5:30 pm today, so it is closed as I write this at 5:45 pm.

I have fallen behind on listening to my NPR programs. Last night I downloaded stories from ATC but went to bed instead of listening to the stories. This morning, at 6:30 I went to the NPR site and found out even at that early hour, Morning Edition was ready. So I downloaded stories form that show, spending most of the morning listening to story after story after story.

Too many stories on Libya now. I can listen to what is happening now but not all of the stories on Libya.

Tomorrow I am planting my peas outside. All are growing in the plate with water under paper towels.

Have a good week.

Steven