Whee!

February 13-- At 2:24 P.M. today, the heat pump kicked on!  The heat pump does not operate unless the ambient air temperature is 32^o or above.  This is the first time it has run since February 1.

Fortunately the gas company has supplied us with the wherewithal to keep warm.

Icicles form on the eaves as the snow on the roof melts.

High tomorrow: 22^o.

Next Year

I’ve no record book or almanac in front of me, but how many times have we heard all the ballyhoo and bushwa about the “superbowl” only to observe on the first Sunday of February that one or the other of the teams fails to show up?

Just Like You

A phrase I hear often in advertising, "for people just like you,"  or alternatively, "millions of people just like you."  Stop it.  Right now.

I may be insanely jealous of my own identity, but this makes me furious.  I want to break something.

There. Is. No. One. Else. Just. Like. Me.

Shut up.

Equality

The idea that all men are created equal loses everything if you believe that men were not created.  --The Church Curmudgeon

Not So Good

Our leader has now stated that, in his opinion, marijuana is no worse than alcohol. 773H, that's hard to dispute, but does that make it a good thing to add mary jane to john barleycorn?  There's a marriage bound to produce undesirable offspring.

im

Under the Bus

I looked under the bus, and he is right.  Everyone, except you and me, and the guy hollering, "He threw X under the bus," is under the bus.  Oh, wait.  Is that you I see under there, too?

Scorecard

Got out for the first time in six days.  Roads not good, but made it to town.  Went into the bank.  One teller, with a customer.  Next customer waiting turns, looks at me as I enter queue.  "Are you still alive?"  he asks, with obvious amazement.

Yeah, that's a cheery greeting.  I mean, I understand that thirty years ago when I was his principal he no doubt thought I was ancient then.  So no surprise that he was surprised.

But a "I thought you died years ago" is not a great start to one's day.

Forty-something Clod: 1

Old Guy: 0

New Years Day at the Bittermans

Tildy told Herkimer that any Christmas goodies left after today would be thrown in the trash.

Then she ate all the chocolate fudge.

Got Your Stuff Stored?

NSA Collection of phone data legal, judge rules.

This is how our system of jurisprudence works.  If you don't like the ruling of the first judge to hear it, take your case to another court.

Personally, I don't care who collects my phone data.  They don't even need storage space on a computer.  They could keep an entire decade's records on a hand-written 3 x 5 card.

Yet I suppose on principle I should come down on one side or the other.

Words Matter, and So Do Spiders

Three or four years ago, vanilla was on about the silliness that PETA sometimes engages in.  Now Ingrid is at it again.  This time the target is New Jersey Governor Christie who demonstrated poor judgment by killing a spider.  So she says.

Yet this no where nearly rises to the level of foolishness engaged in officially by the government of the State of Washington which has undertaken to purge all state documents of words which could be  considered lacking in gender neutrality.  Newly forbidden words include "penmanship," "fisherman," "journeyman," and "clergyman."  More problematic were terms such as "seaman" and "man hole."

But not to pick on my beloved Washington where I resided for seven beautiful years, at least sixteen other states are engaging in similar efforts.