Whine and Roses
13/02/16 07:31
Not sure what to make of this Trump phenomena. The Donald (Trump) is packing stadiums up and down the east coast of the United States with thousands of passionate and faithful followers wanting to show their support. Not unlike the crowds, I might add, that follow Bernie Sanders on the other side of the political aisle. The television networks have chosen to stop showing the size of his audiences out of respect and admiration for their so-called establishment candidate in the race, Hillary Clinton. The very same Hillary Clinton I would remind you who is under investigation by no fewer than 4 federal agencies including the FBI for a variety of alleged criminal activities related to her tenure as head of the State Department and her role in the Clinton Foundation. Bernie would do well to cite these ongoing investigations but to date he has not. But the Trumpster marches on racking up big numbers in the polls against his rivals Cruz, Rubio, Bush, and Kasich. He is winning in the polls by a 2-1 margin in most of the early states yet to have their primaries and caucuses. His meteoric numbers have been attributed to name recognition and anti-establishment appeal but there seems to be more there than meets the eye. The more the voices of the establishment try to marginalize him in an effort to eliminate him from the race the stronger he becomes. He funds his own campaign, takes no money from any super PACS, and will be beholding to no one if and when he wins. Did I mention that he is a plain speaking man. He has an undeniable an unbelievable ability to connect with the common man and his mantra to "make America great again" is resonating with the American public. This is a currency that will carry him far in a day and age where we as a country have lost our way in the eyes of American public and the larger global community as a whole. He also promises to be less profane on the stump. We'll see how long that lasts.
Brrrr! We've been hearing reports in the news in the last few days about an arctic cold front moving through our neck of the woods with promises of life threatening sub zero temperatures. We usually turn off the heat during the overnight hours but we left it on last night not wanting to take any chances of having our pipes freeze as temperatures plunged throughout the night. I was up a little after 4 this morning wanting to get an early start on the news day especially after the raucous republican debate last night in South Carolina. We've had a relatively snowless and mild winter thus far into 2016 so I was reminded when looking at the outdoor thermometer in our kitchen where the temperature read minus 11 degrees that Mother Nature has a few surprises yet up her sleeve for those of us thinking we were going to escape unscathed. I was feeling exposed and not unscathed at these temperatures so I set about starting a nice wood stove not because the house wasn't warm from having the furnace run overnight but to provide one more source of heat in a house probably in need of it. The heat from the wood stove is quite different from the forced hot air and infinitely more delicious so I feel good about having a large supply of seasoned wood that promises to get us through the winter months without concerns about running short. At these temperatures we may not venture far from home today and certainly bike rides and walks along the beach are out of the question. It might just be a good day to dust off a good crockpot recipe and hunker down at home with a good book. If I venture out at all it will be to refill the bird feeders or to go to the store for ingredients needed. You have two get out of the house at least once a day . Right?
What is up with the Ev man? He's feeling the pressure of taking on perhaps too many courses and there is virtually nothing we can say or do that seems to make him feel better. He's often hard to read so we try to stay away and keep him at arms length. I even accuse Nancy of being tone deaf sometimes when he is short with her for reasons very obvious to Evan and I but to Nancy not so much. With any luck he will sort it out himself and having survived an apocalyptic mood swing will be back in the saddle to take on another day. We brought him home a large serving of chili from Tuttles in Dover while passing through that section of town today after visiting South Berwick. He was hungry so seemed to enjoy it but also seemed more than a bit preoccupied with his studies so was short to the point of being intolerant and moody. You do the best you can and that is it. He promptly disappeared into his room after eating and we've neither seen or heard from him since. When you have a lot of jello moving on the plate you just have to stop moving the plate so much and the jello will settle down of its now accord. Just to be clear, Evan is the jello and the plate is his world. Now that we have that all sorted out I want to add that we picked up a nice frozen pork pie for Mrs G when shopping around at Tuttles and dropped it off on our way home. She was delighted to have the pie as she had not yet had her main meal for the day and she remarked that she would have gone out for a bit were it not for the frigid temperatures. She's been driving a rental while her car is in the shop and didn't want to get stuck anywhere while out and about in town. If we had been smart about it we would have picked up a few nice chocolate truffles for her while shopping at Tuttles seeing as this is Valentines day. Doh!!
Brrrr! We've been hearing reports in the news in the last few days about an arctic cold front moving through our neck of the woods with promises of life threatening sub zero temperatures. We usually turn off the heat during the overnight hours but we left it on last night not wanting to take any chances of having our pipes freeze as temperatures plunged throughout the night. I was up a little after 4 this morning wanting to get an early start on the news day especially after the raucous republican debate last night in South Carolina. We've had a relatively snowless and mild winter thus far into 2016 so I was reminded when looking at the outdoor thermometer in our kitchen where the temperature read minus 11 degrees that Mother Nature has a few surprises yet up her sleeve for those of us thinking we were going to escape unscathed. I was feeling exposed and not unscathed at these temperatures so I set about starting a nice wood stove not because the house wasn't warm from having the furnace run overnight but to provide one more source of heat in a house probably in need of it. The heat from the wood stove is quite different from the forced hot air and infinitely more delicious so I feel good about having a large supply of seasoned wood that promises to get us through the winter months without concerns about running short. At these temperatures we may not venture far from home today and certainly bike rides and walks along the beach are out of the question. It might just be a good day to dust off a good crockpot recipe and hunker down at home with a good book. If I venture out at all it will be to refill the bird feeders or to go to the store for ingredients needed. You have two get out of the house at least once a day . Right?
What is up with the Ev man? He's feeling the pressure of taking on perhaps too many courses and there is virtually nothing we can say or do that seems to make him feel better. He's often hard to read so we try to stay away and keep him at arms length. I even accuse Nancy of being tone deaf sometimes when he is short with her for reasons very obvious to Evan and I but to Nancy not so much. With any luck he will sort it out himself and having survived an apocalyptic mood swing will be back in the saddle to take on another day. We brought him home a large serving of chili from Tuttles in Dover while passing through that section of town today after visiting South Berwick. He was hungry so seemed to enjoy it but also seemed more than a bit preoccupied with his studies so was short to the point of being intolerant and moody. You do the best you can and that is it. He promptly disappeared into his room after eating and we've neither seen or heard from him since. When you have a lot of jello moving on the plate you just have to stop moving the plate so much and the jello will settle down of its now accord. Just to be clear, Evan is the jello and the plate is his world. Now that we have that all sorted out I want to add that we picked up a nice frozen pork pie for Mrs G when shopping around at Tuttles and dropped it off on our way home. She was delighted to have the pie as she had not yet had her main meal for the day and she remarked that she would have gone out for a bit were it not for the frigid temperatures. She's been driving a rental while her car is in the shop and didn't want to get stuck anywhere while out and about in town. If we had been smart about it we would have picked up a few nice chocolate truffles for her while shopping at Tuttles seeing as this is Valentines day. Doh!!