Good morning, again, everyone. The weather is, so far, what we should expect for early January--cold with possibilities of some light snow. Perfect garden planning weather since actual gardening isn't possible--except for tending the few indoor plants that are destined for the garden come warmer weather.

I agree, Kay. Blogging is much more fun than Facebook.

The political scene seems to be in the "quiet before the storm" phase. Nothing much is happening but there is definite thunder on the horizon. The Republicans have announced a vote on a bill to repeal all of the health care reform law though it will likely (hopefully) be symbolic since the Senate probably won't go along and Obama probably wouldn't sign it if it got that far. I don't expect anything good to come out even when things heat up and this article from Seeking Alpha explains why. None of the alternatives are good and all are likely to yield a lot of pain for a considerable time. The question is: who will feel the pain?

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Well, that was Tuesday. Today is Wednesday. I forgot to come back in and post the above section. We'll see what happens today.

Hey, Kay, I heard that your Buckeyes won the Sugar Bowl. Celebrate, girl, celebrate!!

The news this morning had a segment on the newly elected first time Congresscritters from the Chicago area. The Tea Bagger among them made his sanctimonious announcement that he would forego the government provided health insurance and pension. Instead he will provide those 'from the open market' for himself. That is nice and, given that Congress members and Senators get $174,000/year, I guess he can afford it. Now why doesn't he show real solidarity with the middle and working classes by refusing one-third to one-half of his salary? Given that his position is really a part-time gig, he would still be making double (if he took the larger cut) the average income of the ordinary American.

The first item I read this morning (after scanning the MSNBC home page) was this Mike Morford blog. It is humorous and a very accurate assessment of our 24/7/365 news cycle and its vast importance. (Yeah that last bit was my sarcastic comment.)