Foggy with a fine snow(?) falling. The temperature is supposed to be 27* right now so it is cold enough for snow. We expect rising temperatures for today and through next Sunday when they crash back into the low 20s and teens. I know this winter hasn't been all that long but two weeks of sub-zero temps makes it feel interminable.

I saw a couple of articles I didn't bother reading which were rejoicing over the Christmas sales results and noting that retailers are feeling much better about this year's possibilities. The articles claim that consumers are feeling optimistic and opening their wallets a bit wider. I wonder how many of those consumers are like us who did spend more that we normally would have in late December but neither Christmas nor optimist had anything to do with it. We adopted a couple of young shelter cats and needed all the stuff to go with them like carriers, scratching post, food, litter, litter box, bowls for food and water. We gave all that away when the last of our old cats died (at ripe old ages of 17+).

This article strikes a chord for me. Since I retired about six years ago we have followed some of the ideas of "off-peak" living. We avoid traveling during a rush hour or any time everyone else travels. Christmas travel crunch--not for us. Rush hour--no bother at all. We don't shop at 1am but do shop early. And our shopping is very basic--usually what we need and we don't know who the Joneses are so we have no one to "keep up with." Another interesting piece is a little book titled Un-Jobbing which extolls getting out of the regular job rat race. The author subtitled it "The Adult Liberation Handbook." I spent my entire adult life trying to get into a career that was interesting and stimulating, which provided an income that could sustain me comfortably in a reasonable number of hours, and from which I would not want to escape into retirement. I never found it. I finally landed in retirement by default (basically too "overqualified" for any jobs available) and I have never been happier or more satisfied.

This is not much of a surprise: Pfizer is distributing at least part of its Trump tax "reform" bonanza to--wait for it-- -- its largest shareholders. And cutting some 300 researchers and other employees involved in its Alzheimers and Parkinson's research programs.