Hi, Everyone. The weather has warmed a bit--not enough to shed the heavy coat, hooded scarf, and gloves. But about half of the snow we accumulated over the last 3 weeks or so has melted. We still have some small mountains of it in the parking lot and some small hills of it covering our planters. Last night and earlier this morning we had freezing fog. It wasn't thick enough to hinder driving so we got our errands done. The effect on the trees and shrubs was really pretty--like someone had taken a fine brush and coated the tips of branches, evergreen needles and the remaining pampas grass fronds with silver.

This little article at the Energy Bulletin (by way of the Oil Drum) is very interesting. For sometime nuclear power boosters have been touting the French model as one to follow. Maybe--but then again, maybe not. I have several problems with the notion of expanding nuclear power generation. The waste generated is highly radioactive for hundreds of human lifetimes. Current nuclear plants have accumulated massive amounts of it on site because they have no where to put it. The Yucca Mountain site has been delayed for the last two decades and may never come on line. And there seem to be no alternatives. Even if it did come on line, who can guarantee safe transport of the waste to the storage site? The Republicans in the Senate and House have raised holy hell about the fiscal debts we are bequeathing to new generations into the distant future but they emit not a peep about the radioactive waste we are bequeathing the future even if we don't build another plant. Frankly the latter scares me far more than the latter. Then there is the problem of continued maintenance. We have a problem now maintaining the electric grid, the sewer and water systems, the roads, the bridges, and the levees. I am not at all sure I want to see what would happen here if there was a similar strike over here. (My major quibble with the author is his description of America as 'monoethnic' and homogeneous. I think I see where he is coming from but I am not sure the argument should be taken as far as he tries to take it.)

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I had intended to post the item above last night but forgot about doing it. I am now working on Tuesday, Jan 19. They say we are supposed to get some sun later. I hope so. The January thaw continues. I can see patches of grass out front where we get the most direct sun. I am counting the days until we get above 45 consistently and I can put the heavy coat away.

It has been a bit busy already. I just finished pouring 8 scented candles. Everything I used except for the scent wax (only a small amount needed) was recycled. I have years of candle ends I have accumulated and a lot of the glass candle holders. I absolutely hate getting rid of things and anyone who burns commercial candles knows how much wax is left. So I now have 8 new candles, 4 each of rose and lilac. I also used old votive candles, many of which have lost their original scent, at the centers.

Hello, Everyone. It has been a lazy day today. Have puttered around with all kinds of things but haven't finished reading my e-mails, google alerts or blog list yet. Two of the cats needed a bath. They took it better than I thought they would. They are sleeping off the upset and drying off.

I think I remarked sometime in the past few posts that we decided to start grinding our own beef and pork. Mom brought out the oldest of the roasts and round steaks we had, thawed them and ground them up yesterday. Just looking at the result I would guess that the result was equivalent to the 91% hamburger (the leanest available in the supermarket). None of the cuts cost us more than $2.50/lb but the product would cost about $4/lb.

Good Morning, Everyone. The news has, of course, been full of stories on the Haitian earthquake relief/rescue efforts. Then there are some other stories that should get better coverage but I rather doubt they will. Like this one from Common Dreams it deals with historical trends that contributed to the catastrophe but which few will want to even think about. But I wonder how often such histories contribute to the current problems. I have read about similar patterns of development intensifying famines in Africa, crop failures in Africa and Asia, drought conditions in various places. We have shown intense historical myopia consistently throughout our history. And we have shown an unwillingness to believe that, perhaps, our much loved theories of economic development simply don't work as we want them to. The attitude reminds me of a scene in the movie Independence Day. The first nuclear bomb fails to stop the alien invaders it was dropped on and the President calls back all of the other bombers while the Secretary of Defense protests that the others 'might have more luck.' Which reminds me of a particularly apt definition of insanity: trying something that hasn't worked again and again hoping for a different outcome.

I have been reading a good deal lately about various 'slow' movements. Last year 60 Minutes did a segment on the slow food movement. Just recently I found (and joined) a new group on Facebook called 'Slow Cloth.' Bloggher has this post which gives a pretty comprehensive view of the phenomenon. I have a lot of sympathy for these movements. I hate being rushed. When I read a job announcement that touts multi-tasking and fast paced I am totally turned off. I like to work more slowly and think about what I am doing.

Good Morning, everyone. Yippee!!! We have bright sun and blue skies for the first time in a while. Hope it stays. I do like the change of seasons but winter is the one season I wish were much briefer.

I am also glad that the latest season of public mea culpas has ended. I really don't care about any of them. Harry Reid merely said, in what he (silly man!!) thought was a private setting what many thought. I care even less about McGuire's confession and apology. I don't care how tearfully it was delivered and I don't care if he gets into the hall of fame. And the apology I care least about is Blogo's 'blacker than Obama" apology. The sincerity of the last two is totally underwhelming. I absolutely resent the ridiculous amount of time the news media spent on these non-issues.

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Well, it is now the day after I started this post. That seems to be the pattern for now. There isn't much to say about the political mess that hasn't been said already. Especially now that the primary silly season has started in earnest. We got a bit of a laugh yesterday when we saw one of the Republican commercials. The candidate not only wants no new taxes but claims to have a plan to cut taxes. Mom was working a crossword puzzle and looking at a 3 letter word for 'no new taxes.' Are you stumped? Answer was 'lie.' Now that was not only clever but too true.

Then there was my 2 cents worth on the matter. I asked who the (insert derogatory noun) plans to push under the nearest bus. Does anyone remember when (under Dear Ronnie's regime) they reformed welfare to workfare and pushed mothers with small children into the workforce by providing state sponsored child care? Now some of those child care providers are closing because the STATE hasn't paid them. I will let you provide your best guesses on the looming situation.

We just had the sun come out. My goodness, I don't know what to do with myself. Sun two days in a row!!!

The earthquake in Haiti, coming just days after a more moderate one on the west coast, brought up the subject of weird weather and related phenomena over coffee this morning. It started with the massive snow falls of January and continued to the deep freeze of February followed by the wet and cold spring and the dry and cold summer. Oh, and I can't forget the dust storms that have come up from Australia to our southwest to the middle east and northern China. The recent blizzards in North China and the Koreas, England and our mid-west just continues the pattern. Georgia went from a multi-year drought that almost had Atlanta sucking mud to drenching rains that ended the harvest seasons before they actually got started. And there are the freezes that have threatened the strawberries in south Alabama and the citrus in Florida, and then sent temperatures to the low 40s in the Caribbean. Did I say weird? I think I did.

Good Morning, everyone. It was supposed to stop snowing but we have had more flurries overnight. I am getting very tired of it. Part of my problem is that I just got my new Burpees catalog and I really want spring to get here. I have already asked my local sources when they will be putting out their new seeds. Most say mid-February. Can't get here soon enough.

Lois asked about my kitties and how they are taking the snowy weather. Actually not to badly. Kuma has always been the most insistent about going out but he hasn't even tried very hard since the snow started. He simply doesn't like getting is paws cold and wet. The others haven't been that interested for a couple of years but then at nearly 19 years old the only things that get them roused is their regular feedings of canned food and a warm lap in the evenings. They get very demanding on those items.

The Red Tape Chronicles has a good post on what to expect from your credit card companies this year. It is a good read that provides some things to look for and sums up the real effect of the 'reforms' Congress passed last year as the last of the provisions comes on line in about six weeks: 'Congress gives and the companies take a way.'

I don't know what has been happening to Google and Facebook but I either can't get on at all or parts are not loading right. I guess all I can do is wait them out.

Hello, everyone. It is still snowing here. It is supposed to stop but they promised that before. I don't think we have had a single full day free of snow since Christmas. They (the weather people) have also promised us a couple of days this week above freezing. We'll see.

I found this little item to be filed in the 'Move Your Money' or 'When Will These Guys Get a Clue' folders. I think the key conclusion is that although Citi and other mega banks a too big to fail (at least in the judgement of our political and financial leaders), they are also too big to succeed. They are simply so big the right hand simply doesn't know what the left is doing.

Robert Reich has a nice post on the probable results if the Senate's plan for paying for the health care reform plan (IF they can actually get a reconciled bill out of the joint committee. The Senate want's to impose a 40% excise tax on what they call 'Cadillac' plans. The key here is that the definition rests on the cost of the plan not what the plan provides. I have the nightmare vision of a female nurse who pays a higher premium for her basic service plan (because of she risks of getting pregnant or contracting a job related health problems) getting hit with this additional tax because.

Good Morning, Everyone. There hasn't been much to say lately. Everything seems much of a muchness, as that silly old saying goes. Nothing is happening in Washington. I am not sure if that is a good thing over all or a bad thing. The Republicans and their allies (read: Liberman et al.) stymie what ever they can, snipe whenever they can and sanctimoniously pretend they are doing it for the good of the country. The Democrats aren't any better and we have a Democratic President who can't see that bi-partisanship requires two partners to get anywhere. The economy is still in the toilet and I don't expect it to improve (at least at my level) any time soon. Almost everything any of the mainstream pundits say about politics or economics seem so out of touch that I wonder what they have been smoking, or ingesting. They seem to be on a perpetual high.

Oh, well, enough carping. We have had snow most days since before Christmas and are getting more for most of this week. The weather people think we may get near normal temps sometime next week. Hope so. And we hope the forecast for Sunday is accurate since we have a birthday party that day--the one we thought was last Sunday is actually next Sunday. We put it on the calendar wrong.

I found this on MSNBC this morning. We caught a snippet on the morning news--which was about all the local news readers provided. Why should anyone be surprised that such a large percentage of American workers are unhappy? Even the article only scratches the surface of the problem.

The New American has a post that links to a Washington Post article I saw a little while ago. Any one ever wonder what happens to what the power generating companies and others accumulate in the scrubbers that take pollutants out of the smoke they generate? I didn't until I read this. Evidently it accumulates into a synthetic gypsum and they are piling up a really large amount of the stuff. Some they have made into wall board for construction so, if you have done any remodeling or building lately, you may have it in your home. But the demand for wall board is, evidently, not sufficient to take up all of what they produce. So now the EPA is encouraging farmers to spread the stuff as fertilizer on their fields. Instead of falling as acid rain all that sulfur, lead, antimony, arsenic and other heavy metals will be spread on the fields as fertilizer??? Makes a lot of sense doesn't it.

Mike The Mad Biologist links to another story, from the New York Times, that I read a couple of days ago. I didn't write anything at the time because I am really at a loss for words on so many levels. Late last fall, Mom and I decided that we were going to grind our own hamburger after reading about where the hamburger was coming from. Noticing also that the price of the cuts of beef and pork we would be using was equal to the price of the hamburger that was almost 30% added fat and fillers also helped move us in that direction. This simply reinforces that decision yet again. But I have had a very nasty thought--what about the pet food? Does any of this shit get into that?? Anybody got an answer?

Paul Farrell has an interesting post on MarketWatch today. If you are an economic optimist it just might make you reconsider.