Nothing to cry about

I like this shot so I thought that I would share.

Nothing to cry about today. It was an average day with very little to write about.

The youngest boy child is having issues with his car battery. It seems to be dead. Upon further questioning he admitted his whopping big amplifier drains his battery so quickly that his alternator cannot keep up. He pulled the fuse for the amplifier and is now saving for a larger alternator. Not exactly the solution I would choose although it is definitely one way to go.

Look at the pot calling the kettle black...

INDIANOLA, Iowa -- Mike Huckabee called chief rival Mitt Romney "dishonest'' today for what Huckabee said were gross distortions of his record, and said voters should question whether Romney would tell the truth if he were elected president. [full story here]

In my opinion Huckabee is in bed with too many Washington insiders (aka lobbyists) and shouldn't be throwing stones at anyone.

Can you guess this topic?

Oh you're so very smart. Yes, it's more snow. Arriving overnight was a few extra inches on top of what we already accumulated. It's getting deep here.

Not much to report. Jan and I are both off work today. At the present time we're just sitting around plugging away on the computers.

This next story is also sad. I had a great amount of respect for this woman and would have liked to seen her gain control of her country once more.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan's assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was laid to rest in a chaotic funeral at her ancestral home Friday as officials revealed she was killed by shrapnel not gunshots and blamed al Qaeda militants.

Merry After Christmas

Good day to everyone. Yes, more snow came through yesterday with another storm on its heels for tonight and all day tomorrow.

Christmas was absolutely wonderful. Pictures are finally up and you can see them here. All the kids came by and enjoyed themselves. Jan's Brother, Herb came by with his wife Jeanne and they stayed all afternoon. We had a great visit. The grandkids also had a great time with Jayden being very helpful making sure everyone had help opening their presents.

Last night Jan, Charlene, Ronnie, Michelle, Brian, Andy (Ronnie's friend) and I went to Stanford's Comedy Club to see my best friend David's Son Bill Clifton perform. We met Bill at Thanksgiving and he put us on his guest list. He's quite a successful comedian now and the show was great. The other headliner was Michael Mack who you may have seen on some TV shows in recent years. His show was absolutely side-splitting as well. We all had a great time. Charlene's car decided to have a flat tire on the way to the show although she had lots of help changing it and just had to hold the flashlight. I had given her one of those hand-crank flashlights a few years ago just to keep in the car for emergencies. She mentioned having to crank it 100% of the time to keep the light going (sorry Char.)

I'm dropping the truck off later today to have the four-wheel drive checked out. It doesn't seem to want to engage when I press the button so I suspect the actuator is not working. This is a common problem with Chevy 4WD trucks. Given all of the snow we keep seeing I want to get it fixed before I really need it, like getting to work at 5:30 a.m. as usual.

Also, I received a call from a gal with AT&T Risk Management who asked if I would get a damage estimate from somewhere local and fax it into their office. Perhaps they will settle my claim quickly after all. I was somewhat worried it may take some time to get them to fix my truck bumper after that accident last week where one of their trucks rear-ended me.

Now for the story of the day.

RALEIGH, N.C. — The record-setting drought that has forced the governor to plead for conservation, homeowners to shelve their lawn sprinklers and farmers to drain their ponds for irrigation is only forecast to get worse in the new year.

If the predictions come true, convenience won't be the only casualty.

North Carolina's multibillion dollar agriculture industry is prepping for what may be a devastating year for both crops and livestock, while local governments are eyeing emergency plans — and expensive solutions — for water systems on the brink of crisis.

"We need to make sure we keep water going to the hospitals and the nursing homes and enough to people's homes for those fundamental needs," said John Morris, director of the North Carolina Division of Water Resources. "We're certainly at the point now where we need to have a good solid plan for those more extreme measures."

That "solid plan" may include water rationing, a step Morris predicted some parts of North Carolina will have to take if conditions get worse.

Read the full story here.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all. Remember the reason for the season.

Jan, Georgia and I are all awake now and attempting to wake up with some old fashioned java juice. Nothing like a cup of Maxwell House to get your day started.

The turkey is in the oven (just a small breast) and I hope the kids will start wandering in and out by noon. Everyone is busy today with many places to go. Jan and I are staying put as this is the first Christmas she has not had to work in many years.

This story is so sad although perhaps they can come to a compromise next year.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Chinese city has beaten the Grinch at his own game, banning Christmas trees from shopping malls, restaurants and other public places because they pose a fire hazard, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

Chen Ying, deputy mayor of Zhuhai, a city of 1.3 million people in southern China, said restaurants, malls, grocery stores and other entertainment venues had to remove trees and other "flammable decorations" immediately.

"Those that fail to rectify the situation will be subject to legal measures like suspension or closure," the Southern Metropolis Daily quoted Chen on its Web site (www.nddaily.com) as saying on Wednesday.

The crackdown on Christmas trees was part of a three-month campaign to boost fire-prevention standards that started this week in Zhuhai, directly across from the Chinese gambling haven of Macau.

The Zhuhai ban came the same day that President Hu Jintao "reached out" to religious believers in China where commercial Christmas trappings have become increasingly ostentatious in recent years.

The manager of a Zhuhai karaoke bar ordered a Christmas tree last week and was not happy with the new regulation.

Accidents happen

Yet more proof that accidents do happen.

Friday afternoon I picked up a refrigerator for Nick that he had repaired not far from our house. Shortly after loading the refrigerator I was rear-ended by an AT&T truck (yes it hurt). The AT&T truck was in sad shape yet I managed to escape with little more than a slightly pushed-down rear bumper. Yes, God was indeed looking out for me on Friday.

Here's the AT&T truck waiting for a tow. His radiator was broken by my receiver and he lost all of his coolant in the street. Now where is the EPA when you need them? No Hazmat Team was called either. Yet, it's illegal for me to spill even the smallest amount of coolant in my driveway?


And here's the rear-end of my truck.



The other driver was ticketed and now I must appear in court to testify on January 23rd in Downtown Kansas City (sarcastic yea.) Now the good news. Nick's refrigerator was unhurt throughout all of this. Strange stuff.

This next story is very sad. Read full story here.

Melbourne: Alcoholism is so rampant among Australian youngsters that girls as young as 11 get into prostitution just for a couple of cans of beer, a report by Sydney's Odyssey House revealed.

The annual report said children as young as 10 were being admitted to Odyssey's treatment program for alcohol abuse.

According to Sydney youth campaigner and head of Youth Off the Streets, Father Chris Riley, it was not surprising that the report showed that kids as young as 10 were abusing alcohol. Father Riley said that his personal experiences helping troubled kids were echoed in the report.

"In some of the communities we're working in at 9.30 in the morning, 12- (and) 13-year-olds have bottles of Jack Daniels in their hands, and it is just shocking the way these things are available to kids," news.com.au quoted Father Riley, as saying.

More snow yet

Sure enough. A few hours later we look like this.

More snow

Here we go again. A brief six-hour snow storm was expected although it came in an hour earlier than predicted. Here's a picture fifteen minutes after it started.

First of many

Here we go. The first of many thoughts set down in pseudo ink for your viewing pleasure.