Blizzard; Bird Seed; Sarah Palin; Trump; Gas Prices; Planet 9; Piano Lessons; Nighttime Prayer; Gun Death Statistics

Lotsa snow!  There are drifts covering the first floor windows of the house across the street.  Our back deck has snow drifts about 4 feet high.  It's 6 pm on Saturday, and the wind is still blowing a gale... with the drifts getting bigger and bigger.    Elaine loves to watch the snow.

Bird Feeding

Some of the birds that are excitedly munching on our bird seed and old bread and rolls:

doves
cardinals
sparrows
juncos
blue birds

We hadn't seen any of these birds for the past 3 weeks.   There are two trees on the side of our house that have brilliant red berries...lots of them... but the birds have not touched them yet.   I wonder why?

Sarah Pops Up

Looks like we will be having fun again this year, since Sarah Palin has hooked up with the Donald.  What a pair!  Just think if they were running the country.... or even worse.. think about Ted Cruz running the country... omg!

Lower Gas Prices

Today US Crude Oil had a price of $27 per barrel.   Fantastic!  Some gasoline in the US is selling for 80 cents a gallon.  (I remember when I paid 16 cents per gallon... I can't imagine that price coming back.)

New World?

Planet 9 has been found beyond former Planet Pluto.... found is a funny word to use because the planet is invisible to us... we just think we know its there because of the perturbation it is causing to other space entities.... it is said to be 20 times as large as Earth... and it takes 20,000 years to orbit the sun...!

The Music Man?

I can't really follow in the footsteps of my Uncle Allen and Aunt Mary because I do not know how to play the piano.   Family rules require me to emulate Allen and Mary's musical activity.  They both loved to play the piano and sing hymns at loud decibel levels in the middle of the night.  I would really like to have that ability.  Maybe I'm too old?   No way!  I am going to look for someone to be my teacher.  All I need to learn is some of the old-fashioned hymns and a little bit of Scott Joplin.  Wish me luck.

Listen-up, Grandma!

Klausi ist beim Nachtgebet.  Zum Schluss ruft er ganz laut: "Liebes Christkind, schenk mir doch bitte ein Schaukelpferd!"  Wundert sich der Vater: "Warum schreist du den so?  Das Christkind it doch nicht schwerhoerig!"   Klausi: "Aber die Oma negbenan in der Stube!"

Gun Death Stats

The Nation magazine says that there was a total of 27 gun-related homicides in the past year in Austria, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, Estonia, Bermuda, Hong Kong and Iceland...COMBINED!