Sat, Dec 5th - 10:37PM

Durant's Rousseau and Revolution, p. 611
253.3 miles
brisk, then sunny and warm

102 recordings of 34 types.

Rasmussen: -14, 47/52.

My blood pressure was scary high this morning (my weight is up, too, drat that delicious donut yesterday!!) so I decided to walk to church.

The rest of the day was spent at home. I discovered that Abby has hit new lows. She has always been a little off in her litter box skills, and when Spooky came, she got a lot worse.  Spooky quite LOVES the litter box and claimed it for himself. We got another one, moved one into a different room, but the black cat still is very territorial. So she's been going on the floor, or in the living room, sometimes in the bedroom... and today I discovered she's been urinating on the bath mat (which we've been putting on the rim of the tub so she wouldn't do that.) This cat is a nuisance, but she's over 10, so I guess I can put up with it some years longer.

Her eyes have been clear since we got back from Pittsburgh. I've been trying to pay her a lot of attention at night so she won't feel stressed, and it seems to be working.

So, anyway, I spent the day soaking and washing the bathmat. It's a lot better now. We're now putting it rubber side up on the rim of the tub. Rotten cat!

The other project-du-jour was to process the pink warty pumpkin.  When I was cooking it in the oven, the skin turned orange. I like this thing. I froze packets of 2 C pumpkin puree (I *do* like the Cuisinart!!)

There's a czar for that.

Summary of the hypocrisy that is the Copenhagen meeting.

The unmasking of Barack 0bama

The consent of the governed.  The Anchoress has a big roundup.

Treacher:
"Hide the decline" and "Quick, delete these files before somebody catches on" and "HOLY CRAP WHY CAN'T I GET THIS DATA TO SAY WHAT WE NEED IT TO SAY IN ORDER TO KEEP OUR JOBS" aren't exactly complex scientific concepts.

7 stories 0bama doesn't want told.

Sat, Dec 5th - 2:30PM

November 29: Apple Hill

Hush that anguished hymn you're humming: / "Come, O Come, Emmanuel." / Trumpet Christmas! Fix his coming / firmly at "The First Nowell."

He's already come in glory! / Why plead, "Savior, come at last"? / Let's talk Christmas! Tell a story / safely in the distant past.

Drown out John the Baptist. Edit / out "Prepare! Make straight the way!" / Cut to Christmas! Buy on credit. / Square things up another day.

Advent's dreary. Let's start living / Christmas now! Wear red and green! / While we're at it, skip Thanksgiving! / Deck the halls at Halloween!

Then, when the Incarnate Verb / overnight becomes passé, / carry Christmas to the curb. / Pack the Prince of Peace away. -Julie Stoner

Durant's Rousseau and Revolution, p. 611
250.3 miles
sunny, cold

95 recordings of 31 types.

"Climaquiddick" I like that.

I'd seen some of my Facebook friends going to Apple Hill and so realized it was still open. We haven't been for years and years and that time most of the farms were closed.  It sounded like a good idea, so I ran a geocaching pocket query, Rich printed maps, and off we went after church.

Our first stop was Abel Acres.  We've been there before, probably when the kids were little.  We had lunch there, then went caching and shopping all around Apple Hill.  We found 9 caches and had only one no-find, and we visited a lot of farms. We made sure to go to the place that sold dolls (nothing special.)  We visited one place that had "crying tongue" olives (stuffed with jalapenos and marinated with habaneros.  Gee, I wonder why they named it that.) We saw the Larkin family museum. We went to the brewery and had a nice talk with a vendor selling safari stuff.  She is the supplier to Safari West. I tried some types of apples I've never heard of, and I like Arkansas Black and Mutso, and Lady Pink.  It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun.  We need to go back more frequently.

Oddly, data is missing.

Al Gore Slammed by Congress.

0bama's own words demonstrate his real character.

Donna Marie Ruby: I like the article not the six trillion. The man is insane and anyone who follows this man is destroying America. He is tying the hands of our military, spending cash like shat through a tin horn and spreading the dread. People are ticked off. PC is out the window.

If we're in it, let's win it. (Sarah Palin): "We head into the Christmas season wishing for leadership in Washington that reflects our commitment to the values and ideals that have built the freest and most prosperous and generous nation on earth."

The Arabs have stopped Applauding 0bama

'He talks too much," a Saudi academic in Jeddah, who had once been smitten with Barack Obama, recently observed to me of America's 44th president. He has wearied of Mr. Obama and now does not bother with the Obama oratory.