Wednesday, March 15, 2017

HOUSEBOUND ON A COLD WINTER’S DAY

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A WILY CROW HIDING OUT IN ONE OF OUR FRONT YARD CEDAR TREES

A cold gray cloudy day and that’s all it took to keep me housebound aside from going outside long enough to push a recent snowfall off the bird feeding station.  I had put some peanuts out for the Blue Jays this morning and a big old black Crow came in and scooped most of them.  The Blue Jays were not happy about that and set up quite a racket.  The Crow, outnumbered retreated to a nearby Cedar tree to assess the situation and finally flew away.

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BLUE JAYS WEREN’T HAPPY THIS FELLOW WAS SNATCHING UP THEIR PEANUTS

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ALL BIRD PHOTOS TAKEN TODAY FROM INSIDE OUR WARM AND TOASTY SUNROOM

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‘HEY BILL I THINK THAT GUY WITH THE CAMERA IS BACK AGAIN’

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‘DON’T LET IT BOTHER YA AGGIE HE DON’T MEAN NO HARM’

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Working with her new Instant Pot Kelly soon had the whole house smelling totally yummy.  Said it was a new Pea Soup recipe she was working on.  An Instant Pot is sorta somewhere between a Pressure Cooker and a Slow Cooker.  I felt I was somewhere between a peanut butter sandwich and a couple hot dogs.

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HERE’S KELLY BUSY WITH HER ‘INSTANT POT’ TODAY

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LOOKING PRETTY DARN HEALTHY I’D SAY….”WOULD YOU LIKE A LARGE FRIES WITH THAT SIR”

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It never ceases to amaze me how a simple ray of sunshine can be so overly powerful to one’s well being.  Slumped at our desk top computer in the sunroom with a dull overcast day going on outside I was startled when a sudden ray of sunshine bolted through the window and splashed across the computer desk.  Within mili-seconds I was feeling better, creatively energetic, optimistic, top of the world, giggles inside and a big happy face smile.  Twenty seconds later the sun was gone and I was immediately plunged back into the current doldrums of the day. 

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IT WAS THIS LITTLE RAY OF SUNSHINE SPLASHED ACROSS THE COMPUTER DESK THAT MOMENTARILY LIFTED MY SPIRITS TODAY

Following a link in our Shout Box by a Guest concerning my carrot muffin dilemma it was an eye opener reading about what has happened and is happening with Tim Hortons.  And none of it appears to be good.  Tim Hortons once a proud quality based Canadian company was bought out and taken over by several larger companies a fair while ago and in the usual cost cutting slashes it is once again the buying public who suffers.  When we crossed the border into Canada just over a week ago and stopped for our annual Tim Hortons coffee in Forest Ontario we both noticed something.  Kelly didn’t think the Apple Fritter tasted as good as before and I immediately noticed the Fritter was definitely smaller.  Here is a very revealing link about what is currently going on with our favorite Timmies.  Tim Hortons Franchisees Push Back Against Cost Cutting Changes  And to get a customer perspective on all this be sure to read peoples comments on this article.

 

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Only home a week and a few days this cold wintery weather simply reinforces our need to be away from these kinds of days and months no matter what.  Ten winters in the warmer southwest have spoiled us both forever and although it’s inevitable our winters away will end one day it is also totally unimaginable how we and especially me will ever be able to cope with that when it happens.  We don’t dwell on it of course but the thought is there as the specter or reality inches closer each year.

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GROANER’S CORNER:(( A farmer got pulled over by a state trooper for speeding, and the trooper started to lecture the farmer about his speed, and in general began to throw his weight around to try to make the farmer uncomfortable. Finally, the trooper got around to writing out the ticket, and as he was doing that he kept swatting at some flies that were buzzing around his head.  The farmer said, 'Having some problems with circle flies there, are ya?' The trooper stopped writing the ticket and said, 'Well yeah, if that's what they are, but I never heard of circle flies.'  So the farmer says, 'Well, circle flies are common on farms. See, they're called circle flies because they're almost always found circling around the back end of a horse.'  The trooper says, 'Oh,' and goes back to writing the ticket. Then after a minute he stops and says, 'Hey...wait a minute, are you trying to call me a horse's ass?'  The farmer says, 'Oh no, officer. I have too much respect for law enforcement and police officers to even think about calling you a horse's ass.' The trooper says, 'Well, that's a good thing,' and goes back to writing the ticket. After a long pause, the farmer says, 'Hard to fool them flies though...'

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A frustrated father told a work colleague: "When I was a youngster, I was disciplined by being sent to my room without supper. But in my son's room, he has his own color TV, computer, games console, cell phone and CD player." "So what do you do?"  The father replied: "I send him to my room!"

9 comments:

  1. Too bad you had to come home early. We not looking forward to the day when we can't head south either, maybe we will be healthy enough for many more years.
    Like you we have been spoiled by out winters in the south west.
    Cost cutting really does effect the business and they think nobody notices.

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  2. Warren Buffett has a huge holding in the "Restaurant Brands" company, which is managed by 3 G Holdings. Warren sold out our Heinz Tomato company and in general it is usually a bad thing once he gets involved. We were disappointed last year when we could not detect any trace of apples in the apple fritter from Tims. Paid $1.80 for a med. coffee on Sunday. way too much.
    BTW today's Blue Jay pics are outstanding! Never saw them that close. Thanks

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  3. You might consider living near your Aunt Jean. Naw, Summer is too humid and hot.

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  4. Why did you return so early? Is it one of those "180 day" things? You may have covered this in a past post, I admit to being less regular than usual in blog-reading :-(

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  5. Looking forward to getting my Instant Pot, perhaps a recipe or two Kelly?

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  6. At least there are wRmer temps and sunshine on the way.

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  7. Loved those Blue Jay photos. Kelly looks like she is really into her cooking. Her kitchen looks like mine, except I don't have any delicious food cooking. Hope the sun and warmer temps are soon on their way. I expect I'll be back in the North by months end.

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  8. I am the same with sunshine - it really lifts my spirits. Too many grey days are wearisome if you are a "visual" person.

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  9. I don't like winters here in Indiana, I more or less 'put up' with them.

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