Thoughts On A Sunday

At least it will be sunny and warm today and tomorrow, allowing for some melting of the snows that have fallen over the past couple of weeks. BeezleBub and I spent a couple of hours on the roof of the garage this afternoon clearing away up to 5 feet of snow. With rain and freezing rain forecast for Tuesday night and Wednesday morning we knew we had to get it down today. All that rain soaked snow would likely have caused the collapse of the garage roof. As it was the 'fluffy' snow was heavy enough put 100 lbs per square foot load (or more) on the roof, which is twice what most roofs around gere are designed to bear.

It became quite apparent a little over two weeks ago we were falling behind in our efforts to remove snow from the driveway, parking areas to the side of the garage, the walkways, steps, landings, decks, and roofs. We'd get about 80 or 90% cleared and another storm would come along. The next time we'd get 70 to 80% cleared before more snow arrived, and so on.

We aren't the only ones worried about the loading on roofs. There have been a number of collapses, including a warehouse just yesterday. It's not surprising considering we're close to reaching record snowfall totals for the winter.

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One bright spot this weekend – we've secured yet another year's dockage for The Boat. This time we'll be at a new location, the move being dictated by the expected cost of boating this coming season. The new slip is only 60% the cost of the one we've used the past couple of years. With gas prices on the lake expected to be well above $4 per gallon this coming summer, the savings from the slip rental will allow us to fill the fuel tank on The Boat an additional 8 times over the summer (a fill up will run approximately $120, assuming I never let the tank get below a ¼ full).

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Next weekend will entail a trip to the WP In-Laws with Submarine Tim's 1952 GMC 6x6 deuce-and-a-half in order to replenish the supply of firewood to stoke the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove. We're down to a few days supply and then we'll have to rely on $3.37 per gallon propane to heat The Manse. I wouldn't necessarily mind doing that all that much if The Manse wouldn't go through $600+ of propane every month. I'd rather spend the $160 for gasoline to run the deuce-and-a-half to bring 2 or 3 months worth of cordwood back to The Manse.

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Could a Clinton or Obama presidency bring back the worst of the Smoot-Hawley era, also known as the Depression? It will if they gut NAFTA.

(H/T Maggie's Farm)

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Another link from Maggie's Farm – Democrats are in fact the purveyors of modern racism. It is in their best interests to promote victimhood and poverty upon minorities because it gives the Democrats power. That's something I've been saying for years.

Looking over history, it has been the Republicans moving forward with civil rights legislation. As Frances Rice, chairman of the National Black Republican Association reminds us, “the Republican Party has been at the 'forefront of the struggle for civil rights, which is why Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican.' ”

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One good thing about this time of year, despite the almost record snowfalls, is that it's sugaring season. Sugarers have started tapping maple trees and collecting sap as part of the yearly ritual of making maple syrup.

BeezleBub and the WP Dad-in-Law spent part of this past week tapping maple trees on his property in southwestern New Hampshire. While the Dad-in-Law's operation is relatively small, making enough syrup for the family, he could easily produce much more if he tapped all the maples on his land.

Making maple syrup takes a lot of sap, requiring 40 gallons to make 1 gallon of syrup.

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The Verizon-Fairpoint sale looks like a done deal.

FairPoint is buying Verizon's landline business in northern new England. At first I was all for the sale. Then I got a chance to look at the financial information and realized this sale would be a bad idea. Verizon wanted too much money for a shrinking market and FairPoint was going to be carrying too much debt to make this a good deal. The three states involved – Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont – agreed, which forced the two telephone companies to restructure the deal.

I do have a gripe about the deal, specifically FairPoint's plan to expand DSL, covering areas not presently served by any kind of broadband. I don't mind that part. What I don't like is Fairpoint has no plans whatsoever to go beyond DSL, a mature technology that cannot provide the types of connection speeds seen by Fiber To The Home or the newer high speed cable modems. That lack could easily mean that northern New England could quickly become a broadband hinterland.

The three states had best watch FairPoint closely, making sure they meet their obligations and reconsider deploying Fiber To The Home.

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It appears the New Hampshire “Blues” are working hard to outlaw or strictly control things they don't like. They're trying very hard to change the Live Free Or Die state to the Do As We Say state by trying to outlaw transfats, incandescent light bulbs, putting a 60 percent tax on cigars, taxing candy, imposing a $250 dollar fine if someone releases a helium balloon into the air, and forcing gas stations to round up the price of gasoline to the nearest penny, amongst other things. They're doing everything they can to turn New Hampshire into another Nanny state, much like our neighbor to the south, Massachusetts.

Frankly these idiots need to spend their time doing more important things like fixing the budget, which they increased by over 16% and now has a $50 million shortfall with a projected shortfall of $140 million by the end of the fiscal year.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the snow is ever deeper, the legislature is slowly taking away our rights, and where spring is merely a date on the calendar.