Thoughts On A Sunday

For the first time since March we actually had to turn on the heat here at The Manse, the temp inside being 53 degrees at the time. It's still too early to fire up the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove, particularly since, due to a miscommunication on my part, the chimney sweeps weren't able to clean out the chimney last month as scheduled. They won't get to it until the end of this month, so until then there will be no fire in the stove.

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The leaf peeping season is upon us, with so-called leaf peepers traveling through New Hampshire in droves. One thing we're seeing more this year as compared to previous years is a large number of British tourists making the trip to New England for the fall foliage.

Considering the value of the dollar compared to the British pound, it's a bargain for them to come to the US compared to places in Europe.

The ski industry in northern New England has noticed this trend for years, where British skiers will come here rather than skiing in Europe or in the US or Canadian Rockies. It's far less expensive for travel, lodgings, transportation, and skiing in comparison. The skiers can afford to stay here for a week or two while elsewhere they'd be lucky to be able to pay for a long weekend.

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In this previous post, I wrote how smaller local banks have not been effected by the bank meltdown 'in the big cities'. It's particularly true in New Hampshire, where banks have liquidity and few under- or non-performing loans. Much of that is due to New Hampshire banks issuing very few sub-prime mortgages, confirming borrowers had the means to meet the monthly payments, and requiring down payments.

The banks have tightened their lending guidelines some since the meltdown, but if a business or individual has a good credit rating, loans are available.

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The stench from the bailout bill as passed is getting stronger. There are so many loopholes and ambiguous 'duties' laid out in the bill it's darn near impossible to figure out what it really means. What's worse, it appears “the elites don't care what we think”.

(H/T Instapundit)

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Bird Dog over at Maggie's Farm has only one thing to say to the snobs, both American and European, looking down their noses at Sarah Palin: “Go suck an egg.”

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The New England Patriots played the San Francisco 49er's in San Francisco today, the Pat's first game in two weeks as they had a bye week last week. Goodness knows they needed the time to prepare for the game as their last performance was dismal.

The loss of quarterback Tom Brady during the second game of the season has hurt the Patriots more than most are willing to admit. Coach Bill Belichick is doing the best with what he has.

Despite this, the Patriots won 30-21.

They play the Chargers in San Diego next week.

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One of the blogs I read on a semi-regular basis, It Comes In Pints?, is closing its doors. The last post can be found here, for now.

One of its regular features was the Friday F*** Off Thread, will continue at its own site.

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It looks like we'll finally be getting our firewood for the winter season. A fellow blogger pointed me to a local supplier, and BeezleBub's boss, the owner of the farm where he works, offered some as well. I have a feeling we'll be well stocked by the time we need it.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the leaves have started to change, the leaf-peepers abound, and where warmer weather will be returning later in the week.