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Speaking of sugaring, Bird Dog over at Maggie's Farm has a great post covering all aspects of making maple syrup (called sugaring), as well as the many uses for it other than covering your pancakes, french toast, or waffles. BD also has a number of useful links about sugaring.In case you're wondering, we here at The Manse consume only the syrup made by the WP In-Laws or from Farmer Andy's operation, usually a dark amber Grade A or Grade B. I find them more flavorful than the light amber one finds in markets and from sugar houses via the Internet. We tend to keep the darker grades for ourselves.
We would rather do without than consume the colored/flavored corn syrup that masquerades as maple syrup that most folks consume.
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Deb's '91 Buick made its last journey late Friday afternoon. Despite it's structural shortcomings, it still ran like a top, making its last drive pleasurable while at the same time being bittersweet.BeezleBub, the WP Dad, and I took the Buick to a salvage operator and got $175 cash for it as is. The fellow who bought it thought it looked pretty darned good for a 19-year old car, but he knew there were structural problems that made it too expensive to fix.
Before it made its last trip, BeezleBub took some pictures of it and took a few souvenirs to remember a car that has been part of his life for such a long time.
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As I mentioned last week, we bought a used 2004 Ford F150 4x4 to replace Deb's Buick. The truck was going to be hers and I would continue to drive the Intrepid. However, it didn't work out that way.Instead, she has claimed the Intrepid as her own and I am now driving the pickup.
I think she planned it that way from the beginning.
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I thought I knew a lot about cats. But this was something new: Cats apparently have a gene that lets them love humans.The gene also shows they have intelligence, because they knew a good thing when they saw it and let the humans take care of them...just as it should be. I know Bagheera would agree with that.
Cats, at least modern house cats, love their humans. Nothing else explains why cats demand petting, sleep on favored human's beds, sit in laps, and purr when picked up and stroked. They get terribly lonely when left alone. But what is the evolutionary origin of this gene?
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Are we now seeing deflation in spite of stimulus spending?(H/T Instapundit)
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At least someone within the Federal Reserve gets it and is willing to say what needs to be said.**********
It looks like the government is looking to do to your 401(k)'s and IRA's what they've done to Social Security.Be afraid. Be very afraid.
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Fellow Granite Stater David Starr has a few ideas about how to cut the $1.6+ trillion deficit in Obama's latest budget.**********
I must admit to a love/hate relationship with Anne Coulter. But this time around I happen to agree with her, particularly about this.**********
Jennifer Rubin reminds us that Marco Rubio is not the Republican version of Barack Obama.It appears that Rubio has a better chance of becoming the Republican nominee for US Senate than Florida Governor Charlie Crist and then defeating the Democrat challenger, particularly in light of the voter backlash against Democrats of all stripes.
You see, they are alike because they are both non-white. Just like one another. Except that one speaks in short, comprehensible declarative statements about the greatness of America, and the other talks in vapid phrases, apologizing for America’s ills. And except that one is a dogged advocate of the free market and a robust response to the war against Islamic fundamentalists, and the other isn’t. And except that one inveighed against an inanely crafted pork-a-thon, and the other is still trying to convince us it saved us from an even worse depression. And then one said he’s not prematurely running for president, and the other unfortunately did.
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It's one thing when we slam the media for biased reporting, or worse, no reporting at all. It's another thing when Spain's government blames the “Anglo-Saxon” media as being the primary cause of all their economic woes. But could it be the real reason for Spain's economic pain be their unsustainable social spending and onerous fiscal policies under their socialist government?**********
Could GE Hitachi have the answer to dealing with high-level long half-life nuclear waste?Using reactors that make use of nuclear fuels other than U235, like Pu239, could greatly reduce the amount of 'traditional' nuclear waste to a small fraction of what presently exists. That would help, particularly in light of President Obama's abandonment of the Yucca Mountain storage facility.
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As happens around here almost every winter, a couple of guys decided that because Lake Winnipesaukee was frozen over where they happened to be (Welch's Island) that it was frozen enough everywhere. They were wrong.Most of us around here know what areas are generally safe and what areas that need to be avoided at all times. The latter usually have thin ice or open water due to the way water flows in a given area. These two guys drove to an area on the lake where water flow keeps the ice thin or even non-existent.
This isn't the first time a vehicle has gone through the ice there, and I doubt it will be the last.