Between scraping the last of the easily removable ice and snow and the sun's warming rays, almost the entire driveway and parking area is now bare.
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Another thing we had to deal with yesterday was repairs to the furnace.Friday morning I came down to a living room/dining room/kitchen hovering around 52ºF. The thermostat was set for 64ºF, so something was definitely wrong.
I could hear the furnace start, then it would run for 3 or 4 minutes, then shut down. Very little heat was emanating from the baseboards. Drat.
BeezleBub fired up the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove, something we had allowed to go out because our wood supply was low. (The same Tuesday weather delayed delivery of our last cord of firewood!)
A call to our local propane supplier that morning to set up an appointment for a service technician was made, and I did stress that we had an alternative means of heat, preventing the need to have the tech make an expensive emergency service call.
The tech arrived Saturday morning, diagnosed the problem as a defective circulator pump, replaced the defective unit, and $400+ later we were back in business.
That was $400 we hadn't planned to spend. Ouch.
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It appears the Left (and particularly Obama) have a very skewed view of the definition of freedom, one that appears nowhere in any dictionary I've read.But then we always knew that.
(H/T Maggie's Farm)
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The pothole/frost heave situation has been getting worse, with some main roads becoming dangerous to drive at anywhere near their posted limits.During my trip to the recycling center yesterday afternoon, I had to slow to less than half the posted limit on one stretch of state road because it felt like the trusty F150 was either going to be pounded to pieces or start losing parts of its suspension. One brave (or impatient) driver passed me on that stretch of road and nearly paid the price when he briefly lost control and almost ended up in a ditch. From that point onwards he drove much more slowly.
I guess he wasn't in that much of a hurry after all.
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Now that Putin has his 'referendum' about Crimea rejoining Russia, has had Russian troops 'protecting' the natural gas pipeline, and has had Russian troops massing at the Ukrainian border, I think it's only a matter of time before those troops cross the border and seize the rest of Ukraine, all in the name of protecting ethnic Russians.The former spy master is working to rebuild the old Soviet Empire one annexation at a time.
I expect that should he pull off annexing Ukraine entirely he will set his sights on Moldova. And should he succeed there it wouldn't surprise me he might try either Belarus or Poland next. Of course if he tries Poland he would have a hell of a fight on his hands as neither the Poles or NATO (Poland is a member of NATO) would idly let that happen, President Obama's ineptitude and impotence notwithstanding.
Frankly Putin wouldn't have tried this when Bush was in office because he knows Bush would have had no problems sending troops, planes, ships, and submarines to prevent such a move... and knows Bush would have had no problem using them if it came to that. But Obama is a weakling, his Smart DiplomacyTM is anything but, reminiscent of Neville Chamberlain's ineffective efforts to forestall war.
That “3 o'clock phone call” has come and Obama is ignoring it, hoping it will all just go away.
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Speaking of Obama, it appears the Democrats are now worrying about the so-called “Obama Factor”, both when it comes to his falling poll numbers dragging down incumbent Democrats at both the state and national level, and his unwillingness to help Dems seeking re-election, particularly when it comes to fund raising.Obama raises money for Obama. He wasn’t that generous during 2008, 2010, nor 2012 with all that cash. He rarely helps other Democrats monetarily.Of course he doesn't. After all, it's all about Obama and always has been.
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Talk about low information voters!This reminds of the folks who signed petitions to ban DHMO (Dihydrogen monoxide, also known as 'water'.)
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Bogie gives us a rundown on town meeting in her town. Or should I say in her new town.She experienced a number of surprises, comparing town meetings in her new and old towns. Every town does it differently. Sometimes the differences are small. Sometimes they are large (and jarring).
One thing she commented upon was the lack of discussion or debate about big ticket budget warrant articles, but lengthy debate about minor warrant articles. I wish I could say that was unusual, but more than once I've seen the same thing at the town meetings I've attended in the various towns where I've lived (and a few where I owned land, but didn't reside).
Still, it is American democracy writ small.
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AVI delves into the debate about the Libertarian case for government.That some government is actually better than anarchy is something that even libertarians subscribe to. Rumors to the contrary come mainly from opponents setting up strawmen. One occasionally encounters an anarcho-syndicalist or something, but I don't think they've been elected to any Boards of Selectmen lately.Indeed.
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The People's Cube may have the answer to stopping Putin's push to 'reacquire' territory lost with the dissolution of the unlamented Soviet Union: change the names of the countries to foster more caring by the West. One such name change – Kazakhstan will now be known as New Illinois. Other former Soviet republics looking at name changes: Latvia (East Chicago), Lithuania (New Hawaii), and Estonia (New Delaware).Hmm, it just might work.