this is not political, this is pure speculative hypothesis:
i have been thinking because of the passing of Fidel.........and his impact on the Americas.......and my conclusion was it was slight.........yes there was the missile crisis...........but that i believe was more by the will of the Soviet Onion (misprint deliberate) and not Fidel........yes there was the attempt to export the communist doctrine to Central and South America........but that was just an minor inconvenience........don't get me wrong......the treatment of his people was a major violation of human rights.........and i'm not discounting that fact..........however........
let's look at the alternative the rebellion had failed..........US mobsters had their hooks into the old regime....as bad as the regime of Fidel may have been........consider if the mob had become "power behind the throne" for the last 6 decades........which one would have been the worse situation.........
you may call this speculation, and hypothesis.........and i stand guilty as charged.........but just consider........i think we got the best of two evils...........

i think i've finally gone to the dark side........i had a friend when i said this is going to drive me crazy said 'there is no reason to drive you crazy, all i have to do is take your hand and walk you across the street' ...there is no way the congress will ever put in term limits.......but here is what we can do.......in 2 years find a candidate who agrees.........regardless of party and run him against the incumbent........and keep at it up until we reconstruct congress.......peeps that will truly represent us and not special interests.....possible maybe not.......but it's impossible if we don't try.......
[forgive the appearance but i cut and pasted from my FB timeline]

i propose the following:
1]American congressmen can serve a maximum of 12 years, 2 terms in the senate and 6 terms in the house, or 3 in the house and 1 in the senate......
2] the retirement plans presently in  force are abolished......
3] they are payed 'per diem'
 a] they only are paid when congress is meeting
 b] and only if they answer a role call

I just realized i haven't post here fore almost a month........with the end of an online game i played since '03......except for my face book page i haven't spent a lot of time on line.........you can find the link there on the left......if you want send me a friend request...........

on my walk today i spotted some dandelions........I've always thought of them as a spring thing.......it's October and fall........and was so distracted by them being there, i almost missed this beautiful blue heron........feeding in the pond i passed.........only the second one I've seen all year......i have a sling bag i carry.......i hate shopping bags....and my sling bag is ample for carrying the bits and pieces i pick up on my shopping trips.....but i always have a compact pair of Bushnell's in the bag........had several enjoyable minutes bird watching..........and before i get any rude comments......i only watch 'birds' with them.......anyways it's my story and I'm sticking to it............
[ bye the bye the correct name for dandelions is of the family Taraxacum]

i'm in mourning today.........an online game i've played in 'beta' and on and off for the last 13+ years has 'died'...........or rather the server basically had the server equivalent of a myocardial infarction, it's dead..........and there are not enough players left to support 'CPR'............
the bad news is the game is gone.........the worst news is i'll have more time to post here.........[hehe]

between formal education and private study i am a religious conservative.......if it means any thing to you i'm a 5 point Calvinist.....which personally puts me to the right of what are commonly know as fundamentalist...but i don't expect others to either agree with me.......or to follow my beliefs....one of the fundamentals of my belief system......my world view if you will........one of the main beliefs of my faith is the I, you, we, all of humanity have free will, i have no right to tell you what to believe.......and i will defend your right to believe as you will..............even when your beliefs are polar opposite to mine........i will disagree with you........i may even try to convince you of my position......but i will not think less of you..........and if we never reach an agreement.......so be it.......you will always be my friend........and if you need a hand up.........just ask

don't get me wrong.......i accept.......more then support Colin Kaepernick's right to protest what he feels is wrong......it is his right.......under the Bill of Rights .........i had a good friend who used the same freedom to protest something........i had a problem with what he protested....but not his right to protest.........
but with Colin's explanation he is protesting 'blue on black' issues.........which at most represent 1% of deaths that involve blacks........and ignore the fact that the majority of black deaths are black on black crimes.........i support his right to protest.......but what about the real problems........

i've been thinking today about some of the nutty things that have happened and came up with 2 beauts;
my brother and law and i were running a 20k race thru Binghamton NYS.........iirc it was the first competitive 20k i ran........so being inexperienced i didn't think to 'relieve' myself before the start......so just under half way i had a problem........i was in the middle of the downtown area at the time....and ahead of me were twin railroad overpasses with a narrow space between them.......took a detour between them and took care of the problem.......got back on course.......ran about 50 yards, a right turn and there was a water station, manned [as it were] by a bunch of girl scouts.......as difficult as it maybe while running.....i laughted for the next 100 yards......
__________________________________________________________
we where running a 20k in Phelps  NYS.......was running with this crazy dude from Rochester...passed an old bar......big front porch.......bunch of farmers in rocking chairs.....drinking beer....quote one 'you guys running from your wives'........responded my friend.......' no we're running from your wife'..........said i 'are you crazy' said he 'we can out run them'.......i replied ' they have pickup trucks'........his response was ' expletive deleted'.............

we are in tbe middle here of the driest summer i can ever remember........the grass is brown and only some of the deep rooted weeds are green........i've been very frustrated of late........my internet connection has been inconsistent........but i have no control over it........it's part of the package where i live.......so i just have to accept and chill out........not some of my best attributes.....

we really need rain bad......we had very little snow cover this winter.......and very little rain......the only thing green is weeds.........there is a number of canada geese around and they are really scrounging for fresh grass......the woodchucks are fine because they tend to eat the weeds.......but if we don't get some rain...........?????????

took a walk , well at this point mid afternoon yesterday.......it's one my longer walks, but there is this cool shop.......which has bulk spices......i was looking for simple bulk black pepper corns....have looked for them......no one stocks them anymore except in grinders........i've got 4 grinders i don't need another one........but i've always wanted to try the pink Himalayan salt........and they had it in bulk....as a finishing salt......i love it

don't get me wrong........i love the way the internet allows me to reconnect  with peeps i haven't seen in over 50 years........the kids i went through school with............but it's not the same............it doesn't feel real...........i did not grow up  in the 'internet world'............the virtual world if you will..........i was in my late 20's before i saw a hand held calculator...........i used a slide rule in physics..........i've adjusted to the digital, virtual, world..........but i hate it...........i have no choice so i have.......but i miss face to face contact........and if you suggest 'skype' as true face to face contact.......then we have a major problem with definition of terms
when i was a kid...........i used to laugh......silently.....when my elders talked about the good old days............i could not comprehend their desire to go back.......but now i find i long for a much more simple days........when sodas were dime, candy bars a nickle......and you dealt with people face to face.......wasn't always pleasant.......but you knew where you stood with them.......when people didn't feel that they had to be 'politically correct'.........and told you how they really thought, felt, and believed.........i just miss the way it was........don't get me wrong......i will, have adjusted.......but don't ask me what i think if you don't want to here my honest opinion......i haven't adjusted that much........and i pride myself as being as 'politically incorrect as possible'
[ as an addendum i have always loved libraries..and the abilities to recline on my bed in my jammies [look it up although a casual word it is listed] and have access to virtually any text i choose  to read is great...........but there again i miss card catalogs and the smell of old leather bond books, i miss wandering around the rows of books hoping to find something i wasn't actually looking for]
to those of this time........born in the 'virtual' world..........this probably makes no sense.........more's the pity.........

[with the decision to retire my commentary blog this ends up here]
this whole deal with HC's email deal drives me nuts [admittedly a very short trip]
the congressional  hearings, and the FBI investigation.....[ as an aside how much did those cost the taxpayers]
and the mind boggling news conference by the AG......filled with double speak, and circular reasoning........
bottom line [my paraphrase]
she was an idiot but not criminal
i really wish we had an AG who was independent of politics and/or the current administration...
i'm not saying whether she was guilty or just arrogant [ which is a given ]........i just wish we had a straight forward, honest answer........

i woke up this morning.........the one description of how i felt was ......blah.......didn't plan to walk today.......but looked at the weather forecast........and realized it was going to rain all weekend........took a quick walk and got caught in the rain on the way back............light rain thankfully.....don't get me wrong we need the rain.......however......

without going into all the details we once had a pure bred Himalayan cat.........got her when she was about 7 years old........had been apart of a cruelty investigation.....had a broken rear leg that had never been properly set [made her waddle when she walked]........found her at the local ASPCA........she was scared of me for about a year [she had been abused by a man]...........once she got used to the fact that i was not a threat........
one night i woke up sweating.........she was curled on my  pillow around my head.........i've always been a soft target where cats are involved........

i have been remiss where posting to this bog is concerned ..........been drawn away but other things.......took a short walk this morning.......needed a few things...spent a bit of time watching the wild geese feed........still can't get over how fast the goslings have grown........many are now 3/4 to 7/8 the size of the adults.......the goose down is now covered by adult feathers........been fun to watch them grow........for the first time in  a few days legs are feeling better....for a while there the best thing i could say about my legs is that they reached from my hips to the floor.........

when i was working  [have been retired for a while]......i was a the man with the plan.....and tried to anticipate every possible permutations that might have to be met.........and usually always had a backup if things didn't go as anticipated.........but even then......although i always have a plan......and several options......the games i'm draw to are those which are impossible to predict every possible permutation........that is to say i love 'winging it'.......reacting and at the 'spur of the moment' coming up with a tactic to at the best advance my cause...but at the very least limit the damage.......

[ the mad one wanders in, looks around, sees the cobwebs, realizes it's been over a month since i posted......oy vey]
truth be told, i haven't forgotten about this, just been distracted......by blogshares....face book....et al...
been watching 16 adult Canada geese......and their 34 goslings.....some of the 'kids' are almost as big as the adults by this time
also 5 baby woodchucks [sometimes called groundhogs].....cute little devils......couple of them got into a wrestling match the other day.........what a gas.......

i don't know if i mentioned but for the last 5 months or so i've been using a chrome book.....all i need is a connection to the internet......and the chrome book does just that......plus i'm rid of microshit.....
on another completely unrelated point........i have no great love for either Clinton or for that matter Trump.........but it comes down to one question........the next administration will probably nominate 3 judges to the supreme count.......the question is who do you trust????

Thursday was beautiful temperature near 80*F.....but rained the last 3 days and hovered around 40*F all Sunday....to the east of us up in the hill country they got some snow..........enough already.....it's the middle of May......

[ the mad one wanders in]
been awhile since i posted here....a lovely spring day....the next 3 days rain and the chance of snow on sunday.........walked last night to get some groceries for the next 3 days..
been consumed by the online game i play for the last couple of days......

i have been conflicted for the last day plus......but in the final analysis ...........there is only one possible conclusion.....one possible path........one possible decision........and that's the one thing in life that is the most difficult for me..........wait and see..........the ball is in the other court and i must wait and see what happens..........[ you may have noticed that i have not mentioned the conundrum i'm dealing with ] and that's part of the final conclusion i reached......i have to respect the other's choice.......walk off the court......lob......overhand.......whatever.......
[obviously this post is for me.........to see in print the conflict that is in my mind..........]

i got the feeling i may have opened a very large can of worms [figuratively speaking][aka an american idiom]]............can't say who, what, when, where or why...........but i must admit i didn't know at the time i had a can opener in my hand [ again a figure of speech]..........forgive.......some peeps like to play with balls, or cats, or dogs, or even food.........but i  love playing with words.....i need to decide what my response should be.........haven't decided yet.......if it was my 'can of worms' i'd just let them roam free.......but it's not mine..............oy vey.........

i'm a creature of habit.......not as much now that i'm retired.......but the job[s] i had to have a plan was necessary.........never worked out completely the way i planned....but it was easier to modify an existing plan then having no plan at all..
i play, have played, an online game for 12+ years..........i know how i want to play.....but sometimes i have to change my focus......and from time to time..........i haven't reacted as quickly as i should have...but i've learned that you can teach an old 'dog' new tricks......

it probably was the worst weather day.over the last week but....not a bad day.......high 50's......overcast.....but needed to go to the local market......it had been almost a week since i had shopped and was running out of certain supplies......got a great price for my fav soup......but other then that walk a quiet day......

the first post i ever made to this blog was 10/29/02...........and although i have decided to move my wit and silliness to face book.......for many reasons i can't give this blog up.....i may post to it at a much less common rate......but it's hard for me to give it up........as Ben Franklin once said ..this blog over the years has allowed me to learn to write 'light extemporanea'.......i always could write technical, theological...and poetry....i always had the vocabulary.......but to write in a conversational tone was beyond me......my many posts here taught me that [this will be my 5576th post here]........my poetry blog and this one will endure..........maybe this one will become a little more serious....haven't decided......on the other it may just become what it was.....a day to day account of my life.......or a bit of both......but it will continue........

i have reconsidered my choices......this blog was the precursor....not only to my other blogs....but of other things..although i may not post here regularly.......and although for other reasons i may have walked away in the past......i have no intense to do so now............

have decided to abandon two of my blogs for the time being.....have moved them to private.....haven't decided yet whether to let them die, bring them back, or have them brought back as something completely different......even this one's fate is up for grabs.....much of what i write here has been moved over to my face book timeline......there is a link to it over on the left.......

it's been a while since I've posted....weather has been what i like to call the 'Yo-yo effect'....and have been from mid 30's to low 50's daytime to mid 20's to low teen's at night...wet, rainy,light if any sunshine...and i have a case of what we called back in the day as 'cabin fever'......and am effected by this often between winter and spring.....i love the 4 seasons.....but i hate this time of year....it has a affect on my physical condition.....and that  has a a negative affect on my mental processes....
but the weather is turning.....but toward the weekend.....sun and temps in the 60's.......

i bought a can of canned corned beef a while back just to have it....just seeing it in my pantry reminded me of my childhood.....now i have a pretty good palate....but some of my favorite food items are more memory then palate......canned corn beef....simple....a little sea salt....some garlic....a bit of pepper and some good brown mustard.......but that just triggered other memories of my mom's dad.....why i love fried haddock.....why i love hard shell jewish rye.......we sometimes can never leave what we learned as a child....never forget the memories from 60 years ago.....
[ oh as to my post below....i really need to read what i wrote before]

it's been a while since i posted here.....i went on face book as a whim....didn't figure it would amount to much...got 'wandering' around face book one day and found a profile of an old [ both literal and figurative] friend i hadn't seen in almost 50 years....high school graduation....and over a few weeks have picked up another 15 or so of my old classmates....and have spent more time on face book.....
now i not normally a klutz......however from time to time.....what can i say.....slipped and hurt my back....earlier this week.....getting better but......oy vey......

i kind of lost interest in posting to my blogs over the last week or so....i was kicking around face book [ only had an account for maybe 2 months]...found a profile of a friend i had in high school....no contact in a little less then 50 years.... and that exploded in to 15+ kids i went to high school with....kids in this case is a relative term.....we are all either 68 or 67.....i still haven't decided whether to shut the blogs down....or what

i'm a little retrospective tonight...a friend of about 40 years....past a couple of days ago......we had lost touch but i still regret his passing......he had fought off brain cancer for over 20 years.....inoperable...we worked together for a while.....played softball against each other.....played as partners one year in a golf league....i think he was 56......Matt i will miss you....

i was wandering around face book yesterday, and found a profile of a friend i haven't see, or had any contact with for almost 50 years.....graduation from High School which will be 50 years this June......and based on that have found or rather have been found by 3 more......it's been a little weird....

i'm finally feeling better...the cold and it's after effects are all but gone.....took a short walk this evening..took advantage of the extended daylight because of the fact the daylight saving time went into effect over the weekend.....was running low on my fav snack, smoked almonds.....i rarely eat more then a 1/2 doz. a day.....so i can lasts me several weeks....but i hate to run out.......

I've had a bad cold the last four days...although it's not completely gone...but I'm feeling much better....really wanted to walk today but is raining to there goes that idea.....
awhile back i decided to at long last open a face book page......although i enjoy to of the solitaire games i can access from there...for the most part.....it's not for me......but will keep it just for the games....

i was feeling out of sorts Saturday, but felt better yesterday, had a nice lunch with my brother and his wife...took a late walk...felt fine....but woke up this morning with a cold....and have been out of sorts all day.....
i guess I've blogged too long....although I've always used the option of reviewing comments before allowing them to show on my blog...but didn't do that on my face book page until yesterday....now i've only been on face book for maybe a month....but yesterday....
I've been following this "friend" and this wasn't posted to my timeline, but appeared on my home page...but someone posted a meme that appeared on my home page...
it was not obscene, but in extremely bad taste.....[and no I'm not going to mention exactly what it was] but....with talking face to face with friends i learned i could not follow without defriending...and have set my timeline so i can review both posts and comments before they appear....

i walked today....temperature in the mid teens.....but really needed some things....but starting to warm up....beginning tomorrow and by middle of next week the forecast is for temperatures in the high 40's and low 50's.....but to conclude that winter is over would be a mistake....I've lived in the north country for far too long to make that assumption...it would be reckless....but as an old friend was fond of saying:
" the weather forecasters are the only people who get paid for being right only 25% of the time"
l remember we got about 15" of snow one year on Mother's Day.....also driving to the golf club i was a member at the last Sunday in April for the opening party...thru 12" of wet snow.....up here we have 3 seasons....winter...just was winter....and soon will be winter....

took a short walk this AM...needed a few things from the plaza, and with the rain we've had i could take the short cut, but just a dusting of fresh snow, a little slippery in spots but not bad about 15*F, but 20 mph winds, so the windchill was in single digits...bundled up and was fine.....
Blogshares is down, so have watched a little tube, and played some games on face book.....
DANG!!!!!
my Internet vendor has a nasty habit of going off line, briefly, but that's not the point....this time i had enough saved that i could retrieve it, when i  could get back on....
[expletives delete]
went to publish and lost my blasted connection...again
let's hope it publishes this time or i may not delete the expletives....

it's been a nice quiet day...every Tuesday is when my rooms are cleaned....not by me....part of the services i pay for.....we are under a winter advisory....again.... but we are so use to it that, that it hardly even causes a second thought....I've read the alerts, and saw the radars and it will most probably go below us....again...we probably will catch a bit...but nothing that we can't handle....could have walked today but really have what i need until Thursday....so why walk.....
have played a bunch of Blogshares today...not about gaining spots but preparing to gain spots...sometimes in games or life preparing for transitions .....are the key to advancement ....

typical of this atypical winter it was low 40s*F today and just light wind...walked twice....once to the local food mart....for just a few things and the second time to the local Denny's for a fish fry.....
have taken it easy today...slept in...well at least for me....and have not played blogshares aggressively today.....just needed a break....
relax...kick back and watch a little boob tube.....okay....more then a little.....

i got thinking of old times and old coaches....would have been fall of 1969...i was running college cross country...small college.....4.5 to 6 miles....but my best distance was 20K....(12.43 miles)...any who ....Mondays or Tuesdays when we didn't have a race until the weekend he had us run a 13 mile road course....well we usually took our time and he got a bit upset with us....( a huge understatement).....
so he said " anyone who beat me, got the next day off....and if any one(s) did i had to run 5 miles per...so the rest of the team bribed the one guy who could test me at that distance....well we went flying past the 6 mile mark in a tad under 30 minutes....and i got a little worried...i had hung behind him and let him set the pace....so i knew i had to get rid of him....came up on his shoulder and said " pace is a little slow ( a bald face lie ) can we pick it up a little and threw a 4:30 mile at him....so he disappeared...and i packed in the sand bags...4 or so miles at a 5:30 pace...i got a little over a mile from home....we had a mile marker....he was sitting  there in his VW and questioned my time....i told him you only said i had to beat them....you didn't say how fast.....said he....i think you let yourself tie up...i bet you a steak dinner you can run the last mile in under 4:30.....a ran a 4:22....his wife grilled a great steak.....

so i took a long walk today...first to my doctor to pay a bill...yes i understand an envelope and a stamp and i barely have to leave my rooms...on the other hand it's a 5 minute walk...and i still have in my pocket the price of the stamp and the envelope.....what's that you're saying.....i am not cheap.....well at least i don't think i am .........on the other hand the other stops i had to make were in the other direction...so i went 10 minutes out of my way to save the cost of a stamp and an envelope....just picked up a few things at the local plaza...but must admit i was a bit bushed when i got back...but i used the money i saved walking to the doctor's to get a cold soda...ok...ok...and a bit more...

this is off a post i commented to on FB about jury duty.....in my mid 30s to early 40s i got called for jury duty 3 times....one to supreme court...two cases..1 criminal...the other civil....was never going to be picked for a criminal case...i knew the county DA.....but ended up on the civil jury....time number 2 was a civil jury...by that time the DA was now county judge.....so all i could serve on was another civil jury.....ended in a settlement....and the 3rd i was never called to report apparently it was settled...
but the flip side to the story was i played at the same golf club with the DA then judge......we were in a two man team league event...best ball...we were down 1 hole and two strokes and i sank a 40 footer for birdie...he and his partner both made bogeys....so the match  was halved...but when my putt was still rolling and about ten feet from  the hole quote the DA/judge..."Bud you SOB you made it"....i saw him like 15 years later....and that putt was the first thing out of his mouth.....

i finally got out for a walk for the first time in about 2 weeks....combination of weather, had a bad foot for 3 days, and broke my cane...took two days, to have someone bring me a new one...
made a couple of stops but still have a couple more i need to take care of but they are in different directions then the walk today....

have been playing Blogshares a lot today....and although i have not changed my main tactic, have been trying a different secondary tactic....the problem is that to some extent the two different tactics are self exclusive....you need the same tools for both...and for the time being will stick with the new option....
looks like the weather will be weird again tonight....mid 30's F...and rain.....nuts.

oh how i love North Country weather....yesterday -37*F.....+21*F....and over night snow,sleet, rain and mid +30'.......in 3 days a 70* or so temperature swing......not to mention hell fire and brimstone....well that may be pushing the boat out a little too far....but the way the weather is this winter...all bets are off

UPDATE3: it's 3:30 AM Sunday morning...the good news is no wind therefore no wind chill the bad news is that's it's -34*F
UPDATE2: now -13*F and a windchill of -36*F....
UPDATE: now -9*F and a windchill of -28*F.......
as i sit here in my warm rooms the temperature outside is currently -3*F and add in the windchill it feels like -21*F....and the temperature is dropping and we're under a windchill warning until mid day tomorrow....with the snow and the cold have been in for the last few days....but thanks for Chinese delivery.....
[ obviously  i have reset my layout.....and dropped some of the sidebar material]

oh lovely [not]......not only are we under a lake effect warning but a windchill warning....starting late this evening we will be below 0*F thru mid day Sunday....Saturday night with the windchill in the range of -20*F.....( that is about -30*C, give or that a degree)....but at that temp the mad one ain't going any where

haven't sat down and written anything here for a few days...but that is not that rare....i either write 2+ times per day...or not at all for days....haven't been that busy on one hand but have been spending a lot of time on facebook, and blogshares.....haven't walked but have had a problem with my right foot, old sports injury but it's better today....
to catch up:
1] slept thru the first half of the super bowl, and barely watched the second half......really didn't care...as some of the old times where i grew up would have said "I didn't have a dog in that hunt"...
2] the Donald won the primary in NH....but i truly doubt he'll get the nod....we will [the mad one shrugs] have to wait and see
3] the democratic primaries are mere window dressing....unless the emails get her, Hillary will be the candidate in November
4] we now have a fresh coat of snow on the grow, and it's turning colder....weirdest winter i've seen in my 60+ years....

G.F.Handel's Water Music running underneath thanks to YouTube....been a quiet day.....beautiful day outside, quite sunny, and mid 30*F...but for a day in early February....in the lea of Lake Ontario....almost balmy.....but stayed in:
a] really needed nothing from the outside world...
b] while not sick, or even unwell....just a little off my game...physically.....
c] besides after being off line for a few days Blogshares [logo on left] was back up today, so spent a lot of time today playing...

okay...okay...i may be a johnny come lately...but i now am on face book...got on by accident...a friend mentioned a post on face book i might want to see.....and to make a long story short.....i now have a face book time line...[link on the right].....have only spent a bunch of time on it only because Blogshares [logo on left] is off line....again....dang

i have a confession to make....i have a great amounts of skills but there are a few things that evade me....my english skills are mixed...which is a problem...because it is my native tongue.....my grammar is all messed up....actually just plan weird....i blame it on my studies of latin,also bibical greek and hebrew....but the truth is i just don't get it.....but the worst is i can't spell a lick.....thanx to spell check...it now appears that i can spell...but it's only an illusion....but that being said....i've been wanting from time to time use a certain word....but my attempts have been so futile that even spell check couldn't help me.....and that word was scratch....oy vey
[ the mad one scratches his head [finally] and wanders off in the general direction of his bridge]

i think i mentioned this before but it begs repeating.....in all of my 68 some odd winters this maybe the weirdest one i remember....rain and temperature in the mid 50'sF.....by the end of tomorrow the probability is we will have zero show cover......but the real gag is that the annual Snowtown USA festival starts Friday [ will add a link down there on the left somewhere]
now i usually scoff at the concept of global warning, but this weather has got me shaking my head.

I'm confused...the first two years i went to college the school was in Johnson City,NY and was called Baptist Bible Seminary.....it moved to Clark's Summit,PA and became Baptist Bible College.....which it was when i graduated...later changed to Baptist Bible College and Seminary....same location...went looking for it tonight online....no luck....after a little digging found out it's now called Summit University.....still in Clark's Summit PA.....but the real gag is it's actually in Clark's Green PA......anyways........
the real question is where do i tell peeps i went to school..............
[as confused as i am i hope i can find my bridge, with something less then a 5 man scouting party]
[ by the by i don't get the alumni newsletters.......multiple transgressions....and i wouldn't want it any other way]

I made one of my late night...early morning walks to my local 24/7 food mart and not only was the Croghan Bologna mark done to 9.99 a pound, but there was a 5$ off coupon....not really a bologna but is a locally made sausage......which i love but not when the normal price is 12$+ a pound.....but if i can get it for 5$ a pound....[will add a link to Croghan NY the home of the bologna on the right].....it's basically what we called as a kid a "blink and plum town"  if you blinked you were plum out of town...
[the mad one walks slowly to his bridge giggling]....

lovely....we have freezing rain in the forecast for the overnight....then +40*F and rain...and then rain changing to snow on the day after.....but got out today and have enough now on hand to get me thru to the weekend......but then there is also a call for Chinese food.....if i get in the mood
none of my peeps had seen me for a few days and were worried....but my sleep and wake times vary particularly this time of year....it's just easier to walk late.....my local food mart is 24/7.....

temperature right now is 1*F......but that's the good news...because of the high pressure the storm that at this time is rolling thru the Mid-Atlantic States is passing below us....we will not feel any effects from it....

I'm sitting here tonight with "Gabriel Faure's Requiem" in the background, took one of my nocturnal walks to the local food market......just the usual stuff with one exception....the store had a 2oz. jar of caviar on special....if $64 a pound is marked down....not the point....anyone who reads this blog knows i have a very eclectic taste in food.........a quiet day........

i was just 4 when we moved out of Buffalo to a rural area about 20 miles from the city line....at the time we had a cocker spaniel.....which a few months later lost an argument with a dump truck...and a few weeks later i met "Big Skippy"....now you need to remember i wasn't 5 yet...and i remember that mixed breed as coming up to my shoulder,  we lived on 2.5 acre lot...with farm land behind....mom never worried where i was....because she knew the dog was always with me.....my mom claimed to be 5' tall.......[ the mad one shakes his head ] but she had a voice that carried...."Buddy dinner"...and if i was a ways off, i'd throw an arm over Big Skippy's neck, throw a leg over his back and he'd take me home....that crazy hound had two major faults
a] he never learned not to play with skunks..
b] if there was a female dog in heat within a couple of miles......

i'm up late again........a rerun of Iron Chef America.......battle herring......against Iron Chef Morimoto ( my D and her Hubby have eaten in his Philadelphia restaurant...and i'll never  forgive them)....but at some point i probably will go to the frig and get out my bottle of pickled herring.......absolutely one of my fav snacks.....seem appropriate......[oops forgot to mention one of the judges is Kaley Cuoco]

winter is here, finally, the good news is that we only have another 3 maybe 4 months of really bad weather...i live just off the last of the great lakes ( from west to east, or the first of the great lakes if you go east to west) and in a lake effect area...been in my rooms for like 10 days...major problem is not the snow....major problem is i'm a 3 legged man....two i was born with and one made of wood [aka my cane]....added to that i don't drive anymore [ neither cars or golf balls]...i live on one of if not the busiest street in town...7 to 8 months a year...no problem...everything i need is within a 10 minute walk...but in the winter....the city is slow in enforcing the laws to clean sidewalks...and frowns on a gimpy 68 year old man, with a cane walking on one of the busiest streets in town...not to mention i've done the math...my chances of a meeting between me and a SUV...odds are not on my side..
left my rooms just before 2400 hours.....no traffic to speak of...took the long walk...
to the convenient store...needed dip...and my local food mart [24/7]......some nice olives, naan bread, artichokes, 3 cans of pea soup, a 6 pack [ no..no..no...] of burritos, a prepared breakfast dish, and a frozen sandwich.........
weather seems to allow a shorter walk tomorrow....and i'll be set for another week......

i grew up in New York State....now when in college it was assumed that i grew up in or near the City...and it was true i grew up near the City...but it was Buffalo...not NYC.....but i have been draw off the point of this post
at the time 7th grade history in New York State schools, was take a wild guess....that's right.....New York State History......and a big part of that was the history of the Iroquois Nation....those peeps who held the land before we came [link]

some Chinese delivery tonight, been a low day physically i got some kind of a bug but why try to find out what....all i really want to know is how long do i have to deal with it .......can't figure that out either.....oy vey......

haven't written much lately, or played my online game much....my Internet access was hit and miss for a couple....and then i don't know whether i caught a bug or the bug caught me, but I've been as we say up here under the weather the last couple....plus winter has finally arrived with a vengeance...

we had 2 days over the weekend with temps in the low 40s*F....and the snow was basically gone, except for the piles from plowing and shoveling....but we just got some where between 2 and 3 inches of fresh powder.....with may be more on the way....one of the strangest winters i've see in my 50 winters here.....

heard from an old friend today, known her since the fall of '71, her age is top secret, but it's north of 90...(please don't tell her i said that)...it's been what 5 or 6 years since i saw her last, but we talk on the phone a couple of times a year...called her a month a so or maybe a tad more....but she didn't return my calls....she called today...she fell a about four weeks ago....2 hairline breaks...1 above and 1 below her left knee....in a local rehab facility...should be out in a couple of weeks...my prayers are with her

sometimes old memories return, i was rereading my profile, and was reminded of  the story where i had a 1500 lb. gaylord dropped on my foot, now i was wearing safety shoes at the time,  actually a pair of suede slip on shoes with a kelvar reinforced toe....but the thing that i also remembered was that the GM was on the production floor all the time, safety shoes were required...and he had on his fav penny loafers...well i teased him about them...way more then once...so one day he came done and asked me to step on his shoe....i never did figure out where he got them...but he had found a pair of penny loafers....with a kelvar reinforced toe.....

i've been surfing YouTube tonight and came across Beethoven's Halleluhah from Christ on the Mount of Olives...never actually sung the piece, except in the shower...but had a budgie called Stormie....mostly yellow with grey patches...why we called her that...but she loved the peice, she would hear the interduction...her head would bob...and once the choir sang she would sing along ....off key...but...

i haven't said too much about the week plus i was off line, but my acer aspire/v5's mother board bit the big one..but in considering a new machine, what i use it for, i came to the conclusion that all i really needed was a door to the net....plus to rid myself of microshit (oops...microsoft) was well not exactly a piroity but....i decided on a chromebook...all though the os is called chrome os, it's just a redo of linux...tons faster...and since i already had a google log in...basically lost nothing...

whoever told me i could have access to the internet, should be put in a naughty chair for several hours, but the one who told me about blogger.....oy vey....i could give you his name, but.....not today....
have you ever had one of those days when every time you tried to do anything you ran into one of your pet peeves...well to be honest not every one of my pet peeves but a few biggies...
1] politicians....AKA Obama...his new guncontrol rules are nothing more then restatements of laws already on the books, which have not been properly enforced....
2] city officials....aka my home town....we have snow removal laws for sidewalks....which seem to be rarely enforced....as a walker who needs to get to things on probably the street with the most trafiic...having to walk in the street because the sidewalk is not shoveled...not an option....

i've been watching the WWE tonight on USA network, nothing else on and it is mindless entertainment, i remeber watching regional shows as a kid in western NY, and the regional broadcast from Motreal, later, and the NYC group which became the WWE....as a sometimes amatuer wrestler always knew, for lack of a better term it was scripted...but most of the action was at least in the ring....what it's evolved into to......is just a "Redneck Soap Opera"......

current weather outside my bridge is 4*F, with the windchill that -13*F, so the mad one will stay under his bridge today.....

from time to time, i'm up late, well early, and on friday night at 4am, EST, they that is the food network, show a rerun of Iron Chef America, i miss the show which the only showings now are reruns, late....anywho...
the secret ingredint was tea...which remined me of one of my pet peeves....i drank tea rarely but when i do i drink it over ice,  it's not ice tea.....it's iced tea.....

quit looking at the obits, the mad one is still here, my old puter is resting with it's elders, i got me a new chromebook, probably shound have got one 2 years ago but...i thought i'd like at touch screen... but used it very little........