Saturday, February 9, 2013

Expect The Price Of Coffee To Rise

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/02/08/guatemala-declares-national-emergency-to-deal-with-spread-fungus-devastating/

Most of the coffee we have been drinking at our house, since I retired, has been Kirkland brand but when I can, I go into Manhattan to Porto Rico Importers and buy different coffees from around the world there. In recent years most of that has been from Sumatra and Tanzania but I have gotten coffees quite a few times that were produced in other countries - one of them being 
Guatemala. Guatemala produces some excellent coffee and all I can think is, since so many countries have been effected, prices are going to soar if this gets worse.

All the best,
GB

Two Good Shootings...

...as far as I see them with what I know right now.

The first shooting was done by a homeowner who reportedly entered his home to find four men ransacking it. At least one of those four came at him and he drew a handgun and fired - killing the suspected bad guy. The other suspects fled.

The other shooting had a bit of an unusual twist. As per the report, a few guys, in a vehicle containing over a hundred pounds of marijuana, were pulled over by police and one of them fled. The guy who fled then stole a Nevada State Trooper's car to make his getaway. Sometime after his escape, he reportedly fatally shot himself. Somewhere in the interim, the article does not explain it well, he allegedly also carjacked another vehicle. It was reported that the alleged carjacker killed himself with a police shotgun (apparently found in the car he stole from the Nevada State Trooper) and thus it was a stolen gun he used in the alleged suicide. Yet, it still seems like a good shooting to me since it depletes the gene pool of what I can only see as undesirable set of genes.

I imagine someone will want to screw over the state trooper for not protecting his vehicle and shotgun. I also imagine that family members of the deceased, if any, will soon have a lawyer and try to sue the Nevada State Police because they will blame them for giving that guy access to the gun. It certainly would not surprise me in the least if someone is awarded millions after this because such is life in lawsuit crazy America.

All the best,
Glenn B

White Stuff Everywhere...

...around here anyway. I am going to guess that we got 12 to 18 inches of snow throughout the night and early morning.  It was piled higher in drifts here and there, up to three feet. It would have been much more had it not rained for the first several hours of the storm yesterday. We did not get it nearly as bad as eastern Long island, I have heard reports that they got up to three feet or more. I guess CT got the worst of it though; just heard the governor of CT has ordered all roads closed. Several roads around here are closed, for example the Long Island Expressway in Suffolk County and both parkways. The roads in Nassau County though are supposedly nowhere nearly as bad. There have been numerous reports though of stranded motorists who spent the night in their cars on some of the major highways on Long Island. My bet is that before this is all over they will find someone dead in their car. Hopefully not but most people around here dress only to go from house or office or store to car and are not prepared for a very cold overnight in their automobiles.

My son is down in Atlantic City. I sent him a text suggesting he stay for another night if he is not broke yet, or that he wait till late in the afternoon before trying to head home. By then the roads in the city and in Nassau County should all be passable.

As for me, I am very happy to have shoveled last night when it was only an inch and a half or so deep. That was very wet, slushy and heavy snow with ice already formed underneath it. Had I left that until this morning I would have had one hell of a job clearing my sidewalk and walkways. As it turned out, shoveling this morning was no easy task. I started at 0500; I worked at it for half an hour, took a half hour break, then worked at it another half hour to 40 minutes or so. Then the plow came by and buried my driveway entrance. I go that cleaned up later, and as soon as I was finished and just waking to my side door, there came the plow again and piled the snow up in my driveway once more. Not so bad that time and I just left it that way. I figure no one is going to try to pull out of our driveway, or into it, for the rest of the day or even tomorrow.

It is a veritable winter wonderland around here. If I can find my camera, I may go out later and take some pics. For now though, I am resting up and digesting. I just enjoyed a nice breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon and coffee. Mmmmm, BACON! That was good even though I cooked it instead of my wife doing it. She ate it all with gusto, so I must have done something right. She did not even complain that the coffee was too strong and I made it a lot stronger than she usually does so.

As for my resting up I have to say I am aching in my shoulders, hips, elbows and even my wrists. Man, I need to start working out. I have not worked out since I started cancer treatments last year and even though I lost weight and do not look as flabby as I used to be, a little shoveling of a lot of snow let me know I need to do something to get some muscle tone. Who knows, I may even take one of the a dogs or two for a walk today, that would be a start.

All the best,
Glenn B