The Wife And The Daughter Are Off To Milwaukee...

...even if it is only a stopover and plane change for them on their way to Las Vegas. I am stuck at home with my mother-in-law,  7 dogs and all my other critters. My son will be around too. I may be going out with him tonight for burgers and a few ciders.

My wife and daughter are making a weekend trip to Vegas and I am hoping that at least one of them comes home rich. That would be nice, very nice. I handled their bookings and got them flights on Southwest and reservations at New York, NY. I hope it is a nice hotel since I made the reservations, it will make up for years ago when I booked Circus-Circus for the family - what a dump was it. We all agreed we thought we were staying in a rundown dump in downtown San Salvador at the time. Anyway, I am guessing this time will be a lot nicer. Oh if only the MIL was not here, I could envision an all night poker game in the basement.

All the best,
Glenn  B

So Why Did The School Let The Mexicans Celebrate...

...cinco de mayo in the first place if they were worried about racial strife that they said would be caused in the school should American students be allowed to wear American flag T-shirts in the classroom on cinco de mayo. Why tell the Americans to turn their shirts inside out or to go home and why allow the celebrating Mexicans, who were celebrating a foreign holiday that usually causes racial strife in this country, to continue their celebrations. There is really something fucked up and bizarre about that especially in that a U.S. Federal court upheld the side of the school banning the American flag on American soil.

See: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/02/27/court-rules-school-can-ban-american-flag-shirts-to-avoid-racial-strife/

And as a point of clarity, let it be known that neither cinco nor mayo are capitalized in correct Mexican Spanish.

All the best,
GB

Hope Springs Eternal...

...is what I thought when I heard that Holder suffered chest pains and faintness and had been hospitalized. A short while later, I was thinking: The damned live forever. That was right after I heard the great news that he had been released from the hospital. Oh well, tomorrow is another day for me to think more cheerful thoughts like the first one I had first about it.

All the best,
Glenn B

Ah, Here I Am - Back In The Saddle Again

Got the HP Notebook back today. A new hard drive has been installed that is apparently a lot slower than the one that used to be in here so it looks as if it either has to go back for another repair or that HP will have to send me , yet again, another hard drive. I will deal with that in a day or three. I have to say, for the most part, HP Customer Service and HP Tech Service SUCK. Next time it will either be a dell or a home built machine for me.

As for blogging, I should start that up again, in earnest, within a day or two. I have a lot of other online issues to deal with before then - like bill paying.

All the best,
GB

Sorry About The Lack of Blogging And Communication

I sent my notebook off to HP onWednesday for repairs. I am anticipating getting it back in about two weeks. Thus the lack of blogging since I have to beg, borrow and or steal a compter to get anything done online.

As my luck would have it, my cell phone is also on the Fritz. I m hopeful that ATT will have delivered a new cell phone to me by later today or tomorrow. My apologies to anyone waiting to revceive a phone call or return email back from me.

All the best,

GB

My HP Notebook Is Belly Up

HP sent an in home technical service repairman to my home on Saturday. He put a new hard drive, that HP had sent to me via FedEx, into my HP Pavilion Notebook. As soon as he was done, it gave him an error message. He fiddled with it a bit and got another error message, the second one telling him there was no hard drive in the computer. He fiddled more and said it was good to go for software installation, started the first disk, had me sign some paperwork and then left with three disks of software yet to be installed. I followed the prompts and installed the software myself. Then, when I got the same error messages as did he, that no hard drive was installed, I called HP tech service and I was pissed.

It has now been arranged that they will send me a box to ship the notebook to them for repair at their facility and I continue to be pissed. That will take 3 to 4 weeks from what I understand of what they told me. So much for paying for in home service, it amounted to a waste of my money. This is now the second problem with this laptop that in which the hard drive has been implicated and both times it will have had to be sent into HP for repair when in home service visits should have accomplihsed the repairs. Next time that I buy a computer, I am either going back to Dell or going to another manufacturer. Working on my son's ancient SONY VAIO that he got from my daughter. Time to financially assist him to buy a new one soon.

All the best,
Glenn B

A Road Trip - Closer To Reality With Each Snowfall

I do not recall it having snowed this much in about 20 years where I live. The year we moved into our house, we had one snowfall after another. I was a younger lad back then and had little difficulty shoveling. This time around though, I am quite a bit older and have the aches and pains of my age plus those caused by other things. It has not been easy shoveling, for instance over the past two days we have had about 10 to 12 inches of snow and we have been hit several other times already this year. Yeah, I know, that is nothing compared to the Snow Belt in upstate NY (the state with the highest average annual snowfall) but it is a lot around here and my joints are creaking. We have also been promised another 3 inches or so for tomorrow.

Each passing snowfall makes me think that I ought to be going on my dreamed about road trip. Add to that the fact that my wife and daughter are going to Vegas for a few days in the not too distant future and I am getting antsy to hit the road. I do not usually take road trips without my son but the next one will probably be me going solo because he cannot get away from his job. While that will stink, going on a road trip alone will be better than moping around here waiting for Spring to have sprung. It's calling me like the Siren's song, time will tell if I give in, put down my shovel, and take to the road.

All the best,
Glenn B 

Wishing I Was There...

...not only because it is a lot warmer there (wherever there is) than it is here right now but because the scenery is nice too.



Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bikini_girls.jpg


I am going to guess at least 8 to 10 inches of snow has fallen so far and now it is a mix of sleet and rain that is falling, lots of pretty strong gusts of wind too. More snow is promised for tonight through tomorrow morning. I hope the rain does not wind up icing over the power lines when the temps go down tonight or we will be cold in our house tonight. We have oil heat but the furnace burner is electrically powered. One of these years I just may have to buy a generator!

At least for now, I am keeping my blood a little warmer with thoughts of things pictured here.

All the best,
GNB

The New Hard Drive

Today, I received the replacement hard drive for my computer from HP. The thing is that I am none to sure it is the same as was the old one. I have sent them an email to check on it as some features of the old are not listed in the paperwork for the new.

Tomorrow, I will call the HP in-home tech service rep to see when he can get here - that pending an answer from HP on whether or not the replacement drive has the same features as did the old one. If they confirm that the features are the same or better, then I hope the in-home tech service rep gets here soon. With the weather expected to be miserable over the next two days or so (screw Al Gore and all the Global Warming BS), my bet is he will not get here until at least Saturday which was the day that HP figured in the first place.

As you can guess, my hard drive has not actually failed yet. I keep getting warnings from the Windows operating system that failure is imminent and that I should back-up my files - that has already been accomplished. In addition, if I turn the laptop off and start it up again, I get a similar warning from the laptop itself. I am hoping it just keeps chugging along until the drive is replaced.

All the best,
Glenn B

On Voting Republican Or For A Third Party Candidate

I think that the Republican Party has doomed itself. As I see it, they are not a legitimate political party any longer. Their house leader, Speaker of The House Boehner, is a complete spineless boob and his comrades in the House are mostly likewise. The Republicans in the Senate are not much better. Their latest blunder was this:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/02/12/debt-ceiling-bill-clears-senate-hurdle/?intcmp=latestnews

From now on, I will vote along third party lines because I think it is destroying America to vote for Democrats or for their supporters - the Republican Party. I am almost certain to vote for Libertarians or Conservatives not associated with the Republican party on the ballot. That will go for all upcoming major elections.

As I told a friend of mine, who told me voting for a third party only helps the Democrats:

It does not matter if it (voting for third party candidates) helps the Democrats since more than half of the Republicans now in office are helping the Democrats carry out the Democrat Party Line. In fact, if I did not know with which party they were affiliated, I would swear many Republicans to be either Democrats or Liberals. So, if you vote for any of them, you are helping the Democrats already.

Who are you going to vote for as president - Christie? He is an Obama ass kissing Liberal no matter how much he would like to claim to be a Conservative. Not me, I will no longer be voting Republican. I will either be voting for the Libertarian candidate or for a truly Conservative one but not for one in the Republican party. You can keep voting the Republican Party line saying that voting for a third party helps the Democrats, I believe that voting Rebooblican helps the Demoncrats even more than voting third party. It makes the Republicans believe they still have a fairly large and strong voting block who support their liberal stand and they just keep getting more and more in line with Democrats.

In addition, voting Republican keeps votes away from the guy in the third party who might truly make a difference that will crush the Liberal (Democrat) party line, if not in the next election, then almost certainly in our lifetime BUT we have to start voting for them now. That way they may pick up enough momentum after two or three more elections to actually have a chance at winning.

Even if a Libertarian or other third party candidate does not win, but merely gets a lot of what was once Republican voter support, it may also scare the pants off of Rebooblicans. Losing enough voters may make the RHINOS realize they need to get back to being conservatives instead of caving in every time a Demoncrat blames them for something that (they say) is about to happen (instead of looking at the long term picture). Right now it seems that way too many so called Republicans are voting along Democrat party lines - we need them out and new blood in and I think the third party is the way to go for that. 

All the best,
Glenn B

 

My Laptop's Imminent Doom

I was using my laptop, this afternoon, with no hint of a problem. Shut it down as usual, then signed on again earlier this evening and got a message saying:

"SMART Hard Disk Error

The SMART hard disk check has detected an imminent failure. Ton ensure not data loss, please backup the content immediately and run Hard Disk test in System Diagnostics.

Hard Disk 1 (301)

F2 - System Diagnostics

ENTER - Continue Startup. ..."

So, what to do. Since I had just backed up my files, I hit F2 to get to System Diagnostics. I got to a screen saying System Diagnostics Initializing and it froze there. tried a few times to shut it down and start over kept getting the same message, then it froze at the System Diagnostics Initializing screen. After a few tries to get into System Diagnostics, I hit ENTER instead of F2 after turning the laptop off and on again and it turned on just fine. I made sure to be safe and copied the My Documents and My Pictures folders to an external hard drive; then I called HP.

Of course, regardless of having the more expensive warranty option, the HP Premium Care Pack, my call went through to a guy sounding as if he was in Bombay or Karachi - I should have asked but it was not necessary because that was confirmed on a later call hat actually went to the HP center in North America as the first call should have done. Anyway, the guy on the Indian subcontinent was very nice and efficient (even though he apologized for any waits and said thank-you a million times) and told me to run a few checks. The checks did not work, same as I described above He then said he would arrange for a new hard drive to be sent to me and that a techie would be here this coming Saturday. I can live with that - especially since the laptop is still working, I am using it right now. Note it did not say that the hard disk failed but that failure was imminent. I can only hope it is not as imminent as to happen before Saturday!

I wanted to print out the screen giving the imminent failure message but could not get it to do so. Then I remembered I could run a diagnostic test with Norton and I did that. The Norton diagnostics said that the laptop was indicating pending and eventual hard drive failure and to run a back-up and then install a new hard drive. I was able to print that report. I wanted to be sure to have something indicating the imminent hard drive failure warning because with my luck the tech service guy will arrive, turn on my laptop and not have the warning show up and then try o tell me there is nothing wrong with it. At least I have a copy of the Norton report - just in case.

Oh well, if you do not see anything further on my blog over the next few days, or if you email me and I do not reply, you will understand why it may seem as if I have fallen off of the face of the planet. Hopefully they will send the correct replacement hard drive and the tech guy will arrive and fix it as planned. I am also hopeful that the problem was diagnosed correctly. last year I had to send in the laptop to HP for them to do a repair that amounted to them changing the hard drive cable and reinstalling the bios. For some reason they said a tech service guy was not capable of doing so but I think they believed I had dropped the unit and broken it (or something like that because one of them basically accused me of such) and they wanted to screw me out of a repair. It really did not matter because I still had complete damage protection last year (in addition to the HP Premium Care Pack with in home service) - so a drop would have been covered. Anyway, they apparently got it diagnosed and corrected properly, change the cable and bios and it worked for just over a year since that repair. Now this!

All in all I spent about an hour and fifteen minutes on the phone with HP Tech Service. Then I called HP again to make sure I had the correct warranty serial number since I had noticed I had two different ones in my warranty info. I also asked that they check to see if they had my last name spelled correctly since last time they mailed me something it had my last name screwed up. On that second call, I got a customer service guy in Canada. Much easier to understand and he said while my name was correct, the guy in India had just changed my email address to an incorrect version of it. He then corrected it. The guy in Canada also got me through to someone to correct the warranty number and who promised to send me a luggage tag with the correct info on it. I'll attach the tag to my laptop bag, it is handy to have along should I travel with the laptop and need tech assistance. I have since received an email, from the third and last guy to whom I spoke, telling me what he to correct my email and to send me a copy of my warranty info, but have not received the promised confirmation email from the first tech service guy for my hard drive replacement and repair (I guess it got lost in cyberspace since he was the one to screw my email address in HP's records). So, finally, almost all seems to have been straightened out. Time will tell if it all gets done once the hard drive arrives and once the in home tech service guy installs it.

Gonna go now, just got a Windows pop up telling me it has detected that hard disk failure is about to take place. There is one other thing I want to back-up, just in case my auto back-up on Norton did not catch it.

All the best,
Glenn B

Ah, The Benefits of Indoor Plumbing and Gas, Oil or Electric Heat

Living here in the United States, almost everyone has the luxuries of indoor plumbing and of gas, electric or oil heat. Yeah some of us use wood or pellet stoves to heat but mostly they don't have to go out into the wilds to fetch their fuel. In India, it is another story. Many do not have even a single electric bulb to light their homes let alone indoor plumbing or a delivered fuel source for their home heating and cooking. They go out into the tall grass of the fields and into the woods for a little privacy when answering natures call and into the forests to collect wood for cooking or heating and those activities can be quite treacherous for them. In the last 6 weeks alone, ten people living in rural India have been slain by a tigress near the Jim Corbett National Park. The park is named after a British Army officer who relentlessly hunted down tigers and leopards that preyed on people, thus saving an untold number of human lives.

In the current situation, hunters have not had the success that Corbett had while hunting these alpha predators. Despite efforts to bait the tigress with a young calf on Saturday night, the big cat eluded them and attacked its latest victim, a 50 year old man collecting wood, on Sunday night. The tiger killed him and partially devoured him but was then driven off by other villagers.

I still have to hand it to the hunters, even though they have not hit their mark yet, because I imagine it takes nerves of steel to sit on a stand over bait or to trudge through the woods trying to hunt down a man-eater. As the source article notes, only three of six hunters, hired to hunt the beast, even showed up. Those three who showed up have moxie but I hope they have the know-how too, otherwise they may find themselves the prey instead of the predators.

If you would like to learn more about  why big cats become man-eaters, about hunting them down or just read a great adventure book, I suggest reading MAN-EATERS of KUMAON authored by Jim Corbett. It is an excellent and thrilling account about several of his hunts for man-eaters.

All the best,
Glenn B

Philip Seymour Hoffman Poll - MSN Left Out An Important Poll Choice or Two

I hate it when polls are obviously geared toward making you answer one way or the other and do not consider what should have been obvious important other choices as possible answers. Take for instance the poll, currently on the MSN homepage, about what I see as some chicken shit actor who recently died, reportedly after having overdosed himself on heroin.

"Report: Hoffman to be digitally recreated for 'Hunger Games'
The actor had only a week left of filming for the franchise's final film when he died.

Should Philip Seymour Hoffman be digitally recreated in 'Mockingjay - Part 2'?

Yes; he plays a crucial role.

No; recast him.

No; write his character out.

I'm not sure. "

Did you see what I meant about leaving out an important choice or two. I mean how on earth can MSN consider the poll to have any credibility at all when they do not offer the option of a poll answer or two such as:

I do not care because I never watched that crap in the first place.

Or how about this one:

I don't give a shit about overblown, ultra-liberal, junky actors or any of the roles they held!

Had they offered a choice or two along those lines, I would have voted in the poll, probably for the second one of those choices that I just wrote up.

All the best,
Glenn B

Our Canadian Neighbors Have Warned Us

What can I say other than I agree with him and I am sure that the process leading up to firearms confiscation is well under way in New York State (as it is in CA and soon may follow in many others and nationally). I believe that the time is coming soon when we will either have to give them all up (our guns and then our rights and liberties) or use our guns in conflict while trying to defend our rights and liberties from the tyrants who are usurping them almost with every new breath they take.

All the best,
Glenn B

A Veritable Heat Wave Predicted

Man, it has been a cold winter, relatively speaking, for the NY metro area. It is going to remain that way, temps in the high 20s to low 30s for the rest of the week into mid next week and then the temps are supposed to go up into the high 30s and low 40s giving us a veritable heat wave for a few days.

All the best,
GB

Joe - Why Not Think Before Speaking or Just Shut Up

I'll answer Joe's question in one sentence: We led the world economically and had the most modern infrastructure when we manufactured things in the USA and the reason we were able to manufacture things was because the government did not overtax and overregulate businesses as it does now.

Now a brief commentary on Joe's speech. While LaGuardia Airport may be old and in need of updating, it does not appear to be an airport in a third world country, it is not close. Most of the things that have not been updated over the years, such as runway length, have been stymied by government regulations. Biden, as usual, merely has had another case of oral diarrhea due to not engaging his brain to digest the facts before opening his mouth to spew his babble.

All the best,
Glenn B

Amira Again

I watched the video, embedded in my post immediately prior to this one, several times tonight. I just could not get over that voice because as I said, to me, it was angelic. It, of course, being the voice of Amira Willighagen, the winner of the 2013 Holland's Got Talent television show.

I also did a bit more searching and wound up listening to a couple of other songs she sang in her run on Holland's Got Talent. Among those songs were the ones she sang for the semi-final and the one with which she won first place. As I said, I am no fan of opera and as I have said many times before, I am not religious (at least any more) and thus I can tell you I am not a big fan of religious music either. Yet, I used to be a practicing catholic and can say without doubt that there remains within me an ember that is rekindled to a spiritual blaze when I hear certain pieces that I used to hear in church, especially those heard during the Christmas season. One of those songs was Ave Maria. Listen to it here, it may be the most impressive version I have ever heard, and somehow it comes from the mouth of a 9 year old child. Maybe I was right in my prior post about her in as much as me saying she has an angelic voice but if I was right it is only because maybe she is indeed an angel among us.

Here is Amira Willighagen, singing the song that got her through the semi-final of Holland's Got Talent on December 21, 2013.



I have to tell you, I am absolutely floored. If her voice is not divinely inspired, heavenly and angelic then I do not what ever has been so. It is strange for me that I find myself saying that but she does seem to be heaven sent. Maybe the word that best describes her voice, and her singing ability, is miraculous!

All the best,
Glenn B

I Am Not A Big Fan Of Opera But This Is Amazing...

The performer is singing Puccini's operatic piece: 'O mio babbino caro' (Oh My Beloved Father). I must say that a more stunningly angelic voice I quite possibly never before have heard and may never hear again in another person. The fact that it is a nine year old girl, who apparently was self taught and never even had a single singing lesson, makes this performance all the more awe inspiring.

Listen to it here, which is the long version of the video, and well worth the listen (and the read of the translation even if a poor one). If you want to skip to the singing, go to 2 minutes and 39 seconds of the video. but as I said, I highly recommend watching and listening to the whole thing as it puts it all in context. When she starts singing, right at the very beginning, ask yourself: "Did I expect that???"; I surely did not and neither did the judges who obviously had never heard anything like it before (at least not from one of their contestants and a 9 year old child at that). Pay attention to what both she and the judges say throughout, both before and after her performance, it will give you a picture of a girl who will become a woman who goes far in life. What a gift her talent will be to they who take the time to listen to her sing and maybe later who watch her run in the Olympics. (If you want to know what that last references, then read the script that appears in the video after her singing is done.)

Without further ado, I give you the simply fantastic, marvelous and without compare stunningly beautiful voice of Amira Willighagen, an angel among us:



A hat tip to Herr Richie M for this one.

All the best,
Glenn B

California: Decrease Water Use By 20%

Yes, California is in the midst of one of its worst droughts in history. Governor Brown has called on the populace to voluntarily decrease water usage by 20% and the state has already announced a cut off, for this spring, on the water being routed to many agencies that supply Californians with that ever so precious and life giving substance. (source)

The funny thing is that if California was not as screaming arsed liberal and had pressed for tougher immigration laws, including removal of illegal aliens, this problem would be sizably less than it is now. Yes, I know mother-nature is the cause of he drought but people use water and the fact is there is only so much to go around. Add to that the fact that the population of illegal aliens (wetbacks) in California is estimated to be around 2,830,000 (and bear in mind that is a DHS estimate from 2011 and probably way below the actual number both because it is two years old and because the government came up with it). Even going with that number, and discounting the illegal aliens who do not reside in CA but pass through it on their way to other places (and use water while doing so) the amount of water consumed by illegals is significant.

The population of California for 2013 was estimated at 38,332,521. Thus illegal immigrunts amount to about 7.4% of that state's population! Wow, if they were not using any water at all (as in them not being in the state to use it in the first place) just think of how much more water there would be to go around for citizens and legal resident aliens. Imagine that we, the citizens and legal residents of the United States in whole, were asked to give up 7.4% of our water supply to law breakers who entered our country illegally and then took what they wanted and even demanded such things as a right. That is exactly what California is doing to its citizens and legal residents - asking them to give up what the illegals will just keep taking. I mean, do they really think that people who broke the law to get here, so they could take all they could take, will abide by that request? Only in America folks, we are the suckers of the world.

All the best,
GB
 

Me, I Am Celebrating - Not The Super Bowl, But The Groundhog

After all folks, this is it, today is the absolute best holiday of the year throughout the universe - it is Groundhog Day. It is perfect holiday of the year as far as I am concerned. You don't need to do a gosh darned thing today to celebrate today and that is one of the things that makes this holiday so special to me - you can enjoy it just for the sake of enjoying it - or you can say screw it and act as if it never happened.

Unlike Christmas and birthdays you don't need to bust your hump shopping for the perfect gift or worrying if Fred and Wilma or Ralph and Alice are going to like what you got them. You needn't worry about getting a gift, from someone dear, that doesn't fit or that you hate and then having to lie through your face to tell the gift giver how wonderful it is. Then what do you do but sneak off the day after to return it to the store.  No gifts on Ground Hog Day - no obligations of any sort - stress free as it should be.

As opposed to Thanksgiving you needn't fret about all the guests coming over and who likes to eat what. You don't have to get up at 0600 to start cleaning out the gizzards, making the stuffing, stuffing it into the bird, sewing it up, throwing it in the oven only to have to start really preparing the rest of the meal after that. Nor do you need to watch all the slobs gobble it down and then hear and smell their farts during coffee and dessert. Then when the day is done for everyone else, and all those bums have headed toward their hovels, it is not yet done for you who still has to do the dishes. Ground Hog Day though is another story, it is done when the sun sets because there was no special meal, no guests, no farts (well maybe a few but they were your own) and no big lot of dishes either; nope it ain't Thanksgiving (which is better than Christmas) and thus it is grand.

It's even better than Halloween and Halloween is easy. All you gotta do is buy some candy and answer the doorbell about 300 times hoping that none of the neighborhood kids are waiting to egg your head as you open to door expecting to hear trick-or-treat. There aren't even any kids who come begging for treats and no suspicious mom's giving you the evil eye (as they weigh your potential as a serial killer) if you throw an evil apple in to their little darling's trick-or-treater's bag. You don't even have to worry about what to do with he leftover candies, not that I worry - I just eat them - that is if my wife doesn't throw it all out. 

Then there is valentines day, one of the biggest BS holidays ever. It apparently is Hallmark's excuse, when nothing else is happening in the dead of winter, for making you feel lame and guilty if you have a sweetheart and don't at least buy her a card and a heart shaped box of sweets. Nope, there is not even any card buying on Ground Hog Day let alone buying the overpriced but crappy tasting candy. Then again, on Ground Hog Day, neither do you have to think about what to do should you decide to invite a neighborhood gang of hoodlums into your garage for the blast of their lives. You know, no concerns about cleaning up all the blood that is rapidly soaking into your garage floor and smeared and dripping down the walls should you decide to machinegun the local mobsters. Stuff like that just doesn't happen when that little rodent rules the day.

Heck, Ground Hog Day is even better than Festivus for the rest of us. On GH Day there is no need to go searching far and wide for presents, no ornaments for a Christmas tree or lights for a menorah, just plain unadorned aluminum poles - always the right height and shape. Neither is there any need to try to think up a list of Festivus miracles. It isn't necessary to air a list of grievances and piss people off, nor to then engage in feats of strength (which if after the airing of grievances could wind up being a family fight). Nope, today is a stress free holiday, just grab one of your favorite liquid refreshments and enjoy it - anything from a tall glass of water to hot cocoa to a swig or three of white lightening.

There is absolutely none of the worry, stress or BS today associated with the other holidays - at least not for me. That makes it about the most convenient and easy going day to celebrate and thus most enjoyable holiday of them all. Just about the only one(s) truly inconvenienced today are those plump, furry little rodents - the groundhogs. Either they are sleeping off the winter, shivering off their rodent arses in a damp and dingy hole in the ground somewhere or they are being pulled from their cozy, warmer than outside, burrows by crazy men in top hats and tails to be put on display in a whimsical farce to see how much longer winter will last and to stir up the doldrums of the winter economy in small towns in the NE, or they are getting shot at by varmint hunters (in warmer weather)and maybe are thrown into the pot with some taters and greens by a hillbilly somewhere. 

Nope, none of the worries of the other holidays, none of the stress, none of the hoopla (except in Punxsutawney and like bergs) and that makes it fine by me. And that's why I like it so much. As for the little fat furballs, don't let them fool you - they like it too, at least the ones lucky enough to be on display. They get some nice juicy carrots and corn on the cob for their efforts all the while basically make fools out of tens of thousands of people who believe their so called predictions for the arrival of spring each year. As for me, I know when spring will arrive. It will get here in 46 days and a wake up. So whether or not those little bucktoothed vermin stay out and enjoy the weather or run and hide from their own shadows - winter will last until spring has sprung which will be in 6.57142857 weeks after today. Thank the heavens for those furry little bastards; fricasseed, roasted, stewed or fried -  or even alive - you gotta love em cause they sure gave us the best holiday ever.

All the best,
Glenn B