The other morning after taking Dino out early -- and I nearly took a header on the back deck due to icy conditions -- I snapped a few pics. The bottom right was the eerie fog rising from the grounds by the school. In the front was frost on the yard with Dino and a crow perched across the street watching my every move.
The last few days of this week have been sunny but colder than we have been having -- so the use of some heat is making it comfortable -- I can only imagine and actually recall the times when we too lost power and had no heat and lights . . . awful times.
This Week's Big Event
Certainly around here and I'm sure in most cities and towns in the U.S. the event of the week was the election. First of all and most of all we are really glad that it is over. I can only imagine what the candidates feel. We took Dino and the three of us strolled around the block to our polling place. We had to stand in line for about five minutes before a "booth" came open. I can't imagine what it would be like to stand in line for several hours as we heard many folks did.
Eighty-four years ago in another election the campaign slogan for one political party was " a chicken in every pot, a car in every garage". Well in honor of that we took advantage of the cold weather and our new "Ninja" pot and did exercise our choice of a chicken in our new pot. It actually turned our really well. The pot we got (about a week ago) and have used it 5 or 6 times already and it has really performed well.
Our kitchen -- which is soon to be updated -- has an oven that is not really functional any more and a stove that never stops "clicking" when being used. So the Ninja has allowed us to enjoy roasted, baked and even fried things (quietly) -- we like it a lot.
Now back to the election -- Florida finally completed counting almost all of it's ballots -- I am sure glad that the results there did not matter as the Presidential results were already assured. We all remember the 2000 year election and the delays and controversy at that time.
Some Local Color
I couldn't resist going around the back yard a bit this morning and include some photos of the -- maybe last remaining "color" for the season. Dino knows that when I grab my camera that sometimes he gets to go with and this time he did.
So, I included a head shot of Dino as I took the photos. The colors are amazing and vibrant. Each week though the plants are trimmed back for the season -- and this week they did survive the frost.
Armistice Day
That is what we grew up calling this day. It was a day of remembrance for the cessation of hostilities during WWI and that occurred on the 11th day of the 11th month at the 11th hour maybe even the 11th minute . . . in 1918.
WWI had 20 million deaths associated with it and there are folks who are still observing that. Sometime after WWII this day started to be called Veterans Day and it continues to be so . . .
This morning while preparing to write this post I received an email from Gary -- who is in one of our family branches in this tree (married to Gail's sister) and I appreciated the sentiment and include it here:
I added the top part as a "salute" to our many branches of the military -- I hope I found them all . . .
Gary and his wife Laurii live in the shadow of those "Sawtooth" Mountains pictured above in Idaho. Gary is a veteran, his daughter was a Navy Pilot and later in the Marines and they currently have their son-in-law serving in Afghanistan (a Marine Pilot).
We thank the Gadwas and all other veterans for serving the country.
Dino's Week -- Guide Dogs for the Blind
Just two weeks ago we had GDB training associated with the sights and sounds of Halloween. Time moves fast -- we had a training session in one of the malls not-too-far from us -- in Santa Rosa, at the Coddingtown Mall which is being upgraded (it needed it).
We spent our training going through stores, walking up and down stairways (escalators are not allowed) and basically exposing the pups to the activities and sounds in the mall. Now there are Christmas sounds permeating the stores and mostly Christmas displays everywhere. It used to be the unwritten rule that Christmas merchandising was to start after Thanksgiving -- not any more.
By the way Thanksgiving is 11 days away and Christmas is 45 days away . . .
Speaking of the Holidays . . .
While continuing to go through old photos, I thought that I would include one of my family from 56 years ago (1956) and this one was taken on Christmas Day that year.
It shows better in black & white though I do have a color copy. The color processing in those days was so vibrant that it distorted some of the appearances.
This was taken at our house in Hinsdale, Illinois and includes (from the left) my father holding my cousin Scott Bumgardner, Bill and my sister Marilee, my Mother with my younger brother Jon seated, my maternal Grandfather, Dayton, me, Aunt Mary Bumgardner with cousin Bruce Bumgardner and Mamie Bumgardner, my maternal Grandmother -- I assume that the picture was taken by my Uncle Stewart Bumgardner.
We rarely have that many relatives available at any one moment for pictures . . .
And Lastly . . .
One site that I receive "notices" from is www.reference.com and I thought today's notice was interesting.
During the recent World Series we sure noticed the different renditions of "God Bless America" and I was not aware of how it all came about . . .
So 74 years ago today was the first time that it was sung publicly -- and it was sung by one of my Mother's favorite singers -- Kate Smith. I remember watching the "Kate Smith Show" with my Mother during that time period . . .
So that was part of our week. We did have burgers and sweet potato fries last night. Tonight we are going to have "pork chops Provencal" and prepared using the Ninja . . .
See you in a few!
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