Saturday

January 30, 2010--Week 4 of 2010: 30 days this year…335 remain

» Quote Times Two «                      .

"The less a statesman amounts to, the more he loves the flag." ~Frank McKinney “Kin” Hubbard, American political cartoonist

“What I would like to give my daughter is freedom. And this is something that must be given by example, not by exhortation.” ~Erica Jong; Educator, Author

» Free Ramblings «                         .

I returned from some errands about 12:30 this afternoon. A crew was just climbing the ladder to our roof. They were harnessed up to each other and appeared ready to move the snow off the roof. Soon I heard a lot of stomping and moving on my roof. I’m the second one in the line of about ten townhouses. After about thirty minutes there were huge chunks of ‘snice’ falling onto my sidewalk, trees and bushes. For those of you don’t know, ‘snice’ is beautiful white snow on top and thick hard formed ice on the bottom. I watched from both upstairs and downstairs. The ice cave didn’t fall as quickly as I had expected. It was really glued on. The crew worked on my roof for about an hour and a half before moving down to the others. When I was sure they were through with my roof, I opened the front door to check out their work from the parking lot. We have all seen those ‘avalanche hits ski lodge’ movies. Well, The snow pile on my sidewalk was over six feet high of ‘snice’. Soon there was a poor guy with a coal shovel out there trying to get all of this off the sidewalk. He worked a good 30 minutes and finally got to my front door, but there was still at least a foot of snow on the sidewalk. Out of nowhere, there was this loud noise, and ‘snice’ coming off the roof covered all his work with another three feet of the stuff. I ran to the front door, opened it, and there he was, standing under the porch with a look of terror on his face. He was OK, being under the porch, but all his hard work was destroyed. He asked if he could use my bathroom. If it had been me, I’m sure a bathroom call would have been too late. His boss came over the three foot wall of ‘snice’ and checked on his worker. The worker used the bathroom, and then climbed out of the house and began his work again. He couldn’t work from my door, because there was really very little room to stand. In a few minutes I heard a chain saw starting up. The boss was cutting the ‘snice’ with it. The pieces were too big for any shovel to lift. My neighbor and I now have a very, very narrow path from the house to the parking lot. The wall of snow and ice is now at least 6 feet high. This new pile may not melt until the 4th….of July. To end this saga, a 20-something girl came knocking on my door about 4:00. She was there to let me know that there was still lots of ice on the roof, and according to her, about a ton of ice was still up there, and that if would probably ‘slide’ off over the next few days. Just be careful when you are going in or out. No more snow, for a little while, please.

While all this was going on, trapped in my home, I ended up watching something historical. President Obama met with 140 Republican House members for a question/answer period on live TV. Gutsy move that has never been done before. Talk about transparent. The great orator did it again, he was able to admit mistakes, answer all the questions, and let everyone know that he is very aware of what is going on in this country. He really wants some bipartisan support. Talk about walking into a lion’s den. While Obama did get some bruises, he survived. He also wants to have it happen again. Leadership in action.

While the roof cleaners were removing ice, we made it to 45° and had no wind. Last night dropped to 19°. No snow is in the forecast, so the ice, snow, and ‘snice’ should continue to melt.

»Side Show Stories—Darwin Awards 2010 «               .

The Darwin Awards commemorate those who improve our gene pool... by removing themselves from it.

Another runner up…

After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn't discovered for three days.

»Random Fact«                                                   .

In 1995 the Royal Norwegian Navy became the first navy in the world to appoint a female submarine captain.

» Interesting Statistics «                                       .

*Note: I realize that statistics can be made to say just about anything.

~ There are 17 separate land areas in AZ that are designated for Military Use. Two are in the Flagstaff area…Camp Navajo and the US Naval Observatory Station.

» Puzzle «                                                          .

A list of words is given. To solve the puzzle, think of a single word that goes with each to form a compound word or word pair that functions as a compound word. For example, if the given words are volley, field, and bearing, the the answer would be ball, because the word ball can be added to each of the other words to form volleyball, ball field, and ball bearing. Answers are at the end of blog.

1. hook, jelly, bowl

2. hay, smoke, up

3. dog, frog, fighter

» Calendar Information «                                     .

☼ January Month Long Observances ☼

Birthstone: Garnet …Flower: Carnation

Book Blitz Month * Bath Safety Month * Birth Defects Month * California Dried Plum Digestive Month * Celebration of Life Month * Cervical Cancer Screening Month * Financial Wellness Month * High Tech Month * International Creativity Month * International Quality of Life Month * International Wayfinding Month * International Wealth Mentality Month * National Be On-Purpose Month * National Bird Feeding Month * National Clean Up Your Computer Month * National Get Organized Month * National Glaucoma Awareness Month * National Hot Tea Month * National Mail Order Gardening Month * National Mentoring Month * National Personal Self-Defense Awareness Month * National Poverty in America Awareness Month * National Radon Action Month * National Skating Month * National Soup Month * National Volunteer Blood Donor Month * Oatmeal Month * Rising Star Month * Self-help Group Awareness Month * Senior Women’s Travel Month * Shape Up US Month * Thyroid Awareness Month

☼ Observance Weeks in January ☼

Sundance Film Festival: 21-31

National Cowboy Poetry Gathering Week: 23-30

National Nurse Anesthetists Week: 24-30

☼ 27 January Observances—US/UN/World ☼

Inane Answering Message Day

Kentucky, Virgin Islands : Franklin D Roosevelt Day

Perigean Spring Tides: Moon closest to earth tonight

Tu B'Shvat: 15th day of Jewish month Shevat for planting trees

☼27 January Observances—by country ☼

England : Women Peerage Day (1958) –women seen as peers in government

☼ Holy Mackerel: On this day in 1956…KRMA TV channel 6 in Denver CO (PBS) begins broadcasting...my parents went door-to-door to gather signatures and $$ to get it to happen.

☼ Born on this day ☼

     » The Arts

Christian Bale, 36, actor (3:10 to Yuma, The Prestige, Rescue Dawn, Batman Begins)

Brett Butler, 52, comedienne, actress (“Grace Under Fire”)

Phil Collins, 59, musician, singer, songwriter

Gene Hackman, 80, actor (Oscars for The French Connection and Unforgiven)

Dorothy Malone, 85, actress (“Peyton Place”)

Dick Martin, in 1922, actor/comedian (Laugh-In)

Vanessa Redgrave, 73, actress

Boris Spassky, 73, former chess player, journalist

     »Athletics

Davey Johnson, 67, Nationals baseball manager and former Mets player

Payne Stewart, in 1957, golf: champ

     »Business, Education, Politics

Richard (Dick) Cheney, 69, 46th vice president of the US

Shirley Chisholm, in 1924. Representative-D-NY

Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1882. 32nd President

     »Science/Religion

Peter Agre, 61, American biologist, Nobel laureate--chemistry

Max Theiler, in 1899, South African virologist, Nobel Prize Laureate

☼Today’s Obits ☼

Charles I in 1649, King of Great Britain (1625-49), beheaded for treason @ 49

Osceola in 1838 Seminole Chief, malaria, in jail @ 34

Mahatma Gandhi, in 1948, India spiritual and political leader, assassinated by Hindu extremists in New Delhi, @ 78

Ferdinand Porsche, in 1951, German car inventor (Porsche), @ 75

☼What happened on this day? ☼

     » The Arts

1933…"The Lone Ranger" premieres on ABC radio

1961…KAET TV channel 8 in Phoenix AZ (PBS) begins broadcasting

1977…The Roots Part VIII finale episode is aired on ABC

     »Athletics

1994…Dan Jansen skates world record 500m (35.76)

     »Business, Education, Politics

1798… first fight in House--Representative Matthew Lyon (Vermont) spits in face of Representative Roger Griswold (Connecticut) in US House of Representatives, after an argument

1820…Edward Bransfield aboard Williams discovers Antarctica (UK claim)

1847…Yerba Buena renamed San Francisco

1924…Northern Ireland Civil Rights demonstrators were gunned down. They were shot by British Army Paratroopers.

1939…Hitler calls for the extermination of Jews

1946…1st issue of Franklin Roosevelt dime

1956…Martin Luther King Jr's home bombed

1968…The Viet Cong launched surprise attacks in South Vietnam , beginning the Tet Offensive

     »Science/Religion

1487…Bell chimes invented

1989…5 pharaoh sculptures from 1470 BC found at temple of Luxor

» Number One Songs in…

1950…Dear Hearts and Gentle People - Bing Crosby

1958…At the Hop - Danny & The Juniors

1966…We Can Work It Out - The Beatles

1974…The Way We Were - Barbra Streisand

» ANSWERS to puzzle «                                      .

1. FISH: fishhook, jellyfish, fishbowl

2. STACK: haystack, smokestack, stack up

3. BULL: bulldog, bullfrog, bull fighter