AND THE WINNER IS . . .

President Barack Obama

ELECTION DAY

This one is just for my readers in the United States of America.  Today is the day we elect our national and state leaders.  Your right to vote is your most precious freedom.  Whichever candidates you support (it hurts me to say) go to the polls and cast your votes today if you haven't already.

SUNDAY AND MONDAY

Last night, it was catfish cookin' in a black iron skillet.

Now, I'm aware that there is a cultural antagonism to catfish among some of the elites.  But I'm tellin' you, you cook that up with some garlic and butter (al mojo de ajo), as our friends south of the border say . . . and it's nirvana.

So.  That takes care of Sunday night.  Monday?  It was a day of unbelievable beauty at a yard across from the BRD's front door.

I've got to say - my current existence is full of light and life

A DAY AT THE LAKE

I was out running errands yesterday and made a stop at Fain Park.  I spent some time watching the ducks.

First there was one.

Then there were two.

Then there were four.

Then, finally bored with this silly game, they swam away.

Which brings me to today's Gratuitous Critter photo.

This one makes me wonder (a) what is the dog thinking, (b) what is the buffalo thinking, and (c) who will win this face-off.

THE ELECTION

We are now a mere three days from this year's Presidential election.  I know one person who consistently says Mitt Romney is going to have a landslide victory.  This person spends an inordinate amount of time watching Fox News and listening to Rush Limbaugh.  I believe all three are wrong.

On the other hand, I put all of my faith in Nate Silver and his 538 blog.  I have mentioned him before but just to remind you . . Silver correctly predicted the winner of 49 out of 50 states and the winners of all 35 Senate elections in 2008.  So his record is pretty good, I'd say.

This year he has consistently said President Obama is the favorite, for which he has drawn the ire and criticism of a number of pundits, most notably Joe Scarborough, who say Silver just can't be right.

In his blog today, Silver said:

"There were 22 polls of swing states published Friday.  Of these, Mr. Obama led in 19 polls and two showed a tie.  Mitt Romney led in just one of the surveys, a Mason-Dixon poll of Florida."

Further on Silver concluded:

"If the state polls are right, then Mr. Obama will win the Electoral College. If you can’t acknowledge that after a day when Mr. Obama leads 19 out of 20 swing-state polls, then you should abandon the pretense that your goal is to inform rather than entertain the public."

And with that, I leave you with today's Gratuitous Critter photo.

FRIDAYS FOR EVERYONE

For some reason I don't have a lot of inspiration for today's blog.  I switched over to Google Chrome from Internet Explorer a day or two ago and think I like it.  It does take some getting used to but it seems to be faster than IE.  Only time will tell.

Had a doctor appointment this morning.  All is well.  In spite of my diet the doctor said I'm not diabetic.  Close but not there.  Yet.  My doctor, incidentally, is Chinese.  His name is Ying Wang.  We were talking this morning and he reminded me that while he was born in China his parents moved the family to Brazil when he was 10 years old.  So, here's this Chinese boy speaking Portugese and then he moved to the United States and had to learn English.  I told him about an adventure we had when we lived in Mexico.  We used to rent movies even though the sound would be in Spanish.  They had English subtitles.  Anyway one time I rented the movie "Dona Flor and her Two Husbands" which was based on a novel by one of my favorite writers in those days, Jorge Amado.  But when I put the movie in the VCR and started watching it I couldn't figure it out.  Then I realized that Amado was Brazilian, as were the people who made the movie.  So the speeches were in Portugese and the sub-titles were in Spanish.  Fortunately we knew a bit of Spanish and had read the book so we were able to follow along.  I always thought Portugese sounded like Spanish as spoken by a German!

One of my blogger buddies, Joan Perry, has a great series of links on her site today for people who might want to contribute to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy.  You can find her links here.  If you have a few extra bucks those folks could use it.

I'm about written out for today so here's today's Gratuitous Critter picture.

Just horsin' around.  That might make a good picture for Mothers' Day.

Have a good weekend, y'all!

DAY OF THE DEAD

It is November 1st and the marking of the Day of the Dead is upon us.  I have an artwork that I purchased some years ago in Jerome, framed and hung on the wall of my office.  SWMBO hates it, for some unknown reason, but I've always liked it.

Just in case you're not familiar with this particular day . . it is said to be the day when the spirits of our dead relatives and friends come back to visit.  In Mexico we went one year to a graveyard on the Dia de los Muertos.  People come to the graves of their departed ones and have a picnic, with tacos, beans, tequila and whatnot.  This can go on for 24 hours.  It is not a period of mourning but rather to remember the ones who have passed on and to celebrate their lives.  Guitars are strummed and people sing favorite songs.  I think it's kind of a nice idea, to spend one day remembering the good things about the ones who have gone to their graves before us.

Halloween 2012 fini

Here are a couple of the trick or treaters who visited our home last night.

We had a grand total of only nine youngsters ringing our bell last night.  I always want to be prepared for more so I bought a box of 100 Tootsie Pops in preparation.  SWMBO, who was in charge of answering the door, encouraged everyone to take two.  I figure that's 18 passed out, leaving us with a basket containing 82 more.

As SWMBO said this morning, "Now what are you gonna do?"

Since I'm not a big fan of Tootsie Pops, I had no answer.

Maybe today's gratuitous critters can help.

Somebody snuck into this picture, I think, wearing his Halloween mask!