SO LONG, IOWA

Finally.  Sure, it's only January 4th but it seems like forever.  The Iowa Republican caucuses are finally over.
 

The big winner (by 8 votes out of over 100,000 cast) was Mitt Romney.  Rick Santorum followed close behind.  Loopy Ron Paul finished in third.  Nasty Newt Gingrich slumped from first place in the polls two weeks ago to a distant fourth in the final vote.  Rick Perry, confused as ever, finished fifth and said he was going home to Texas to (lick his wounds) reassess his campaign.  Folks, that means he's dropping out.  And dead last was the miracle worker, Michelle Bachman.  Last night she was full of spunk, saying she was headed for South Carolina.  Then she canceled her flight and this morning, less than 12 hours later, she announced she'd had enough.

By the way, in the drawing above, I make the candidates to be, from left to right, Romney, Gingrich, Perry, Bachman, Paul and Santorum.  Your views may vary.

So it's on to New Hampshire.  The very angry Gingrich got out of Iowa on a chartered flight before midnight and arrived in the first primary state in the dark of night, scuttling off the plane like a venomous spider.

So, let's see.  What are we left with?  Five candidates.  Probably four after Perry's expected departure speech.  Plus Jon Huntsman, who's been lurking in New Hampshire, ready for the big show to descend.  And in Iowa?  Must be a feeling of disappointment to Republicans who saw their much vaunted caucuses end up in a virtual tie.  Kind of like a lot of (c'mon, you had to know this was coming) rotten corn.



SORRY

After hassling Tom (Light Breezes) about his missing a day of blog posting yesterday, here I am late in the day with nothing to show.  Well, I've been running around today doing errands and the rest of the time being fascinated by the Iowa Republican primary.  It's nearly over now.  By which I mean it's nearly time for the caucuses to start and we should (according to Rachel Madow) start seeing results soon after that.  So.  No big post today.  Nothing to report.  Don't worry, I'll be back tomorrow and maybe even later tonight.

DINING . . . IN

In keeping with our tradition of dining deliciously but simply on New Year's Eve, SWMBO and I shared a simple salad . . .

fried oysters, sugar peas . . .

naan (Indian flatbread) . . . (not shown) . . . champagne . . .and the BRD's persimmon pudding and ice cream for dessert.

It was all scrumptious.  I think it was lights out before 11 but after watching the ball drop in New York City.

Today's first breakfast of the new year will center on SWMBO's caramel pecan cinnamon rolls, which were made yesterday.  Take a look . . . and eat your hearts out!

Later today, I'll roast some pork ribs and sweet potatoes.  And tomorrow, we shall endeavor to begin shedding some of the holiday pounds we've undoubtedly added.

COULD BE THE START OF SOMETHING NEW

It is a beautiful day in Arizona.  The sun is shining.  The temperature is in the 60's.  No snow anywhere.  Darn near perfect.  As I was out running some last minute errands this morning, I spotted a scene in a parking lot that simply shouted BLOG POST at me.  So I approached the two individuals pictured below and asked them if I could photograph them.  They agreed after I told them I'd shoot them from the back so they couldn't be identified.  Here's the result.

The young gal out walking her two dogs.  The guy riding his bike.  They met in a parking lot.  It just spells 21st Century Dating to me.

By the way after I took the photograph, I told them I had a blog and asked if they'd mind if I put the photo on it so they could be seen all over the world.

I think the gal said "what's a blog?"  The guy asked me what it was called and when I told him, he laughed once again.  They both said it was okay so here they are.

As I said to them as I drove away I say now to you: Happy New Year.

NEARING THE END (of the year, silly)

Well, here we are once again, nearing the end of a year.  But before we wind 2011 up, you have to take a look at an amazing Christmas card from some friends of sweet Lucy.  I think I know how it's done but this one is just amazing.  Just clink on that link and take a look.  I'll wait right here.

(dum-dum-da-diddle-dee-dee)

Oh!  You're back.  Now wasn't that art work absolutely fascinating?  It must have taken forever to create.

As for me and the year just over, I found this ecard from Some ecards just perfect.

Happy New Years Eve Eve, everybody!

RETIREMENT

I was at a loss for anything to blog about today until I read the post of a friend who shall remain nameless.  He said his work was so slow this week it was like being retired and he was bored, bored, bored.  So I decided to take a look at how I spend my day.

This morning I rose about 8, went into the kitchen and started heating water for SWMBO'S tea, microwaved a cup of coffee, emptied the cats' water dish and refilled it, added cat food to the two food dishes, and got out our morning pills.  Then I went back to my bedroom, got my glasses and came back to the kitchen to change the picture on our daily calendar.  (Of course, it's a cat calendar.)  By the time all that was done, it was 8:30.  I went to the computer, checked a couple of emails, then read through Mike Allen's morning rundown from Politico.  Then looked through the headlines from the New York Times.  Then I went to Facebook and looked at a few new postings.  Then to my local newspaper to read the stories that interested me.  Checked the obituaries.  I wasn't listed.  A good day.

So by now it's around 10:30 and I decided to watch a movie from Netflix.  But first I had to take the disk of "Midnight in Paris" out to the mailbox.  (I liked it but thought it wasn't as good as Woody Allen's earlier movies in the Annie Hall era.  SWMBO didn't like it at all.)  Then the new movie.  "Water for Elephants".  We had both read the book and SWMBO watched the movie yesterday.  It's a 2 hour movie but with a couple of bathroom breaks, another cup of coffee and a couple of butterflake rolls, it was around 1 o'clock by the time I finished.  We both loved the book and the movie.

Got dressed and told SWMBO I was going to run the disk down to the mailbox a mile or so away.  They don't pick up mail there until 4 p.m.  She said "I don't suppose you'd like to pick up a sandwich at Maya's?"  I said "sure" so I called in our order and then set out for the mailbox.  Maya's (a Mexican restaurant) is right across the street and the food was ready.  Picked up a carnitas torta for SWMBO and a shredded beef burro for me.  Which we ate as soon as I got home.  Actually I ate half of mine and wrapped up the rest for supper.  SWMBO was hungrier and finished hers.

Back to the computer to read some blog posts and look at the latest polling on the Republican primary out of Iowa.  Right now it looks like Romney, Paul and Santorum finishing 1-2-3.  Gingrich looks like he's slipped to 4th.  Romney and Paul are putting on a full court press this final weekend.  Santorum has been here so long he's practically a resident.

O.K.  Time to clean up the cat pan area.  Took one pan out back and hosed it out and left it to soak in the sun with some baking soda.  Came back inside and just about finished the Sunday New York Times.  Retrieved the cat pan after drying it in the sun and refilled it with litter.  I also have the Florida State-Notre Dame football game on.  Decided to take a shower and did.

Then I decided to write this blog post.  It's now nearly 5 o'clock.  I still have a couple of sections of the Times to finish and I've got one library book on my new Kindle Fire and one book from the local library and my time is running out.

There's nothing unusual about today.  It's about normal.

Am I bored?  I haven't had time to consider it.

DAKUWAQA'S GARDEN

The BRD sent this video to me this morning and I liked it so much I thought I'd share it with you.