The annual tug-of-war between springtime and winter is on. A time when the first hopes of spring are dashed upon KC's meteorological rocks.
Mother Nature has been toying with us. Fooled me. Fooled my daffodils. We've both started poking our heads out, misled by warm temperatures and sunshine. I thought I'd be spending the weekend cleaning up the yard, visions in my head of spring bulbs and getting my fingers in the dirt.
Said dirt is now covered by four inches and the snow continues to fall.
But it sure is beautiful.
It's also a gift, in that it forces you to stay indoors. Can't run the errands you planned, things get cancelled, you can't clean up the yard...
And - bonus - it's a Saturday which means no struggle to get to work and back.
So you light a fire and a few candles against the cold, and think about starting a pot of soup. Chicken with white bean, maybe.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Don't Believe Anybody - Except Maybe This Guy
This is dedicated to those with their heads in the sand who don't think we're in - as I described it in my earlier post - an economic shitstorm. And to those who don't think this is all that serious.
I heard Tom Hoenig speak a couple weeks ago. He's the head of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, and is one of the guys who helps decide the Fed's economic policy. He was also one of the few on the Fed Board who worried about the housing bubble back when everyone else dismissed it. The guy is smart.
He started his speech something like this: "I have nothing good to tell you...except there IS a future." (Rueful laughter from the audience.)
He was pretty somber. Though KC escaped it for awhile, we're now smack dab in the middle of what everyone else is going through, he said. The symptoms are everywhere, with the rising unemployment rate a major concern.
One of the big problems, it appears, is us. We've stopped buying stuff. We're cutting back. And because consumers are a HUGE percentage of the economy, we're REALLY in the tank.
This is gonna take awhile. Hoenig said that with the combination of the economic stimulus plan and the Fed's easing of monetary policy, he hoped we'd see slow, steady growth by the third or fourth quarter. Emphasis on "slow."
That's his best guess. But keep your fingers crossed, boys and girls, because nobody really knows.
I heard Tom Hoenig speak a couple weeks ago. He's the head of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, and is one of the guys who helps decide the Fed's economic policy. He was also one of the few on the Fed Board who worried about the housing bubble back when everyone else dismissed it. The guy is smart.
He started his speech something like this: "I have nothing good to tell you...except there IS a future." (Rueful laughter from the audience.)
He was pretty somber. Though KC escaped it for awhile, we're now smack dab in the middle of what everyone else is going through, he said. The symptoms are everywhere, with the rising unemployment rate a major concern.
One of the big problems, it appears, is us. We've stopped buying stuff. We're cutting back. And because consumers are a HUGE percentage of the economy, we're REALLY in the tank.
This is gonna take awhile. Hoenig said that with the combination of the economic stimulus plan and the Fed's easing of monetary policy, he hoped we'd see slow, steady growth by the third or fourth quarter. Emphasis on "slow."
That's his best guess. But keep your fingers crossed, boys and girls, because nobody really knows.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Don't Believe Anybody
The news is pissing me off again. I'm back to just skimming headlines and I'm boycotting the cable bloviators.
All this talk talk talk, rant rant rant about Obama's economic stimulus plan and the automakers rescue and the mortgage rescue plan is irrelevant.
Why?
BECAUSE NOBODY REALLY KNOWS HOW TO GET US OUT OF THIS MESS. They're all just guessing.
Put five economists in a room and you'll get six different opinions. This shitstorm we find ourselves in is unlike anything we've experienced before, so anybody speaking with certainty is an out-and-out liar.
BECAUSE NOBODY REALLY KNOWS...
A quote from FDR during the height of the Depression seems appropriate. We need to do something, he said, and if that doesn't work, we need to do something else.
BUT NOBODY REALLY KNOWS WHAT TO DO.
Thank God there's finally someone in the White House who is obviously a whole lot smarter than I am. Who's pragmatic and not an idealogue. And who is trying to create a culture of bipartisanship and collaboration. (Good luck with THAT one...)
All us little folks can do is keep our fingers crossed while whistling in the dark.
All this talk talk talk, rant rant rant about Obama's economic stimulus plan and the automakers rescue and the mortgage rescue plan is irrelevant.
Why?
BECAUSE NOBODY REALLY KNOWS HOW TO GET US OUT OF THIS MESS. They're all just guessing.
Put five economists in a room and you'll get six different opinions. This shitstorm we find ourselves in is unlike anything we've experienced before, so anybody speaking with certainty is an out-and-out liar.
BECAUSE NOBODY REALLY KNOWS...
A quote from FDR during the height of the Depression seems appropriate. We need to do something, he said, and if that doesn't work, we need to do something else.
BUT NOBODY REALLY KNOWS WHAT TO DO.
Thank God there's finally someone in the White House who is obviously a whole lot smarter than I am. Who's pragmatic and not an idealogue. And who is trying to create a culture of bipartisanship and collaboration. (Good luck with THAT one...)
All us little folks can do is keep our fingers crossed while whistling in the dark.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
He's baaa-aack
God dammit.
Rocky's back. Raccoons have a range of 18 miles (I find out only AFTER we'd released him 4 miles away). It's either Rocky...or one of his friends. But it's been a week and a half since we caught him - plenty 'o' time for him to walk the four miles and return to his territory. If that's what happened.
Couldn't sleep this morning, so finally got up about 3:45. Went down to the kitchen to make some coffee, the cats following closely because when I get up they know canned cat food (the good stuff!) is one of the first things on my agenda.
As the three of us rounded the corner into the kitchen, we heard it. The cat door slamming shut. We all tiptoed into the pantry and heard it again - something was trying to get in. The hair on all three of us was standing on end.
I yelled something profound like "get the fuck out of here" and ran to bang on the wall over the cat door. We heard him scuttling down the pantry stairs and he was gone into the darkness.
Shit.
And where was our ace guard dog through all this?
Upstairs asleep. A lotta help she is....
Rocky's back. Raccoons have a range of 18 miles (I find out only AFTER we'd released him 4 miles away). It's either Rocky...or one of his friends. But it's been a week and a half since we caught him - plenty 'o' time for him to walk the four miles and return to his territory. If that's what happened.
Couldn't sleep this morning, so finally got up about 3:45. Went down to the kitchen to make some coffee, the cats following closely because when I get up they know canned cat food (the good stuff!) is one of the first things on my agenda.
As the three of us rounded the corner into the kitchen, we heard it. The cat door slamming shut. We all tiptoed into the pantry and heard it again - something was trying to get in. The hair on all three of us was standing on end.
I yelled something profound like "get the fuck out of here" and ran to bang on the wall over the cat door. We heard him scuttling down the pantry stairs and he was gone into the darkness.
Shit.
And where was our ace guard dog through all this?
Upstairs asleep. A lotta help she is....
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Rocky Update
I Googled 'raccoons' and found out they're solitary creatures (phew - maybe our home invader was traveling solo). They also don't have babies till at least April, so moving him/her miles away didn't leave any raccoon babies motherless (another worry...)
Raccoons are distantly related to bears, as well as dogs and cats. They are omnivorous and nocturnal, a mammal native to North America and Central America. They particularly love marshmallows (!) - one link suggested using marshmallows as bait (we used canned cat food), although they'll eat almost anything.
Compost piles and bird feeders are special attractions (we have both). According to one source, the intelligence and dexterity of a raccoon is such that it can pick an avocado from a tree, aim, and throw it at a barking dog. Door knobs that can be turned -- without locks -- are no obstacle for a raccoon to open. Some raccoons seem to possess enough natural intelligence to follow the action events of what they see portrayed on television.
Dexterity is their middle name: they can open purses, unlocked doors, zippers, and can even remove shoelaces from a pair of shoes.
Raccoons are one of the few native mammals that have not been restricted to increasingly smaller areas of natural habitat by urban development. They've adapted - cut down a forest and they'll move to your chimney, attic, a culvert, or whatever.
Ours has now been moved and, boy, was he glad to get out of that trap.
Who's That Knocking on My Door? Part II
A couple weeks ago, something other than my cats tried to get through the cat door - but backed off when it heard my voice. Scared the crap out of me.
I kinda forgot about it, but then we noticed the giant dog food bag kept winding up on the floor of the pantry/laundry room/mudroom. A corner of the bag had been chewed open. There was also a lot more mud than usual tracked around in the mudroom as well.
Cue all those 'funniest home videos' showing critters coming stealthily through a cat door at night.
We knew we had a home invader, but weren't sure what.
We started closing the pantry door at night to keep the dog and cats out of the pantry and whatever was invading in. Mr. D baited a live trap we have (you acquire those kinds of things living in the woods), put it in the pantry and waited. Three nights passed unsuccessfully. (Unsuccessful for us - but we could tell our home invader was still invading.)
So, last night, we tried a new tack. We plugged the cat door and put the trap (with a tantalizing heap of canned cat food) on the porch just outside the pantry door, next to the cat door.
This morning - success! Rocky Raccoon is inside the trap and will soon be transported to some woods far away from ours. I kinda feel sorry for the little guy, but not sorry enough to keep letting him inside to feast on whatever he can find.
I hope he doesn't have any friends. Do raccoons travel in packs?
And I'm rethinking the cat door......
I kinda forgot about it, but then we noticed the giant dog food bag kept winding up on the floor of the pantry/laundry room/mudroom. A corner of the bag had been chewed open. There was also a lot more mud than usual tracked around in the mudroom as well.
Cue all those 'funniest home videos' showing critters coming stealthily through a cat door at night.
We knew we had a home invader, but weren't sure what.
We started closing the pantry door at night to keep the dog and cats out of the pantry and whatever was invading in. Mr. D baited a live trap we have (you acquire those kinds of things living in the woods), put it in the pantry and waited. Three nights passed unsuccessfully. (Unsuccessful for us - but we could tell our home invader was still invading.)
So, last night, we tried a new tack. We plugged the cat door and put the trap (with a tantalizing heap of canned cat food) on the porch just outside the pantry door, next to the cat door.
This morning - success! Rocky Raccoon is inside the trap and will soon be transported to some woods far away from ours. I kinda feel sorry for the little guy, but not sorry enough to keep letting him inside to feast on whatever he can find.
I hope he doesn't have any friends. Do raccoons travel in packs?
And I'm rethinking the cat door......
Sunday, February 1, 2009
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