Wolf Moon

Biggest and Brightest Full Moon of 2010 Tonight

A Wolf Moon. I noticed this morning (I'm up long before the sun) that the moonshine seemed incredibly bright but I thought it was just the reflection of the snow and ice on top of the greenhouses. Apparently not.

Driving home last night was Not!Fun! I left Stratford around 5:15 pm, headed for Easton. There were very dark clouds in the west but I didn't think much of it until, on the 8/25, I drove into a snow squall. Clear and perfect visiblity and then WHAM!Blizzard! That was a first. I couldn't see beyond the front end of my car. The roads froze over fast and by the time I hit the Merritt Parkway people were slip-slidin' away. I am an accomplished and confident foul-weather driver but that mini-blizzard scared the crap outta me. When I finally made it to Sport Hill Road the local roads were a sheet of ice and there was a huge crash/multi-car pileup on the Sport Hill. I got stuck twice trying to get up the hills and finally made it to the Farm an hour and a half after leaving Stratford -- door-to-door is usually 20 minutes. It was a nightmare of a trip home.

Driving in extreme rain, snow, wind, fog... not an issue for me. I'm pretty damn good at it, if I do say so myself. Ice? shudders Had I known what was ahead of me I would have thought twice about going home.

I could have used a shot of something when I finally reached my tranquil litle bungalow... tequila, scotch, bourbon, vodka. Sadly the house is free of alcohol. I will have to rememdy that deficiency post-haste!

Scream and Cry

My new Shock and Awe (remember that from the last decade?).

The Guantánamo “Suicides”: A Camp Delta sergeant blows the whistle

I just have no words.

Christmas gifts

Edited to add an LOL!


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When I handed out my wishlist for Christmas to family it included Dunkin' Donuts coffee, suggestions from the Nordic Needle (or just a gift certificate), a gift card for iTunes and gift certificates to Knitting Central in Westport, CT. My family, being generous and kind, filled my list to bursting. A week ago Saturday Mom called to say she saw a sign saying Knitting Central was going out of business - damn! I was going to use the gift certificate for more advanced classes in knitting but I think I'll use it for shopping this weekend.

Normally I hunt down yarn for crocheting and knitting projects as cheaply as I can (see Noble knits) because I'm cheap, but I'll be getting some really nice (and expensive, no doubt) yarn on Saturday. Knitting Central will continue its online store but the bricks'n mortar store will be closing in March. It's always sad to see those small businesses close and there are so few in southern Fairfield county it just makes it doubly sad to see. People like me are a small part of the problem. I just cannot afford the higher prices for yarn or stitching projects the small stores have to charge. Shopping online means I get more bang for the buck but it also means the small specialty stores cannot compete with the lower prices. Vicious circle. Economics sucks.

le sigh

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For Haiti

Google Critical Response has a list of well known charities accepting donations for Haiti relief. Please give what you can.

And, if inclined, wish hangnails on Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh. Edjits.

In case you haven't seen these

and you probably have, because I'm usually six months out of date...

Yarn Find, kinda like eBay for yarn

and

Woot, which describes itself thusly:

Woot.com is an online store and community that focuses on selling cool stuff cheap. It started as an employee-store slash market-testing type of place for an electronics distributor, but it's taken on a life of its own. We anticipate profitability by 2043 – by then we should be retired; someone smarter might take over and jack up the prices. Until then, we're still the lovable scamps we've always been. But don't take our word for it: see what the online community has to say at this Wikipedia article.

I like their sense of humor. My sister wondered if our youngest brother was behind the site but he denies all responsibility. As his wife concurs... it must be true.

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In other news, we have more snow in CT. Thanks so much Canada! And I still have the never-ending-cold-from-hell thing going on.

Happy New Year

3 Democrats — 2 senators, 1 governor — to retire

I'm happy to see Dodd go. He's pretty much useless. Would that he could take the other totally useless Senator, Lieberman, with him.

Longtime Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal told The Associated Press on Wednesday morning that he will run for Dodd's seat. Blumenthal, a Democrat, is seen as one of the state's most popular politicians. He planned to publicly announce his candidacy later Wednesday.

Considered by many insiders to be the most endangered Senate Democrat, Dodd planned to announce his retirement Wednesday, according to Democratic officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to publicly pre-empt the senator's remarks. Dodd told Democrats of his plans late Tuesday and scheduled an announcement on Wednesday.

I'm not sure what I think about Blumenthal. I think it's been a given for years he'd be after a bigger stage, and frankly I've been surprised he hasn't done more movement before this. My guess is CT will send him to DC. I'm not sure that's a good thing.

2010 is going to be an ugly year.