Wondering how bad my dog will shake.

My oldest dog has always been deathly afraid of anything that goes bang.  I told you about how she reacts to thunder back on this old blog posting: http://dizzydick.blogspot.com/2012/10/wondering-how-much-and-when-it-will-rain.html  Well, she may get a double whammy tonight.  Being New Years Eve, the neighbors put off a lot of fireworks and I believe the weather man said that there is also a chance of some storms moving in.  So, I am afraid that there will be "a lot of shakin going on" here tonight.  Remember that old Jerry Lee Lewis song?  I guess after tonight, things should get back to normal.  I like normal, but some people think normal is boring.  I do not believe in being bored.  Boredom is a preventable emotion and my normal is definitely not boring.  Any emotion that can be prevented and is useless, should never be allowed to happen.

My son talked me in to getting on facebook.  He said it was a great way to keep in contact with my friends and family.  So I joined.  Funny how some people I know found me so quick.  How did that happen?  I think I will like it but not sure yet.  Will pass judgement after a bit of time elapses.  I have left it open to the public but will make it private soon.  That reminds me, I guess I should check it today.  There are still things I don't understand about it, but I will learn. . . maybe.  Now you all have a great day and don't party to hardy tonight, but if you do, don't keep me awake.  Have a great New Year, you hear. 

Wondering about dangerous wild things.

There are a lot of creatures, both great and small, that can cause you harm.  Some are mean and really want to hurt you, others hurt you by accident, and some have to use you for food.  Let me take these in reverse order.  Bacteria, viruses, mosquitoes, and in some cases large creatures like killer whales, big cats, bears, alligators, and I have heard of a python eating a small child, can and will eat you.  There are microbes of all kinds trying to devour you right now.  We just can't escape the danger, but most of us just ignore it.  Except when it comes to huge, exotic creatures; they seem to scare us the most and they are usually the least of your worries.  When you go to bed tonight the chance of being eaten by a huge predator is almost nil, but the chance of being feasted on by very small (some unseen) predators is quite high.  In fact, it is guaranteed.

I suppose that you think that your vehicle is immune from these predators.  Well, you are wrong.  Down in Florida the vultures are attacking vehicles and eating all the rubber weather stripping off any that they can find.  Now, I know some of us drive old vehicles, but this is getting ridiculous!  Buzzards and vultures following our vehicles around waiting to attack while they are sleeping.  Really bad!!!  Don't believe me?  Here is a link to the news article: http://www.wildflorida.com/articles/Vultures_attack_cars_in_Florida.php  OK, stay away from those car eating vultures and look up every now and then to see if any are following you.  I got real nervous the other day when there were so many vultures in one of my dead trees that I thought they would make the limbs fall off, and they were all LOOKING AT ME!!!!  Well, they left the next day, so now you all have to worry about them coming to your house (grin).  Now have a great day, you hear?

Wondering if I am normal.

Dang!!!  Since I got older (No, I didn't admit to being old, just older) I have noticed some changes to my body.  Like when my hands get cold they start to itch.  Yep, and I got itches in other places.  The places that don't itch hurt.  I am not sure which is worse.  What is worse is that I can itch and hurt at the same time.  Now, you know, it takes a lot of skill to do two completely different things at one time.

I also forget things.  My wife read my blog yesterday and said I wrote one just like it awhile back.  Shucks, I didn't remember that, so I went back in my blog history and dang if she wasn't right.  Take a look back at my old blog: http://dizzydick.blogspot.com/2011/10/wondering-about-some-traffic-signs.html  

Same sign, different refrigerator.  When am I ever going to learn that my wife is always right and I am always wrong?  So, I will say that I am sorry for posting two blogs about the same subject, even though they were over a year apart.  I should have known.  Now, you all have a great day and stay warm and well, you hear?

Wondering about traffic signs.

Everyone of us who drives a vehicle or rides in one has to watch for and obey the traffic signs.  Like "slow":

And if going slow doesn't work than there is "stop".

And then there is a sign that makes you go the wrong way:

And then, just when you want to find a spot to park, there are those "no parking" signs.  They seem to show up in the most unexpected places just where you want park.

Hey, you say, that doesn't look like a parking area, right?  Well it is. Here is a better picture of the sign:

This is the door of our refrigerator and that is where I found this sign!!  Let me explain.  We have well water here and I just love the taste of it but my wife doesn't.  She has this pitcher that has a water filter built into it.  It is called a PUR pitcher.  This is the spot where she keeps it so she has cold water to drink.  Sometimes I put things in that spot when the pitcher is not there, thus the sign.  It isn't that we don't communicate, it is just that I have a poor memory.  (That is the best excuse I can come up with now.)  Now you all have a great day and I hope all your parking spaces will be reserved.

Coloring my wife's doodles.

My wife likes to doodle.  According to Wikipedia, "a doodle is an unfocused drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied.  Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or my just be abstract shapes."  OK, that is the definition, but what my wife does is a little beyond that.  I told you before she (and once in awhile I do too) makes cards to send every weekday to my aunt in a nursing home in Pennsylvania.  She often decorates the envelopes with what she calls doodles.  Yesterday, she got the idea to color these doodles, so she had two cards already made up with doodles all over them and gave one to me to color and kept one to color. I figured that it would only take a short time but we both spent almost all day and into the evening on this project.  Now I appreciate what she does every day a lot more since I helped out on these cards.  Here is a picture of the two cards with a typical decorated envelope:

Remember that my wife did all the doodles and I just colored one of them.  Do you want to guess which one I did and which one my wife did?  Just thought you would like to see them.  Now you all have a great day today, you hear?

It was a good day.

Although we don't have a Christmas tree, or wreathes, or gifts, or garland, we did have a great Christmas.  My son called to make sure we were at home and said he would like to come up and see us.  My wife and I went outside to meet him since it was such a beautiful day which started out in the upper 70's but was quite windy.  We decided to sit in the RV and talk.  Then his girl friend showed up with her little miniature Chihuahua.  It is just so cute and full of so much energy.  It runs every where it goes unless it is carried.  I brought out our youngest dog, Gizzy, and she just didn't know what to make of that little ball of energy.

They were heading for the south part of Houston to see her Mother, so went to get ready and head south.  Her brother, who is staying with them, walked up and we started talking.  He said that he would like to see the inside of the RV, so the three of us went back in the RV and we visited with him until my son and his girl friend drove up to pick him up.  That made for a good day, even though the temperatures were dropping all day long.  The warmest part of the day was the early morning.  Now, isn't that a little backwards?  By evening it was down in the 30's but even by this morning, it hadn't got down to freezing like the TV weatherman predicted.

I hope all of you had a safe and very enjoyable Christmas, too.  Now, even though it is the day after, try to have a really great day, you hear?

Merry Christmas - 2012

May you all have a wonderful Christmas and please if you are traveling today, be careful.  Our big gift this Christmas was that those severe storms missed us and actually didn't get as bad as predicted where they did pass through.  But, it looks like all the bad weather has moved east and Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida are or will be hit hard.

May the love of Christ be part of all your days, not just on Christmas.  You all have a Merry Christmas, you hear?

Wondering about things that are out to get me. . .

There are a lot of things around my place that are out to get me.  Today, I am just going to mention one them to keep this blog short enough to read in one day (grin).  Let me start from the beginning.  As you know we have had up to four small dogs living here with us at one time.  Sadly, we are down to three at this time.  If you want to read about my Buttons, here is a link to the blog I posted after she passed away: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3297986341537650775#editor/target=post;postID=757116746615790464
My buttons was no trouble at all but then we started to collect Shih Tzu's and decided to divide the house in half and keep the new pups in the north half which included the kitchen and family room where we live when we are not sleeping.  The south half, which included the living room was off limits.  So I got me a two foot high fence and put it in the ten foot opening between the two main parts of the house.  Yes, I know that they can jump it, but it is a physical boundary that reminds them not to pass unless I pick it up, which I do when we head in to the master bedroom for the night.  It sounds like a stampede when I pick up that gate.

Back to the subject.  That gate just reached up and grabbed me yesterday as I was stepping over it and I wound up hitting the floor a little harder that I would have wanted to.  I laid there for awhile making sure everything was still attached, moved slightly to make sure every thing worked, and clenched my teeth and got up.  To tell you the truth, I hurt more this morning than I did when it happened. I am stiff and sore but not as much as I would be if I had not gone outside and walked my quick mile with my wife.  We try to do that every day.

I now have a new respect for that fence.  I have tripped over it before but this is the first time I fell that hard.

My wife tells me that according to the advertisement on TV for the motorized scooter or chair, that I now qualify to get one.  I wonder if you can order them with a 500 cu. in. nitro methane burning engine?  Bet I could really hurt my self then. . . OK, you all have a great Christmas Ever and an even better Christmas Day, you hear?

Wandering around the flea market-as always

Back to the flea market again today.  There are many times more vendors there on Sunday than on Saturday.  We didn't purchase anything except my wife bought a cute doll but gave it to a vendor friend of hers.  I took time to chat with a lot of my vendor friends but as usual, didn't find anything I needed.

I see that MsBelinda on her blog today talked about Betty Boop.  What a coincidence!!  When I was at the flea market I thought of MsB when I saw a Betty Boop sign, knowing how much she is into this Betty Boop thing.  You know, I got a cousin in Kansas that is the same way.  Well, I had to take this picture:

And a little closer look: 

A little further down the isle there was a lot of western things.  Since we do live in Texas there has to be some cowboy stuff for sell.  This guy had all styles of saddles and tack for sell.  He had three tables all in a row and all filled on and in front with western stuff. 

Well, don't have much more to say except you all have a great day today, you hear?

Wandering to the HAM breakfast.

No, it wasn't just ham and eggs, the ham part is in reference to amateur radio.  The local "hams" try to get together for a breakfast once a month.  They use to do it locally and I went every month, then it was moved out of town.  I got notified by a ham friend that it was going to be held at Denny's in Conroe today starting at 08:00.  I went and had a wonderful time.  Met some hams that I never met before and we had a lot in common other than ham radio.  One was into astronomy and the other was an RVer.  Wow, that gave me so much to talk about that I almost didn't have time to eat.  I had to get home in time to take my wife to the flea market.  I am now looking forward to next month's breakfast.  Two things about most hams is that they like to eat and they like to talk.

My wife came out of the house as I pulled in the driveway and off we went to the flea market.  Neither of us found anything that we couldn't live without, so came home empty handed.  I like to visit with some of the vendors who have become friends.  I try to enjoy my self where ever I am at.  Sometimes that is hard to do but not today.  It has been a good morning.  Cool and clear, it is now only 66 degress here at noon.  Don't think we will have a white Christmas.  The weather man is calling for rain, but who knows.  Texas weather can change very quickly.  Now you all have a great day, too, you hear?

Wondering why I slept in.

I slept in this morning.  I figured if the world came to an end why bother getting up or was that suppose to be yesterday?  Heck if I know.  I kind of loose track of things like that, I only keep track of important things. . . yeh, right!  It was too cold this morning to get up.  Two of the dogs wanted to go out at 04:00 this morning and when I opened that door and that frigid air hit me (I don't wear pajamas) I thought I had been transported to the Arctic or the world had ended by a flash freeze.  It just doesn't get that cold here (or at least that is what I tell my friends who live way up north).  It was 28 degrees and of course just before dawn is usually the coldest time on a still night, so it probably got a degree or two colder.  I don't know, I was snuggled under the covers back in bed.  That was quite a difference from the nice warm days we have been having.  At least that strong wind has quieted down.  If it hadn't, it would have gotten so cold everything would have frozen solid and it would feel like the Arctic for sure.

I guess I have end of the week bog down.  I don't have any brilliant ideas to share with you nor do I have any interesting or funny stories to tell.  So the best thing I can do is just tell you all to have a great day, you hear?:

Update:  At 10:30 the temperature has already climbed over 20 degrees and rising .  Just thought that you would want to know.

Wondering about the Color Twister

I mentioned in my blog back on the 16th about the new "toy" my wife got at the flea market.  It is called the Color Twister and it spins a disk and makes swirled color designs.  On yesterdays blog I showed a picture of one of my wife's cards that she makes to send to my aunt in a nursing home.  I failed to mention that she made the flowers on that card with that new toy, the Color Twister.  Just in case you are a little curious about what the heck it is, here is a picture of the devise:

And here is the box that it came in:

And here is a close up view of the flowers on the card that she made using the new toy:

Now, maybe this blog will help you understand and put more light on a couple of my recent past blogs about the flea market purchase and one of the cards that my wife made.

This is garbage day and I now have to lug the garbage cans down to the road.  That will be my exercise for today. . . maybe.  Now you all have a great day and make sure you get rid of all your garbage, too.

One of her daily cards.

I believe that I told you before that my wife makes a card every day that there is mail service and sends them to my Aunt who is in a nursing home in Pennsylvania.  She either draws or paints or doodles or pastes something unique every day.  Some times I get myself in gear and make a card but I do it on the computer whereas she does it by hand.  She has been doing this for quite some time now, at least a couple of years.  That is a lot of cards and they are all different, one of a kind, and I will say that they are masterpieces.  Sometimes I write a poem for the cards, trying to match the poem to the card subject.  Together, I think we make a pretty good team, but my wife does most of the work and most of the cards.

There are no copies or records of all the cards.  Like I said, they are all "one of kind".  Yesterday, I took the card that was to go in the mail and took a picture of it.  I thought that you would like to see a sample of what she makes.

Did you notice that she even decorates the back side of the envelopes?  It takes up a lot of her time and she makes at least five cards a week.  This one is three dimensional.  Hope it doesn't get too flattened in the mail as it makes it trip from Texas to Pennsylvania.  Now, you all have a great day today, you hear.

Wondering about the Higgs boson.

I guess we humans just can't let things be, we have to dig deeper and deeper and deeper.  Sometimes I think all this information buries us in an enormous pile of information.  But for over 20 years scientists have been searching for the theoretical "Higgs boson" particle.  They call it "the God particle" because they say it is the foundation that everything else is built from.  Kind of makes me wonder what the Higgs boson particle is made up of. . .  Oh, I guess in another 20 years or longer someone will come up with that answer, but then there will be someone around like me who will wonder what that other something is made up of, etc., etc. etc.

Why were they searching for this elusive particle?  They were trying to solve the question of what causes gravity.  OK, you may say, mass causes gravity.  But what causes mass.  Now they say the Higgs bosom is what gives things mass and that there are a lot of particles out there that don't have mass.  You know, like photons (that is if you believe that photons are a particle and not a wave form).  OK, that is enough wondering about such stuff for now, my head is starting to hurt.  Too many things being discovered and thought up that is way beyond my understanding.  I guess that is why I wonder about them.

On a lighter side, you have to read Hermit Jim's blog today.  He will put a big smile on your lips if not a loud laugh out of your mouth.  You just never know what he is going to come up with but you can be sure that it is always interesting.  Now, all of you go rest your minds and have a really great day.  For you MsB, it is around 50 this morning and clear and sunny.

Wondering; what a difference a day makes.

Last night when I went to bed it was so very foggy you could cut it with a knife and I wondered if I would drown if I took a deep breath.  I turned on my fashlight and pointed the beam horizontally across in front of my face.  You could see the dancing water droplets just floating around doing their little dance.  It was really thick and I was glad I wasn't out on the road.  This morning when I got up it was completely different.  A front came through during the night and the temperature dropped quite a bit and it was cool and clear.  The sky is a crystal clear blue.  The air is cool and clean.  Just love a morning like this.  Makes you want to get up and get busy. . . almost but not quite (grin).

Got a few errands to do in town today.  Not much going on here to write about and have nothing much on the menu.  Maybe I can come up with a better blog tomorrow, or not.  But one thing for sure, I want all of you to have a great Monday, you hear?

It is raining

"It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring", remember that children's song?  Well, it is raining and I was snoring and I am an old man.  So that song fits this morning.  It is amazing, we are past the middle of December all ready and last night didn't get below 70 degrees.  The day and night temperatures stayed almost the same.  What a difference from a couple of days ago.  The one thing I have learned about this area since I moved here is that one day we can have arctic weather and the next day we can have tropical weather. At least this time of year is not boring.

My wife got a new toy at the flea market yesterday.  I think it is called a Color Twister.  You put a round paper disk in it.  You pump a lever that makes it spin real fast and you can either put ink or thin paint on it ahead of time or while it is spinning and it gives you some unique and colorful designs.  She just loves anything pertaining to art and is really good at all types, from standard paintings to things unique.  A very talented lady, for sure.  Now you all have a wonderful day, you hear?

Wondering what is underneath.

In a lot of my blogs I have talked about things out in space like black holes, neutron stars, the sun, meteors, etc.  Today I am going to wander in the other direction and wonder about what is under our feet.  If you are a politician it is the rest of us, if you are the rest of us it is good old Mother Earth.  But what do we know about what is under our feet?  How far has man penetrated our Earth and does anything live down there.  Bacteria have been discovered in the cracks of rocks in gold mines 2.4 miles deep.  Some scientists believe that the bio-mass that lives deep underground outweighs all the life on the surface.

Our Earth is made up of four major layers; the outer crust, the mantle, the outer core, and the inner core.  The inner core is an iron rich orb that is actually larger than the planet Mercury.  Its outer part is molten but the inner part is solid and spins independently of the rest of the planet.  it has been discovered that earthquake waves travel faster north and south than they do west and east.  One reason for this could be that area has metallic crystals that are aligned with the earth's poles and the waves may travel faster "with the grain", so to speak.  If it were not for the spinning of the inner core that creates a magnetic field around the earth, the solar wind would strip us of our atmosphere like it did on Mars.  So let us hope that the inner most part of our world keeps on spinning and keeps on creating a magnetic field that will keep on protecting us from the harmful affects of our closest star.

It is cloudy and warm here today with chances of rain all weekend, so we will not be seeing the sun, but I hope the sun always shines on you and brightens your day.  So, have yourself a great start to the weekend, you hear?

Just a wondering about wonders.

Wonders can be simple things or complicated and rare.  What makes a wonder a wonder?  To me, anything that I wonder about is a wonder.  We humans are wonders (some more than others).  It doesn't take much looking around to find wonders if you have an open mind.  Last night I stepped outside when I left the dogs out just before I went to bed.  The sky was so very bright with stars that it was almost unbelievable for this area.  It was a wonder!!  The humidity and haze in this area usually restricts perfect vision so when we get clear nights it is worth a look up.  I was admiring all the stars when I saw a meteor streaking across the sky.  It sure was a bright one and I felt lucky to see it in the very few minutes I was outside.  It was another wonder!!

Don't waste your life by not considering things wonders.  Life can be so much more exciting and fun if we look at things as wonders.  If you look in the right mind set, you will see wonders all around you.  Maybe it is because I am so old that I appreciate things more, but I have always seen things as wonders and it made for a much better and fuller life.  I even see the wonder in a blade of grass.  Nothing is too insignificant to be a wonder, if you look for them.  I prefer natural wonders to man made ones.  I do not believe that man can compete with the wonders of nature and the universe.  Now, you all have a wonderful day, you hear?

P.S. do you think that I used the word "wonder" enough today?

Wondering what survived the cold spell.

My wife and I and the pups all survived the cold.  It was cold again this morning but this should be the end of the cold snap.  It will be back in the 70's or higher.  We have to have these short cold snaps so that we appreciate all the wonderful weather we do have in this area.  The only time it gets bad here is when we get visitors from up north and wanted to impress them.  Always seems to work that way.  The last few nights were so clear that it looked like you could reach up and grab the stars and Jupiter was so very bright up there chasing the Pleiades from east to west, you could not ask for a clearer night.

Anyway, I was wondering if the cold killed off anything.  The only thing that seemed to be missing were the mosquitoes, but they will be back.  All the wild flora and fauna seemed intact.  In fact, here is a picture of mushroom that is now growing along side of my driveway.

And the grass and neighboring wild plants still seem lush and green. So I guess our couple of nights of freezing temperatures didn't hurt anything, even me.  I went out walking yesterday morning and it felt really good.  Nice to have a taste of winter once in awhile.  BTW, the weather man said that it may get quite cold for Christmas.  Wow, do you think it would be possible to have a white Christmas down here???  Nah, that only happens once every 25 to 100 years or so.  Who knows...  OK, you all have a great day today and I have to take the garbage down to the road.  That will give me some exhilarating exercise this cool, cool morning.  Thanks for coming by for a read and hope you all return.

Wondering why some things feel so cold.

I just picked up my laptop computer to write my blog and was surprised to feel how cold it was.  Or was it?  Maybe it just felt cold because it is stainless steel.  Well, at least it looks like stainless steel. That doesn't matter, it is metal and when I picked it up this morning it felt extremely cold!!  In fact it felt colder than anything else I touched this morning that was in the house.  If it is real cold and you go outside and pick up two objects, one made of wood and one made of metal, which one feels the coldest?  The metal one does and it got me wondering.  It must have something to do with thermodynamics; the way thet heat and energy act.  I suppose that the piece of wood and the piece of metal are the same temperature, but one transfers the heat or cold (lack of heat) faster than the other.  

If you we born and raised in the cold north, when you were young you were warned about placing your lips or tongue on any cold metal in the winter time.  There is always some wild kid that didn't believe it and had to prove it to himself.  No!!! It was not me!!  There were other warning we were given as kids, like don't eat the yellow snow!  When I was a kid I just loved to be out in the snow.  The worst the blizzard, the more I wanted to be out in it.  Now I live where it would be a rarity in deed to see snow.  Regardless whether it snows or it is hot where you live, just have yourself a really great day, you hear?

Baby It's Cold Outside.

You can sure tell that I live a boring life when I talk about things like the weather.  But actually, the weather is the most exciting thing going on this morning.  It actually got down below freezing the first time this season.  Yep, it got down to 30 degrees by this morning and according to the TV weather reporter it will do so again tomorrow morning, but then get back up into the 70's.  The sky is clear and the sun came up bright and warm so it will warm up fast.

Didn't do much of anything yesterday except fight with my old desk-top computer and some of the older programs trying to get some important stuff done.  I have too many computers and printers and such.  That doesn't sound like a problem, does it?  Well it is, because not everything works with everything else.  Sometimes to complete a project I will use multiple computers, tablets, printers, but only one scanner (because I threw the old one away even though it still worked fine).

Speaking of computers, I still can't get this laptop (which I am writing on now and will use it to post this blog) to let me comment on blogs.  I write the comments and when I hit the post button it all goes away.  Therefore, I write my blog on this computer and comment and answer comments on my tablet.  Sometimes a guy just gives up trying to solve the problems and goes with what gets the job done.  Now you all just go with flow and have a smooth ride today, you hear?

Getting ready for Winter.

OK, I know all you that live up north will laugh at me and my winter preparations, but I will be laughing when you all are froze under feet of snow and temperatures down where they should never be allowed to go.  But I do prepare, even though it takes me less than hour to do so.  The first thing I do is shut off my outside water and drain the pipes.  The water pipe that feeds it goes under the deck to get the spigot outside.  It used to sag some (still does) and it couldn't be completely drained from the spigot.  The shut-off valve for the line is actually lower than the outside spigot and there is no way, even taking the sag out, to be able to drain it from the spigot.  So one year it actually got cold enough to freeze it and of course it split wide open.  When I replaced the pipe, I put a tee with a plug in one branch and located it in the low spot.  When winter comes, all I have to do is turn off the water, open the spigot, and take the plug out of the low spot which drains the pipe run.  I also removed the hose that was hooked up to it and drained, rolled it up, and stored it on the the porch.

The other thing that I did was throw some tarps over my well and pressure tank.  Down here where I live the wells are usually drilled away from the house, since most homes do not have basements.  When I first moved here you couldn't dig a post hole without hitting water, so you know that if basements were dug they would turn into swimming pools, but times have changed and we have been in drought conditions for a couple years.  Some people put the pressure tank inside the home but mine is out beside the well.  That way it can feed both my house and my son's.

There!!! I got my winter preps done and just in time.  It got down into the low 40's last night and suppose to get colder the next few nights before it warms back up to where it should be.  OK, you guys up north, quit laughing now, it will be in the 70's here when you are around zero.  Actually when I lived up north, I enjoyed the cold weather, but I am sure I could not stand it now.  They say your blood thins out in the heat of the south.  If that is so, why do our arteries still clog up down here?  Now, you all keep warm and happy, you hear?

Wondering about randomness.

Do you believe that a lot of the things that happen are just random?  Given enough time any particular thing will just randomly happen?  There are mathematical formulas that express this, they are called factorial.  I have always been fascinated with this formula and have used it in a lot of things that I wonder about.  Let me give you a small example.  If you have five different colored blocks, how many different ways can they be arranged?  The formula is 5 factorial or 5! and it is solved by multiplying 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 (of course you don't need the "1" at the end, but I just put it in there to show that there is five items).  The answer is that there are 120 different arrangements.  Now, if you were playing a lottery that had five numbers and those numbers were 1 through 5, you would have a 1 in 120 chance to win.  So why haven't I got all 5 numbers right on the Texas Pick 5 lottery?  You only have to guess 5 numbers, right? Wrong!!  You have a field of 37 numbers to pick from.  That factorial would be 37 x 36 x 35 x 34 x 33 . . . . x 3 x 2 x 1 minus 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 or 37! - 5!.  That is one huge number!  Now I know why I haven't won in all the years I have bought tickets.

Now that I have talked about factorials, let me pose a question to you all.  What do you think the chances of life appearing on Earth all on its own would be?  You better have a lot of zeroes and a huge paper to write the probability of it happening here on Earth.  And for human kind to develop on its own, would be a much bigger factorial than I could imagine.  Just something to think about this Sunday morning.  Now you all have a great day today, you hear?

Update on new refrigerator.

This will be the last time I mention the new refrigerator, at least until something bad happens to it, I promise.  It was delivered yesterday afternoon and it went well up to the point where the guy tried to get it into the slot where the old one was.  The old one was a side beside with the freezer on the left and the refrigerator part on the right.  The new one has the freezer on the top, just like the old style units.

The fellow had no problems backing his truck up through our front yard to the front door where the bed was only less than a foot below the "porch" section of the steps.  He took the hydraulic cylinder off the storm door so it would open further and the handles off the new refrigerator to make it easier to get in.  He first pulled the old one out far enough to allow room to get the new one in.  He managed to get the new one in and across the living room to the kitchen and lined it up and started to push it into the opening between the counter and cabinets on one side and the wall on the other.  That is when the problems started.

I had measured the width from the top of the counter to the wall and from the cabinets to the wall and knew it would fit.  I never thought that things may be out of square.  Down at the bottom next to the floor, it jammed up and would not go in.  This new unit is only about an inch wider and up where I measured, the old one had over an inch clearance on each side.  To make a long story a little shorter, after quite a long time of removing trim and pounding on things and shoving with all his strength, it went in.  It is working just fine and so far we are pleased.  This one doesn't have an ice maker like the old one, but I really didn't want one.  They are a big source of problems and the one on the old unit quit working long before the whole unit gave up the ghost.

Well, you know what day it is, so off to the flea market we go. Now you all have a great Saturday, you hear?

Big Day - Little Post

The wife wants to leave here in about 15 or 20 minutes, so this will be a little (short) post.  She wants to be at the eye glasses place to drop her frames off and get her new lenses installed in both her long distance and her reading glasses.  We figure it will take an hour or two, so will have to wonder around a few stores or maybe even return home and then go back in later to get them.

Also, the new refrigerator will be delivered this afternoon.  Hope that goes well.  I am not sure which door they will want to use to bring it in.  So will have to make sure that there is no obstacles in their path and the dogs will have to be shut in the master bedroom.  One advantage of purchasing the unit from a small dealer is that the salesman and his partner our also the delivery men.  Therefore, we will know who is going to bring it into our home.

Got to run, may update later.  Then again, I may not.  Now, are you in suspense?  Have a great day, it is Friday, you know?

Wondering why the refrigerator is on the skids.

The night before last I noticed that my ice cream was on the soft side but just figured since I had purchased it early that afternoon, it didn't have a chance to get hard after being in the shopping cart and then the back of the Jeep for the ride home.  Last night I had to admit that there was something wrong.  We have a side by side and the freezer side is usually around zero to ten degrees and the fresh food side around 37 to 42 degrees.  I put a thermometer in it and found the freezer side to be only a few degrees below freezing and the fresh food side to be around 50 degrees.  It was time to empty it out.

Using a big black cloth bag, we first unloaded the freezer and I lugged the heavy bag (five trips) out to the RV and put it into the freezer out there.  The RV's refrigerator has four doors.  The two lower side by side doors open to one large refrigerator with racks and drawers.  The two top side by side doors open into two separate freezer compartments.  Why, I don't know, but it does make it easier to find stuff in it.  One side has an ice maker, which we don't use.  We were thankful that we had such a big refrigerator in the RV to use for this small emergency.  Now the decision to repair or replace the one in the house will have to be made.  My memory is not too good, so can't remember just how long ago it was, but this happened before and we had a repair man come out and fix it.  It is over 20 years old, so maybe it would be better to replace it and not have to worry about it anymore.  Of course I have heard of new ones letting you down, too.  Guess we will be shopping for refrigerators today.  Now, you all have yourselves a great day, you hear?

Update:  My wife and I went shopping for a new refrigerator today.  After stopping at three of the big stores, like Home Depot, Lowe's, and Best Buy, we stopped at a small shop owned and manned by two pardners.  We purchased our last washer and dryer from them and liked their service and again we decided to purchase our appliance from them.  It will be delivered tomorrow.  I really didn't want to do that, but we had to have a place to keep things cold and/or frozen.  Can't keep running out to the RV for food.

Correction:  I stated above that the old refrigerator was over 20 years old.  That was a mistake.  I meant to type 12 years old.

Wondering why some people just don't care.

It is true, some people just don't care.  As long as they are not affected personally the just don't care.  They practice "dog psychology" which is "if you can't eat it or screw it, pee on it" or words to that effect only a little stronger.  I am sure you know people like that.  There is a way too big percentage of the population that is like that.  Of course when you get down to the basics, food to stay alive and procreation to keep the species alive are two of the most important things we work for.

There are some who live in their own very little world and do not care what else is happening around them as long as they are warm and well fed.  I believe that most of us are at least a little bit like that.  It is your own close family members that you protect the most and that is the way it should be.  Preppers can't prepare the whole community, county, state, country, or world for dissaster.  They prepare for themselves and maybe other family members and close friends.  It isn't that they don't care, it is just impossible to help everyone.

Then there are the people that just don't care.  They don't care about others and some don't even care about themselves.  I care about everyone, but know I am not able to take care of everyone so limit my protection to those closest to me.  In some cases, that would have to be those physically close since in a disaster, they are the only ones that can be quickly helped.  But since all is well in my world and it is dog grooming day, I will quit writing and get ready to take our babies to the groomer.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

Wondering about a school bus sign.

Yesterday on our way back from the post office, I stopped behind a school bus which was stopped at a red light.  I am one who takes things literally, which at times upsets people, especially my wife.  I noticed a sign on the back of this school bus and pointed it out to my wife.  Here is a picture of the back of the school bus:

And an enlargement of the sign I am talking about:

I mentioned to my wife that it was a good idea.  She said what is a good idea, and I said that if they don't ever allow the kids off the bus, then they couldn't cause anybody any trouble.  So, when I got home I wrote this fantastic poem (grin):

Can you read what the sign on the back said?

What does it mean?  I'll have to use my head.

If they do stop loading and unloading,

what will they do with kids by morning?

Staying on the bus will burst their bubble

but it will sure keep them out of trouble.

Keeping them there for ever and ever,

that could never happen, never, never!

Too bad. . . .

Now don't get me wrong, I love kids.  With out kids there wouldn't be any body to replace us old farts (grin).  I was just making fun of the sign which meant to me that it was against the law to load or unload the kids from the school bus.  BTW, I wiped out all the identifying features on the bus like its route number and license plate number to protect the innocent. . . Now you all have a great day, you hear?

Wondering about black holes, again.

Yes, I know that I have mentioned black holes in quite a few of my blogs but I saw a TV show on the science channel last night that was quite interesting and I am sure by now you have guessed that it was about black holes.  They are fascinating to me and also to a lot of scientists because they still do not completely understand them.  They asked a lot astronomers and scientists if they had ever seen a black hole and can you guess what the answer was?  DAH!!

No one has seen a black hole, that is why they call them black holes.  It is an unseen entity that has a mass and gravitation so strong that nothing can escape it, not even light.  (Actually they spit out jets along their axis caused when they swallow matter)  But now there is a search going on to locate one that can be seen.  How can that be done, you might ask?  Well, I may just tell you. . .  they have to find a black hole that is directly in line with a further out bright object.  Then they will be able to "see" a black hole.  But will they?  Or will they just see its shadow?

Now, closer to home, I think I have at least one black hole in my home!!  Stuff just disapears!  Some of the things show up later when you don't want them anymore or have already replaced them and some of them just never ever show up again!  I am sure that most of you all have black holes floating around your home, too.  Maybe the scientists should study the baby black holes in our home instead of the huge ones out in space.  It would be a lot cheaper and maybe they could get a closer look.  Then again, you just can't see a black hole, only its affects.  Now don't you all have black day, but have yourself a great start to the work week, you hear?

Wondering if I am the only one having blogger problems.

I am having blogger problems.  The problems are varied and not all blog sites are affected.  I can not leave comments on some and on others, they will not stay up long enough to even begin reading them.  I noticed it right away when I was using my tablet to try and read and leave comments on blogs.  Some I could do both, some I could only read, and some would not stay up long enough to even read them.  Never had this problem before.  Is anyone else having this problem?  I suppose I can't ask you to let me know if you are because you will not be able to, right?  But I do wonder if the problem is only on my end.

I am now on my laptop, but it always had problems.  I could never leave a comment on blogs with this laptop.  I was planning to take it to a computer doctor to find out why, but now if my tablet is acting up, also, maybe I better wait until I find out if it is blogger or if it may be my equipment.  So, I want all you readers out there who have blogs to know that I did read your blogs but couldn't comment on them, at least not at this time.  Hope this isn't a sign of the kind of day I will have today. . . but I do want all of you to have a great day, you hear?

Wondering about warming up.

Yes, I know I have been talking about the weather a lot lately, but I read something that I suspected but didn't know for sure; that it is warmer than normal.  I was beginning to think that it was my blood pressure or something because I have been thinking that it has been pretty warm this last year, and here it is, the first day in December and I woke up to temperatures in the 60's and it is suppose to be around 80 for the next few days.  The weatherman last night said that our overnight lows have been the normal daytime highs.  That pretty much says it all.

The article I read said that "July was the hottest month ever documented in the United States, as was the period from January through July 2012."  I am sure glad I got me a new AC unit for the house this last summer.  It has sure had a good workout and it is doing a good job.  They say this may cause more people to believe in global warming.  My opinion is that, yes, the Earth is getting warmer but it is not just because of one reason.  We can't blame everything on mankind.  The Earth has gone through a lot of heating and cooling cycles in its past and will continue to do so in the future.  But our star, the sun, is growing in size and will eventually boil away our oceans, which will be a real sign of global warming (grin).  In one of my past blogs I told you what will happen when the sun expands.  Kind of fits in with the Bible's prediction of how the world will end.  But for now, we will be off to the flea market and I want you all to have a great day whether the weather is warm or cold at your location, you hear?