Turkey Onboard Endeavour

Riding a brilliant tower of flame into the night sky, the space shuttle Endeavour left Earth on Friday, carrying seven astronauts and a turkey on a 15-day mission to the international space station.

The 15-day flight's primary goal is to update the international space station so it can house six crew members at a time comfortably, instead of the current three. Watch the space shuttle Endeavour's liftoff »
Additions to the station's living space include more places to sleep, another bathroom, a better water system, new exercise equipment and a bigger refrigerator.
The shuttle is also bringing Thanksgiving dinner, with irradiated turkey, candied yams, stuffing and dessert, because it won't be returning to Earth until November 29.

Shouldn't we all be eating irradiated turkey?

Don't tell me we eat RADIATED turkey....

2 weeks to fatten your turkey

Americans raise over 256 million turkeys. The biggest producer of turkeys is Minnesota, followed by North Carolina, Arkansas, Virginia, Missouri and California.
Americans raise 649 million pounds of cranberries, 1.6 billion pounds of sweet potatoes, and 998 million pounds of pumpkin.

In addition to domestically grown and raised Thanksgiving food, the U.S. also imports $5.2 million worth of live turkeys from Canada, $2.2 million worth of cranberries (also from Canada), and $2.3 million dollars worth of sweet potatoes -- from the Dominican Republic.

More turkey tidbits at:

http://www.holidays.net/thanksgiving/didyouknow.htm

Where Will All the Yardsigns Go?

Mom informed me that it was a Federal Offense to leave a campaign yardsign up more than seven days after an election.
Can anyone verify this before I turn in the neighbors...I don't want to look like a fool.
I didn't want to take any chances--I don't need the Feds knocking on my front door--I took mine down.
I have a grandmother who will probably be braiding used yardsigns into dark blue shiny rugs, knitting shiny handbags and shiny vests fearing another depression. Me, on the other hand, might need to use them around the windows to tame down the drafts(not in the house...in my pickup).
Although my neighbors' HUGE Hillary sign worked as a good snow fence last winter, I heard the small plastic signs take 500 years to decompose (if Gore would have ran, his signs would have had multiple uses following the election).

Lois and Stan Rubbing It In

I think the message that accompanied this photo from Lois and Stan was
something like, "Stay up North and be fools (cold fools). We are
completely content, if not a little sweaty, here in sunny Florida." My
reply, "When global ice melt consumes your golf course, North will look a
little better. Until that time...you win."

Is this outside Lori's house?

Remember Our Veterans

This years official Veteran's Day Poster:And factoid for today:

The VA maintains more than 2.8 million gravesites at 125 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico, as well as in 33 soldiers’ lots and monument sites. Occupied gravesites may hold the remains of more than one family member.

Steve's uncle, Samuel, was killed in Italy in WWII. His youngest son is named in his memory.

Financial Advice

Psychic Boom

While the financial crisis has seen downturns throughout the economy, one sector has been flourishing: online psychics. Internet prognosticators say that their business is booming as worried Americans turn to them for fiscal forecasts. More on the story at Wired.

As a matter of fact, I think I'll get out the Tarot cards right now...

Chocolate Superheroes

This weekend is the annual New York Chocolate Show, complete with a 'chocolate fashion show' featuring Superheroes. This is Cat Women with chocolate bodice, boots, gloves, eye mask and wings. Don't recall seeing anything like this at Hersey Park...

Get out the winter coats

Less then a WEEK ago, I posted a picture of my beautiful autumn trees.
Here's that same tree TODAY.
Yes, that's SNOW!
where's that full service gas station?

Full Service Gas Stations

On the subject of gas...

Why can't you pump your own in Oregon and New Jersey?

In plain English: New Jersey and Oregon don’t trust people to not blow themselves up while pumping gas, and would rather leave the job to professionals (gas station
attendants), who undergo rigorous training where they learn that it’s bad to smoke while pumping gas, bad to leave the car running, and bad to put gas anywhere except a car’s fuel tank or other approved containers.

These laws were passed in 1949 and 51 and although a little outdated...would be nice on a cold wintry day (or rainy) to sit back and let someone else endure the weather.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/

don't forget to tip!

Not Just Another Graph

No, this is not a Poll Graph for McCain's campaign since Super Tuesday.

It is average Iowa Gas Prices since Super Tuesday.

Today I saw my first sign for:

$1.99 unleaded

The bad thing is that it is not so much a sign of cheaper gas in the future as it is a sign of a poor global economy.

Fill er Up!

from www.gasbuddy.com

Election Eve

No matter what your political affiliation, this is a cute picture. Featuring Ralph Nader as Mayor of Munchkin City

KELL WELL PHOTO

Cindy relaxes on her day off and is “all smiles” as both the Florida Gators and Tampa Bay Bucs won their football games this weekend!

Oh yeah!

 

Autumn Leaves

The first picture is from Parkersburg just last week. It is one of the only stripped trees left (they were all cut down) and it has sprouted some life back as has some of the town itself (you can also see some new houses in the background). Upon first viewing the trees in Parkersburg 5 months ago, you were filled with a sense of loss that can not be explained. It didn't appear that these trees had endured wind-it was more of damage done by explosion-the bark, leaves just stripped. The other two pictures are a couple of my maples planted in 95ish. The cell phone just can't capture the incredible beauty (of course I might be a little biased).