I must be turning into a wimp, because, by the time I got done with plowing the driveway last night, I was so cold, it hurt. It wasn’t the coldest it’s been all year temperature-wise (about 10° or so while I was out there – a balmy 2° right now according to the news. I can’t give the reading from my back yard – which is likely colder – because my wireless temperature thingie is buried under several feet of snow and has gone into hibernation), but the wind was fierce, and I didn’t really get warm again until I was in bed and under the electric blanket for a few hours. There’s just no place to put the snow now. And tonight, it’s gonna get really cold. Normally, I’d wish I had tickets to tonight’s SU-Georgetown game, I think I’ll be happy to watch from the comfort of my own home (listening for the telltale sounds of roof truss failure). Sure do wish I could just go back to bed.
PJ, That’s very scary that you got so cold. Can’t be good for you. We old folks eventually concede that there are things we shouldn’t do. (Admittedly you are not as old as I am.) Of course winning the lottery would help, but getting sick or hurt won’t help.
have you considered putting in additional roof supports from your load bearing walls?
No, I think (or at least hope) that they engineered it well. It’s been out there in the snow since 1975, and it hasn’t collapsed yet. If it’s warmish this weekend I’ll get up there and lighten the load some more, but I also need to start moving the snow on the ground from one place to another. I can’t really just push it around anymore. I have to pick it up and carry it to other places to get rid of it. It’s pretty impressive.
heh! been there with a snow shovel and 10 foot drifts as a kid in Ohio.
No money available for hiring out work, I’m afraid. I don’t have much insurance, but if I croak, it’ll help Granny out for a little while. Especially since she won’t have to even think about burying me ’til spring. I’ll definitely keep ’til April, at least, out in the shed.
My advice would be to skip the funeral, and buy a chipper/shredder for the tractor. That should take care of pretty much everything, and make a mighty fine mulch on top of it.
Some pretty interesting (and by interesting, I mean depressing) information about the Governor’s proposed budget and how it affects where I work.
I work at a State hospital – the only Level 1 trauma facility in a geographic region that covers something like 30,000 square miles (from, as they say, Canada to Pennsylvania and Rochester to Albany). We’re also required to care for the indigent. The operating budget is in the neighborhood of $600 million. NY State currently directly provides $37 million of that.
Governor Andy is proposing a 100% reduction in State Support. All of it. A state hospital with no funding from the state. Oh, but that’s not all.
Additionally, he wants to reduce Medicaid payments statewide (which also cuts an equal amount of federal matching funds). We’ll lose another $6 million as part of that.
He also wants to reduce payments for the disproportionate share of indigent and uninsured people. We get $16+ million there. He also wants to “tax” us by forcing us to pay into the state pension fund for our state employees. That’s $8+ million.
Overall, it looks like the Governor wants to deprive us of $68-70 million of our $600 million operating budget.
The administration is saying they won’t lay anybody off (we also happen to be the area’s largest employer, in an area that really doesn’t need any more layoffs). I guess I’d be saying that, too.
Looks like I picked a bad time to buy a house/move to snow country/quit drinking/quit sniffing glue.
Yeah, I’m really glad I’m not doing it by shovel. Of course, if the tractor craps out, I’m really, really screwed. No way I can shovel my 300′ driveway.
That most galling part of all this is that our governor doesn’t want to renew to income tax surcharge on the very wealthy. That, he says, would be tantamount to a tax increase.
Our only hope is the state legislature and nobody thinks very much of them.
This is what they mean by a different kind of Rethug, he’s not a closeted gay guy, he’s a philanderer:
Rep. Christopher Lee is a married Republican congressman serving the 26th District of New York. But when he trolls Craigslist’s “Women Seeking Men” forum, he’s Christopher Lee, “divorced” “lobbyist” and “fit fun classy guy.”
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2011/2/9/942361/-NY-26:-Rep.-Christopher-Lees-sexless-Craigslist-adventure
DK has posted the “sexy” photo he sent to a woman on Craigslist.
:barf: :barf: Onkel Gov. Andy :barf: :barf:
His cut proposals would force our Upstate hospital to close its doors — then what, Onkel Gov. Andy :fu: ??? Whattaya gonna do with all the bodies? What’s your plan, Onkel Gov (where’s the Heil Hitler emo PJ?)!??
Can’t let Lloyd Blankfein (the Ferengi Prince of Goldman Sachs :fu: ) make any sacrifices — God forbid he should pay anything but marginal taxes, if any, on his million$ in bonu$e$ thanks to the bailouts paid by those of us who live paycheck to paycheck and don’t have a “portfolio” other than a sheaf of bills.
Wonder when things are going to start falling apart here the way they are in Egypt? When does the Revolution start HERE?? :fist:
Hey, Marc Maron — we need you to be our Fearless Leader!! :fire: :fire: :kub: :kub:
The Times, they are a’changin’ 😮
Get ready for the ride to get even bumpier :billcat:
I remember thinking back in the bad bush years that when the bodies of the old, the sick and the infirm started to stack up and there were beggars on the street that it would turn the hearts of the powerful. Now I fear that was the plan all along.
We all should all be out in the streets in the same spirit as the Egyptians demanding to be released from the bondage of the corporatocracy and watching the bankers 👿 and their enablers who have robbed us of our treasure be frogmarched off to Guantanamo. We all need to do something so our grandchildren do not live their lives as serfs. :growl: :fist:
Re 9,
Congressman Lee of NY has resigned.
“It has been a tremendous honor to serve the people of Western New York. I regret the harm that my actions have caused my family, my staff and my constituents. I deeply and sincerely apologize to them all. I have made profound mistakes and I promise to work as hard as I can to seek their forgiveness.
“The challenges we face in Western New York and across the country are too serious for me to allow this distraction to continue, and so I am announcing that I have resigned my seat in Congress effective immediately.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/09/chris-lee-resigns-after-c_n_821080.html
“My advice would be to skip the funeral, and buy a chipper/shredder for the tractor. That should take care of pretty much everything, and make a mighty fine mulch on top of it.”
LMAO! heh! )
i’m putting that in my quotations file.
i thank you.