I'm at the end of two week's leave. I enjoy taking my time off during this pre-spring time. It allows me to do all the necessary jobs to clean up from the winter months and to prepare for the upcoming summer...People at work have a tendency to look at me askew when I reply to their questions about my time off by saying we went nowhere but rather we stayed put enjoying each other and our home....I enjoy sweeping my front porch, taking my time drinking coffee with my JoJo in the mornings....working in the yard. These little things to me are the best things in life. I have no need to take a cruise , see the world's largest ball of mud or what have you...I want to sit on the porch with my wife....that's my idea of a good time....

It seems as if it is becoming more and more difficult to obtain long term food storage products. Prices have risen for some products dramatically, and availability appears to be disrupted. The meat, noodle, pasta selections appear to be bought out leaving shit such as freeze dried fruit, ice cream,eggs etc.. The result is that this month i am forced to buy individual packets rather than number 10 cans and even these packets are wildly expensive. I bought 5--2 serving packets of chili mac with beef------ anything else viable as a meal on amazon was unavailable until 3-15....it is very possible that i will get priced out of the market on freeze dried foods. I have been stockpiling for a while and we can support what freeze dried food we have with canned garden stock. Those just starting to stockpile may have a hard, expensive time of it. Although this may just be temporary.....maybe

I am impressed with the Walking Dead... we just finished watching the 1st season on DVD. (we have no cable--no TV) --- Bringing a decent Zombie concept to television was without a doubt, a tough premise and the Walking Dead carried it off. Even with only 6 episodes there were decent special effects, and a continuing loss of survivors as time went on...excellent. If you are into Zombie movies this is well worth watching--especially in DVD format, you can sit and watch the season as an entire film without interruption.

I have been reading Morris Berman's Twilight of American Culture....

Although originally written in the Late 90's I believe, the concepts are not only precisely on target but projections made in the book based on possible economic disruptions in the future are uncanny. Although the concepts of the growing stupidity of the American public, educational failures, and commercial interference/control of culture are not news--- his solution is...No solution...yes finally an author without the feel good ending---without the why can't we all get along philosophy...basically Berman says one way or another we are fucked...culturally...but it is those independents--those who refuse to join in and assist the stupidity, these individuals will help intelligence survive the coming American dark ages.

It is an interesting and refreshing concept that i cannot do justice to here.....but...only buy this book if you shake your head at the stupidity surrounding you on a daily basis......otherwise you will not enjoy it.......

Below is a photo of my Prius version 2.0......(the neighbor's house and truck in the background)....The change of season meant the reapplication of the "birth control hubcaps". During the winter months I remove them since the winter change in wind direction, and temperature during my commute drops my mileage from a summer average of 52.7 miles per gallon to 47.7 miles per gallon..which is climate based with no technical solution...

The summer months with the change in wind direction and increase in temperature allows the streamlined hubcaps to increase mpg. While on my pre-spring vacation I checked and painted the caps to match the body color of the car. The Prius which provides complete protection against the mercenary ups and downs of gasoline prices is now at 70,000 trouble free, commute only miles. I intend on keeping this vehicle forever, I maintain it at the nearby dealer to insure maximum reliability. We do not have to be victims---

Dreaming in public is an important part of our job description, as science writers, but there are bad dreams as well as good dreams. We're dreamers, you see, but we're also realists, of a sort.
William Gibson