New I HATE CHRISTMAS Facebook Page

My fellow Christmas haters will want to join this new I Hate Christmas Facebook page. I joined a different one last year or the year before but couldn't find it. I stumbled on to this one and I like it better from what I've seen so far.

I found the old FB page kind of lame as a lot of the members seemed to be joking about hating Christmas. The kind of folks you'll hear telling you how much they hate it but next day they're out there putting Xmas decorations up. That's not what I was looking for. The folks in this new group seem a lot more sincere.

Join the page and let's let our passionate hatred of Christmas begin and rise to a fevered pitch!

I noticed there's also a I Hate Thanksgiving Facebook page, too.

The Tornado

Whenever I watch one of those extreme weather shows on TV I always wish I could see a tornado up close...from a safe place, of course. However, I have vague memories of being in a tornado when I was a kid in Illinois around 1959. My brother sent me an old letter yesterday my mother wrote that confirmed we went through a tornado.

It was a Christmas oriented letter (pdf format) that she wrote to relatives. Typewritten- no computers back then- it told a bit about us kids and then mentioned a "small" tornado damaging the house while her and dad were out of town.

She mentioned in her letter that all the windows on the front of the house were blown out. I don't recall that, but hers is historical record. As far as it being a small tornado, I guess she'd know better than I, although she wasn't there.

What I remember is being home with a babysitter in Deerfield, Illinois. I was around 3 years old. I recall the babysitter being real agitated and her saying she wished our parents were home. I wasn't sure why she was so frightened. 

Then I remember standing at one of the windows and looking out in front of the house. There were trees across the street maybe 20 to 30 feet tall. The wind was blowing so hard the tops of the trees were nearly touching the ground. That's about all I remember. Don't remember any windows breaking.

So that was the vague memory I had of the tornado along with a picture someone took- I may still have it- of our next door neighbor's old '50s woody station wagon laying on its roof the next day. I had the vague memories but no confirmation until I read that letter yesterday. Kinda neat to get a look back in the past and find my memory had some basis in fact.

Honest and Trustworthy?

That be me!

I don't swear nearly as much now as I did when I first moved up here. Seems to me I used to be one of those people that used the F word in just about every sentence. I never caught on to the blank look people would get on their face as I talked at them.

Not sure how I got wind of my dirty mouth and decided to stop doing that. Could be I saw someone else doing the same thing and decided it was tacky, at best. Then I realized I did the same thing. 

I still have a kinda dirty mouth, but try and use those dirty words judiciously. I'm still honest and trustworthy despite not using so many dirty words.

Review: Freedom From Speech

I thought Allen Mendenhall's review of the book Freedom From Speech was a pretty good read by itself. The book deals with the increasing tendency on college campuses to prohibit speech with might offend just about anyone:

What Lukianoff calls "the thought pattern of the modern American censor" is reducible to this decree: "there must be zero tolerance for anything that anyone might consider offensive, regardless of the context." - See more at: http://libertyunbound.com/node/1337#sthash.o5vVWn34.dpuf

"Who gets to decide what is offensive and what isn't? How do we determine who is worthy of such power? By what criteria should allegedly offensive statements be evaluated for acceptability? What's a manageable method for regulating speech if people of every background and belief are prone to offense at some phrase, characterization, or tone?"

What Lukianoff calls "the thought pattern of the modern American censor" is reducible to this decree: "there must be zero tolerance for anything that anyone might consider offensive, regardless of the context."
This impossible standard raises countless questions. Who gets to decide what is offensive and what isn't? How do we determine who is worthy of such power? By what criteria should allegedly offensive statements be evaluated for acceptability? What's a manageable method for regulating speech if people of every background and belief are prone to offense at some phrase, characterization, or tone?
- See more at: http://libertyunbound.com/node/1337#sthash.o5vVWn34.dpuf

The book is only 61 pages. Short enough even for my limited attention span. I see the book sells for only $4.19. I might just buy one.

Eureka Police Officer's Association Mailer

I got a letter a couple days ago from the Eureka Police Officer's Association. Anyone else? I've gotten them before but this was probably the only time I've opened one. It comes with a decal of a badge that says you're an official EPOA supporter. I've seen at least a couple of them on cars around town.

Nice sales gimmick. Most folks would put that on their car- they might even donate- hoping for a little preferential treatment if they get stopped by the police, but the letter has a cavaet on the sidebar:

"Possession of Support Decals will not reflect preferential treatment during enforcement contacts, but will still allow the bearer to go through any green light in town."

Nice touch, huh?

Reminds me of an old Dragnet episode where a guy was going around selling memberships to some phony police organization. He'd tell his targets one of the benefits of being a member was that if they get a ticket they can just tear it up.

Then some guy tears up a ticket in front of a cop. The cop asks why. The driver explains and ends up being taken to Detectives Friday and Gannon for further investigation. They end up running a sting and bust the guy selling the phony memberships.

So don't expect preferential treatment if you have one of those decals on your car, although you never know. They can't come right out and say it but I'm tempted to put the decal on my truck just in the off chance they'll cut me a little slack should I get pulled over.

Get Out There And Shop!

I argued on another blog recently that people that have to work on holidays aren't victims. Yeah, it may suck if you're one that likes taking holidays off. If that's the case, look for another job. I've always preferred working on holidays and actually have one job lined up for today, if it doesn't rain.

As far as shopping goes, I only shop when I have to. I'm not a hobby shopper, so this doesn't apply to me. The rest of you, get out and shop today, tomorrow, and the next day. The Independent Institute explains why it's not such a bad thing that stores open on holidays.

Aaron Newman: The Other Side

You might have heard of Humboldt Harbor Commissioner, Aaron Newman, being arrested for some fish and game violations. Fish & Game agents along with local media gave the impression he deliberately broke the law. Since he plead out the case in a plea deal, some are insisting he give up his seat on the Harbor Commission. 

Here's the other side of the story, published as a letter to the editor in the Times- Standard.

Eureka Crime Out of Control?

On a related note to my last post, it may seem crime is skyrocketing to some. Even I feel that way sometimes but I wonder if it's because that's all we seem to read about in the news. Maybe it's more visible and we hear about it more because there's nothing much else going on around Eureka?

An interesting comment to Allan Dollison's column regarding, I believe, this Lost Coast Outpost story:

Eurekan (Guest):

"Not many people are discussing the dubious analysis by Sims.
Making "per capita" comparisons with the State (millions) and national (many more millions) data is very deceiving. Notice that the state and national graphs are very steady because of the large numbers involved. In a small population a few crimes can make the graphs go rapidly up or down. Violent crime in Eureka was worse in 2007 and property crime was worse in 2004, but Sims compares these to a normalized state and national average to make the graphs to up higher for 2013. A simple check on the analysis is to see how widely the local graphs change -- this is a consequence of the "per capita" comparisons. The numbers are bumped up so a comparison per 100,000 can be made. By analogy, two crimes in a c ommunity of 200 would have to be bumped up to 1000 crimes per 100,000 to make the comparison. That certainly sounds much worse than the two crimes in the community of 200.

This is not to say that crime is not a problem.
What I get from the graphs is that local crime is about the same (some bad years and some better years by a few numbers). Things are not steadily improving, but they are also not "through the roof" or "rising like a rocket" compared to the numbers averaged over the last decade or so."

There certainly are problems with crime in Eureka and the county, but maybe it's not as bad as we're being led to believe?

People PIssed Over Prop 47

We're hearing from more and more people pissed off over Prop 47. That's the one that reduced some felony crimes to misdemeanors. We're told that criminals can't be held in jail. Here's a letter to the editor from today's Santa Rosa Press- Democrat:

"I want to lay it out simply for the people of California, because of the millions of dollars of misinformation dumped into Proposition 47

Thanks to Proposition 47 passing, the following is an immediate reality: If a law enforcement officer pulls an unlicensed, illegal immigrant over in possession of a stolen vehicle (worth less than $900), who has a stolen, concealed, loaded handgun (worth less than $900), is in possession of a TV he just shoplifted that is worth less than $900, and is smoking a personal amount of methamphetamine, the officer would be required to cite the individual and release him or her because all of these crimes are misdemeanors, unless the person is a convicted felon. 

The officer could face false arrest charges for booking the individual in jail. The officer couldn’t even detain the person for immigration, as that would be an unlawful detention and violation of the person’s rights. 

If the fictional individual in my scenario went to court, and pleaded guilty to the crimes, he would receive a two-year maximum sentence with half time for good behavior, and would not necessarily face deportation."

That’s the California we live in. Wow."

HANK STOLFI

Healdsburg

Here's Allan Dollison's take on Prop 47 in today's Lost Coast Outpost.

Funny that I was reading things like this before Prop 47 passed. All the talk about criminals being released and no punishment. Yet if you look back to the Lost Coast Outpost and the various letters to the editor of newspapers, the same sentiments were being expressed as long as I can remember, yet the day after last election, the blame shifts to Prop 47.

I'll be the first to admit there might well be problems with Prop 47. I'd still suggest that that nothing's really changed out on the streets. The jails are still full and people will still be being released pretty much as they always have been.

Toodles for Matt Owen?

Our very own Matt Owen got "toodled" by the Lost Coast Outpost yesterday. That's LoCO's term for suspending the comment privileges of those who make inappropriate ones. Probably no biggie since, as someone pointed out, Matt doesn't comment on the LoCO. He does write an occasional oped/ commentary which is what got him in trouble.

His Matt In The Middle commentary from yesterday dealt with Eureka's homeless situation where he included suggestions for dealing with it. Among his suggestions was an emotional reference to taking certain people out behind the courthouse and shooting them. That naturally brought out some hostile comments as well as some of those in support. 

Did he deserve toodles for that? I don't think so. It might have been a tacky comment and maybe something most would try to avoid writing, but it did reflect the emotional response a lot of people have probably directed towards bad guys that keep getting away with things. 

That reference seems to have been removed. Just as well as I'm not sure it added anything constructive to his commentary, aside from perhaps providing an avenue for some to vent over a difficult situation.

I've been much more bothered by comments I've read in the LoCO and other news web sites calling for the hanging, or worse, of people simply accused of crimes. The "oak tree, rope..." type comments often seen when someone is accused of something, especially sex related crimes, I've found appalling. Especially so since those making the comments are likely more serious about it than Matt was in making his. 

I'm appalled, but I don't suggest those comments be removed. There must be some value in reading people's feelings even if they're only venting.

~~~~~~

Just a couple other observations on Matt's commentary: 

He criticized Prop 47 (the recent ballot initiative that reduced some felonies to misdemeanors) suggesting it lets even more people out of jail. That might seem the case but as I commented on the LoCO, it seems the vast majority of those people were already being released anyway because there isn't enough room in jail. I'm not sure Prop 47 really changed much.

He also made the suggestion of having a legal place for the homeless to camp and perhaps even providing housing of some sort for homeless folks, if I read him right. I might agree with a legal camping place, with reservations. I'm not so sure about providing actual lodging. 

Seems to me we've already done both. Years ago we let the homeless turn the South Jetty and Clam Beach campgrounds into their own camping spot. We've also turned a number of hotels and motels on Eureka's Broadway into "temporary" housing for homeless. Some would argue both those efforts only made things worse. 

So what is the answer to Eureka's homeless situation, consistent with human rights? I don't know.

An Anti- Government Surveillance Tool

Anti-War.com tells us of a new software program that detects the more commonly used government surveillance malware:

"Unlike the more all-purpose antivirus and anti-malware programs, Detekt centers around detecting and warning end users of surveillance malware of the sort known to be used by government.".

There's a link there where you can download the free software. They caution that the software likely doesn't detect more modern government developments. As for me, nah, I won't bother. It would likely just give a false sense of security. Besides, what do I have to hide???

It would be interesting, though, to see if any of the old surveillance stuff is on my computer. If any of you try it and actually find something on your system, let us know.

An Obligatory Post

No ideas to present today so I'll just make an obligatory post so no one will accuse this of being a dead blog. But here are some links to check out if you're as bored as I am:

Reason magazine looks at why young folks may forsake the Democrats and go for Rand Paul.

A business in Old Town that sells yarn and knitting related stuff has a new web site. 

Video and transcript with one of my favorites, Greg Gutfeld, talking about climate change.

Hey, I had to post something!

Bringing The Crowd To Its Feet

One of those fun things that shows up on your Facebook page. Just under 5 minute video of a couple of cello players that go in front of an audience expecting heavy metal, or some such. They're nearly booed off stage until they get going. Then the audience ends up on its feet.

Addendum: I see one commenter to the Facebook post claiming it was staged to make the video. Maybe so, but still pretty cool.

Ernie's Letter

A letter from our very own Eel River Ernie to the Lost Coast Outpost regarding the Fortuna City Council's vote on $3000 chairs for public safety(?) dispatchers. Short and sweet, it would have made a good letter to the editor to any of the local papers:

LOCO,

 

For pure entertainment value you have to watch tonight’s (11/17/14) Fortuna City Council meeting discussion on the purchase of chairs for the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) employees.  The Council voted to spend $3,000 dollars per chair for these employees and during the discussion talked about how it is not real money as it comes from a state grant fund and not from their budget.  It would be really hilarious if it wasn’t so indicative of the current City Council’s attitude toward the expenditure of taxpayer dollars and they wonder why their proposed tax increase failed…

 

Eel River Ernie

Hardest Places To Live In U.S.

The New York Times has a map identifying the hardest (and best) places to live in the U.S. Humboldt County seems to be doing a bit worse. Del Norte County even worse, with Mendocino holding its own.

Eureka's Mail Processing Center Closure

More chatter over the proposed shutting down of Eureka's mail processing center with postal employees protesting and circulating petitions yesterday to stop the closure. The Times- Standard covers the story and KIEM TV has a poll up on their web site asking if you'd sign a petition opposing the closure.

I voted No on the KIEM poll, although I don't like the idea of them relocating the processing center. I'm not sure it's that big a deal. So what if mail takes a little longer to get here? I'll adjust, although I might change my mind if I stop getting my 3 Suddenlink ads every week. Then I'll be pissed.

Chiang's City And County Finance Site

I was reading this story in the L.A. Times when I noticed mention of a web site created by past State Controller and now Treasurer- elect, John Chiang. His Government Financial Reports site lets you look up, among other things, city and county financial reports, along with associated reports on the different retirement systems. 

About the only problem for me is finance and accounting is NOT my forte' so a lot of the terms and numbers don't mean much to me. But, for just quick information, just move your mouse over a county on the home page map and the basic financial info for the county shows up.

Eureka Ranks 20th on Default Potential

This tidbit just in from the Humboldt Taxpayer's League:

"According to a report by the California Policy Center on the “Most Financially Stressed Cities and Counties in California”, out of 492 counties and cities studied, Eureka ranks 20^th with a 0.42% probability of default (bankruptcy); Arcata ranks 138^th with a 0.20% chance of default; Humboldt County ranks 182 with a 0.16% chance of default; and, Fortuna ranks 398^th with a 0.02% chance of default.  The three cities with the highest default probability are: Compton at 4.01%; King City at 3.38%; and, Sutter Creek at 2.79%."

Interesting that some hole- in- the- wall type places most might have never heard of are rated as having 0% risk of default, such as #446 Yreka and #450 Rio Dell. You can see the entire list at the California Policy Center's web site.

The Tea Party

Someone suggested to me a few days ago that I was likely a supporter of the Tea Party. I've mentioned here before that when the Tea Party first emerged I thought it might be a good thing. If more mainstream groups began to show concern about an ever growing government, what's wrong with that? So long as it wasn't just the result of partisanship. 

If they disappear as soon as the next Republican moves into the White House, it means nothing. Yet they seemed to have changed from their original focus with different Tea Party groups around the country emphasizing different issues, not many of them having much to do with what seemed to have been their original intent.

Past Libertarian Party gubernatorial candidate, Richard Rider, seems to feel the same way, although I won't be so quick to judge the Tea Party dead, as he has.

CNN Does Robots & Artificial Intelligence

Even CNN is looking into the potential impacts of robots and artificial intelligence on society:

"Last year, a team in Oxford University performed a detailed analysis of over 700 occupations in the United States. They came to the conclusion that jobs constituting a staggering 47% of U.S. employment—well over 60 million jobs—could become automated in a decade or two."

A New, Improved Urgent Care?

A Facebook Friend said she needed to see a doctor and asked if anyone knew of a place to go on Sundays, other than the emergency room. I immediately thought of Urgent Care, but thought they weren't open on Sundays.

Another fellow piped in about Urgent Care saying it was open and gave the web site address. Looking at their web site, it might have gotten a bit more affordable. I emphasize might.

I wrote here some time ago about the last time I went to Urgent Care. It cost me over $300.00 for less than an hour, and that was after a discount or two for paying $50.00 at the start among other things. The new fee schedule looks a bit more affordable if it is as it looks and there's no hidden costs. Standard exams start at $75.00 and go up to $250.00 for the more complex ones. I'd consider that reasonable.

What I'm not sure about is if those just cover clinic charges and not payments to the doctor, nurse practitioner or whomever. Last time I went to Urgent Care I got a bill for the clinic itself, then a few weeks later a bill from the Physician Assistant. The two of them combined went over $300.00. Not sure if their chart includes that sort of thing.

Still, $75.00 isn't bad for urgent medical help. I pay $80.00 now for just a few minutes at Redwood Family Practice. Maybe I should start going to Urgent Care for medical stuff now, if their charges are what they say they are?
 

I'm Wondering About Prop 47

The Lost Coast Outpost reports on eight inmates being released from the Humboldt County Jail after their charges were reduced to misdemeanors per recently passed Prop 47. The Santa Rosa Press- Democrat reports on charges being reduced in Sonoma County. 

Interesting that the comments from both LCO and SRP-D seem rather leery of the idea releasing anyone. I can't help but wonder how many making those comments voted for Prop 47? I suppose you can count me among them as I did vote for Prop 47, albeit grudgingly. Now we get to see how it works.

What I didn't like about Prop 47 is it didn't differentiate between predatory criminals such as burglars and other thieves, as opposed to those involved in what most consider victimless crimes- simple drug possession and such. If someone just gets caught with some pot, I don't feel they should even go to jail. If someone is stealing, or physically attacking others, they should probably spend more time in jail than they already do. But who are the ones being released?

I would assume that by now, with both prisons and jails being overcrowded, we'd prioritize those being held to the predatory types- those assaulting or stealing from others. Are the non- predatory types still being jailed? Then you have the mix of the two types that you read about where someone is arrested for drugs but was also in possession of stolen property, or some such.

You have to wonder how it was working before Prop 47 and how it will work now? I want the predatory types in jail for at least longer than just overnight. Then again, it seemed like they were being released fairly quickly even before Prop 47. Maybe there isn't going to be much difference in the before and after?

More Robots Taking Jobs?

Fox News has a short video about Lowe's exploring the use of robots to help you shop. I found the comments more interesting. Not many there, but I enjoyed reading of others' minimum wage work histories. 

I put my story there in response to one guy's comment asking for examples of how some have turned their minimum wage job into a stepping stone to a higher paying job. Any of you want to share your story?

~~~~~~~

Speaking of automation, I used the self- check out at Winco again for the second time yesterday. I would have used the regular checkout but only had a few items and all the lines were full of stuffed shopping carts. 

It didn't work well this time. I got into some conflict with the machine over how I set my scanned items in the bagging area. I was half way through the process when I got stuck. Embarrassing, since all six machines were being used so there was a gal behind me patiently waiting for me to finish. I finally had to call the attendant over and have her help me get it all sorted out. I'm still not sure what I did wrong.

SRP-D Looks At Public Pensions

Say what you will about the Santa Rosa Press- Democrat's politics, but they have been rather consistent in their regular criticisms of public employee pension debt and its effect on cities and counties. They do it again in today's editorial, talking a look at the numbers.

The Five Dimensional Political Quiz

The folks at Reason magazine look at yet another political quiz that breaks the political sphere into five dimensions.  Here's the quiz. I probably answered half or more of the questions with Maybe. Here's how I scored:

You are a: Conservative Libertarian Non-Interventionist Nativist Liberal
Collectivism score: -50%
Authoritarianism score: -50%
Internationalism score: -33%
Tribalism score: 50%
Liberalism score: 33%

Am I One of the Insane?

I don't believe I posted anything here about the proposal before the Board of Supes to have that "In God We Trust" motto put prominently in the Supes' chambers. I did make a few comments on Erik Kirk's blog on the subject. I pretty much thought it a dumb idea. I also posted a link to the Supes' web site and suggested everyone else e-mail them to say it wasn't a good idea, as I did.

According to the Times- Standard, it looks like at least a few did. Rex Bohn says he received eight e-mails on the issue. From the T-S: "He said he received a total of eight emails — six of which were "sane". That had me wondering if mine was one of the sane ones? Probably, since he e-mailed me a response, and responded again to my reply to him. 

If not me then, I'm wondering who wrote the insane ones? If they came from folks on Kirk's blog, I might be able to guess.

Only One Real Surprise

Since I don't make predictions or otherwise dwell upon elections, I wasn't really expecting any surprises. I figured results would be the same as past ones: Some bad things with maybe one or two good things- usually more bad than good. That seems to be what happened.

The one surprise was Eureka's minimum wage increase, Measure R, losing by more than 60 to 40 percent. I had a lefty friend (he opposed it) tell me a month or two ago that he foresaw R losing big time along the lines of 60/40. Whatever. I don't make predictions and expected the worst but I figured, if anything, it might be close. I thought he was a bit off on that one.

Nope. He was right, and that was one the one measure I was really concerned about and hoped would fail. No real surprises other than that.

~~~~~~

Measure R might already have caused some damage, though. I was told by someone in the know a while back that some company was considering starting up some kind of call center in the Times- Standard building. When they heard of Measure R in the works they backed out and opened that call center in Chico instead.

I hope I have that story right. I got into a back and forth with someone yesterday who swears he didn't say what I thought he said. Maybe I don't always get things right (but I don't think so)?

~~~~~~

The one other contest I definitely wanted to check on was the measure in Healdsburg to stop fluoridation of their water supply. From the chatter I'd read in the Santa Rosa Press- Democrat I had a feeling it might at least be close. That measure failed spectacularly with at least 66% of voters opposing.

I would have loved to see it pass, but even if it had I knew it wouldn't be a libertarian victory. People in Healdsburg, as in the rest of Sonoma County, are mostly authoritarians. If they voted against fluoridation it would have been because of arguments over the "science", not because they believed in individual choice.

No real surprise, but still disappointed.

Signs Down by 8pm Please

Less than 11 hours before the polls close. Let's be sure and take the yard signs down by then. I always take mine down, along with the ones across the street, within minutes of the polls closing- sometimes even before. You don't have to haul them off, either. Just lay them flat on the ground so we don't have to look at them.

Moving to San Diego?

One of those things that shows up on Facebook: This quiz supposedly tells you what California city you'd prefer to live in. It shows me as preferring San Diego. Yikes! I didn't see any list of all the cities they choose from. Is Eureka even an option?

I guess San Diego is fine albeit a bit too civilized and crowded for me.

Houdini's Secrets Revealed

I hesitated to post this as I try to not give away secrets. Then again, I found the link on lewrockwell.com so it's already out there. Aside from that, I've seen bits and pieces of this elsewhere, including Wikipedia. So here's the secrets behind ten of Harry Houdini's famous tricks.

Not Expecting Much Tuesday

I'm pretty much with my internet buddy (*and inspiration for this blog), Tom Knapp. I'm not expecting much from Tuesday's election. Certainly at the state and national level, although some bad things could happen locally.

Even if the Republicans do take the senate it won't mean much. As Tom points out, gridlock doesn't really mean much anymore:

"All things considered, I do prefer "gridlock" -- if one party controls the White House, I want the other party to control at least one house of Congress but fall short of controlling veto-proof majorities in both houses.

But frankly, gridlock ain't what it used to be. The two parties get along far too well in my opinion. And both parties tend to roll over far too easily for the president, especially so far this century. I'm pushing 50 and I'm having trouble remembering an election as obviously and completely inconsequential as this one."

Tom expands those thoughts at the Center for a Stateless Society.

~~~~~~

*So how did Tom inspire this blog? Back in the day, when the Libertarian Party had a number of state and national e-mail lists, Tom and I were both active contributors to some. There was regular back and forth on any number of issues. I enjoyed his thoughts and reasoning and we kinda became internet buddies, although we've never met in person.

One day he announced the start up of his blog, The Knappster. I don't recall if he gave his reasons for starting the blog but it's just his observations on various national issues, the Libertarian Party and whatever.

I started thinking it might be fun to do the same sort of thing myself, but I wanted to deal more with local stuff. It took me a while to take the plunge. I see his first post was made in October 2004. My first post here was made in March 2005.

From a virtual unknown to a famous local blogger, all in less than ten years.

The Heater Is On

I finally turned the thermostat back on after it being off since probably just before summer. That might be a record for us waiting until November 2. It had been chilly at least a couple mornings recently, but the weather forecast was for relatively warm days so I left it off.

This morning I had to turn the clock on the thermostat back an hour. Since it was chilly, anyway, I figured that's a good enough excuse to turn the thing back on. And turning it on doesn't necessarily turn the heater on.

As chilly as it was in the house when I got up, though, I was leery about dealing with it right then. We've had problems in the past with the pilot light going out from a plugged nozzle. What if the heater didn't come on but the fan did? That means cold air blowing into the house from outside, so I held off.

Once the sun was up I figured I should give it a try. I changed the clock- no small effort as we'd kinda forgot how- and flicked the switch to On. Within a minute or two we could hear the fan come on, then the house started warming up. Nice to know it's working and feel the house warm up a bit. 

The problem was it came on probably three times since then. When I hear the fan blowing I just see dollars floating through the vents. Hate worrying about the utility bill. It's nice having the house warm, but maybe I should have left it off? Nah. I'll leave it on..for now.

Halloween Getting Better

A Facebook Friend commented last night about giving out Halloween candy. He seems to enjoy it. I don't, but things are getting better.

I always thought it rude when you don't have any Halloween decorations on your house yet kids come by and try to hit you up anyway. As far as I'm concerned, no decorations means not interested. I wouldn't expect kids to realize that but their parents should.

This is the second year that we've had no trick or treat kids come by the house. It seems kids and their parents are learning. I like that.