Saturday

Congrats to the Iowa Hawkeyes on their big win today against previously unbeaten Penn State. 4 might be in the background of this picture that shows the students rushing the field as the clock expired. I talked with her after the game and she was in the crowd on the turf.

It seems like they have a "black" out, or "gold" out in Iowa City several times during the year (where all of the fans are encouraged to wear the color of the "out"). Today, I noticed a lot of green shirts and I didn't get the message until midway through the second quarter when the camera was showing a section of green-draped fans right after a running play by the Hawks' outstanding back, Shonn Greene. Duh!

So I got my flu shot this week. The Visiting Nurses Association had set up in the Hy Vee pharmacy by the office so I stopped in and took my medicine. Thirty-seven samoliens. I'm thinking that I paid twenty bucks when I got my first shot a few years back. 85% inflation! I need to raise my rates.

We had a scintilla of FFF today at 2's raking her leaves. She lives in an older section of town with mature trees. And lots of leaves. These are just a few of the 20-odd bags that we gathered this afternoon. My guess is that there will be at least one more afternoon of raking this season. There are still leaves on many trees...and the neighbors seems to want to wait until everything is down.

When we packed the "Martian Eggs" over on Scott Street, we had my pick 'em-up to take the bags down to the collection point by the river where we dumped the bags and re-used them for more eggs the next time. Without the convenience of the truck, we're all now stuck with the city's collection of the paper bags.

We've had snow showers here each of the last two days. Nothing to stick to the ground, but a clear indication that the 70 degree days are likely done for the year. My bet is that we see 60 at least once, but with the shorter days, and the low angle of the sun, its time to button down the hatches and put the shorts into storage.

The Irish are in Boston tonight. 3 will need to let us know if the local watering holes had any ND flavor this weekend.

Let the world know that it is my intention to be on a "boy's" golf trip for my 60th birthday in January. The 8th is a Thursday, and I'm probably leaving on the 7th for Phoenix, coming back on Sunday the 11th. (Cabo has been dropped from the rotation due to costs and travel time. At our ages, we can get into all the trouble we need in Scottsdale. Plus, we can actually play golf on the 7th after arrival, if we were so inclined.)

I'm trying to figure out where the Federales will draw the next line in the sand. Ford and GM are both burning through cash at rates that will deplete their reserves in a short period of time. Their stock prices have crashed. Are they "too big to fail"? I don't think that Uncle Sam wants to own a car company, but if he forks over $100 billion-plus to rescue AIG, why not offer the same deal to Detroit?

Don't be fooled by short term ups in the market. The slope remains slippery.

Here's another sign of the times. I haven't spent near as much time listening to the radio over the last few years, and as a result, I have lost much of my contact with contemporary country music. The Country Music Association awards show is on TV next week and ABC is promoting the show at seemingly every timeout in every game on the schedule. I know Brad Paisley, but most of the other singers are young, blond and off my charts. I do listen to a country station as I go to sleep, but that's usually for only a short period. Then again, with my Alzheimer's, length of listening may not matter.

Finally, another observation about Blogger protocols. When I pull images off the Internet, the system is fairly efficient and usually clears the picture for upload quickly. On the other hand, when I try to upload one of my own photos, like the one of 2 with the leaves above, it might take two or three minutes. I know that they have some controls to minimize publishing anything pornographic, but its interesting that the software distinguishes these different types of visuals. You don't think that they have a little man behind the screen that looks at each picture, do you?

So more tomorrow, maybe from SB's in the AM.

BCOT