Friday, January 27, 2012

Crazy Weather.

When I woke up at 6.00 o'clock this morning it was already 57 degrees! Hello, is this JANUARY?

The Wild Ones don't know what to do - the animals that is, the Canada Geese never left this year, we have a flock of perhaps 50 that just stayed with us!

The two Swans are still here, even though they went away for about a month from mid December to mid January. Vacation perhaps? And the male has started his annual, "Chase everything larger than a blackbird away from our nesting area" campaign, already. There is no way that starts before they are ready to set up nest and the female sits on her eggs in the spring - which is still a couple of months off.

I am still picking Roses! The bulbs are coming up! The Lawn is still green!

Is this The New January?

Meanwhile I am hearing that Texas - the driest one or two years ever - was almost washed away by rains yesterday, and there have been more Tornados in January all over, but not here, yet! Last year we had a Tornado, an Earthquake, a Hurricane and Floods, all within the space of one week! I sure hope that does not become The Norm! We escaped that week with minimal damage right here, but I would hate to have to endure that week over and over!

Well, onward we go, and I go back to work today , gotta go.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

More "Interesting" figures.

Mitt Romney's income in 2011 was $22 Million dollars.

That doesn't mean much to most of us, but what MAY be of interest to you is that if you worked, and earned $60,000 in 2011, a figure way above what the average American earns - you made WORKING, less than Romney made NOT WORKING, in ONE DAY!!

Did you get that? He makes more than $60,000 A DAY, NOT WORKING. (The median Americans income is $26,000.)

Now if you WORKED and EARNED $60,000 you will pay about 30% of those earnings in taxes. Mr Romney made (not earned) $22 Million NOT WORKING, and paid, are you ready for this? 13.9% in taxes!!!!

So if you are rich and wealthy, you pay a tax rate LESS THAN HALF of what the average WORKING American pays!!!

What is wrong with this picture? Why are we happy with this? Why do Republicans want the rich and wealthy to pay LESS taxes? Yes that's right they are fighting tooth and nail to have the "top" 1% of Americans pay even LESS tax!!

And yet 50% of Americans vote Republican! Why would ANYONE vote for that kind of abuse? There is no interest from ANY Republicans to do anything other than cut the taxes of the rich. Other than trying to CUT Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to the poor and the middle classes.

It seems to me, but what do I know? that everyone should pay AT LEAST the same tax rates. In fact I would think that it would be fair for the tax`rate on UNEARNED INCOME to be higher than the tax rate on EARNED income, wouldn't you?

I mean wouldn't that make perfect sense? If you sit and do nothing and the money comes rolling in, or you go out and work for your money, who should pay the higher rate? It is just common sense that the person who is making no contribution to the well being of the country - just sitting doing nothing - should pay a higher rate.

But that is not the way that it is. The rich pay less! Please explain that to me. Could it possibly be that the rich and the wealthy OWN Congress, the very bunch who pass laws that say "The rich shall pay less tax." Is it possible that they, Congress, are Bribed to pass such laws?

Leaping Clams?

I went down to my pier yesterday and there were about 40 broken clam shells laying on it. Maybe a year ago I watched a Gull dropping something that turned out to be a clam, onto the pier. It then picked it up again, flew up into the air and dropped it back onto the pier.

I have been very busy lately so had not seen this happening again although Julia, who spends time on her couch in the bedroom reading, has observed it.

Judging by the number of empty Clam shells on the pier, there must be a lot of that going on. There must also be a lot of Clams in The Lake.

Anyway, as I said to Julia, the Clams spend their lives buried in the sand at the bottom of The Lake, so how do the Sea Gulls get a hold of them? That is the question. In order to extract the Clams from their home under the sand the Gulls would have to dive down under the water and dig into the sand. It is true that the water around the pier is not very deep, often six to 12 inches, but I have trouble imagining a Sea Gull diving under water even that shallow. And how would they know where to dig? Perhaps they see "Air" coming up from where the Clam is?

I have watched to find the secret, but am unable to even see the Gulls dropping the Clams, let alone digging for them!

My only answer is that there may be a new breed of Leaping Clams. They launch themselves into the air, and the Sea Gulls snatch them out of the air!

Yes that must be the answer.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Another comment on the Tax Farce in America.

Just a couple of quick facts : -

The average American pays 30% of his/her income in taxes.

OK, the average American in the "bottom" 99% of earners.

The "top" 1% of Americans pay about HALF of that! Or 15%. We just heard today that Mitt Romney, one of the "top" 1% with an income in the $20 million plus area paid 13.9% last year!

Now I don't know how that makes YOU feel, but it makes me feel VERY frustrated. If you are a Republican apparently you not only AGREE with that but you want those very rich, very wealthy 1% to pay even LESS!!! Some Republicans are calling for the rich to pay NO tax! I guess they would be the 1%?

So lets get this straight, if you work and EARN your money you pay 30% tax. If you don't work and get UNEARNED income, you pay 15% tax. Now I may be missing something here but it seems to me that it should be the other way around. Surely if you WORK you should get a better tax break than if you DON'T work, and instead just sit back and collect money for doing nothing. Tell me how does that help the country?

Just asking.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

It was a gray, gray day!

Monday dawned GREY, or is it Gray? Who knows. But it sure was Grey, or Gray, here. Actually I think it was Gray, for some reason or other Gray sounds more like the way the day looked.

As I struggled up in bed and looked out of the window at The Lake, it was a Gray, Gray day that met my eyes. A thick fog or mist covered everything. The far side of The Lake was completely out of sight.

Later that day, it lasted all day long, Julia and I discussed whether it was a fog or just some mist. I talked about how I could remember, in England, driving along with my door open to enable me to see the curb! It was actually IMPOSSIBLE to see more than a few feet. There could have been a car 2 feet in front of me and I would not have been able to see it. The car's hood (bonnet in England) was about 6 to 8 feet long. (My car was a 1933 Singer Le Mans sports car.) Now THAT was fog! In London they talked about "Pea Soupers", the air was so thick in those fogs that if you held your hand stretched out in front of you you could not see it. "You could not see your hand in front of your face." was the saying. Both Julia and I experienced it. It was scary to say the least.

This was just a mist. Driving across the Bay bridge we could see halfway across the bridge.

Anyway, the mist was very thick on The Lake and we could hear fog horns on The Bay.

The next day was very clear and much warmer. The temperature went from the upper 20's and low 30's up to the mid 50's. There were a lot of Canada Geese on The Lake and also on our lawn and the neighbors lawn. Here we are in late January and have yet to have a cold spell of more than a couple of days.