If local businesses want to support the community, and have the community support it by shopping at their stores, I would think that they would show some support to the community by having bulletin boards like that somewhere in the store. They could have a few simple rules, like everyone needs to put the posting date on what they are hanging up so that the store employees can remove anything more than a month old. In this struggling economy, this is one simple method of co-operation that wouldn’t hurt a soul, and build up some good will. What are your thoughts on this?

I’m glad I’m already all stocked up!  I hear there is a run on generators, which is not a big surprise; that happens quite frequently.  I’m sure glad I already have mine, all set up and ready to go at a moment’s notice! 

To live in this area, you need a four wheel-drive vehicle (preferably with studded snow tires) a generator, boots and a good chain saw!  I put my snow tires on my truck two weeks ago, to beat the crazy rush of people who wait until snow is actually in the forecast to do it. 

I expect we will have a major power outage and treacherous traveling by tomorrow! Next thing you know, my customers will be calling me at all hours begging for help with plowing and sanding their driveways.

Then I put the bottle inside one of those foam “can cozy” things for extra insulation.   I don’t even try to drink it for about an hour because it really IS too hot then – but it keeps my hands warm!  After about an hour it is still pretty hot – a good “drinking temperature.”  An hour after that, forget it, it is room temperature.  But that’s OK because I like the apple cider and/or fruity drink hot or cold.  So I’ve managed to make it “tolerable” but I would not recommend it to my friends to buy one - it just doesn’t work as well as I had hoped.

Well I was really thrilled when Janet called me and suggested that we go riding together next weekend at the farm. The only thing about riding with Janet is that she is always trying to get me to learn to jump. Jumping scares me a little bit, and I have no desire to compete with Beezie Madden for any gold medals! I just enjoy a nice walk, trot, or canter. More excitement than that I don’t need! Janet has always been a thrill junkie, and she just can’t even imagine being content to NOT jump. I’m more than happy to provide her with an appreciative audience.

We haven’t had the chance to ride together at all this year, what with all of the health issues that Janet and her family have been going through. Janet told me that she needs to pick up a new pair of durable riding boots this week before we go riding though; the surgery on her foot has made it too hard to get her old boots on. I don’t think that it was the surgery itself; I think that it is because she has been so inactive that she put on a little bit of weight and it has mostly gone to her calves, making her old boots too tight to pull on, even with the boot hooks.

I told her that I’d like to join her at the tack shop to drop off my ariat boot bag for repair. The zipper is broken and I’m tired of fussing with it. Hopefully they can get it fixed for me.

The securitychoice installers came over today to install a new home security system in our home. I was surprised how quickly everything got done. I took the afternoon off of work so that I could let them in, but they were literally done within the hour. Because I already had the afternoon off, I decided to just stay at home and take the day for myself. I went to the grocery store early for the week and started to cook a great dinner. I got to watch some talk shows that I never get to see because I am a work and loved every minute of it. I also got all of my laundry done and bills paid. It is amazing what you can get accomplished when you leave work early. My kids were shocked that we didn’t have to run to the store and that great dinner was already made when I picked them up from school. I think that I may consider working part-time! I really got so much done in those short four hours that I lose at work everyday!

Anyway, they arrived in the mail on Saturday and I gave one a try today.  It was a cold day so I decided to pour some hot chocolate in it this morning before I left for work.  There was a big warning sticker on the box that the bottle came in, warning that the hot liquid would stay “just as hot” for several hours.  Well an hour later my “hot chocolate” was only room temperature chocolate milk.  I guess I’ll try it again tomorrow with pre-warming the bottle with hot water before pouring the hot chocolate in it, and I’ll make sure the hot chocolate is a lot hotter going into the bottle.  I’d hate to think that I’d wasted my money on a bottle that won’t keep my hot chocolate hot for at least an hour!