Random Things (not sure how much thought is here )

MY favorite soldier in Nevada sends me jokes and funny things that are often related to military things. This past week she sent me a funny story about a chicken, specifically a rooster, that won the no bell piece prize or perhaps it was the pullet zer prize. I told her that a friend of mine in Ottawa convinced me to invest in a chicken farm. We damn near went broke in that deal. Couldn't tell if we were planting them too deep or too close together.

This past year Ken and I were going somewhere in the truck and he asked me if I noticed that at an idle there was a misfire. Being a little deaf (Barb would say a lot deaf) I really didn't. I'm sure that it was a gradual thing and it probably wasn't much. It continued to get worse and with all the cold weather I just didn't want to get out on the drive and check it. It continued to get worse to the point it was completely missing on at least one cylinder. Yep, two plugs were fouled so bad they didn't work. I guess I don't get it out on the road enough to warm it up and "blow off the stink" as my dad would say.

When I asked the kid at the parts store about hotter plugs he didn't have a clue what I was talking about. All he could tell me was if they had them in platinum and in stock. The manager was tied up with another customer so I just moved on smartly. Or, would that uninformed position be dumbly? Oh well I'll save the hotter plug for the next time. I did save the old plugs as they are a double platinum and at least six looked pretty good.

It looks like the tax information is starting to roll in. I always worry until I get it loaded in Turbo Tax. As I load it, a small screen shows me how it looks overall and always scares the hell out of me. I don't load the property tax/deduction stuff until last and without the deductions it is kind of scary. One year it didn't deduct the Civil Service retirement pay from the State Taxes and it scared the hell out of me for a while until I went in and manually loaded the information. Actually I subtracted it from the Adjusted gross at the State level.

It will be interesting to see how the Hawks respond to their first loss today. They play Colorado on the road and I'm pretty sure they will have some anger or spirit to show how they respond after a loss. K-State has a fairly good road for the rest of the season and I'm sure they want to be the Big 12 Champs. I'm pretty sure the winner won't have more than two losses in the league play, if that many.

I will need to make a trip to Wallyworld (WalMart) today to stock up on animal food. Seems like the bags and cans all have run out at the same time. I would be ok if the cat and the dogs would eat sunflower seeds but alas, I'm pretty sure they would just go hungry. Well, Taco might eat the seeds but he will eat about anything at a gulp and probably couldn't tell the difference until it gave him the runs. I do need some suet blocks for the woodpeckers. They just peck their way through those things like grease through a goose. For some reason our "tufted Titmice, mouses" don't seem to be here in as large a number as most years. They really eat the sunflower seeds in quantity and I haven't had to make as many trips out to fill the feeder this year. Might be they went further south because of all the snow in December.

Oh well, keep in touch and keep warm.
MUD