Things

It's starting to look like it's about that time what with the impeachment proceedings and all of the "swamp critters" stepping on the constitution and ignoring the rule of law. It'll be an interesting year leading up to the next election. It'll be even more interesting if the stock market takes a tumble or some other event puts people in a panic. Time to make sure you're well supplied and have an action plan if you don't have things in place already.

I keep reading about more store closures and bankruptcies - Dean Foods filed for bankruptcy protection which surprised me but people aren't drinking milk like they used to as well as other market factors. I've been seeing a lot of for hire signs around here lately, however.

I just read about a restaurant chain that opened up a new store with no dining facilities. No cash sales and no dining area - pick it up yourself or have one of the delivery services bring it to you. Apparently, people staying home and eating carry-in is becoming much more common and it's not just fast food, either. I'll pick something up for the Missus on the days I work occasionally but I'd much prefer getting out of the house and having a sit-down meal rather than any of the fast food offerings we have locally.

I went to Valparaiso Saturday to pick up some things at Menards and Best Buy. I'm not sure why but there were lots of people out. What made it more surprising is the traffic circle/roundabout has all the traffic screwed up. The roundabout is supposed to be fully open and operational next week for "Black Friday" so I didn't expect to see a lot of people out who were just shopping. I can't figure out why at least a bit of the roundabout wasn't opened up so people could turn right after leaving Menards and get back to the highway to eliminate much of the back-up. Failing that, maybe some police directing traffic to speed things up. Apparently Indiana has decided that the answer to all traffic problems is to install a roundabout. They've been working on this one since last year. It's going to have to save a lot of time to make up for all the wasted time and fuel during the construction process.

We bought a new TV not too long ago and I wanted to get the DVD player connected to it which required some type of adaptor from the old style pin jacks to the new HDMI connection or whatever it's called. I was in for a bit of a shock when the adaptor and cable were going to cost about $70.00. I ended up buying a new DVD player and cable and got out of there for $45.00. The cost of all this new technology makes me wonder if it's even worth it when most of the shows I watch were filmed in black and white 60 years ago. We do get some new shows as a result of the new TV, though. I've been enjoying Hamish Macbeth. Decent entertainment and no commercials.

Big fire south of here yesterday at the county seat. About a dozen buildings destroyed from what was reported last evening. This is going to be a huge loss to the town. I'm heading down that way later today. I was supposed to see a new chiropractor who takes more of a whole body approach than just an alignment. However, since I'm on Medicare, no dice. Medicare's a real bargain but only if your doctor participates. If they don't, you can't even pay cash to get service.

The weatherman said every day but one this month has been below average and it's not looking good for the future either. I've been getting a few things done around the shack. I finish a couple jobs in the shop and I'm going to get back on the basement workshop both on the equipment and the two projects I've been working on. Maybe even get one of them done this winter.