February?

Above on Wednesday. Below on Saturday

It looks more like late March around here.

Mud season. The snowmobile trail through this field is useless without a snow covering.

The cracks in the road are oozing water - likely spots for frost heaves.

This farm up the road is a sad sight now. Once there were beef cattle, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys,and lots of activity. Someone very rich bought them out.  The plan was for it to continue as a farm but that didn't happen. Don't know what will be here one day.

Below is the field and barn across the street where two donkeys and a horse used to live.  They are gone now too.

 The sap is rising in the maple trees and has been off and on most of the winter.

Strange times.

Sharing Jennifer Rubin's Wisdom

 From The Washington Post

Friday, February 9, 2024

by Jennifer Rubin

What caught my eye There are many reasons to vote against four-times-indicted Donald Trump, but this week we saw replete evidence of the former president’s mental unfitness and its consequences. Trump’s broken psyche: GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haleyand President Biden have both started talking in earnest about Trump’s apparent mental decline. They point to episodes of slurred speech, his incoherent riffs and his habit of mixing up politicians. Though, in fact, those are the least of Trump’s problems. Serious analysis of Trump’s underlying mental state remains largely out of bounds, despite the Republican front-runner’s compulsive lyingand grandiosity, his classic use of DARVO (deny, attack and reverse victim and offender) and his impulsivity. No other public figure engages in such aggressive, antisocial and shocking conduct (e.g., threatening Truth Social barrages; adjudicated sexual assault against E. Jean Carroll; crude insults directed at women; vows to seek revenge against enemies). Some close aides have candidly described his aberrant conduct and inability to process information. Nevertheless, the reaction to Trump’s abnormal conduct amounts to a collective shoulder shrug. Trump’s threats of violence make an unmistakable pattern: He egged on the Jan. 6 violent attack on the Capitol, baited the crowd seeking to hang his vice president and was found liable for what is colloquially considered rape. Surely that is a subject that deserves more attention. Voters must be able to evaluate a presidential candidate’s mental and emotional fitness. After all, Trump keeps bringing up the topic, distorting his performance on a cognitive test — as though that proves his mental soundness. (Prevaricating about a mental fitness test is quite meta.) The media has no excuse to avoid covering this topic. With so much evidence of Trump’s mental and emotional unfitness, more exacting coverage is long overdue. He can’t put America first — and he goads other Republicans to violate their oaths. The ramifications of Trump’s influence were in full view this week. Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) pulled off what seemed to be impossible: They crafted the toughest border security bill in decades, one so strong that the conservative Wall Street editorial board, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Borden Patrol Union all backed it. Several GOP senators initially praised the bill. After all, Republicans had insisted on this as a condition for aide to Ukraine. Republicans got a border provision trigger. The bill would have empowered Biden to do what Trump could not: namely, stem the flow of unauthorized border crossings and, when needed, shut down the border. And yet, after all that and after years of castigating Biden for an “open border,” Republicans reversed themselves and felt compelled to sink it simply because Trump wanted to deny Biden a “win.” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) correctly said this was nothing short of “appalling.” Likewise, Murphy wondered how Republicans could “vote against a landmark bipartisan bill that we negotiated with one of the most conservative Republican Senators on the border issue,” referring to Lankford. The answer: They could do so because so many in the GOP follow Trump’s self-centered orders. (Even more jaw-dropping: Republicans now want to move ahead only on aid for Ukraine without any border measure, something they had demanded for months be considered along with aid.) We will not have a robust border security bill because, as Biden said, “Donald Trump thinks it’s bad for him politically.” That sort of twisted thinking is par for the course for Trump, who cannot fathom doing anything for America if it does not suit his needs. He wants the border to remain a mess. He wants the stock market to crash. Trump cannot grasp the meaning of his oath or any other constraint. His elevation of self above all else constitutes the essence of his unfitness. Worse, he cows other Republicans into violating their oaths. They, too, feel compelled to betray America at Trump’s bidding. (We know the answer to Biden’s query: “Republicans have to decide: Who do they serve — Donald Trump or the American people? Are they here to solve problems or just weaponize those problems for political purposes?”) Again, we see that when you empower someone as depraved as Trump, the country will always come last.

Puzzles

 I finished my fourth puzzle of this year on Monday night.

I have had help from granddaughter #1 who lent me one of hers.  It was the second one I finished this year. Forgot to take any photos.

Here's the fifth one started on Tuesday.

I limit myself to 500 piece puzzles.  No end to supply as there's an ongoing puzzle swap going on at the porch of the old store next door.

Project Completed

 On January 4th I wrote HERE about the bathroom project we'd started.

Now I can report that it's done!

Between the time that the plumber came to give us an estimate and the dates scheduled for them to make the changes (4 days starting January 25th), I managed to paint the cabinets over the washer and dryer to match the vanity we'd selected.  Dan got beaded board to cover the lousy looking wall under the windows and that got painting gray as well. All the items we'd ordered arrived in plenty of time including the washer and dryer which arrived first.

We did have some glitchs.  When the plumber arrived on the 25th the tub didn't!  It didn't come until Friday afternoon the 26th.  There were enough items on the plumber's list that he reordered his list. Tub was to be installed on Tuesday the 30th but the plumber came down with the bug going through the business. The apprentice came to move the toilet out so when the flooring came on Wednesday the 31st it could proceed.  Tub then installed on February 2nd.  

Once the tub was in Dan set to work to do the drywall which he completed on Sunday night so painting, my job could happen today.

I am moved back in, have tried the new tub, and am enjoying the new look.

Here are the photos.

Old vanity with medicine cabinet removed.  Lights were installed shortly after we moved here so no need to change.

Curtains and valences to stay.

Old tub with glass doors. When this was removed the date on it said 1986.

We replaced the medicine cabinet with just a mirror.  You can see the cabinets on the opposite wall that I painted. Dan pulled off the front of old vanity in preparation for its removal.

New washer and dryer.  Dryer vents from the side and goes down into basement then outside.

The toilet was new in 2021 when we first had this plumbing company do repairs for us.  You can see the beaded board I painted.

Tub removed revealed these wide boards. This would have been an outside wall to barn at one time. No artifacts were found unfortunately.

Toilet removed to guest room.  See the old flooring.

View of new flooring and new vanity.

New flooring looks like slate but it's not.  We like it a lot.

Back in to bathroom

New shower curtain to match the rainbow dots on the curtains.

Shower with a wand.

One of two grab bars installed.

View from guest room. Ready for the next guests to use it.