December 20, 1995 Volume 1, No. 7

5 DAYS LEFT: And counting...incredible...the guv'ment workers have all these shopping days...our elected officials are such idiots...why can't they just do things for the good of all...quit this silly game...ya know...if ya read the Reader's Digest or Consumer Reports...you can get purty worked up...even if you don't live within spittin' distance of Washington...we get bombarded with it here...every news channel focuses on things going on in politics...the Washington Post is full of it...besides all the going out of business ads for all the old line department stores...we're particularly wrapped up in it...not by choice...most of our neighbors work in guv'ment jobs...they're all at home...I'm at the office...puttin' in my time...payin' my taxes...which turns into their salary...they don't have to work...(not that I think they work all that hard anyway)...isn't that like welfare?...didn't we vote these bums out once?...what's goin' on here?

FLAMING REINDEER: It finally warmed up enough this last weekend that I put some outdoor lights up...I didn't want to be the only house in the neighborhood that was dark...we found these cute little reindeer shapes that stick in the ground...have the old-fashioned lights (the big bulbs) to outline the shape...35 of 'em...white...lights up the whole block!...makes my meter run crazy...the neighbors complain 'cause it keeps 'em up at night...the ground is covered with snow now...makes it even worse for reflection...I thought about buying 9 of 'em...for realism...good thing I didn't!

HEAT PUMPS: I don't know where it pumps the heat...sure ain't outta the vent!...I like their explanation of how the system pulls the heat out of the air...sure it does...but anyway...the other night I pulled up to the house...it was very cold...my frantic family was waiting...the heat pump wasn't working!...the outside unit wasn't running...13 years old...we know it's ready to go any minute...thought this was the minute...thinkin' how the heat pump guy was gonna rip us a new one!...so I pulled out my handy-dandy Radio Shack "tester"...pulled open the fuse box on the back of the house...tested the fuses...sure 'nuff...one of 'em was blown...we just happened to have a spare...put it in...works fine!...what a sigh of relief...now we can put it off until Spring maybe...when they're not so busy...we're not so desparate.

"You only get what you're willing to take." --Mikey, Thinking Too Hard