Husbands, wives and shopping.

I was privileged to spend the afternoon with my Queen Felicia today.
We had a nice lunch at a Bistro in town, and then went to her favorite Mall.
Coffee and some bargain priced books at B&N, where I found the latest Mc Murtry for five bucks.
"Telegraph Days", is set in the latter part of the Wild West shoot-out era through the early silent Western flicks era in Hollywood.
I also found a nice novel set in Nueva York during the Great Depression for the Queen.
It centers on a few neighborhood families, and should prove to be a nice read.

Then came the shopping, which is the third Ordinance right after Baptism and Communion for her.
We have found that if you look carefully at the mark down racks in Macy's, you occasionally find a real quality garment for low cost.
After trying on several nice spring dresses, she found one that we both like a lot.
I won't wear it, I mean I like the way it looks on her, of course.

By the time we were done with that, and a trip through a collectable and knick-knack store, Vickis's Secret and her favorite kitchen gadget place, this old horse was about shopped out.
"Rode hard and put away wet" just about described my condition.

I remembered I had no Easter Candy for her, so we stopped in at Rocky Mountain Chocolates.
I asked the manager if he had any dark chocolate baskets or collections, and we both attempted to find a mixture that she liked. "No, I don't like fruit creams, nope, that one isn't my favorite, etc etc"
He noticed the glazed look that all husbands occasionally get and offered "I have a really nice box right there behind you that is all dark chocolates"
SOLD, and Bless you my brother!
She was happy, and I told her I would catch up with her.
"You must be married!" I asked him.
"Oh, yes, and my wife drives me crazy with her shopping! I work here in the Mall all day, and she can't understand why I am not excited about shopping with her after 10 hours here."
After commiserating about womens religious fervor for shoes "I can't find a pair of shoes! Honey, there are 40 stores here in the Mall that sell shoes! But not the ones I want!"
We parted company, new found brothers in shopaholic mysery.

This is a cross cultural phenomena, this fellow is from India originally.
Motherly concern for their children, love for their husbands and families, and shopping are all in the DNA helix for our gals, I think.

Have a Blessed Easter weekend, remember it's true meaning, but do not under any circumstance forget to buy the women in your lives chocolate!
That is also a helix hidden in their inner soul.

"Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening...

...with guns, protecting a convoy.

Our soldier spent Saturday evening in the SW Virginia Mountains near his reserve unit.

He was 'observing' the other soldiers training for convoy protection.

Serving as Platoon Leader since he is a Cadet 2LT, he has already realized that officers watch and lead, and the enlisted men do the grunt work.

A wise man uses his intellect!

The temperature was in the teens, and the snow was blowing.
He likened it to "Band of Brothers" in France and Belgium, circa December 1944.
These pictures were shot with his camera phone, amazing quality for that device.

We'll keep you posted on his progress during his last 12 months as a student and ROTC cadet.

By next summer, he will be a commissioned 2LT and will be undergoing his first advanced training as an active duty officer in the 'real Army'.

Global Warming Update

Sydney, Australia is reporting their coolest Summer in 50 years.
This is their summertime, f0lks, south of the equator and all.
As a result, their tourism industry is suffering mightily.

Here in the states, many of you that live North of the Mason-Dixon line can attest to the coldest and snowiest winter in many years.

My brother-in-laws Ken and Raymond are 'enjoying' the armpit deep snow in the Boston area.

And in Texas, where we lived for fourteen years they are experiencing heavy snow and severe Winter weather as I write this missive.
We never had any ice storms after Valentines Day during our entire soujourn there.

The average worldwide temperature rise during the recent warming trend was .6 degree, according to experts. That's not 6 degrees, but six/tenths of one degree.

And now Sun Spot activity seems to be returning to normal, and many weather experts are admitting that we are entering another cooling trend.

No need to be alarmed, this is all perfectly normal cyclical temperature and weather patterns.

I remember a cover story in a major news magazine in 1975 warning of a coming ice age.
"Skating on the Hudson river, blizzards in Miami and Buenos Aires, blah blah blah!"

One thing that Uncle Dinosaur has learned in his 50 some odd years of life is to ignore the Prophets of Doom. Life has enough to provoke legitimate concern to waste time worrying about something that we cannot change, ie' the weather.

I learned this week that the founder and President of the Weather Channel is suing a former Senator and V.P. who has made a second career (and a heap of money in the process) in spreading the Global Warming gospel.
The gospel that is increasingly being 'weighed in the balance and found wanting'

Of course, said ex-politico turned weather expert needs to fly all over the world in his private fuel sucking jet to do so, when not living in various Mc Mansions and driving his fleet of SUV's.
But he has initiated a series of carbon footprint offsets, so everything is Hunky-Dory.
Word is he planted a tree.