Tuesday Odds and Ends

 

Happy Election Day!

It's a happy day because, starting tomorrow and for a while, I won't have to peel "Vote 4 Me" decals from the Daily Bee front-page news-above-the-fold story and re-apply them to the strip of real estate ads at the bottom of the page. 

 

I still can't figure out why gimmicks like this are used because they irritate me much more than motivating me to go vote for whoever paid to have the front-page news decal-bombed.  

And, I bet I'm not the only one who just wants to read the news. 

Same is true occasionally when someone pays to have the newspaper public records column and other significant news as part of a partial-page wrap-around ad on the rest of the paper. 

This irritates the heck out of me to have to disassemble the paper just to read the records.  Then, I have to put it back in some order so that Bill won't miss the records.  

I purposely won't look at the wrap-around advertisement because of the blatant inconvenience it has caused to my morning reading. 

I have found that with those election decals over the past several days, they fit perfectly over the real estate ads without interfering without covering up key sentences in stories at the bottom of the front page. 

Election Day signals both relief and sometimes disbelief with whom or what the voters support. 

I'm always relieved because we no longer have to listen to those TV ads, funded by the opposition and featuring weird pictures of candidates along with hyperbolic testimonials informing us of what evil and diabolical slimeballs these candidates really are. 

In many cases the people we thought were the good guys will never reclaim their sterling reputations after the outlandish mud slinging of a political campaign.

As for evil, diabolical and sometimes stupid people with big mouths, sadly many of that ilk are getting elected these days. 

So, it will be interesting here locally to see who gets elected to City Council, School Board and mayoral positions. 

The nice part:  this election year all Bill and I have had to do is peel off stickers from the newspaper or turn the channel when the face of an idiot appears on the screen.  

We don't have to go to the polls today. 

Today is also horse-hoof day here at the Lovestead. Cecil will be coming for his introduction to Lily, Lefty and CB, and when he's finished with his work, there should be a lot less noise here. 

No more clinging and clanging down the lane from those shoes John nailed to Lily's hooves in July and CB's in late August. 

And, Lefty's hooves should look much more presentable with a bit of toe trimming and rounding off where chunks have broken off. 

I'll also worm the horses---not with Ivermectin cuz I couldn't find any of that.  Their wormer paste tastes like apples, and since they love apples, the treatment should be speedy and easy. 

It's all part of the "getting-ready-for winter" marathon projects, which yesterday included grooming the pastures with the brush hog, picking up a few more leaves and surrounding my blueberry bushes with pine needles. I'm told that this process enhances the soil around the bushes.

Another aspect of getting ready for the cold, crisp days of winter involves peeling apples and making up several jars of sauce.  Nothing better with pork than cold, lumpy applesauce.  

So, I cooked up eight pints last night and should keep adding to the supply over the next couple of weeks. 

All in all, it's a lovely time of year for "doing things" outside, and I'm trying to take advantage of every opportunity to get the place buttoned up for relative hibernation. 

It's good work, and it's fun. 

Happy Tuesday.