Last day of February - 2007

The last full month of winter is ending and here where I call home, its ending like spring. The morning temperature is already 65 degrees outside. Windows are thrown wide and doors are open in hopes of a breeze...None blows. The winter bird residents are talking outside my door this morning. Mockingbirds in the distance, robins up closer to the house. There is even a undertone of finch-i-ness in the morning air here under the leafing oaks. I really hope this isn't a sign of things to come this summer...

I saw a report yesterday that El Nina is rearing her head in the Pacific. That usually means (so they said) that hurricanes are more prevalent on the Atlantic side (which I assume includes the Gulf) of America with a lessening of Pacific storms. Happy news to start the new Hurricane season.

The morning forecast email is foretelling a beautiful day in the mountains of the Blue Ridge. Wish I were there to enjoy it...Some day in the not to distant future. All ya'll with the chance, get out and enjoy that sun today, it's a sure cure for the mid-winter blahs.

The squirrels have joined the chorus outside. They must be scolding one of our cats...

History Lesson

It was on this day in 1854 that about 50 opponents of slavery gathered in Ripon, Wisconsin, to found the Republican Party. The group was made up of Northern Democrats, Whigs, and a small antislavery party called the Free Soil Party. And they were remarkably successful for a brand-new party. In 1856, after just two years in existence, they elected 92 representatives and 20 senators, and they came close to capturing the presidency with their candidate John C. Freemont. And just four years after that, they did win the presidency with their candidate Abraham Lincoln. No new political party since then has won the presidency of the United Sates.

You really have to wonder at the changes time has wrought in the party of Lincoln...

Source: The Writer's Almanac

Looks like it's time to move...catch you down the road...