Scattered Thoughts in New Immigrant

Checked the weather forecast for the next ten days and six out of ten are predicted to have overnight lows below zero. That news didn't upset me any more. Actually, I'm feeling nostalgic, this is an "old fashioned, real" winter, like the ones we experienced when we first moved to Iowa in the seventies. Seems normal. I've got my cold weather routine worked out and I can ski along on it. Tom and I may need to make a switch soon, though, so I can have the three girls spayed in Cedar Falls. Vet here is too far away for that.

For you Downton Abbey fans, I was interested to see "deceased" Matthew Crawley in "The Fifth Episode" about Wikileaks. And the new Sherlock Holmes, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, stars in that film as Julian Assange! That's actually why I watched it. Enjoyed it.

The environmental news of the week has been glum. On two different public radio shows I heard reports of the miniscule number of monarch butterflies overwintering in Mexico this summer. They think the decrease in numbers is resulting from the Midwest's insecticides that are killing off the milkweed.

Then I heard that thousands of penguin chicks in Argentina and elsewhere in S. America are being impacted by the weather changes. In some areas there is more rain and cooler nights causing penguin chicks to die of hypothermia.

The death of the shellfish off America's west coast is upsetting many. It's a die-off of immense proportions. Researchers hope to determine the cause but say that is several months away.

During his State of the Union speech President Obama showed he remains deluded about the heavy environmental costs of gas exploration. I am left shuddering that he may approve the dangerous Keystone Pipeline.

Each time one of your names pops up in the notes, it is reassuring.

As most of you know Sago's husband Kermit is in serious condition, battling pulmonary thrombosis. Sago has welcomed us along on her journey, for that I am grateful. I'm thankful we can let them know they are close in our thoughts. Sago writes with inspiration.

The turkeys are annoying me. I give them cracked corn out back but they have begun to raid the sunflower seed elsewhere, too. Whoever said turkeys are stupid never met mine. They hear me put out the seed and come running.

I am grateful to reconnect with you here, extremely grateful for hot meals in winter for British television shows for movies on-demand for snowshoes