Odds and Ends

It's already 40 degrees outside -wow! The sun is shining, and I have the patio door open since the wind is from the west. I walked over to Sunflower Market this morning and picked up a fresh loaf of bread, two chicken breasts, and some ground buffalo (it's leaner than ground beef). Gimpy was at the door when I returned, so I refilled the nut bowl and left the door open so the kits can run in and out a bit. Which reminds me, if any of you find odd smudges on your Christmas cards, it's thanks to Lovey and Banichi - they love to "help" me write. I have all sorts of odds and ends to write about today, most of them completely unrelated; since my brain is so disconnected, that shouldn't be a surprise. ... Ball Aerospace's WISE satellite will be launched into space tomorrow, and Joan Howard knows how to put things in terms anyone can understand. "We're MapQuesting the universe in infrared," Howard said when asked to explain the mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. ... Mark Ingram, a tailback from Alabama's Crimson Tide, won that university's first Heisman trophy yesterday. Having watched Ingram run over and through the Gators' defense, I will not contest his victory. It is well deserved. ... Our local sports announcers are having a Tom Swift field day stating that Tiger Woods "is being shaved from Gillette commercials." ... And last nights Denver Nuggets game was truly superb; they played the Phoenix Suns, and even though they trailed by 17 at one point, they won the game. It was a wonderful team effort. ... Today the Denver Broncos will play the (so-far this season) undefeated Indianapolis Colts. I love Peyton Manning, and I love my Broncos, so I'll be cheering on both teams, knowing that only one can win. ... And I was able to find several new books at the library by some of my favorite authors, so I'm happy to read for the next few days. The new books are by Terry Brooks (a Landover novel), Dick and Felix Francis, Dana Stabenow (a new Kate Shugat novel), Clive Cussler ( a novel based in the Great Pocomoke Swamp, about a 20-minute drive from Chincoteague Island), Diane Mott Davidson, Nevada Barr, and a new non-fiction by Rita Mae Brown titled Animal Magnetism. And I have never read Cross Creek by M. K. Rawlings, so I grabbed a copy of that, too. ... I'll be off to pet-sit and read to Rosie and Remy tonight; their folks are going out for dinner and a show in Denver, so I'll go keep the Rs company for 4 hours. I'll probably read to them... Have a wonderful Sunday.