Bits And Pieces

We're supposed to reach a high above freezing today - it will be a nice change.  No more snow is expected in Boulder today, but it is falling above 9,000 feet; and our weatherman says that we'll get several new inches of snow tomorrow afternoon.  I must say that the sunshine yesterday and today is extremely welcome!
   So, here are some oddball bits and pieces of things....   There was an earthquake on Wednesday afternoon that was felt in Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.  The quake was measured at 4.8 on the Richter scale and the epicenter was about 30 miles south of Conway Springs in Kansas.  My cousin Sarah, who lives in Wichita, was sitting in her truck, waiting for her eldest daughter to finish basketball practice.  She says she felt the truck begin to shake, and thought the wind had picked .  When the shaking continued and got a bit worse, she checked her rear-view mirror to see if someone she knew was rocking her rear bumper - Nope.  Then she realized the other vehicles in the lot were rocking and hopping, and she realized it was an earthquake.  Sarah posted it on Facebook; I would have been petrified.
   If you've been reading my blog, you know that it's been frigid in Colorado.  Yesterday morning, Halliburton Corporation, after a night with a record low temperature in the negative teens, started up their work on a fracking site in Weld County - but the pipe they use to force highly pressurized water into the ground to force sandy and shaley oil out was frozen.  The three man crew decided to "warm up"  the pipe.  The pipe ruptured, killing one man and sending the other two to the hospital.  It is estimated the force within the pipe was capable of moving 25,000 to 35,000 cubic feet per second.  Yikes.
    For the past two years, I have "subsidized" a neighbor.  Wayne is a sweet guy, who was injured in an accident several years ago.  He's in constant pain, has a lot of medical problems besides depression, and is always short of money to use to eat.  He smokes like a chimney, but I can't really fault him for that - but I sometimes think he uses the money I hand over to him for cigarettes and not for food.  I have been loaning him between $50 and $200 a month so that he can eat.  He is on Social Security Disability, like I am, so I know when he gets paid.  (Luckily I can work walking the dogs and house-sitting, while he cannot.) He pays me back exactly what he owes me every month (except this one) and promises me that he's working on a budget and is "getting things straightened out" with his bills.  In the past two years, I have forgiven his debt to me four times - and swallowed a loss of $1,000.  This month, Wayne owed me $60 and paid me back only $30; yesterday he came over and begged for more, which I gave him.  -  But, today, on the local news the folks who run the local community food pantries had a hotline number posted, and volunteers available, to take calls about people who have "fallen through the cracks" and need assistance getting food.  I called in and gave information regarding Wayne.  They are supposed to get back in contact with me early next week, and then contact him.  It will be a relief.  I had told him that the winter months were tough on me, money wise, because a lot of folks cancel walking their dogs in such bad weather.  (I've had one doggie walk this week, on Monday, just before the snow started to fall.)  I hope that the Food Pantries can coordinate with Wayne, and help him out.