Year-end Roundup

Another year behind us…and more uncertainty ahead. I wonder if I’ll even have an Internet site where I can post my thoughts at this time in 2012. The more I read and hear, the more I fear that the second Tuesday of November will be the tripwire for the future of our country. If we continue down the path of socialism I foresee attempts to split the country in two, or to change that path with social upheaval that could make the Arab Spring look like a family spat.

As I sat watching several chipping sparrows, goldfinches and one busy titmouse at my bird feeders this morning, I was thinking that instead of retiring I should have kept a job so I could get more done around the house. The more time I have off, the less I seem to get done. It’s hard to imagine how I managed to accomplish so much and still work a full-time job all those years. Without having to plan my day as I did when I worked, I now find it too easy to sit down with a good book or a crossword puzzle when I should be working on my honey-do list.

We should be breaking ground on our new house in a few weeks. Everything has ground to a halt during the holidays, but should start moving again when the world gets back to a normal schedule. The drawings have been reviewed and corrections are to be finished this week. Then we can get the permits and process the loan and insurance paperwork. The builder estimates it will take about three months to build, so we might be moved in by the first of May.

I was doing some research on the itty-bitty town of Ponder, where we are building. Not much history there, with the exception that Bonnie and Clyde once tried to hold up the town bank, but discovered that it had gone broke a week earlier. There are fewer than twenty businesses listed with a Ponder address, but the steakhouse boasts that it is a favorite eating establishment for the Hollywood-type known as Meatloaf, and his pictures on the wall speak to their honest claim. I wouldn’t know the guy if he walked in and stepped on my foot, but I guess you grab all the celebrity association you can find.

Weatherwise, the year is going out gently in this part of Texas and I’m not complaining. The temperature was near 70 today, and I actually worked up a sweat doing a few chores outside. You can’t beat that kind of weather at this time of the year, and the forecast is the same for tomorrow.

Happy New Year!