"We always keep God waiting while we admit more importunate suitors." - Malcolm de Chazai

I worked a bit at the coffee shop this morning and then we went to a wood stove dealer on the far side of Springfield, 35 minutes away. When we left, with reference to the shop in Eugene we visited a month ago, Pam said, "I want to do business with this dealer!" Very nice sales lady (the other seemed unhappy, like we were an intrusion), and prices a bit lower for an appropriate stove, albeit a different brand. Their install guy is coming out in a couple of weeks to look things over and then give us a full estimate for the stove and install. We're hoping their total number will be lower than the Eugene shop.

More craziness from Oregon. The state is raising taxes to pay for transportation infrastructure, including new mass transit systems, road construction, and safety upgrades. The money will come from an additional ten cent gas tax, car registration fees, a 5% sales tax on cars (in a state with no sales tax), and a surcharge on bicycle sales. The bill also includes a rebate for people who buy eco-friendly cars.
But I think they may have been smoking some of that legal pot when they wrote this bill. It includes higher registration fees for cars that are more fuel efficient because they don't generate as much gas tax.
So, you get a break when you buy that eco-friendly car but then pay it back (and then some?) every time you register it.

We aren't the only nation with a leader who needs a slap upside the head.
Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel has a fear of dogs. OK, it happens, and it's not the worst eccentricity a person can have.
So Putin has a one-on-one with her...and brings a dog.
Jerk.

In the first sentence of that previous paragraph I wrote, "leader who needs a ...." instead of "leader that needs a...."
I'm much more attentive to the use of the personal pronoun when referring to a person and the impersonal "that" when the object is a thing or group thanks to the gentle correction of my VIF Sherry who has been an editor.
In fact, she's made me so aware and sensitive to the incorrect use of "that" that I cringe when the lyrics of a song, including some classic hymns get it wrong. I've been known to sing it correctly during a service despite what the song slide says.
Worse, when Bible translators get it wrong. (Yes, the Greek also distinguishes between the two forms.)