"Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage." - H.L. Mencken

U-Fail

OK, let's get this out of the way. Because anything that comes after it will be a huge let-down. In fact, I'm not sure why I should even add anything to this post after a start like that.

However....
We're at or below freezing every night this week so this morning I did things like pull hoses off of faucets, put the heat lamp in the pump house so it's ready for those really cold nights we'll get in January and pack insulation in the gaps.

Then I moved all three kids, one at a time, down into the main pen. Once the sun has been up for a couple of hours and we're nearing the 40's I'll take AJ back up to the weaning pen, which is also where I set up the gambrel. After a couple hours of work he'll be parted and ready for the freezer. We're just about done with Itzhak, so in a week or two we'll be having Apple Jacks for dinner.

While Pam was doing laundry I sat in McDonald's with a large cup of coffee ($1) and got another fairly long section of the first book re-keyed. When we got home I hustled 4 miles and turned in a pretty decent time. I also strained both calves, probably sprinting up the last hill knowing that I was on the cusp of a good time.

A heads up: if you hear Democrats saying that under the GOP tax plan 45% of Americans will receive NO tax break...that's correct.
Because 45% of Americans don't pay any tax. And you can't give a tax break to people who don't pay any tax to begin with. These people either have too small an income or they have enough deductions under current tax law to escape any tax liability.
Pam and I fall in the former category. Our Social Security checks together put us well below the level where we'd be taxed, plus SSI isn't taxable. That is, all of us living on just SSI are part of that 45%.
But opponents of the tax reform plan won't bother with those details because their opposition doesn't sound nearly as principled or dramatic as saying 45% of Americans, most of them poor, are left out of the tax breaks.

There's more, but again, it can't come close to matching that kink up at the top. And I'm falling asleep as I type this.