"My best birth control now is just to leave the lights on." - Joan Rivers

We collect egg cartons so we have a place to put our eggs and a way to take them to a few friends why buy eggs from us. The carton sitting on the counter says "Cage Free Eggs."
I think they mean cage free chickens. Why would anyone put eggs in a cage anyway?

Did you know that "cage free" doesn't mean the chicken ever sees the outdoors? A producer can use that term if their chickens run loose in a giant warehouse. "Free range" describes chickens who have access to the outdoors. The crazy thing is the govt. allows them to be described as free range if the door to the outside is open for five minutes a day and the chickens actually never go outside. Free range also describes the old kitchen stove your neighbor left at the curb.

In last night's post I concluded by saying I was undecided how to spend the time between posting and going to bed. Here's the answer.
Because I decided to do all the cleanup, including washing everything (we don't have a dishwasher) I was up a lot later than I planned.
++++++++++++++++++++

The above was written early in the day Friday. When I came back to finish it last night I was finished. I pushed on the landscaping project that's a pretty physical effort and by the time I finished dinner I couldn't muster the energy to do anything, including go to bed. I slept in my chair.
And my body hurt.

It's now just after noon and a day without serious physical effort seems wise. And necessary. I'll go to the gym this afternoon but I decided to devote today to mental work instead.

I just spent over two hours wrestling with Brazil's "e-Visa" application process. Wow! The term glitchy doesn't begin to describe it. One example: "Enter your monthly income in local currency."
I assumed by that they mean Elmira, not Brazil but it still took me no less than 10 attempts to find the format they'd accept. Dollar sign? Decimal point? Cents? Comma?
Turns out the answer is no to all of them.
I won't even begin to describe the hassles uploading a mug shot. That took an hour right there.
But my app is now "in process" and I should hear back in a few days.

As promised, the wind is howling with gusts over 30 mph.
And (I am NOT kidding)...as I was typing the word howling the power went out.

So.....I'm now in town to get lunch and run some errands. I called our power company but they're slammed with outages all over. The roads are littered with small branches, but nothing I couldn't drive over or around.
If the power doesn't come on tonight I may fire up the generator or just live with it. I can get water for the toilet out of the creek and the wood stove will keep me warm. If it's not on in the morning I can go to the gym to shower and shave for church. So it's no big deal.
We never have cell phone coverage and without power we don't have internet so with Pam in MI at her mom's it's just me and the critters.

In the This Could Be Cool department, I learned today about the planned Alliance of American Football League.
I didn't watch a single NFL game last season and am not motivated to rejoin them this season. In addition to the political nonsense the game, like so many pro leagues, has gotten ridiculous. It takes WAY too long to play a game, the rules require a lawyer to figure out, and the endless replays and ref conferences put it on a par with baseball for pace of play. OK, maybe not THAT bad, but still....
Go here and scroll down to read some of the notable rule differences. I like it!
And the names putting all of this together are impressive. These are not clueless wannabes. We're talking guys with some real football cred. They seem to be doing it right, at least so far. And with the NFL experiencing record low viewership and real backlash about injuries this could sure be a refreshing option.

I'm going to head to Habitat for Humanity to see if I can buy a metal filing cabinet cheap that I'll turn into a smoker. Then to Harbor Freight to get a couple of things. I'll call home and if the answering machine picks up I'll know that power is back. If not I'll go to Starbucks and work on my sessions for Brazil. Two months from now!