After getting about 0.55 inches of rain last Saturday afternoon/evening, we had two nice fall days. Daytime highs got to around 70 and the nights' lows were around 50-55 degrees.
Terry and I took advantage of the nice weather on Monday to do some work inside the Winnebago (it goes for some service on Thursday and two nights of camping) and to clean up the garden. We pulled up all the tomato and cucumber plants and bagged them for the landfill. The blight fungus got to the tomatoes and it was sad to have to throw dozens of partially and totally unripened tomatoes into the garbage bags. Still, we got more tomatoes this year than ever before. And all out of just two cherry tomato plants, two early girls, and two larger, indeterminate plants.The only things still in the garden? The zucchini plants-although there are no promising fruit on the horizon--and the recently planted snap peas--which have loved these rains and cool nights.
Monday night we went to Gregory's in Mansfield to celebrate my birthday. The restaurant is in an historic building in the center of town and a short distance from Mansfield University. It used to be called Mark's Brothers, but the current owner purchased it last year after starting work there 30 years ago as a dishwasher. He later helped as a cook and then moved up to eventually become head chef.
The rain returned last night--along with some winds. Some of those winds had gusts between 35 and 40 MPH. Nothing compared to what some folks are experiencing. With the amount of rain forecast and reported from the Elmira/Corning television stations, I expect I find we have well over one inch of rain from this storm.
Showing posts with label Dinner Out. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dinner Out. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Aerie Report, February 12, 2012
I haven't written much this week, but it's certainly been interesting in a couple of minor ways.
Terry got a gift of a vase and a bulb for a paper-white narcissus for Christmas. It sat o n the counter for nearly a month before she added water to it and within a week the roots began to grow. A couple of days later the green leaf shoots started lengthening and then two flower stalks emerged.
Well, for a week and a half we could almost see those greens growing skyward if we just stared at them long enough. Everyday they'd be a half inch or more taller in the morning and another half inch by bed time. Things grew like Jack's beanstalk!
Last Sunday, the flower buds burst open and two clusters of pretty little white flowers appeared.
I was out of the house most of Monday, but on Tuesday my eyes started itching, my nose stated dripping and I started sneezing hard enough to tweek the muscles in my lower back. If I sneezed any harder, the walls of the house would have given way!
This continued on Wednesday and Thursday despite my taking my daily Loratadine tablet every morning. (That little pill makes it possible to have three cats in the house.) Trying to think of what might be causing my obviously allergic reaction we finally settled on the paper-white narcissus and it was exiled to the guest bedroom around noon on Friday.
It took a while before I started to recover, but by Saturday I was back to normal and continued to be itchy-eyes, runny-nose and sneeze free. Coincidence? The only way to find out is for me to go and sit in the guest bedroom for an hour. And I, for one, will not tempt fate.
******
Friday saw the temperatures around the Aerie begin to fall down below the historical averages. Clouds moved in and by Saturday noon hour it was flurrying. Not much, but enough to say it was doing something. Forecast initially said we would have only an inch or so but then they changed to "up to 3 inches" later tin the day. It was to stop by 8 PM. And it did. But then we started to have snow squalls all day Sunday. One minute the sun would shine through a break in the clouds and the next we would have white-out conditions with the wind whipping the powdery snow that fell on Saturday about as much as blowing the new stuff sideways.
And the Sunday morning temperature was just 7 degrees. Got as high as 18 though. Still, that's colder than the folks running the Yukon Quest are experiencing.
Tomorrow, they say, it will be mostly sunny with the temperatures reaching the upper 30s so, except for the deck, I left the snow lay where it fell. Mother Nature can do the cleanup this time around.
******
Terry and I were going to support the local church yesterday by going to their beef and chicken dinner. We scraped the snow and ice off the Tundra's windshield and drove down in the snow and were surprised to see that the parking lot was empty. Either Terry got the wrong night or the wrong church, or the thing got cancelled because of the snow. At any rate, we found ourselves down the hill with no firm plans for dinner. So, off to Mansfield and Papa V's for some fine Italian food.
We passed on the pizza and went for an appetizer of fried calamari and entrees of chicken parmigiano. Mmmm-mmm, good!
By the time we got home, I had to put the truck into 4-wheel to assure we would get up the hill. Drifting snow from the fields and pastures at the base of the hill had filled in much of the road.
******
Only thing that intruded upon a nice dinner out was some college aged kid sitting at the next table with his girlfriend and, I suppose, his mom and dad. The kid was loudly pontificating on the need for more than a high school diploma to get a job, the gas companies, the rise of tuition at Mansfield U, and education cuts made by the Governor.
I finally had enough and asked him to lower his voice since some of us wanted to enjoy our meal and had no interest in his ill-formed opinion. Surprisingly, he did.
I later thought of his comments and, if I had had the desire, could have put him in his place with just a few points. The gas companies are hiring people left right and sideways. Some of their jobs need special training WHICH THEY WILL PROVIDE so even a high school grad can get a gas job. The influx of gas workers has caused a boom in numerous support businesses in the area and there are help wanted signs up all over. I'm sure lots of those jobs do not require more than a high school diploma. How many more high school diplomaed kids would get jobs more easily if the high schools still taught skills like auto shop, carpentry, home economics (specifically cooking) instead of believing every kid must be trained to go to college? (On the home ec front, some entrepreneurial young ladies in the area have set up a housekeeping service to tend to the many single gas workers and drill rig offices that need cleaning up after. They say business is booming!)
Rise in tuition at MU? You mean the school that just had a building spurt and put up a couple of big dorms? Does it still teach things like "women's studies"? Why?
As for the cut in education monies the Governor has put in his budget (some $900 million), spread across the state of Pennsylvania that's not much at all. And in this area we actually had a round of consolidation recently because some schools were being underused. Imagine that.
The fact that this young man was spouting his opinions in an eatery that just doubled its size because of the gas boom and from whose windows one could see a micro brewery that didn't exist a little over a year ago and a Mexican cantina that is just two years old, and just down the street from a local bank branch that handled $130 million dollars in deposits last year--mostly from gas royalties payed to land owners...well, that was icing on the cake.
Terry got a gift of a vase and a bulb for a paper-white narcissus for Christmas. It sat o n the counter for nearly a month before she added water to it and within a week the roots began to grow. A couple of days later the green leaf shoots started lengthening and then two flower stalks emerged.
Well, for a week and a half we could almost see those greens growing skyward if we just stared at them long enough. Everyday they'd be a half inch or more taller in the morning and another half inch by bed time. Things grew like Jack's beanstalk!
Last Sunday, the flower buds burst open and two clusters of pretty little white flowers appeared.
I was out of the house most of Monday, but on Tuesday my eyes started itching, my nose stated dripping and I started sneezing hard enough to tweek the muscles in my lower back. If I sneezed any harder, the walls of the house would have given way!
This continued on Wednesday and Thursday despite my taking my daily Loratadine tablet every morning. (That little pill makes it possible to have three cats in the house.) Trying to think of what might be causing my obviously allergic reaction we finally settled on the paper-white narcissus and it was exiled to the guest bedroom around noon on Friday.
It took a while before I started to recover, but by Saturday I was back to normal and continued to be itchy-eyes, runny-nose and sneeze free. Coincidence? The only way to find out is for me to go and sit in the guest bedroom for an hour. And I, for one, will not tempt fate.
******
Friday saw the temperatures around the Aerie begin to fall down below the historical averages. Clouds moved in and by Saturday noon hour it was flurrying. Not much, but enough to say it was doing something. Forecast initially said we would have only an inch or so but then they changed to "up to 3 inches" later tin the day. It was to stop by 8 PM. And it did. But then we started to have snow squalls all day Sunday. One minute the sun would shine through a break in the clouds and the next we would have white-out conditions with the wind whipping the powdery snow that fell on Saturday about as much as blowing the new stuff sideways.
And the Sunday morning temperature was just 7 degrees. Got as high as 18 though. Still, that's colder than the folks running the Yukon Quest are experiencing.
Tomorrow, they say, it will be mostly sunny with the temperatures reaching the upper 30s so, except for the deck, I left the snow lay where it fell. Mother Nature can do the cleanup this time around.
******
Terry and I were going to support the local church yesterday by going to their beef and chicken dinner. We scraped the snow and ice off the Tundra's windshield and drove down in the snow and were surprised to see that the parking lot was empty. Either Terry got the wrong night or the wrong church, or the thing got cancelled because of the snow. At any rate, we found ourselves down the hill with no firm plans for dinner. So, off to Mansfield and Papa V's for some fine Italian food.
We passed on the pizza and went for an appetizer of fried calamari and entrees of chicken parmigiano. Mmmm-mmm, good!
By the time we got home, I had to put the truck into 4-wheel to assure we would get up the hill. Drifting snow from the fields and pastures at the base of the hill had filled in much of the road.
******
Only thing that intruded upon a nice dinner out was some college aged kid sitting at the next table with his girlfriend and, I suppose, his mom and dad. The kid was loudly pontificating on the need for more than a high school diploma to get a job, the gas companies, the rise of tuition at Mansfield U, and education cuts made by the Governor.
I finally had enough and asked him to lower his voice since some of us wanted to enjoy our meal and had no interest in his ill-formed opinion. Surprisingly, he did.
I later thought of his comments and, if I had had the desire, could have put him in his place with just a few points. The gas companies are hiring people left right and sideways. Some of their jobs need special training WHICH THEY WILL PROVIDE so even a high school grad can get a gas job. The influx of gas workers has caused a boom in numerous support businesses in the area and there are help wanted signs up all over. I'm sure lots of those jobs do not require more than a high school diploma. How many more high school diplomaed kids would get jobs more easily if the high schools still taught skills like auto shop, carpentry, home economics (specifically cooking) instead of believing every kid must be trained to go to college? (On the home ec front, some entrepreneurial young ladies in the area have set up a housekeeping service to tend to the many single gas workers and drill rig offices that need cleaning up after. They say business is booming!)
Rise in tuition at MU? You mean the school that just had a building spurt and put up a couple of big dorms? Does it still teach things like "women's studies"? Why?
As for the cut in education monies the Governor has put in his budget (some $900 million), spread across the state of Pennsylvania that's not much at all. And in this area we actually had a round of consolidation recently because some schools were being underused. Imagine that.
The fact that this young man was spouting his opinions in an eatery that just doubled its size because of the gas boom and from whose windows one could see a micro brewery that didn't exist a little over a year ago and a Mexican cantina that is just two years old, and just down the street from a local bank branch that handled $130 million dollars in deposits last year--mostly from gas royalties payed to land owners...well, that was icing on the cake.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Aerie Report, October 11, 2011
I woke up before 6 AM this morning and saw the full moon about to set. A beautiful, bright orange jack-o-lantern moon. The adage about red sky in the morning is meant to apply to the sun rising, but the moon setting may be just as good an indicator. Clouds moved in during the day and we are supposed to get showers late tonight an much of Wednesday. Wednesday's showers may be heavy at times, too. At least the clouds kept the temperature below 70 degrees today. ideal temperature for working outdoors.
******
I spent three hours in the dentist's chair this morning getting fitted for a temporary bridge. It took her an hour just to get the old bridge off so she could get to the teeth beneath that were 1) anchoring the 6 tooth bridge and 2) in need of work because of decay. Luckily(?) she didn't see a need for a root canal ("at this time") on the one really bad tooth. Impressions were taken for the final product, the temp was installed and everything else went swimmingly. I practiced lots of meditation while sitting there. So much, in fact, that I nearly fell asleep while she was working!
She kept telling me to relax my lips so she could put those little cotton pillows in to keep the flesh away from where she was using the cutter/drill. I had to laugh because my upper lip was so numb from the shots she administered that I couldn't get it much more relaxed than it was. As for the little cotton pillows, I'm sure I've seen chipmunks with less in their cheek pouches. I think there were six of those things in there at one time.
******
When I got done with the dentist, I sauntered over to Yorkholo Brewery for a glass of Pine Creek Lager and a meal of fish and chips. I'm sure it was quite good but I was concerned I might dribble all over the place since my upper lip was still very, very numb.
I did complain that they post their meal specials on Facebook too late for them to be useful for either lunch or dinner planning. Every day they seem to post their specials just one hour before that meal's time. They put the lunch special up around 11 AM and the dinner between 4 and 5 PM. By then Terry's already got meal prep pretty much underway and it's usually too late to alter our plans. The bartender listened, nodded his head and told me that they were just talking about that at a meeting on Monday. They know it's a problem and they are working with the folks in the kitchen for a little more lead time.
******
Back home I stacked all the firewood and covered it with tarps. That little job took me two-and-a-half hours to complete by which time by lip was no longer numb but I was wishing my knees were. Both of them were complaining something awful. I'll be taking some pain killers after a light dinner and will skip the photography club meeting over in Wellsboro. Maybe I'll make it all the way through NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles before I turn into a pumpkin.
******
I spent three hours in the dentist's chair this morning getting fitted for a temporary bridge. It took her an hour just to get the old bridge off so she could get to the teeth beneath that were 1) anchoring the 6 tooth bridge and 2) in need of work because of decay. Luckily(?) she didn't see a need for a root canal ("at this time") on the one really bad tooth. Impressions were taken for the final product, the temp was installed and everything else went swimmingly. I practiced lots of meditation while sitting there. So much, in fact, that I nearly fell asleep while she was working!
She kept telling me to relax my lips so she could put those little cotton pillows in to keep the flesh away from where she was using the cutter/drill. I had to laugh because my upper lip was so numb from the shots she administered that I couldn't get it much more relaxed than it was. As for the little cotton pillows, I'm sure I've seen chipmunks with less in their cheek pouches. I think there were six of those things in there at one time.
******
When I got done with the dentist, I sauntered over to Yorkholo Brewery for a glass of Pine Creek Lager and a meal of fish and chips. I'm sure it was quite good but I was concerned I might dribble all over the place since my upper lip was still very, very numb.
I did complain that they post their meal specials on Facebook too late for them to be useful for either lunch or dinner planning. Every day they seem to post their specials just one hour before that meal's time. They put the lunch special up around 11 AM and the dinner between 4 and 5 PM. By then Terry's already got meal prep pretty much underway and it's usually too late to alter our plans. The bartender listened, nodded his head and told me that they were just talking about that at a meeting on Monday. They know it's a problem and they are working with the folks in the kitchen for a little more lead time.
******
Back home I stacked all the firewood and covered it with tarps. That little job took me two-and-a-half hours to complete by which time by lip was no longer numb but I was wishing my knees were. Both of them were complaining something awful. I'll be taking some pain killers after a light dinner and will skip the photography club meeting over in Wellsboro. Maybe I'll make it all the way through NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles before I turn into a pumpkin.
Friday, September 09, 2011
Friday afternoon/evening at the Aeire
Since we were unable to attend the wedding being held this afternoon in New Jersey, Terry and I decided to head over to Wellsboro and the Gemeiner Arts & Cultural Center where she had helped put together a show of the works of the Embroiderers of the Twin Tiers. Ladies from New York's Southern Tier and Pennsylvania's Northern Tier had contributed various pieces of their stitching arts for a marvelous display that will run through the end of the month.
After, we drove over to the Pago-Mar Farms Market, a fruits and vegetable market on Route 287, to pick up a box of tomatoes for more sauce and a box of peaches to be canned. They also had some acorn and butternut squash we will be enjoying in the near future. (A man can only take so many zucchini dishes!)
Then we headed south on Route 15 to the town of Liberty and The Landing Strip Restaurant for their Friday Fish Fry Special. Fried flounder, shrimp and bay scallops with home made cole slaw, French fries and baked biscuit for under $9 and worth much more.
Now it's a relaxing evening at home. Without any rain. For now.
After, we drove over to the Pago-Mar Farms Market, a fruits and vegetable market on Route 287, to pick up a box of tomatoes for more sauce and a box of peaches to be canned. They also had some acorn and butternut squash we will be enjoying in the near future. (A man can only take so many zucchini dishes!)
Then we headed south on Route 15 to the town of Liberty and The Landing Strip Restaurant for their Friday Fish Fry Special. Fried flounder, shrimp and bay scallops with home made cole slaw, French fries and baked biscuit for under $9 and worth much more.
Now it's a relaxing evening at home. Without any rain. For now.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Report on our Lunch Date
WE had a lovely lunch at the Yorkholo Brewing Company in Mansfield, PA. I was a little disappointed in the lack of choice in brews. They had such a successful weekend opening that they only had one IPA left! But it was excellent! A little darker than I expected and strong in flavor, I really enjoyed my pint. Terry's not one for beers so she tried their home brewed root beer and pronounced it excellent as well. We were told that they would have more beers available tomorrow. On the board behind the bar they had Creeper Dark Brown Ale, "Night and Day" Porter (made with a house coffee blend!), "Eddie" White Ale, Oatmeal Stout, and "Bungy" Blonde. (Bungy is a small village to the east of here.)
The menu is a bit scant--which we thought was a good idea for a place that's just starting out. They offer half a dozen different appetizers including crab stuffed mushrooms, stuffed portabello mushrooms, chicken wings, and onion rings. All priced between $5 and $10. Half a dozen different salads were also offered, including the house salad, a Caesar's Salad and a steak salad (strips of steak served atop the house salad) for from $5 to $12.
The dinner menu included steak, blackened cod, fried haddock, eggplant parmigiana, and chicken parmigiana. The prices ranged from $10 to $21.
There were only two sandwiches available for lunch: the Brewpub Burger ($9) and a grilled chicken with a chipotle sauce ($8). Terry tried the burger, I tried the chicken. Both were served on fresh baked rolls with homemade fries and a pickle. My chicken sandwich also had fresh lettuce, tomato, onion and steamed spinach. Terry's burger was cooked to her order and my chicken had a subtle smokey flavor enhanced by the chipotle sauce. We really enjoyed them both.
Everything on the menu is available during the the time that Yorkholo is open. All the beef is grass fed from local sources.
We'll be going back. But next time, we'll try the appetizers and salads. And, we'll be sure to get there on a Thursday or Friday when their stock of beers hasn't been depleted!
The menu is a bit scant--which we thought was a good idea for a place that's just starting out. They offer half a dozen different appetizers including crab stuffed mushrooms, stuffed portabello mushrooms, chicken wings, and onion rings. All priced between $5 and $10. Half a dozen different salads were also offered, including the house salad, a Caesar's Salad and a steak salad (strips of steak served atop the house salad) for from $5 to $12.
The dinner menu included steak, blackened cod, fried haddock, eggplant parmigiana, and chicken parmigiana. The prices ranged from $10 to $21.
There were only two sandwiches available for lunch: the Brewpub Burger ($9) and a grilled chicken with a chipotle sauce ($8). Terry tried the burger, I tried the chicken. Both were served on fresh baked rolls with homemade fries and a pickle. My chicken sandwich also had fresh lettuce, tomato, onion and steamed spinach. Terry's burger was cooked to her order and my chicken had a subtle smokey flavor enhanced by the chipotle sauce. We really enjoyed them both.
Everything on the menu is available during the the time that Yorkholo is open. All the beef is grass fed from local sources.
We'll be going back. But next time, we'll try the appetizers and salads. And, we'll be sure to get there on a Thursday or Friday when their stock of beers hasn't been depleted!
Wunderful Monday!
Well, now. No rain, clear if blustery skies and a thermometer that has gone up since 10 PM last evening. It was 39 degrees then and it's 43 degrees now. I'll take it!
Yeah, the rain would/could have helped the snow to melt a wee bit faster, but the sunshine is far more valuable right now in terms of Vitamin D and raised spirits. We got plenty of water laying on the ground...in storage, so to speak.
******
Terry and I will be going down to Mansfield to try out the new micro-brew cafe, Yorkholo Brewing Company, for lunch. They opened officially just this weekend.
It's a college town. In the middle of a booming gas industry. They do beer and burgers. Should be a success.
Have a nice Valentine's Day.
Yeah, the rain would/could have helped the snow to melt a wee bit faster, but the sunshine is far more valuable right now in terms of Vitamin D and raised spirits. We got plenty of water laying on the ground...in storage, so to speak.
******
Terry and I will be going down to Mansfield to try out the new micro-brew cafe, Yorkholo Brewing Company, for lunch. They opened officially just this weekend.
It's a college town. In the middle of a booming gas industry. They do beer and burgers. Should be a success.
Have a nice Valentine's Day.
Monday, May 03, 2010
Happy Birthday!
Today is Terry's Birthday. As usual, ours will be a quiet celebration. After she goes up to Horseheads for one of her EGA meetings, we'll go over to the Wellsboro House for dinner. We're trying to hit a couple new spots and haven't been to the Wellsboro House before. Except for the whole Philly sports fan thing it looks like a pretty neat place. And with all those seafood entrees and 16 different beers on tap, how can you go wrong?
She won't let me tell you how old she is but Joe M. (our new PA "neighbor"!) is celebrating his 56th birthday today and he was her 5th birthday present so do the math.
She won't let me tell you how old she is but Joe M. (our new PA "neighbor"!) is celebrating his 56th birthday today and he was her 5th birthday present so do the math.
Friday, April 09, 2010
Hey! Who turned the thermostat down?
We didn't just take a step back into spring time today. We leaped completely back into winter! It was 38 degrees when the cats got us up this morning. (The birds, who had taken over the wake-up chores the last few days, slept in--probably beneath a down comforter.) The sky remained overcast all day and the wind kept blowing 15-25 mph out of the northwest. The result was a "high" of just 40 degrees, not the forecast 50, and a totally raw feeling throughout the day. We haven't turned the heat back on because the living quarters are a comfortable 61 degrees--just about where they are during the winter. We may have to turn the heat up in the bedroom, however. The windows there were left open throughout the morning and it got down to 52 degrees before we thought to shut them. At 9:45 PM it is 31 degrees.
******
Tomorrow morning is our first bird walk at Hills Creek State Park. It's gonna be a cold one!
******
Wrote the check for Uncle Sam today. It will be in the mail tomorrow. a single stamp will not carry all the enclosed paper to the government and additional postage will be necessary. The return for PA cost us 61 cents to mail and this one will be about the same.
I happened to see this at the Tax Profs Blog: Today Is Tax Freedom Day -- Earlier in AK, LA & MS, Later in CT, NJ, NY. Pennsylvania is ranked #11 (which is not good but still better than #1 Conn or #2 NJ) and or actual tax freedom day will not be until next Tuesday, April 13th. (You can find out where your state ranks by looking at the Tax Foundation site: here. The folks in Alaska celebrated their Tax Freedom Day on March 26th--the first in the country to do so.
******
We went down to Holy Child for dinner tonight. They were having chicken and biscuits and it was good. The church has a monthly fundraising dinner and it is usually excellent. Even if the meal is more like Mom's than restaurant quality, the homemade desserts are well worth the stop. Besides, the dinner conversations are yet another part of the underground news network of small town, rural America.
There was one guy and his wife, for instance: his truck plate is YUKON KID and she's Aleut. Mention that we were going to Alaska and she chimed in with how she'll be flying to Fairbanks on June 22 and then taking a puddle jumper into the bush to go visit family.
Another couple lives just down the hill. She was a former teacher in Maryland and they both retired here. They had been to an Audubon meeting last year (something I had to remind them of) curious about some of the birds in their yard. (They never followed up with our offer to come and see what they had on their land.) We commiserated about the truck traffic associated with the wind farm and gas drilling for a bit. They have a neighbor who will have a well drilled on his property and we think the same may happen near us if the 3-D seismic studies show it is warranted.
******
After dinner we stopped at the new Tractor Supply store to pick up some cat food and were sorely tested by the baby chicks and ducks they had for sale. Since we will be gone for nearly two months this summer, that temptation passed swiftly.
Since Beiter's Home Furnishings is right next store, we went to see what they had in the way of living room furniture. The stuff we have is coming up on 25 years old and is starting to show its age. They didn't have anything we liked but they did have a 2-for-1 sale on recliners and they did have a couple that we did like there. So, come Tuesday, the love seat in the loft--the one I sit on throughout the football season--will be replaced by two very comfortable reclining chairs. (And, some how, I'll get the delivery guys to haul the love seat down to the garage.)
Somebody's got to keep the American economy rolling!
******
Tomorrow morning is our first bird walk at Hills Creek State Park. It's gonna be a cold one!
******
Wrote the check for Uncle Sam today. It will be in the mail tomorrow. a single stamp will not carry all the enclosed paper to the government and additional postage will be necessary. The return for PA cost us 61 cents to mail and this one will be about the same.
I happened to see this at the Tax Profs Blog: Today Is Tax Freedom Day -- Earlier in AK, LA & MS, Later in CT, NJ, NY. Pennsylvania is ranked #11 (which is not good but still better than #1 Conn or #2 NJ) and or actual tax freedom day will not be until next Tuesday, April 13th. (You can find out where your state ranks by looking at the Tax Foundation site: here. The folks in Alaska celebrated their Tax Freedom Day on March 26th--the first in the country to do so.
******
We went down to Holy Child for dinner tonight. They were having chicken and biscuits and it was good. The church has a monthly fundraising dinner and it is usually excellent. Even if the meal is more like Mom's than restaurant quality, the homemade desserts are well worth the stop. Besides, the dinner conversations are yet another part of the underground news network of small town, rural America.
There was one guy and his wife, for instance: his truck plate is YUKON KID and she's Aleut. Mention that we were going to Alaska and she chimed in with how she'll be flying to Fairbanks on June 22 and then taking a puddle jumper into the bush to go visit family.
Another couple lives just down the hill. She was a former teacher in Maryland and they both retired here. They had been to an Audubon meeting last year (something I had to remind them of) curious about some of the birds in their yard. (They never followed up with our offer to come and see what they had on their land.) We commiserated about the truck traffic associated with the wind farm and gas drilling for a bit. They have a neighbor who will have a well drilled on his property and we think the same may happen near us if the 3-D seismic studies show it is warranted.
******
After dinner we stopped at the new Tractor Supply store to pick up some cat food and were sorely tested by the baby chicks and ducks they had for sale. Since we will be gone for nearly two months this summer, that temptation passed swiftly.
Since Beiter's Home Furnishings is right next store, we went to see what they had in the way of living room furniture. The stuff we have is coming up on 25 years old and is starting to show its age. They didn't have anything we liked but they did have a 2-for-1 sale on recliners and they did have a couple that we did like there. So, come Tuesday, the love seat in the loft--the one I sit on throughout the football season--will be replaced by two very comfortable reclining chairs. (And, some how, I'll get the delivery guys to haul the love seat down to the garage.)
Somebody's got to keep the American economy rolling!
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