College Football Realignment Armageddon..

College football is awesome!!  I'm a big Oklahoma Sooners fan and Perry is a big Clemson Tigers fan.  As far as we're concerned college football is the best sport in the world so naturally there are lots of college football discussions during high tea!

In fact, it's a year round topic of discussion.  Let's face it there are really several seasons of college football which serve to make it a year round affair.  There's the pre-season which starts in late July.  Next of course there's the regular season which is followed by the bowl season.  Then there's the season of coaching changes followed by the recruiting season.  Recruiting is quickly followed by spring practice.  I guess if there's a break it's the three to four months of downtime between spring practice and pre-season practice.

There has been a lot of realignment in college football during the last several years.  Teams are leaving one conference and joining another.  The Big 12 has been significantly impacted by all this as Colorado, Texas A&M, Nebraska and it looks like Missouri have all either left the conference or are leaving.  Along with those changes have been lots of speculation about teams which might join the Big 12 as replacements.  West Virginia and TCU are probably replacements.  Imagine my surprise at this post at the SoonerTimes blog speculating that six ACC schools are contemplating bolting the ACC for the Big 12 to make a "super conference".

It's probably unlikely to happen but I really don't know what to think about the possibility.  Since I live in South Carolina it might afford me the opportunity to see my Sooners and my wife's Oklahoma State Cowboys occasionally.  That would be excellent.  On the other hand I would have to be more actively engaged with the local Clemson faithful.  I don't relish that prospect.  Anyway, interesting fodder for high tea tomorrow.

Anyone have any thoughts about this?

Big changes at J C Penney...

Reducing prices storewide 40% and changing the ways they do sales. Here's the article detailing how they're changing the way they price their merchandise and do sales.  Pretty interesting.  Fewer sales and coupons to keep up with.  I kind of like the idea.  Shoppers really like those sales though so this could be risky!  Me and the wife shop at Penney's a lot but we like Kohl's as much or better.  This might make us shop at Penney's more.  Time will tell.

Maybe fried chicken isn't as bad for you as we thought...

I always knew we would somehow find a way to justify eating fried foods. (via Instapundit).  I suppose the mashed potatoes and gravy might not help, however!

Deja vu all over again!

Did you watch the president's state of the union address last night?  I didn't bother because I really expected to hear the same old platitudes from what's turning out to be one of the worst chief executives in history.  Little did I know I was simply missing a rerun of the last two state of the union addresses.  Check out this video from the Republican National Committee

I suppose it's hard to take the time to prepare and deliver an original speech when you spend as much time on a golf course as President Obama has!

Hat tip Instapundit.

Our Favorite Andy Griffith Episodes, Part Two...

A few days ago I listed my top 20 Andy Griffith episodes.  I finally got Perry to send me his top 20 Andy episodes.  So in the interest of equal time here's Perry's list.....

20)  Barney’s Physical

19)  The Education of Ernest T. Bass

18)  My Fair Ernest T. Bass

17)  Citizen’s Arrest

16)  The Loaded Goat

15)  Convicts-at-Large

14)  The Cow Thief

13)  Barney and the Choir

12)  The Jinx

11)  Christmas Story

10)  The Pickle Story

9)  A Black Day for Mayberry

8)  The Song Festers

7)  Briscoe Declares for Aunt Bee

6)  The Haunted House

5)  The Darlings are Coming

4)  Three Wishes for Opie

3)  Mountain Wedding

2)  Man in a Hurry

1)  The Big House

Quite different from mine but lots of the same episodes in both lists.  

Nine important questions raised at high tea last week...

1)     Why is it that a car always breaks down within a week of making the final payment?

2)     Why are hash browns so hard to make?

3)     What compelled Don Knotts to leave The Andy Griffith Show?

4)     Did you know that the Wheel of Fortune game is modeled after a game called Hangman?

5)     How do wedding planners stand their jobs?

6)     Did you know that Rick Santorum's parents were Communists from Italy?

7)     Are instant mashed potatoes as good as real homemade mashed potatoes?

8)     Will the 2012 Republican Convention be a "brokered" convention?

9)     Should Clemson University have fired defensive coordinator Kevin Steele?

Inquisitive minds want to know!?

A cozy place on a cold, rainy Saturday!

Saturday was a rainy, cold day here at the Ponderosa..  Got over an inch of rain in just a couple of hours.  Gabby, our tailless feline, didn't seem to mind.  She found a warm place on our bed and snoozed the afternoon away!  We've got a bunch of spoiled cats in this house! I sure wish I knew who spoiled them ;-)

Media Labels South Carolina a State of Extreme Racists...

The New York Times editorializes about Newt's big victory in South Carolina last Saturday.  According to the editors of "the paper of record" the people of South Carolina have a "...history of acute racial tension..." and that the voters who chose Newt Saturday were  "...sending a singular, extreme message?"   Read the editorial for yourself but it seems to me they really don't like South Carolinians.  


After all, Newt called Obama “the greatest food-stamp president in American history”, an obvious racial slur, and since 40.4% of the people voted for Gingrich we're obviously racist as well.  Racist and contrarian!  Contrarian might fit the good people of this state.  Heck, I think being a bit of a contrarian is a good thing.  I could argue that the opposite of a contrarian might be a mindless robot!  And I suppose there are racists in every state.  But is this a state full of bigots and racists?  


I think we can get to the bottom of this by answering one simple question.  What kind of governor would a state full of racists elect? The answer......

Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley 

Yes, Nikki Haley, second Indian-American governor in U.S. history, currently the youngest governor in America and the first female governor of South Carolina (full bio here).  

Seems like an odd choice for a bunch of racist, backwoods rednecks!  I suppose that's our contrarian side coming out again!

P.S.  It seems that one of the other well-known left leaning media outlets didn't get the memo about the bigoted morons living in South Carolina....

"For God so loved the world"...John 3:16...Cool Video...with a bonus, the verses you don't see on signs at football games!

A friend of mine at work told me about this video today.  It was shown during last weekend's Broncos vs. New England NFL play-off game.  Cool video and the end especially makes me smile!

A lot of people think God's message is real complicated.  I guess they get that idea because it all flows from that big, complicated book called the Bible.  How can anybody read that?!  And on top of that so many of those Christians people seem pretty hypocritical and judgmental don't they?  Is that really how God works?

God's message, if you take just a moment to learn it, is one of simple love and salvation!  John 3:16 so famously captures the essence of God's love as evidenced in the life, death and resurrection of His son Jesus...

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."


But the verses that follow, John 3:17-21 are less famous but no less important...


"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God."


Jesus came to save you and not to condemn you!  But that salvation comes with one condition, belief.  Believe in Jesus and you will have eternal life.  Believe in Jesus and the darkness which can fill the hearts and minds of unbelievers suddenly gives way to the light of understanding and the light of God's truth!  The only truth.  A simple message really.  God loves you and He sent Jesus to save you from the darkness of the world!  Jesus himself said that he is, ...the way and the truth and the life...(John 14:6)


If you only believe and accept these simple truths your life will be changed!

Our Favorite Andy Griffith Episodes

ANDY AND BARNEY HOLDING HIGH TEA!

One of my friends responded to an earlier post and asked if me and Perry still watched Andy Griffith?  We thought you knew us better Greg.  The High Tea Council , i.e. me and Perry, (I introduced high tea in an earlier post) like all good southerners are addicted to Andy.     
For all you neophytes out there The Andy Griffith Show was broadcast for eight seasons running from 1960 thru 1968.  There were a total of 249 episodes filmed.  The first five seasons were filmed in black & white and are considered the more iconic episodes.  When the show started to air in color in season six we think it started to go downhill, due in no small part to the departure of Don Knotts as Barney.

Lately, at tea and over several days we've held an ongoing discussion about our favorite Andy Griffith episodesthePerry and I have each listed our top twenty episodes.  I told Perry I was going to post our lists on the blog but he's been slack about giving me his list.  He has a list but finds it too hard to rate them from one to twenty!  I have no such problem and so presented here for your approval (or disapproval as the case may be) in reverse order, is my list of the top 20 all time Andy Griffith episodes:

20.  Aunt Bee the Warden (Season 2, Episode 23)
19.  The New Housekeeper (Season 1, Episode 1)
18.  Citizen's Arrest (Season 4, Episode 11)
17.  Ernest T. Bass Joins the Army (Season 4, Episode 3)
16.  Andy and Opie, Housekeepers (Season 1, Episode 23)
15.  Alcohol and Old Lace (Season 1, Episode 17)
14.  Dogs, Dogs, Dogs (Season 3, Episode 30)
13.  Aunt Bee's Medicine Man (Season 3, Episode 24)
12.  Barney's Sidecar (Season 4, Episode 16)
11.  Opie the Birdman (Season 4, Episode 1)
10.  Andy Discovers America (Season 3, Episode 23)
9.    Convicts at Large (Season 3, Episode 11)
8.    The Haunted House (Season 4, Episode 2)
7.    Barney and the Choir (Season 2, Episode 20)
6.    The Loaded Goat (Season 3, Episode 18)
5.    Christmas Story (Season 1, Episode 11)
4.    Man in a Hurry (Season 3, Episode 16)
3.    Barney's First Car (Season 3, Episode 27)
2.    Mountain Wedding (Season 3, Episode 31)

And my all time favorite Andy episode....

1.    The Pickle Story (Season 2, Episode 11)

So there you have it.  I'll post Perry's list when he quits being a loser and does the hard work of ranking his top 20.  What are your favorite episodes?

Don't let the media tell you this election is over...

"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost"

John Quincy Adams

This Saturday voters in South Carolina will cast their ballots in the Palmetto State's Republican presidential primary.  If you listen to the incessant voices from the news media you would believe that this election is almost over and Mitt Romney has been chosen as the Republican standard bearer to face Barack Obama in the November election.  THIS IS A NARRATIVE AND A MYTH!  DON'T FALL FOR IT!

I'm not going to encourage you to vote for a specific candidate.  Heck, I'm not even sure I'll vote for this Saturday (although I'm leaning towards Rick Perry).  But I do want you to vote for a candidate you believe in.  Consider the qualities you desire in a president (see my thoughts on this), study the candidates (here's an interesting site to help you choose, selectsmart.com). ponder, pray and then vote.  BUT PLEASE DON'T VOTE FOR MITT ROMNEY JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE SAYS HE'S THE INEVITABLE WINNER!

Look, I don't care if you vote for Mitt Romney!  I urge you to vote for him if you think he's best for America!  I may vote for him but I'll only do it if his principles and beliefs align with mine!  I beg of you don't vote for him only because you think he's going to win or because you think he's got the best chance of beating Barack Obama.  We can't predict who's going to win the general election!  Everybody, and I do mean everybody, thought Ronald Reagan would lose to Jimmy Carter. We all know how that turned out?

Consider the following:

1)  If you select a "compromise" candidate and he eventually wins the nomination and beats Obama then we'll be stuck with a "compromise" president for four years!  Do you really want that?  Why not select your preferred candidate and let the chips fall as they may.  Win or lose your principles are intact!  (I will qualify this statement, however, by saying straight up that I will not vote for Barack Obama in the general election.  I will vote for any of the Republican candidates over Obama because I fear for the damage that will be done to the country if he's our president for four more years!  If that's a hypocritical stance so be it!)

2)  The Senate and House elections are more important than the presidential race.  A Republican House and a Republican Senate can minimize the potential damage another Obama term will wreak on America.  If Republicans can win a big enough margin in both houses they can overcome even a presidential veto.

3)  To win the Republican nomination a candidate needs 1,144 out of a possible 2,249 delegates.  Go to this chart at the Tea Party Cheer blog and look at the distribution of delegates.  Even if Mitt Romney wins all twenty-five of South Carolina's delegates HE WOULD STILL ONLY HAVE 38 OF THE 1,144 VOTES NEEDED TO WIN!!!  How can that make him the inevitable winner?  That's a bunch of nonsense being pushed by the political pundits.  DON'T DRINK THE KOOL-AID OF THE INEVITABLE CANDIDATE!!

No matter what happens Saturday this race isn't over.  This will be a long primary season.  We may not have a nominee until the convention is over.  It has happened before!  Whether you live in South Carolina or another primary state, please, don't take your responsibility to vote lightly.  Study, consider, pray and vote your principles this primary season!  It's the American way and we have to count on each other to courageously vote in this pivotal election!

Our Founding Fathers

Should Paula Deen be criticized for not revealing diabetic condition?

I was watching the ABC Evening News tonight and they showed a story about Paula Deen's diabetes.  Paula's a star at The Food Network and she's the consummate southern cook.  I love watching Paula and her recipes feature heavy portions of things which aren't exactly healthy.  Lots of butter, cream, fried food, etc.  Anyway, the story on the ABC News seems critical of Paula since she apparently was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes three years ago but never revealed that to her audience.  Do you think she deserves criticism for not revealing this about herself?  Does she really have a duty to change her show or recipes because she's diabetic?

In my opinion it's not Paula's responsibility to tell us how to eat.  Her show has never been promoted as being about low calorie cooking.  I think most of her viewers realize her recipes wouldn't generally be considered healthy!  Thank goodness we have a kind and benevolent news media to look out for us and reveal the dark and evil side of southern cooking!

Paula Deen's Fried Macaroni and Cheese

The Adventures of Baxter and Tony

Episode 2 - Tony and Baxter Plant Spring Bulbs

At my house we really love the bright colors of early spring bulbs so I've been adding some bulbs to our landscape.  I've got one bed of tulips with about one hundred bulbs but I saw big boxes of tulips, daffodils and hyacinths at Sam's last October so I bought another one hundred seventy bulbs to add to my collection.  They require a certain amount of cold weather to thrive and therefore prefer to be planted in the fall. I fully intended to plant these by Thanksgiving but procrastination got the best of me and so the new year has come and gone and the bulbs still weren't planted.  Yesterday, Baxter, our intrepid wonder Schnauzer, finally convinced me to plant the bulbs.  This is our story.

Here's Baxter with our bulbs and planting equipment.  As you can see Baxter, ever the taskmaster, scolded me with his eyes since he knew we were about two months late planting our bulbs.  In spite of his skepticism and ugly attitude, I felt it would be okay to go ahead and plant the bulbs.  They were stored in the garage so they had been in the cold.  Plus, the last time I planted tulip bulbs I waited until the end of January and they've done well.  I decided to forge ahead!

Baxter picked the new mulch bed near the front porch as the first spot to plant bulbs.  I moved all the stuff, bulbs, planter, etc. and he surveyed the lay of the land.  After picking our spot I grabbed a bunch of bulbs and threw them on the ground.  I don't know where I learned this technique but it works pretty good and makes the layout of your bulb garden look more natural.  There's always a little bit of adjustment to get the plant spacing right, about 6" apart, but I usually like the results.

You can see the bulbs after they were spaced out before I planted them.  Baxter is giving the layout a final inspection before we plant them.  My planting technique is to use a hand tool I bought which looks like a miniature pick.  Sharp point on one side and a spade blade on the other side.  Just drive the spade into the ground to the proper depth, about 6", drop the bulb in the hole and then cover it up.  You can plant a bunch of bulbs in a hurry this way although this bed was a little difficult since the top 1/2" of the mulch was still frozen solid due to a cold snap we had last week.  Nonetheless, it went pretty quick.  

While I'm talking about still frozen mulch and the cold snap we had last week just look at this nonsense:

Stupid dandelion in the lawn!  Temperatures were in the upper teens and twenties several nights last week and yet this stupid dandelion blooms on the first day the temperature exceeds 50.  How do we ever keep these things from coming up?  They're like cockroaches in the yard and I suspect that if we ever have a nuclear holocaust, heaven forbid, the only things left alive will be cockroaches and dandelions!  Sheesh!!!  Here's a little tip for you by the way.  If you see a yellow dandelion pick it before it becomes a little puffball. The puffballs are the seeds and if you pick the yellow flowers you'll keep these things from spreading.  Still a good dose of pre-emergent before March 1 and an application of weed and feed in late March can keep them in check as well.

Gardening as a Contact Sport

Like just about every job I do in the yard there was a minor incident which prolonged the work.  I got almost all the bulbs planted and my planting tool broke.  Well, actually I broke it due to misuse.  I hit a couple of big tree roots with my spade but didn't really notice that I had bent the blade.  It suddenly wasn't digging well so naturally I just pounded it into the ground harder.  I finally noticed that one of the roots had bent the blade, took the thing to the garage and tried to straighten it back out.  You see the results above, the blade just snapped off when I tried to bend it.  Such is life.  I had to finish with my shovel but luckily I only had a few bulbs left.

Baxter eventually got tired of directing me and decided to stand watch to make certain no one bothered us.  I had to say he did a pretty good job!  Nobody snuck up on us and bothered us.  Bulbs were planted successfully.  And nobody got hurt in spite of the damage incurred by my planting spade.  Good job Baxter! Hopefully we'll have some great early spring color in our landscape come late February or March.  I'll post some pics when the time comes.  Another job well done Baxter.  Let's go get your dog biscuit.

Over and out!

What this election is about....

...and it's not about electing the perfect candidate as I told you a couple of days ago!

Per American Digest (via Instapundit) this election is about one thing,

ENSURING THAT OBAMA IS NOT RE-ELECTED!!

Keep your focus people!!!

Harry Chapin - Cat's in the Cradle

Heard this song at the gym last night while working out with Phil.  I always thought it was a great song but couldn't really appreciate it as much as I do now.  There's a lot of truth here!   Parents give your kids some love!  Kids love your mom and dad!  We only have each other for a little while.  My beautiful girls are married, almost married and just starting college.  Me and the wife will have the proverbial empty nest soon!  Sometimes the most important thing is to set aside your work and worries and play with your kids!

Swinging with the girls!

How to Choose a President?!

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same

Ronald Reagan

Like many, I believe the presidential election of 2012 represents a turning point in American history.  Of course, we could probably say that about all presidential elections but somehow this one seems more important, more ominous!  It seems as if we are at some kind of tipping point and the choice we make this year represents a tipping point of sorts.

As a nation we are to decide if we want to continue down a path, laid by President Obama and his Democratic Party friends, that leads to government intervention and rule over our lives or whether it is our desire to live our lives as free men and women, unencumbered by the heavy hand of a burdensome government  bureaucracy.  Our choice is between living as free people willing to take responsibility for our actions, whether they turn out for the good or bad, or living as a "kept" population always asking a sugar daddy government to bail us out when difficulties intrude on our lives!

The weight of this decision would be difficult in any case but as if to add injury to insult we have a Republican presidential field which, on its' face at least, seems underwhelming.  Many of us when asked to choose a presidential candidate might choose "none of the above".  What to do?

Next week South Carolinians will be asked to weigh-in by voting in the Republican primary.  The South Carolina primary is always important but this year I think we will have a major influence on who becomes our next president.  But how to choose?  We're bombarded by ads, mostly negative, and it seems that if we could just piece together one candidate out of individual pieces of the six candidates still in the race we would have the perfect candidate.  The road to a choice would be clear.  Alas, life isn't that easy. But as I've considered this and prayed about it the following four thoughts come to mind:

1)  There has never been a perfect candidate.  Many of us hold up Ronald Reagan as the prototype of the perfect conservative American president but before he became the great Republican president he was a Democrat.  If President Reagan had faced the same scrutiny visited upon modern day candidates I wonder if he would've been nominated.

2)  Ideas are important but they're not everything.  Each of the candidates still in the race have some good ideas.   But good ideas don't necessarily translate into real solutions to problems.  Great ideas are only important in so far as they can be enacted.

3)  Leadership and philosophy are more important than ideas.  I don't know how many of the policies enacted during Reagan's tenure were initiated by The Gipper.  Undoubtedly many were, but many also came from a Congress ready to work with him to overcome the difficulties our nation faced at that time.  The strength of all great presidents, it seems to me, flows largely from their ability to lead.  Leading isn't just about ideas.  Often it is about following bedrock principles and getting people to work together.  Leadership is about turning ideas into reality.  Our next great president, and I believe God will provide one, will be the person best able to convince and lead Americans as we struggle to define our way forward! (Updated - Saw this quote this morning, “A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible.” - Freeman Dyson.  A good president is more like an engineer than a scientist!)

So how do you practically apply these ideas as you choose which box to check during the presidential primary?  I think you need to look at the candidates and ask yourself which of these has the qualities of a leader.  They all have some good ideas but when you boil it down to leadership, at least to me, the picture becomes much clearer.  Out of six candidates I see three who have proven they can lead.  You can, and probably will disagree with me, but I feel Gingrich, Perry and Romney (listed alphabetically) have actually displayed leadership during their personal and political careers.  I will be voting for one of these.  I don't know which one yet but at least I only have three to consider.  

By now the savvy reader has noted I've given you three thoughts on choosing a president but promised you four.  Here's the fourth,  God will direct you if you ask Him!  I've narrowed my choices down based on prayer and feel God will direct us as a nation if we but seek His guidance!  Prayerfully consider the important decision you have before you!  America's rich blessings flow from the great gift of freedom He has generously given us.  A gift second only to His gift of grace!  Our freedom and prosperity flows from our faith in God!  It has been ever thus, may it ever be so!!

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2 Corinthians 3:17

A Blustery Night.....

We had a rainy day here in the Upstate of  South Carolina but this afternoon the skies began to clear and the wind began to blow.  Being from Oklahoma I can appreciate a good wind storm.  We're having a mild one tonight.  Back home I remember days when the wind blew all day at 30 mph with gusts approaching 50.  This on a clear, blue day.  We always laughed when we moved here and the weatherman would forecast a windy day because the wind was blowing 15 mph.  Not much of a wind from a western perspective.

Be that as it may I was just out walking Baxter the Wonder Dog and the wind is blowing pretty good.  The wind has moved the clouds out of the sky and it's a clear night with a near full moon.  Real bright and pretty. The thought occurs to me that the wind sounds different here.  On the prairie even when the wind blows there's a quietness to it.  Not like a calm day but I suppose since the wind is blowing over flat ground it doesn't interact with so much stuff so it doesn't make as much noise.  Here the wind kind of whistles and whooshes.  The tree branches cause that and it makes for a more cantankerous sound.  Kind of spooky like an old, scary movie.  I don't think Baxter is used to the noise.  He seemed scared and raced into the house when he was finished with his late evening walk!

Hope you're in a warm, comfortable place tonight and that the wind serenades you to sleep!

High Tea Journal

Years ago one of my bosses started calling our morning coffee break "high tea".  Don't know why he dubbed it tea but the name stuck.  He long ago retired but the tradition of "tea" lives on.  Of course we never have tea.  I usually have coffee and sometimes we have a pastry but crumpets have never made an appearance.  Maybe a biscuit once in awhile, this is the south after all.  Nonetheless, the discussion can be interesting, at least in our mind.  Perhaps the best comparison I can give for it is to imagine a bunch of old guys sitting around a pot belly stove in a country store.  The discussion can involve current events, food (especially smoked barbecue), knives, cars, sports (especially college football) and, of course, office scuttlebutt.  Some time ago we decided that we should document these discussions so we started keeping a journal.  Thought I'd share some of our morning "Talking Points".  Might become a regular feature here.  So, without further ado, here's the "High Tea Journal" for January 3, 2012:

-  Perry was wearing glasses instead of contacts this morning.  The only pair he had looked kinda '70's vintage to me, big and round.  Says it's due to some kind of eye infection.
-  Everyone had a great Christmas but Perry didn't never got to watch "A Christmas Story".  A small disappointment.
-  Linus reciting the  Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke is one of the greatest Christmas traditions of all time.  Brings chills and almost tears everytime I hear it.  Classic!!
-  Christmas traditions are changing in our households as kids get older and especially married.
-  Movies we saw over the Christmas break, Tin Tin and We Bought A Zoo.  Both good.
-  Jim Carrey's career has gone down the toilet.  Doesn't seem very popular now.
-  Saw the Three Stooges movie trailer.  Shows promise but how can it be as good as the original.  Said the same thing about the new True Grit movie and it was very good.  Nonetheless, it feels like we're being set-up for a fall here.
-  Christmas meals including ham.  Discussed various varieties of ham.
-  An optometrist told Perry that kale is good for vision health.
-  College football discussion.  Bowl games.  BCS issues and the need for a college play-off.  Continuing discussion and issue for us.
-  What made Auburn football coach Gene Chizik such a hot commodity.  He didn't do anything great at Iowa State before Auburn hired him.  Chizik is 7 - 0 in bowl games with one national championship.  Obviously a good hire and coach

That's pretty much the high points.  Comment if you like...