Just A Couple Of Things

Not having much on my mind of late, I perused the headlines at Google News for some ideas. Not true... I have lots on my mind; not the least of which is my ever worsening golf game. But this is what grabbed my attention:

Big snowstorm in the northeast. We have been hearing about this for a few days now. We in Florida are fascinated by snowstorms... because we don't have them.... so we can rationalize spending those hot and muggy our summers we have to live through. Our "snowbirds" bring them up whenever we complain about the cold mornings (it was 47 this morning when I woke up).

"Yeah, well.... at least you don't have to wade through 3 feet of snow to get to the garage to get the snow shovel so you can dig your way to your car!"

"No, I don't... and neither do you since you spend the winters here filling up our golf courses and restaurants."

But we love our winter residents, they make it possible for many of our businesses to survive through the summers. It's a love/hate thing.

Let's get back to that snowstorm. I was once a young boy living in a small town on Long Island in New York. I don't recall a White Christmas when I lived there (I had to live in Jacksonville, FL, to experience one) but I do recall looking out my bedroom window (on the 2nd floor) and seeing 2 to 3 feet of snow on the street and on the lawns of all our neighbors one cold and windy and very gray day while waiting for my father to come home from work. I don't know why that is such a strong memory but it is what comes to mind whenever I muse about winter.

The other thing I noticed was this one about a star system called Kepler-444. I am fascinated by space and the possibilities of life elswhere in our galaxy. Not enough to be well versed on the subject, just enough not to think UFOs and space alien visits are real. I will leave that up to the more deranged of us. You see, I think that there may be life on other planets somewhere (maybe a lot of somewheres) but it is more likely to be non-intelligent... less human-like and more lower animal-ish.