Drizzle Early, Arctic Temperatures Later

8:30

Woke at 5:55, rolled over for a moment, woke again and it was 6:55.  Maybe if I did this more often when I awaken, just turn over, I could sleep later.  Walked outside at 7:00, to look for the paper, a feathery rain welcomed me, to my surprise.  It was 31º outside, the high for the day, the low tonight near zero.

Yesterday was our typical Sunday the last couple of weeks, lots of football, some exercise, a great breakfast and Sunday dinner.  We started the day with relaxing, in our living room, with coffee, watching the numbers of fishing shacks grow, as the tournament continued until Sunday noon. We decided to get a workout in, so we clamped on our cross country skis, and went out for close to an hour, skiing down to Whitney Bay and back, on a cold morning, easily in the teens, with an occasional wind.  We wondered why we don't do this more often as it's so easy, just walk out the door, cross the lawn, and start skiing.

Just in Front Of Our House

Around noon I drove off to the Smith Library, to pick up a book I had on reserve and stopped at the Prendergast Point boat launch, to check out the weighing in process for the ice fishing tournament. Lots of guys around, in trucks with four wheelers, a tent set up, just off the shoreline, with fisherman lined up outside, holding buckets, waiting to go in the tent to weigh their catch. While I was checking out the tournament, Evie was making our breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns, and toast from the bread I made.  We ate while watching Sunday Morning, our favorite morning show.  I know, I have lots of favorites but it's better than having lots of 'dislikes.'  I had mentioned to Evie that chicken and biscuits might be a great Sunday dinner, so she got out some chicken from the freezer, and by 6:00, after the first NFL game, we had a great dish of chicken, vegetables, creamy sauce, topped with buttermilk biscuits to eat as we watched the beginning of the 49er/Seahawks game.  Yum, just what we wanted on a cold, lazy Sunday afternoon.  We watched the game until 9:00, taped it on the DVR and then watched Downton Abbey, much more interesting and compelling this week.  Then at 10:00, we went back to the game to watch the last exciting quarter, as the Seahawks pulled it out in the last couple of minutes, an exciting game in contrast to the first game earlier in the day, which was a bore.

Fishing at Dusk

I just read an essay in the NYTimes I would highly recommend called the "Fifty States of Fear." The writer outlines how individuals, institutions, governments, use fear to control and limit our freedoms and that it is our job as citizens to resist this kind of conditioning or propaganda, see through it, whether it be fear of more attacks like 9/11 or Obamacare.  If we can resist this impulse to be afraid, we can identify the real dangers (global warming, childhood poverty, rising medical costs)  and look for solutions. As Peter Ludlwow says,  "We are conditioned to fear persons in caves in Pakistan but not fatal industrial accidents or the work-related deaths of thousands of Americans every year." He indicts both Bushes and Obama, for using fear to control and limit our freedoms, for abusing their powers as leaders of a democracy, rather than responding to the needs of the people.

Two quotations from Bertrand Russell stuck out: 'Neither a man, a crowd, or a nation can be trusted to act humanely or think sanely under the influence of great fear,' and 'to conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.' No wonder I so dislike the Great Fear Monger, Fox News.  Obama's policies are not just flawed...he's a Muslim, or a Socialist, the Great Satan, waiting to take away your freedom to buy a gun and shoot somebody, an exaggeration but what the heck.  Might as well scare you.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/fifty-states-of-fear/