Christmas Shopping

It was pointed out to me today that there are about 24 more shopping days till Christmas. I pointed out to him that I only had to buy gifts for my wife, my children, my grandchildren and my in-laws left to do. I assume he thought I should be in panic mode by now! Not me, not by a long shot!  Why I have got this shopping thing down so well that I can shop in a snowstorm. Actually I rather enjoy shopping in a snowstorm no one else is in the store except me, and a few other smart people. I also pointed out to him that so far no one has told me much about what they want for gifts. If people are unwilling, don’t know what they want, or just plain too lazy to tell me what they want, then they can wait for me to buy a gift when I feel like buying a gift for them. Oops that was way too close to a rant for this time of the year wasn’t it? Whew, almost slipped into a bad mood there! Now where was I, oh yeah shopping for Christmas presents. I confess I was out with the crowds shopping on "Black Friday". When did it take on that name by the way? The only other "Black Friday" I can remember was when the stock market crashed in 1929, must be a reflection on what our wallets will look like when this is all over. So I find myself with 24 days to shop for more gifts. 24 days to forget what I already bought for people. 24 days to wrap, the gifts I bought. And 1 day to give them all away! Well maybe a few more days than 1. I have 2 Christmas parties to go to at least 2 dinners and a parade to go to from now until Christmas. So now I am down to 19 days for shopping. Oh, I also have to work 16 days in there too, and who wants to shop after work, not me! So now I have 3 days to shop, woohoo!! No problem!!! Now wait a minute, I said I had to wrap gifts too didn’t I, better allow a day for that so now I have 2 days to shop. Wait another minute, I am helping to put up Christmas lights at my in-laws. Down to one day now, hmm should I panic!!??!! Oh, oh one more thing to do, put up a tree. I now have no days to shop!! PANIC TIME!!! Nah, fooled you!! Everybody gets Lottery tickets again this year with the old 10% of what you win as usual, if you win anything big. Oh and that is 10% of the whole total and they pay the taxes!! One of these years this will work!!

New Species to look for

Cheryl and I were driving to Plymouth the other morning and almost literally ran over a new animal species.  I am not sure if you have seen them yet, but they are usually out and about when it is very windy.  They scamper across roads and highways at almost anytime and remind me of squirrels in their actions, sometimes pausing to see how you will react to their antics.  Defying us to run them over or slam on the brakes to avoid hitting them.  I suppose I should describe these little critters so you can be on the lookout for them to as you travel the roads.  They usually have upturned noses with their heads attached to an almost flat body.  The legs, and here is the strange part, are uniform in nature but there are six of them and their tails are long and very thin, perhaps no thicker than a twig. Almost all of them are a brownish color this time of year, but occasionally you might see a yellow or red one too.  I am not sure where they are going each time I see them, but they seem to ignore their own safety in order to get to where they are going.  By now I am sure you are wondering what these little animals are called and to be honest I am not entirely sure, but I will go out on a limb here and give them a name "leafers".  Yes indeed that is right "leafers"!  They run out in front of our cars or when we take a walk  and make us laugh out loud at them and how they travel the roads.  Leafers have been around for a long time and compete with the squirrels for the foolish way they challenge vehicles when crossing roads.  So in closing I hope you get the chance to see a few of these creatures at play.  They may not gather acorns like the squirrels do, but are certainly dependant on them for survival!