Random thoughts -

The snow is gone, it's 57 degrees out and raining like the dickens. They are predicting flooding in our county by morning - we are luckier than other places in the state - flooding has completely shut down I-5 near Chehalis/Centralia! (about 90 miles south of Seattle).

Thankfully the President of The Sudan pardoned Brittish teacher Gillian Gibbons (who was sentenced last Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation for insulting Islam because she allowed her seven year old students to name a class teddy bear Muhammad) and have let her safely return home to Great Britton. Many Sudanese said they thought it was an innocent mistake which could be forgiven after an apology, but radicals called for her to be flogged, or even worse, killed. (now what does that teach those seven year olds?) The Sudanese government has been under pressure in recent years because over 300,000 people have died and 2.5 million have fled their homes because of ethnic and political conflicts in Darfur. I'm sorry, I think maybe some of the Sudanese people spend too much time in the sun or something.

My co-workers & I have "adopted" the sister-in-law of one of our fellow employees. This young woman is serving in the Army in Kuwait. We have put together five boxes of "stuff" to send to her - food items, fuzzy socks, stamps & stationery, a VISA gift card so she can buy international phone cards, other cool and fun stuff. Items on the list were a little slow to come in, but people really came through over the weekend. I hope it cheers her to know that someone is thinking of her over the holidays.

Neelix jumped up and RAN over to the back door a little bit ago. I looked down to see what he was looking at and there was A POSSUM - its little beady eyes were checking out the cat door! I waved my arms & shouted and it ran away. Hopefully it'll see this as an "unfriendly place" - (by the way - do you know what's the difference between a Possum and an O'Possum? An O'Possum is Irish.....) Ok, so much for lame jokes...

Gwennie is down in Alger visiting one of the boys at Tom and Donna's farm. We're hoping that she will produce some wonderfully spotted babies for us. Actually there was some concern last fall about her "gender" so to speak - larger horns than most horned ewes, agressive behavior, and kind of a bass voice. But after a trip to the vet, who checked out all her "girl things" and proclaimed there were no "boy things" about her, (other than her big horns, agressive behavior and deep voice). I guess we'll see in about the middle of April if all her "girl things" are working correctly...

Ok, I'm randomed out - think I'll watch the news and go to bed. Thanks for checking in.