Birkie is back home

Getting hard up for life enrichment

It was 15 degrees this morning. We are staying inside a little bit longer today until global warming heats things up a little. For life enrichment we decided to see what it means to be a millionaire. The table below based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator shows what it meant to be a millionaire in the decades past compared to how much it takes today. For example in 1960 if you had $1,000,000 in your hand it made you a millionaire. Today would take $7,213,783.78 in your hand in 2008 to have the same amount of money as in 1960. Today we have more millionaires but they have less wealth than millionaires in the past.

1960 - $7,213,783.78
1970 - $5,503,298.97
1980 - $2,591,359.22
1990 - $1,633,726.09
2000 - $1,240,000.00

What this table shows is it is easier to be a millionaire today but being a millionaire no longer makes you rich. Tell this to your favorite politician the next time you ask them to tax the rich.

Twenty degrees below

Twenty degrees below normal that is.


The deer know that with winter coming hunting season will happen soon.

Snow covers the valley. More may be on the way.

To shovel or not to shovel...

Another letter to the blog editor

Editor:
.
Perhaps as a response to the Age of Global Warming several northern Wisconsin cities have become eco-municipalities and hope to reduce dependence upon fossil fuels. While people in these cities can now feel good about themselves they are missing two of the inconvenient truths of global warming. First , when people own multiple homes they use more fossil fuels. And second, tourists and vacation home owners drive millions of unnecessary miles each year to reach northern Wisconsin. The end result is many extra tons of climate-killing CO2 released into our fragile atmosphere. If Hayward ever decides to become an eco-municipality let’s hope the city puts a billboard at the south end of town saying "Think globally; vacation locally next time".

The next time you hear members of the Anthropogenic (man-made) Global Warming cult preaching how American needs to turn from the wantonness of their way of life, you might ask them how obeying their commandments will impact our local economy.
.
TWW



And here is a link about what happens when people leap without knowing where it will lead:
http://www.nysun.com/news/food-crisis-eclipsing-climate-change

Benise la Pen looking for her mommy

Benise la Pen warming up on the masonry stove so she can go find her mommy.




Benise listening to the Bose and wondering when her mommy will buy her one if she can ever find her again.

Benise still wondering where her mommy went. She slept here so where is she now?

Maybe she is in here but Benise cannot get the hook open. (you can see her by the door handle)

Benise thought her mommy may have taken a walk on Shirley's Way.

So where did she go??

A role model for you

Now these are the kind of guests we like. Notice all the stuff they brought with for us to eat.

The bird is the word

courtesy Fox News

A sign of spring

When spring comes the homeless come back from the warmer climates. Sometimes they are even in our yard looking for a handout. l

Gloomy thoughts while awaiting the snow to melt

From the Daily Telegraph in the UK we learned today " The UN says it takes 232kg of corn to fill a 50-litre car tank with ethanol. That is enough to feed a child for a year. Last week, the UN predicted "massacres" unless the biofuel policy is halted. " But since we only have 10% ethanol in our gasoline up here we only kill one kid every ten years so do not have to feel as guilty. The moral way to live appears to be buying the high octane stuff without any ethanol in it. The inconvenient truth about the global warming hysteria has struck again.

When severe spring snow starts, reverse chuck with a Straka chuck and find life enrichment

Jack Straka is the guy this chuck is named after. Chucks hold stuff to wood lathes so you can work on them. The basic idea is to take two plywood disks glued together and attach them to a faceplate (it attaches to the wood lathe). Next you bolt a plywood ring to the disks with a wooden bowl sandwiched in between. The chuck makes for sexier bottoms.




The bowl seen in the picture above is red pine with lots of fungi in it. It will be perfect when we seal the fungi into the wood with shellac so it does not rub off on the popcorn. Notice how sexy the bottom is.

da snow came

Waiting for da snow

The experts say we will get from 5 to 9" tonight and about 3 to 5" tomorrow. The real question is predicting the future. The next time you hear a story about anything financial listen to how the numbers always exceed or fall short of analysts expectations. The experts are seldom right. Then the next time you hear someone from the global warming pantheon of experts tell you to repent and change the wantonness of your carbon ways or disaster will follow, remember how the experts in finance never get it right for 3 months in the future and the global warming demagogues are talking about 50 or 100 years in the future.

Birdsmouth bowl made from cherry. It needs to dry out without splitting apart to be a success story. We will know in July if it worked out. The name comes from the shape of the bowl looking like a little bird in the nest with its mouth open. Perhaps freeloading bowl would be a better name for these.



It is almost warm enough to start on the wood for next year. Watching the log pile get smaller is definitely a life enriching experience.

Spring is here

The bluebirds have been shopping for houses lately so the economy up here must not be too bad.

Now that it is getting warmer we can watch the gauge on the green LP tank drop for life enrichment again. Getting a smaller tank with a low CO2 footprint makes for more exciting gauge watching.

Make the tourists feel guilty

" Save the planet: Vacation in the city this year." (and quit messing up the planet by creating CO2 as you drive up to the woods).

Spring means freeloading

Spring is here --- APRIL FOOL!!