Snug as a...

We’re certainly snug here…the woodstove has kept the house in the 70’s all week now. Sure, firewood is expensive and it doesn’t give out the BTU’s that a gas furnace will for less cost. But, despite the dirt and the ashes, it does feel better than gas heat!

And it looks like I need to make sure I have plenty of dry wood ready for the weekend. A storm is moving in with wind and rain, though the low temps will remain fairly high, in the mid 40’s.

Despite the rain, we have a full weekend schedule ahead of us and added to that, we have baking chores. We did some of it last night, making dessert breads and now there are 11 small loaves sitting on the kitchen counter. Today will be a “cookie” day as we need to make cookies for two different events. That would be a total of 6 dozen cookies. Then it’s time to clean the oven in preparation for the holiday dinner; though I’m thinking that we will be barbecuing tri-tips for Christmas. No, not the traditional turkey; I’m all turkey’d out! And if I use the barrel cooker, I can keep the oven free for the rest of the dinner. Now I have to find the perfect marinade for the roasts (3). Perhaps 3 different marinades?

This morning, the news from and about Iraq is predictable. Ten more Americans have died and close to 2 million Iraqi’s have now left the country; fleeing to Syrian and Jordan. Win the war? Just in case we have forgotten, we need to ask the Soviets how well they did with their own little war in Afghanistan. History is such an unforgiving teacher. Perhaps that’s why we never want to listen to what it has to say.

And this…US air strike kills 20 'Al-Qaeda terrorists' in Iraq (AFP) I think I can safely say that within hours (no, minutes), the story on the streets of Baghdad was very different. “US air strike kills 20 innocent…(fill in your own description here)” Perception is always reality.

I just read that the ISG report is going to be a top seller in the bookstores, though I don’t understand why. If you were paying attention to those who were against the war in Iraq during the past 4 years, you would have heard all that is in the report. (And W? He still doesn’t get it.)