After a week of doing dishes by hand and using paper plates when possible my dishwasher arrived and is installed. I'm always tossing little things in it throughout the day, not having it made me realize just how useful those things are. Dishes, glasses etc really pile up fast.

It took the guy about 30 minutes to remove the old and install the new one.

When I bought my first one about 30 years ago there were all kinds of color choices. In fact the first one I had came with removable front panels and extra panels each with a different color so I could swap it to what ever I wanted, I think there were 6 colors altogether. And that arrangement made it easy to get a customized panel. We had our cabinet maker (we did a kitchen remodel at that time) take one of the panels and put an overlay on it that matched the cabinets. But today it's a different story. The appliance I selected only comes in 3 colors, white, black and stainless steel. I'm not a big fan of stainless steel finish but I had the same lack of color choices last year when I bought my fridge, I didn't want white or black so it was stainless by default. At least now my dishwasher matches the fridge. Besides, what matters is that it gets the dishes clean.

The new one is considerably quieter than the old one and is supposed to be more energy efficient. I'm looking forward to many years of listening to it almost silently hum away while scrubbing my dishes.

When I was a kid one of my chores was doing the dishes after dinner. When you're a kid, you have more important things to do, such as watching TV. But I had no choice, I had to do the damn dishes and I would complain that we should have a dishwasher. Unbeknown to me, we actually had several dishwashers, me and my siblings.

At some point in my adult life I made it my business to finally realize my dream and get a dishwasher and free up my delicate hands for more important chores, like wanking. So for the past 30 years or so I have been happy loading and unloading dishes in the Maytag. But last night Maytag Number 2 gave me the finger and decided it wasn't workin here no mo! Well, I will give it a proper retirement send off (to the recyle yard) and replace it with a more modern, energy efficient model. The problem is, the new one won't be here until next Monday. That means I am once again relegated to using my delicate hands to washing dishes. Oh the horror of it!!!

Off I go to look for some youtube videos on how to wash dishes by hand.........................

I'm sure you've heard of April showers. April showers may bring May flowers but the showers today turned my back yard into a pond. And that brought a pair of ducks.





At this point the female spotted me and gave me the evil eye. The male didn't seem concerned.

In my previous blog I asked about the bird that was in my back yard. I thought it might be a turkey but wasn't sure because it didn't have a wattle. One of my neighbors is a hunter, in fact has hunted turkeys. I showed him the pic today and he said without a doubt those are female turkeys. He was surprised they were here.



A side note, my neighbor says turkey season opens next week.

There were a pair of these strolling through the yard this afternoon. I'm wondering what it is. I kinda thought it might be a turkey but it doesn't have a wattle, so I don't think so. Do you know what it is?

I'm catching up with the 21st century, I got an intelligent phone, an iphone 6. This is my first smart phone. I've seen them in use and was always impressed with what they can do. Some of the apps are amazing.

Someone in status wants to see a pic of it, so here it is,

Merry Christmas, I hope your holidays are filled with joy!

A woman on a food site I visit has a Meyer lemon tree (Meyer lemons are the Cadillac of lemons) and she has much more than she can use or give away locally, so she offered them to her fellow food forum rats. I was lucky enough to get my name in on time. So now the lemons are in route. She said she doesn't want anything for them but some people (including me) asked about reimbursing her for the cost of shipping. While no one is obligated to reimburse her it just seems like the right thing to do. She has sent out 15 packages total at a cost of just over $18 per package. Now, this is my question. I don't want to send a personal check so I was thinking about stuffing a $20 bill in an envelope. Chances are it will arrive to her with no problems but there is always the outside possibility of it getting lost. So I'm thinking about a gift card. But if I mail a gift card I might as well just mail the currency. Then I thought maybe an Amazon gift card that would be delivered to her via email. Easy and guaranteed instant delivery. What are your thoughts on the Amazon gift card? Good idea or not?

Just in case you're thinking this might be a scam, not to worry, I won't be sending reimbursement before the lemons are in my hands. Of course I could get a money order but I don't want to jump through hoops, just wanna get this nice lady her money back with minimal effort.

It took a while to happen, just a tad over 10 years. Special number counts on my profile usually escape my attention. But tonight I got 33,333 views. Maybe in another 10 I'll have 66,666.

I never paid attention to it before but today in the wee hours of the morning it caught my attention. An invention that might take internet shopping to a new level. What might that be, you ask? Well, let me 'splain. I found an item on Amazon that I wanted. As I was getting ready to put my finger in motion and press that familiar "one click" button I saw it. I'm sure it's been there for a while but just now I paid attention to it. You know what I'm talking about, the "same day delivery" button. Can this be true, I wondered, can I order an item in the morning and have it in my hands later that very same afternoon? And on a Sunday to boot? Well, I didn't need it today, heck, I don't even need it this week. But the allure of having it the day I ordered it was too much, this is too much like getting a pizza or a Jimmy Johns sandwich. So I did it, I pressed the same day delivery button. hehe, it was no more work than pressing any of the other shipping options buttons! At 4:10 this afternoon I had the item in my hands! What will they think of next?