Monday Stuff on the Way To Other Stuff

 Gaye Ingram, you're the winner of the Victory Quilts Book -- congratulations! I'll be putting up the next giveaway tonight or tomorrow morning -- stop by to see what's up.

The fires are still not out. They are 70% contained -- but nearly 200 homes remain evacuated. (And firefighters found another body -- a woman in her early 50s who had been missing. That makes 3 people dead.) Good things and bad are happening today -- for the good, it's starting to rain, something we've not seen for weeks - maybe a month. Supposed to turn into snow tonight. After we've had temps in the 80s all weekend. Welcome to Colorado.
    And the bad? The wind has picked up -- big-time.

The peach trees I'd planted last year surprised us by flowering. I've got them covered up, as well as a big flat of plants from Home Depot. (The tomatoes are looking confused. Me too, buddies.) But this nasty, spitty weather is a nice reason to stay in and work on quilts.


Things I noticed wandering around the Internet:

 From the "do you really want to know this?" department:  How Osama bin Laden spent his time on the run. 

An interesting 'fair use exercise,' offered as a response to the Kate Spain/Emily Cielo situation. (Yup, the same 'designer fabric tote bags' question we've been discussing for the past few weeks.)

A soldier and his dog are reunited. (Got a big lump in my throat on this one.)

Debt Princess considers herself a loser -- in good ways and bad.

'Boiled Bunnies' are the kickoff on my 'Holiday Goodies' site. We'll be running Easter-related recipes every day all this week, so visit often!  (And if you're thinking about Basic Instinct right now, it's not my fault...)

A huge figure in the music world died last week -- Earl Scruggs. This man, with his partner Lester Flatt, literally changed bluegrass and country. One of his best-known songs:

(This version includes Steve Martin. He has his own bluegrass band now.)

 Mitt Romney falls for an April Fool's joke. 


A 1-year-old drowns...in a washing machine. (I wish I could say that was an April Fool's joke, too.)

Be sure to stop by and visit DeSmet, SD, the home of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Society. The site includes photos of Laura's homes, as well as answers to a long list of questions people ask about this famous author. I visited once, on the way to my dad's hometown of Corsica. (A little Dutch town, full of charm, way out on the prairie.) We weren't able to get into Pa and Ma's house (it was under restoration), but the Surveyors' House was so small, we felt like our heads were bumping on the ceiling. (My dad, at 6'3", had to stoop over. These people were small.)

And if you're curious, my posts on housing stocks for Investorz Blog,  investing on a shoestring - books (same site), and flying Spirit Airlines, for My Retirement Blog. (We're planning to use Spirit when heading to our niece's wedding in early June. Tickets are $228, versus everyone else's $300 or more.)

This is an important week for Christians, and gives us much to think about.

Have a good week yerself.