Goals for 2008

It would seem that I like to create lists. So, here's another one: my goals for 2008.

• Eat healthier
• Exercise more
• More exercise for George (pet sheep) and Zak (dog)
• Procrastinate less
• Maintain a cleanier, tidier house
• No speeding tickets, parking tickets, or fender benders
• More random acts of kindness
• Get another good year out of both of my vehicles
• Finish paying off new deck
• Paint kitchen
• Paint gates and feeders
• Manage pastures better
• Enroll flock in NSIP
• Give Zak a bath, maybe two
• Take up another hobby
• Write more
• Take more pictures
• Make more money
• Go to New Zealand
• Watch the Washington Redskins win the Superbowl

Let it snow

It is a beautiful snowy day today. I took some pictures to remember it by, since spring will be here soon.

Zak making foot prints in the fresh snow.

Max likes to go out in the snow, but not for too long.


McComb is made for the snow.

The sheep are all warm and cozy in the hoop house. These are the four expectant ewe lambs, acting like busy bodies.

Likes, Dislikes

I was driving to Solomon's Island today, when somebody cut me off. I hate when that happens. And I hate when people tail gate (unless they're having a tail gate party). Then, I started thinking about all the things I don't like. All of a sudden, I noticed there wasn't any more snow along side the roads. I thought about how much I like snow. For the next hour or so of driving, I thought about the things I like and dislike. Here goes:

Likes

• Virgin Snow. No foot prints. No tire tracks. No yellow snow.
• Getting a day off from work because of snow. I get plenty of time off, but it's more fun when it's because of snow. Just like when I was a kid and there was no school.
• Four seasons.
• Sleeping in.
• Cats sleeping; they're so warm and cuddly. I love to pick them up. Just seeing my cat curled up on the chair gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.
• Lazy dogs. Nothing seems to bother them. They're good company, even when they're sleeping. You still feel safe. All you have to do is say "treat" or "walk" and they'll wake up.
• Frolicking lambs. I especially love when they prance. I won't sell my lambs before they're three months old because I want them to have a chance to play.
• My local radio station, WAYZ, for its patriotism. Every morning, they play the pledge of allegience and pay tribute to our veterans and active military men and women.
• Warm chocolate chip cookies and a cold glass of milk.
• A long, hot bath.
• Weekends. Especially, long ones.
• A cold, clear, still, starry night.
• The new James Bond. Daniel Craig. Great bod!
• The birth of twin ewe lambs. Even better, triplet ewe lambs.
• Black lambs and red lambs.
• American Idol and Grey's Anatomy -- my two favorite TV shows.
• Reruns of Friends and That 70's Show.
• Children. Before the world taints them and steals their innocence.
• Hot chocolate with whipped cream.
• Listening to my sheep munch on their hay.
• Going to the dump.
• Ledo pizza.
• The Caribbean.
• Big dogs and orange (red) cats.
• George Strait and Joe Nichols.
• A medium rare steak and baked potato smothered in butter.
• Cary Grant movies. They don't make movies like that anymore. Nor actors.
• Pepsi, not Coke.
• E-tickets.
• 5-speed manual transmission.
• Serta counting sheep.
• Sheep that don't need their hooves trimmed.
• Black and white photography.
• Flickr^TM (where I post my pictures online)
• Matthew McConaughey
• Van Gogh.
• A full tank of gas.
• MS-DOS, HTML code, and Word Perfect reveal codes.
• My video iPod.
• Blogging.
• Books with spies, terrorists, Nazis, and/or assassins.

Dislikes

• Bad drivers. Aggressive drivers. Tail-gaters. People who cut you off. I understand how "road rage" happens.
• Speed traps. They are what they're called, traps. They don't make our roadways safer. They make our wallets thinner.
• Getting up early. I'm not a "morning person." If it was up to me, the work day would be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Emptying the dishwasher and cleaning the kitchen sink. These are the household tasks I dislike the most.
• Faculty and staff meetings. Two hours of pointless banter. And no refreshments.
• Driving on I-270. Too much traffic. Doubles driving time.
• Most any kind of traffic.
• All the trucks on I-81. Can't see ahead. Worse in bad weather.
• The "horse culture." I'm female, so I must like horses!
• War protestors.
• Hollywood liberals. Streisand, Redford, Sheen, Penn, etc.
• The liberal bias of the media and Hollywood.
• Lying politicians; come to think of it, that's all of them.
• Bush bashers.
• Dixie Chicks. Though, they're not as bad as Jane Fonda.
• Beer, coffee, and tea (hot and cold). I know, my taste buds are weird.
• Green beans.
• People who don't return their shopping carts.
• Overpaid administrators.
• Animal rights activists, animal rights groups, and the animal rights agenda. They lie and mislead people. They're not in it for the animals, they're in it for themselves.
• Paying people not to work.
• Paying people to have babies.
• Calling the card for food stamps an "independence card." It's the opposite!
• Vegetarians and vegans.
• Activists on both sides of the abortion issue.
• Politicians and pollsters who insist on making every issue black and white, in a gray world.
• Racism. By any one and in any form.
• Cell phones in public. People who talk on their cell phone when they drive.
• All the stupid ring tones that people use.
• Days when we don't get mail.
• Junk e-mail, spam, and phish.
• Working with animals that have horns.
• Airport security, especially 3-1-1.
• No meals on domestic flights.
• Microsoft Word.

Sheep Update

The first lambs are due in about a week. I have 36 expectant mothers. Even George looks pregnant. One (#325) that I should not have kept doesn't seem to be pregnant. She prolapsed her uterus last year, after having triplets, and was given ample opportunity to get pregnant. If she doesn't lamb, I believe I'll put her in my freezer.

Too bad, because she's a very nice looking ewe and has produced a couple of very nice looking lambs. In fact, that's why I decided to give her one more chance. My mistake. Every time, I get swayed by a sheep's phenotype, I get burned. This ewe is going to be four years old and she's yet to raise a set of twins. "Ugly" ewes out-produce pretty ones nine times out of ten!

Children of the World

I have two favoroite subjects when I take pictures: animals and children. Here are some of the youngsters I've met during my various travels.

Kazakh boy at the Green Market in Almaty.

Siblings in Moldova

Young girl in the Dominican Republic

Boys at the fair in the Dominican Republic

Boys from Brazil

The Golden Arches

Thirty-five years ago, I started collecting McDonald's placemats.  I thought it was cool to see the placemats (and menus) in different languages, especially Cyrillic. So I began collecting placemats in the countries I visited, mostly Eastern Europe. I stopped collecting years ago, but held onto the original paper placemats and scanned them for this post. I consider them one of my most unusual collections.

Moscow (Russia)

The first McDonald's opened in Moscow in January 1990. It was a big deal, a symbol of  Western culture and capitalism and of the USSR's opening to the outside world (end of the Cold War). When I visited Moscow in 1990, we went to McDonald's on several occasions. We always encountered long lines. Police monitored the crowds; better not butt in line! Ironically, it was total chaos once you got inside the restaurant, as everyone rushed towards the counters to place their orders. The menu was similar, but quite expensive for the average Russian. The Moscow McDonald's was operated by a Canadian company. After Russia invaded the Ukraine in 2022, McDonald's ceased operations and withdrew from the country. 

Prague (Czech Republic)

Moldova

Poland

The first McDonald's was opened in Poland (in Warsaw) in 1992. I lived in Poland for six months in 1993. Every time we went to Warsaw (8 hours away), we ate at the McDonald's at least once. Pizza Hut was our first meal stop. At the time, I didn't like how they made pizza or burgers in Poland, so whenever we had a chance to eat the American staples, we did. Otherwise, the food in Poland was generally good.  

Germany

Mexico

In the 1990s, there were more McDonald's than any other restaurant in the world. In 2025, McDonald's was second behind a Chinese fast food restaurant. 

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Post created 16 Jan 2026

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