Yep Beelize, My eyes were wide! Since then, it's been nervous out there! Syncal, I wanted to say how sorry I am to hear of your loss. What a horrible thing. I'd have felt frustrated, heartbroken, a host of emotions. Miss Kitty, we're in the Pac NW, about 30 or miles north of Seattle, though in the foothills of the Cascades. We have predators of every variety, but they usually remain aloof and we don't see them much, hence the surprise. The encounter was on Sunday. The following Fri-nite, we lost a bird. That cranked the nerve switch up a notch. One of our best muscovies mind you. We were still working on their permanent structure, but they had been fine all year in their pen. Whatever it was left a real mess. Based on all I've read about predators and their leavings, I couldn't i.d. it. Raccoons go for the head (I imagine becuase it has the bird by the neck) but our muscovy was not decapitated. Possums go for the guts, but ours was not disembowled either. He was on his back and filleted at the breast. What ever it was chowed straight in from that angle, and left the remains. Cougars, I'm told, usually haul away and bury their prey, but not always, so I'm not sure. Coincidence? Outside of a dog attack in broad daylight, it is the only loss we've suffered. Three days later, our neighbor saw the cougar in his driveway when they pulled in. It lingered for awhile as they waited in the car. The Wildlife Fish & Game were contacted again. We haven't seen Freddie Cougar since, so don't know. Maybe he went home. Sad fact is, he may have been homeless altogether. They're being pressed out of most territory thanks to so much development. It's not his fault. But I sure feel silly walking up to it like some cougar whisperer saying "here kitty, kitty". Call me Mr. Magoo. RJ gave me a rifle lesson. Doubtful I'd ever use it, but I shot my first tin can! Am thinking about mounting it on the wall over the mantel. :0>

And any politician who tells you that he/she is going to raise the taxes (or remove those 'tax-breaks') on the superrich and give the non-rich that money is just trying to get the vote from the non-rich. You see, there are far more non-rich than super-rich, so they are an easier target by politicians for votes. Those politicians have been playing this game for a long time, yet isn't it interesting that nothing has really changed? That's because, at least in the U.S., we are truly conflicted about what we say we want and what we do. Especially where money is concerned. Ask people -- rich and not-rich -- what's most important to them in their lives, and they'll most likely tell you that they want to be safe against crime and physical danger; they want their kids to get a good education; and they want to know they can get older without worrying about the roof over their heads or whether they can afford to be ill. Folks who really are thinking about it probably will tell you they want to be able to live their lives in peace. But our elected representatives are busy chopping away at all of that. Tax cuts and other budget priorities remove cops from the street; take inspectors out of meat-packing plants and slum housing; keep trimming programs like Head Start and after-school programs for kids with nothing better to do. Politicians refuse to consider a single-payer health plan based on the ideas that it will make them look like a shrill Senator from New York or that it would take away from our "best health care in the world" (which objective measurement will verify is no longer so). Politicians are busy approving reductions of income during wartime; subsidizing huge public corporations, and funding bridges to nowhere instead of supporting education and health initiatives. And, as a public, we have collectively up-ended our priorities and pay people millions of dollars a year to catch a ball or sing a song -- while poorly-paid public-school teachers are digging into their own pockets to fund school supplies. What the he!! is wrong with us? Every rich person has a vested interest in seeing the non-rich do decently -- because, if they don't, there won't be anyone making enough money to pay the rich's Social Security come the time, there will be much more crime on the streets, and this country will be much less attractive to those folks who we wish would move here and add to our culture.

Wow, now that was a great deal for sure to find it on the last day of the sale. Glad I grabbed 6 boxes because this small town store is likely to not carry it again. I did notice the smaller boxes had gone up a lot too. My wife had purchased a similar size box of Tide HE powder last weekend and it was 23.99 on sale for 19.00, so I was sure glad to get these as it seems detergent is going through the roof. Sears must be wanting to maximise profits not along with the rest of the suppliers. The 17 pound boxes at this price were a little cheaper than the big boxes are per ounce on sale usually so this is fine for me. I bet when all they have left are small boxes cheap detergent will be history. Glad some of you got there in time!

We eat a lot of ground beef and I buy it here at Smith's(Kroger).I always get the 85/15 and pay $1.98 a lb. for the family pack most of the time.They always have really good specials and sometime if I get there at the right time the meat ground that day is marked down even more.I stock up then.They also have great specials sometime on steak.usually Sirloin and London broil and I stock up on those too. What I can't stand is getting those tiny little pieces of bone in a bite of meat.Ruins the whole burger for me.Don't have much of a problem with that with Smith's. Someone had organic,grass fed beef on the local Craigs list a while back.You could get a half,1/4 or whole beef.I called about it and it would have cost about $9.00 a pound! Would have been nice but who can afford that! Wish I had a way to grind my own.With the london broil and sirloin specials I can get,it would save a lot of money.