Federal Spending per Federal Taxation

Who gets more federal dollars for their citizens? It should come as no surprise that the states which claim to refuse Federal "interference" are actually the ones with their collective hands out for Federal monies. Note that Alaska is, once again, high on that list. In fact, "blue states" are at the bottom of the list, indicating that they request/receive the lowest Federal subsidies.

Amazing Cartography

Wow. This is an incredible animation of the history in the area of Eastern Mediterranean countries.

The Blizzard of Ought-Nine

The view of the back door, normally the exit of choice for the dogs..but not tonight!

The view at my feet, with the front storm door opened out to push away the very top layer of snow. We'd cleaned this area twice already, of snow at least the same height. I measured the snow just at my feet (beneath the door) at 6 inches, so that gives us our minimum of 18 inches of snow, plus the extra 2 inches cleared away by the door (x3), leaving us with a lower bound of 24 inches of snow.

As you can see, out the front door is still quite snowy. Even at 11 pm, it is still snowing (it began yesterday around 7 pm). That path was dug out by me at 10 am, and sort of cleared again around 2 pm, but was covered again by 3pm.

Last year, our "big snow" left enough for the dogs and boy to enjoy themselves. You might imagine that they were just as happy today, with higher snow to jump through and to lose the ball in. They love the snow, with a passion greater than their love of the tennis ball.

The wind is blowing, and the old side of the house isn't completely air-tight (and the furnace blower isn't working), so it's chilly over there. Not to worry: we know how to keep warm and the heat pump on the new side keeps us from freezing. As Kedgie can tell you, there's no place like home.

A little night music