Lotsa Little Bits vol. 17

ITEM:  Is anyone else here a bit bemused that we are investigating a "cover up" about the shameful murders of our men in Benghazi?  Frankly, what's covered up?  We know what happened- a group of idiot Muslims with friends in high places decided to kill unnecessarily vulnerable Americans on September 11th;  Our Commander-in-Chief delegated himself into a night off; our Secretary of State refused to give permission for friendly forces to save them.  That was the same Commander-in-Chief that had just finished missing TWO WEEKS of daily security updates, and the same Secretary of State who ignored requests from embassy staff for reasonable security for weeks before the incident, and then brushed off the whole thing with, "Why does it matter?"  We know that, since then, people in the know have been threatened one way or another to keep silent, including a General and an Admiral who were relieved of command.  There is NOTHING covered up- we are only debating whether Ambassador Stevens and the others died out of extreme incompetence, or whether it was because the political spin of being able to do what "Obama" did in Libya without pumping the place full of Marines ("Like George W. woulda dun") was more important than 4 human lives.  Folks, I'm sorry, but that's not a cover up, that's a coin flip.

ITEM:  Still no word from the guy from the Aussie hockey league with my box scores and pictures I was promised- scroll to the bottom of this post if you don't believe me- so can anyone tell me, what day is Monday in Australia?

ITEM:  Here's a recent spam blog comment that I just had to share-

First of all I would like to say fantastic blog!

I had a quick question that I'd like to ask if you don't mind.
I was curious to find out how you center yourself and clear your head before writing.
I have had trouble clearing my thoughts in getting my thoughts out there.
I do take pleasure in writing however it just seems like the first 10 to
15 minutes tend to be wasted simply just trying to figure
out how to begin. Any suggestions or hints? Kudos!

Here is my web page word-excel.de

I have to say that was a pretty good question even if the writer couldn't really give a fig (Kinda like how I feel about their link).   So let's look at it.

First of all, I don't just write to feel out the keyboard (usually).  A typical post has been mapped out by my subconscious ahead of time; an important post is mapped out in conscious thought, 90% of the time while working, showering, or walking.  I always take walk pictures with a narrator in my head, and sometimes I even listen to him.

Therefore, I don't often find myself needing to "center" before writing.  Some topics do require silence around me (Sunday Messages are typed Saturday morning before even Scrappy gets up).

So, my best suggestion for anyone (especially those who make a living sending linked posts to bloggers who could care less) is, don't post unless you actually have something to say.  If you just want to blow off, grab a doodle pad- and if something doodles it's way to the fore, post away.

ITEM:  A few more walk pictures-

Sometimes, when you walk past it the 1,000,000th time, it catches your eye...

Dandelions gone to head already?  Geez...

Our first garter snake of the year- and he had no desire to pose!

Our usual duck couple...

This is another couple, farther up-ditch.

Remember that miraculous mystery bird I told you about a few weeks back?

Well, I think I solved the mystery; I believe that the blue tale might have been a trick of the light, because we saw Mr. Goldfinch again...

...and moments later he was joined...

...by Mrs. Goldfinch!