Excited

Well Iowa caucuses will set in motion the rest of the year. Everybody in Iowa, get out there and make your choice known. It's the American Way!

Faline has a new video up at You Tube. She's folding clothes.

Zippy is good enough to be called WELL from his cancer surgery.

I am working on two short stories, one about changing life. And one about a man and wife on their boat having an argument. Also working on Cleanup Jobs and Car Jack. Still tired from my recent illnesses though.

Iowa Caucuses

http://www.twincities.com/ci_7747046?source=rss&nclick_check=1

To read more about what is happening in the Iowa election click on the link above: this note about who can and cannot participate.

THE IOWA CAUCUSES

Who: Anyone, whether registered as voters or not, can attend the Iowa caucuses as long as they'll be 18 by Election Day 2008. Attendees can register on caucus night.

When: The caucuses - since 1972 the first major electoral event of the presidential-nominating process - will be held the evening of Jan. 3.

How: Voters and future voters must be in their Democratic or Republican caucus location, which can be a church, school, someone's home or elsewhere, by 7 p.m. Jan. 3. The attendees will be asked to choose a presidential candidate - through a straw poll for Republicans and a variety of means for Democrats, including sometimes standing in a certain area to be counted.

What's next: For Republicans, the straw poll results will be counted and used to send delegates to the state nominating convention.

For Democrats, the results are counted at the caucus to determine whether candidates meet certain viability thresholds - at smaller caucuses the threshold is 25 percent, at larger ones it's 15 percent. If some preferences are considered not viable, voters will be given the chance to pick again. Once viable selections are made, the results will be used to select delegates to county nominating conventions.

The delegates are not bound by the caucus results but tend to stick with the candidate picks that won them selection.

Why it matters: While a presidential candidate can win party nomination without winning Iowa and lose it after winning Iowa, the early support gives candidates important momentum to continue.

Vote for Barack Obama -- for clarity insight reality and on top of the ISSUES. Got to www.BaraclObama.com to learn more.

Christmas nearly here, isn't it?

When I was a kid I got an orange, three pair of cotton panties from JC Penny and a book from my Pop. Sometimes it was Nancy Drew and sometimes it was the Hardy Boys. The books were almost always second-hand. One year I got a book called Girl of the Limberlost. And when I was about twelve my Pop got me a book called Green Mansions about a bird girl who lived in the jungles of South America. Since my birthday is so close to Christmas I didn't really get birthday presents. I usually got a cake though, a great big double chocolate, chocolate frosting Devil's Food Cake. It was so good that I thought it really ought to be called the Angel's Food Cake instead of the white fluffy kind. We always had a gallon of vanilla ice cream and candles on my cake. Today the children I know would be very unhappy to have such a meager Christmas. One year my name was put in as needy child by one of my teachers. My mother and father were horribly embarrassed at such a label. We weren't needy; just didn't have a lot of money. The real estate agent that drew my name bought me a doll that wet, a chalkboard with an easel and games. He bought me coloring books and a wood burning set. I was dizzy when Mama and Pop took me to his house. His wife and he were old to me, much older than my own parents. They had food that I had never had and special treats. I sat in their kitchen in my blue and pink plaid dress that my mother had made for me at the beginning of the school year. My mother had braided my hair very tight and scrubbed all my old skin off until there was only raw pinkish skin like a sunburn. My yellow hair was tied at the braids with blue ribbons. The old man wanted to hold me and watch me open my gifts. I shook my head no and couldn't speak. My mother said, " Go ahead, honey. They want to enjoy your happiness." I looked at my Pop. "Ahem," he said much too loudly. " She 's a shy kid and doesn't take well to petting. We live out of town so she is alone a lot. But watch out, you get her to talk and she'll talk your leg off." That made everyone laugh and the Mrs. Real Estate lady pour Morgan David wine for all of us, even me in a tiny glass. Then we had cookies and nuts and salty crackers. Finally I got to open those gifts. I didn't realize for a bit that they would go home with me. I thought the presents were very nice and told the man and the woman that I liked the gifts. The woman told me she had gotten a cat when she was a little girl for Christmas. She said that they just happened to have some kittens that were ready for a new home and would my daddy let me have a kitten too? I didn't know what to say. We had barn cats. Would we have another cat? My dad put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Girl, what do you think? Want a baby cat to look after?" "Yes please," I was able to whisper. We all went out to the garage except for Mama and the Mrs.
The kittens were sleeping in a box. I picked the biggest one. I named him Tommy and he lasted much longer than my Christmas gifts. Besides he was my friend. He liked my dogs too. He was the real gift that year.