Extreme Sheepherding

I agree with Red State?

In the grand tradition of Grandpa Al who worked for Al Capone as a delivery truck driver.

Nice Weather in Texas

Sunny and mid 70's with a light breeze. Ben and I made what Val called a trailer park kite out of a plastic grocery bag, some floss and a ribbon we found. We had fun with it even if it did not fly too high, as the breeze was too soft.
Ben is really sleeping hard as I also walked him about a mile in a park. He ran out of energy on the way back and all I had to give him was lifesavers. He sat on a house step and then wondered at the dogs in the house barking at him. I said they were saying go away we do not know you.

Sylvia

We went to the theater tonight to see Sylvia. A very well produced comedy. We had seen it when it was produced here 8 years ago when the play was newly written.

Kate and Greg have a rock-solid marriage, until Greg brings home a girl he picked up in the park. The new girl is tough competition, even though she sheds, drools, chews shoes, sniffs crotches, and has fleas! This outrageous comedy about a dog and her man is one of our most popular shows ever!

Out to Tea

The Top Floor Tea Room went out of business in September, so I found a tea room in Grass Valley. Ugly location across from Kragen Auto Supply, but cute tea room and very nice food. William had a regular lunch of quiche and soup and I had a creme tea.

We discussed the fact that we actually had an afternoon tea in the fancy dining room at the old Roman baths in Bath England. But this was so early in our journey that while we enjoyed it and remember it, we did not fully appreciate the experience.

We will have to go back to The Cup of Tea and order the light afternoon tea sometime. As William says it is a lot of food and would require having only coffee and a banana for breakfast and soup for dinner.

William enjoyed his southwest quiche with salsa and sour cream and his mushroom soup. My creme tea included 2 delicious scones with cream, lemon curd, a lovely strawberry jam and a pot of tea.
The Cup Of Tea tea room in Grass Valley
Picture us at the table for two under the window.
The Pump House in Bath September 2007.

Why did Iceland go bankrupt?

An excellent and funny article in Vanity Fair explains it all.
Although there will soon be no need for a Central Bank in Iceland as the country will convert to the euro,

inside the place stews David Oddsson, the architect of Iceland’s rise and fall. Back in the 1980s, Oddsson had fallen under the spell of Milton Friedman, the brilliant economist who was able to persuade even those who spent their lives working for the government that government was a waste of life. So Oddsson went on a quest to give Icelandic people their freedom—by which he meant freedom from government controls of any sort. As prime minister he lowered taxes, privatized industry, freed up trade, and, finally, in 2002, privatized the banks. At length, weary of prime-ministering, he got himself appointed governor of the Central Bank—even though he was a poet without banking experience.

A hedge fund manager explained Icelandic banking

this way: You have a dog, and I have a cat. We agree that they are each worth a billion dollars. You sell me the dog for a billion, and I sell you the cat for a billion. Now we are no longer pet owners, but Icelandic banks, with a billion dollars in new assets. “They created fake capital by trading assets amongst themselves at inflated values,” says a London hedge-fund manager. “This was how the banks and investment companies grew and grew. But they were lightweights in the international markets.”

William tells me that Belgian banks are so over leveraged that Belgium will soon follow Iceland. What will be the consequences for Belgium?

Boulder Beer

Found this at Grocery Outlet and could not resist bringing it home.

Nightmares for me tonight

Dad rented "No Country for Old Men". Good movie but too violent and gruesome for me.