Good morning to all. Haven’t had my first coffee yet, but sure can smell it brewing – and even the smell of it is helping to wake me up.

Last evening friend Rosalie called to state that she had just come home from the hospital, needed to talk, and more importantly needed fresh air. I thought that both could happen simultaneously. And so, shortly, in the dark and in a light rain, we walked the Rose Hill ~ Beechwood circle.

After many years living in the neighborhood I know a bunch about the area. Rosalie knows more. When two talkers walk together there is a lot of talk! We had a lovely walk as a number of the homes were lit up in all their glory.

Tomorrow even it’ll get even better since its Luminary night complete with fire pits, horse drawn carriage hot chocolate and cider. Marcia and I will miss that because, by then, we’ll be in Michigan. I still need to pack.

General Michael Flynn – is a 33-year military veteran. With the sham proceedings of this past week an amazing amount of nefarious (think totally illegal) behavior by the FBI has surfaced. This includes the fact that paperwork accusing General Flynn had been ‘doctored’ and was known by the FBI to be exculpatory.

Over the years I have always marveled at the straightforward and brutally honest insights Sidney Powell offers when being interviewed. Powell is General Flynn’s attorney and he can’t have better. This week she dropped a ‘bombshell’ filing and is requesting Flynn’s Case Dismissal. From The Federalist; “…her filings are exposing the depth of the deep state and the evidence that does (or should) exist that has yet to reach the public”.

Aside from an Impeachment event being nothing more than partisan nonsense, too many honest folk have gotten caught up in the web. Aside from anything else relating to these histrionics the other big loser is the FBI and with this we should all be worried as we see just how easy any one could get caught in a web with virtually no escape.

“This task could rival separating fly-shit from pepper.” ~ Sidney Powell, author and civil liberties attorney

The Bank – Ask yourself just how often you actually set foot into a Bank these days. For me it’d been months. Yesterday I did have to actually enter the place and I opted to do this on my daily neighborhood sojourn (walk). A light misty rain and some chill weren’t going to stop me. However, it did mandate that I dress appropriately for the occasion. It was Marcia who questioned my wisdom and made me change outfits.

The Corner – A stone’s throw from our place and on the other side of the intersection is a smallish multi-unit (8 apartments) place owned by an absentee landlord from somewhere on the East Coast. For at least four years our neighborhood association and I have been on their case to clean the place up. All that’s happened is that the place got sold to a new East Coast entity; but zero improvement.

This week we entered a new phase, one which had me texting and on the phone for hours. Next week it’ll be some face-to-face time resulting (hopefully) in bringing legal involvement on board. The new ‘phase’ had its origins when I spotted a couple of Police cruisers roll up to the place. Twenty minutes or so later a Coroner’s SUV rolled up.

The Pedestal – The corner of our Condo’s property has had for years a large trellis with the script “Rose Crest Condominiums” name-plate, sitting on a little mound. Vines had overgrown the thing and according to the ladies in our building it exuded that “Golden Girls” look. Marcia was instrumental in the design of a brand new look. The trellis was pulled, the mound cleaned up, and a brick pedestal with a nameplate done in glorious gold-leaf now sits proudly in its place.

It was me, on one of my walks, who captures the one downside of a stone pedestal. It would appear that these things are a car magnet.

Orchestra – Marching Band season has come and gone. Now orchestral music is how the music departments further their piece of the educational process. Derek and his Sousaphone is part of that changeover. This year for their first school concert it was decided to bring the High-school and the Middle-school bands together. Hence, this is how Kellen and his Saxophone ended up playing together with his brother; very neat, don’t you think?

Fini – tomorrow morning Marcia and I will grab our breakfast fixture as we climb onto the on-ramp to head north for Michigan and Paul & Dia’s place. Our fixture breakfast food? Nothing is better than a White Castle breakfast sandwich made with fresh egg and their diner-style coffee.

Happy Birthday to Jeanne. Monday evening we’ll celebrate with her and we’re excited.

Anyone know the history of the practice where and outgoing President or Governor will/can pardon convicts? This past week the outgoing Governor of Kentucky released over 400 of the worst of the worst criminals – killers, child rapists, and so forth. It’s INSANITY! To top it off, he gave ZERO warning to the families, prosecutors, or judges of any of the affected communities. The whole event seems to have been nothing more than an act of spite since he, Matt Bevin (R), lost his re-election. Years ago we had a governor, Gilligan (D), pull a similar stunt just fewer; so it crosses party lines.

And yes, Santa’s Helpers are very busy these days.

And here it is, nearly the end of another decade. Marcia is still complaining that I can never find what I’m looking for in the refrigerator.

Till next week, make it a great one.
Dirk