The state is under a budget crunch again this year. Last week, they imposed a hiring freeze and a spending freeze. The last I knew, the hiring freeze from 88 was still active. And even though there is a hiring freeze, people still get hired. I guess a hiring freeze makes for good press even if it is fictitious.

As for the spending freeze, that too is a joke. Everyone knew of the spending freeze two weeks before it was announced. So, for the past two weeks, we have been submitting purchasing orders as fast as we can. This defeats the purpose of the freeze since all we are doing is spending the money now that we would have spent over the next 6 months.

Of course, we were not supposed to know about the spending freeze but it is hard to keep secrets in state government. As soon as someone hears about a freeze, they tell other so that no one gets caught without the essentials for operation, including paper for the printers.

Well, it was cold this morning when I got up.  The thermometer read -19.9F.  Close enough to -20F.   I don’t like getting out of the house when it is that cold.  I am always afraid that something will break.

To take the chill off my feet as I sit and type, I decided to purchase a little electric space heater.  So I headed to Meijer’s (regional grocery chain) to buy a heater.  It had occurred to me that with the sudden cold snap, the selection of heaters may be limited.   Silly me.  They didn’t have a single heater.   All of that stuff had been put away to make room for the patio furniture and grills.  Spring is in the air even if it is -20F.

No church today. It is too cold. It was -1 F when we got up. I don’t know what that is in C but I do know that it is cold out there. Of course, we didn’t get up until about 8:30 so it is hard to say how cold it got last night. Actually, it got down to -2F last night. I just remembered that our handy dandy Weather Channel digital thermometer records highs and lows so a quick check gave me the reading.

A lot of places have closed today because of the cold. The malls have closed and so have most of the area churches. No one really wants to be out in this kind of weather. Plus, the roads are a mess.

The snow plows have done an admirable job of keeping the roads open but when it is this cold, salt doesn’t even melt the ice. So, the roads, without salt, are very slippery.

We usually grill several time a week regardless of the weather. Not so right now. Today we are having pot roast. We started it about 9 am. Last night, the steaks were cooked in the broiler. Besides not wanting to go out in the cold, the oven helps keep the house warm.

The State of Michigan put up and maintains a web site listing sex offenders convicted after a certain date.  If you go to mipsor.state.mi.us and put in the city that you are looking for, it will give you a list of the sex offenders in that city.  Lowell has about 30 listed sex offenders but the list only shows sex offenders convicted after a certain date so it is not complete.  And it does not include sex offenses by minors.
Sex offenses occur in various degrees of severity.  Some are misdemeanors while others are felonies.  And not all sex offenders are sexual.  Indecent exposure is a sexual offense.  So is urinating in public.  If you are convicted of these acts, your name and picture will be listed along with the hardcore rapists and child molesters.

If you check out the list, you might be surprised at what you will find.

I was in the drug store today and ran across an interesting product; Snore extinguisher. It was a little aerosol can with a long adjustable hose attached. When the button on the top of the can is pressed, it delivers a pre-measured amount of snore extinguisher.

The directions on the box were a little vague and the print was rather small, so I am not really sure how it is to be used. But one thing did catch my attention. It read “In case of an emergency, spray directly into the mouth.

Emergency?! A fire is an emergency not snoring. But, I suppose it is a matter of perspective. I guess if you happen to be that hapless spouse who can’t sleep because of the noise, it might be an emergency. In a moment of desperation, you might be tempted to grab the can from the night stand, stick the hose into the mouth of your loved one and touch off a round.

I wonder how it works? Does it have some sort of medication in it that stops the snoring? Or does the event of sticking the hose down their throat cause them to choke which wakes them up? Maybe when my wife hears about this product, she will abandon her ear plugs and stash away a can for emergency use.

I stopped at the cafeteria for breakfast today. Their breakfast special was two waffles and a beverage. While I was not interested in their special, I was surprised at the waffles. The waffles were in the form of a long loaf. The cafeteria workers sliced the waffles off the loaf just like they were slicing bread. I am not sure why they called them waffles because they certainly don’t meet the normal criteria for waffles.

I wondered how they could make such a thing? Maybe they make the waffles the same way as they make cheese curls; extruded.  Sometime, when I am feeling adventurous, I’ll have to give them a try.