Missouri has a peculiar kind of weather.  We even have a city named after it, Peculiar, Mo.  This has been a winter of great ups and downs in which, the thermometer, wall street and gas prices have all made quite a display on the zig zag charts that people who know how to chart, draw.  My thermometer has had more ups and downs than the Otis elevator company, or so it seems.  The Empire State Building proportions of the extreme temperature changes has made this winters ups and downs memorable.  I received the Gas bill and it too had gotten into the act with a climb up the chart to impressive heights.  I suppose about May it will make its return trip.  the price of Gasoline has been keeping us all waiting for the day it will make its dramatic climb back to the highs of last summer. 

Wall streets great decent , and the vacillation since has left the hopeful a little hope-less that its return trip is anytime soon. All of these ups and downs remind me of the first roller coaster that my wife and I rode together.  the first ride was full of thrills and excitement, and hair raising anxiety. The second a close second to the first, and the third a distant third.  However, the amusement park was not busy that day and the attendant let us continue to ride over and over again. eventually we got off because the ride had lost its thrill.  The repetition and predictability of the roller coaster after several rides left us with an experience that was flat and thrill-less.  The  thermometer, wall street, and gas prices feel like that same ride all over again.  But then again this is Missouri and nobodys getting off just yet.  Mr. Dubois lives in Kansas where everything is smooth.

The Dreaded Flu Bug has hit the area, and this bug bites hard.  there have been so many who have suffered from the flu this season that it's very common to bring the subject up and have several people chime in with their personal story.  I recently read that the name, Influenza, is the result of the folks from the middle ages thinking that the seasonal bug  was the result of the alighment of the stars, or the get this...Influence of the stars.  Thus the term Influenza. Well, however the name originated, Like Shakespeare  said " A name?  What is in a name?  The Influenza by any other name would still ache as much"  ( slight paraphrase)  I hope all of you out there, are staying healthy and avoiding the "Bug" bite.

Rest, plenty of fluids, Tylenol, prayer, and a few chapters of Proverbs, will have your little light shining in no time

Clippercut

Dubois; payment #2