@QMS Never experienced the use of heating oil. A friend offered us a cast iron wood stove. We went through the house, room to room, trying to figure out where to put it. The perfect place where it would heat half the house is exactly where my grand piano sits. We passed on the free gift.
I have no experience in using heating oil, but until the 90s or so, everyone had small propane space heaters. That was the standard day time heating, but at bed time, you just used electric blankets and hoped the electricity didn't go off.
My tour bus went by the world's largest slum in Nairobi. And yet, the best street food I ever ate was in the city. It was an ear of corn, slathered with salted butter. A woman had roasted them over a wood fire. Her grill was a repurposed wire shelf from a refrigerator.
Stay warm, friend!

.

we are cold here as well, about 40 degrees. Tough transitioning into the
winter mode. Adaptable beasts as we are. Have a fire stoking in the wood
stove, so that helps somewhat. Plan to fire-up the boiler and get some heat
in the radiant floor in the kitchen space (large 20' x 30') which should help.
Have been reticent to burn heating oil as it is wicked expensive this year.

Watching street food vids from China, Thailand, Brazil and now Afghanistan.
Eventually, hope to get hungry enough to cook something worthwhile.

The Chiwawas in EU are trying to get a seat at the negotiations re: Ukraine,
but they can't seem to agree on anything like a substantive position. Kalas,
Mertz and Macron think they are the chosen ones. Meanwhile Putin is
tightening the screws and trumpet is removing Rubio from the process.
But the US has a couple real estate agents on the job. Such a mess they
are in of their own un-doing.

@Lookout Traders were staying home and staying warm, I take it?
It is low 50s this morning, with lots of breeze. High 40s tonight. Tomorrow will bring almost 3 inches of rain and will no doubt cause a few creeks to flood. We will run all errands today in anticipation of being sort of trapped in our little town.
I am not a fan of turkey, but love spiraled ham, which will "hog" shelf space at the grocery store a few days before Thanksgiving.
I haven't boarded a plane since 2019. Pilots having sudden heart attacks in mid-flight caused me to lose interest. My passport and GOES card have expired. I saw almost every country I had on my wish list. I give up my seat to anyone who trusts AI.
Enjoy your day, friend!

A cool 39F this morning here, and 33F at Trade Day. Not many traders, as you might expect. Now mid-40's sunny and nice.

Bought a turkey, $0.57/lb, at the grocery, and may buy another next week to keep in the freezer till spring. T-day is around the corner. My sister and her family plan to come here.

Saw something on the YT feed of a air travel grounding last night. Seems the air controllers lost communications.

Glad I'm not flying ...at least not lately.

Well, hope everyone has a good weekend. Thanks for the OT!

@enhydra lutris Diet restrictions due to medical procedures was a way of life while JtC was getting chemo. I hope the week flies by so you can return to routine food and, more importantly, wine consumption.
I hope your medical procedures are successful.
About that "cold"...for 2 or 3 days, JtC felt he was catching a cold, then it went away. I haven't had a cold since around 1962, and wouldn't know if I had a cold now. Everything winds up as a sinus infection with me. I hope it passes quickly and that she will enjoy her vacation. 3 weeks sounds wonderful!
That sunken ship "reef" is nutty. Nothing says healthy sea life and protected coastline more than rusty steel.
Well, the grounded planes has triggered speculation about who, what, when, where, how, and why it happened. Is it a path to crashed internet and hastening in CBDCs? We are gonna find out.
Our former handy man took a full time job, got fired, then got arrested for disarming a cop. He is a convicted felon and if convicted again will be sentenced to pen time. We have just hired another guy who is self-employed as a mechanic and handyman. He will work for us as needed.
Well, you feed the strays, we will feed Vinnie.
Enjoy cooking food you aren't allowed to eat, dear friend!

has stopped for now and temps are in fifties due to rise to low sixties, but another storm is sitting offshore & due to arrive tonight or tomorrow. I'm on a restricted diet through a procedure Tuesday morning and my week to cook starts tomorrow, so all things menu wise are weird thru Tuesday, and I have an infusion Saturday which messes up the food situation for that day too. Meanwhile we're trying to pack and prep for a 3 week trip starting the Tuesday the 24th including arranging for somebody to feed the two strays that we have semi-adopted who, naturally, don't get along with each other at all. So whatthehell to get at farmers' market today is something of a conundrum. Beyond that, my wife has one of those colds that will not go away.

One upshot of that is that we are not much concerned with global politics - things will get worse or better, or stay the same and we'll worry about that come mid December.

Points to ponder: They just sunk the SS United States,
Off the Florida coast,
to make an Artificial reef.
Make of it what you will, but there is at least a week's worth of symbolism there.

be well and have a good one

@soryang I read from military analysts that our war materiel and strategies are at WWII stage, as shown by Viet Nam, Afghanistan, etc...Wars moved on from then. Out MIC just have all these contracts with our government to make expensive and obsolete crap because money, baby!
That photo is gorgeous! Thank Ms. soryang for having such a good eye for a camera!
Take care, enjoy your weekend, friend!

This is from Kim Jong-tae's column in the Hankyoreh yesterday. He's mostly an expert in geopolitics and military affairs in NE Asia. So I take his comments on other issues, like US domestic politics with a grain of salt. He's made a lot of pertinent comments on US military posture and readiness in this column that are likely accurate, I've followed him a long time. I spent some time reading through USNI sources and other military sources the last couple of days, and haven't gotten a clear summary of our military posture from them at all. These are some highlights:

On June 24, the White House requested US$87.6 billion in supplemental funding from Congress. But the House rejected the US$67.1 billion earmarked for the Pentagon. According to the Congressional Budget Office, actual war costs amounted to just US$42.3 billion, while the rest was intended to replenish the Pentagon’s coffers.

According to the Pentagon’s inspector general, at least US$33.4 billion of funding for the war has come from the training and maintenance budgets. The Pentagon has even requested permission to divert another US$4.3 billion from shipbuilding and R&D.

The Navy complains that operations in Iranian waters have left it with an US$8 billion shortfall.

The breakdown began with Air Force pilot training. To be certified as combat-ready, a fighter pilot is supposed to fly nine or 10 sorties a month. But now they are averaging barely one for non-deployed jets.

The mission-capable rate of the F-35 workhorse has fallen below 50%, with only 1 in 4 aircraft capable of performing the full range of missions.

Below the waves, things are hardly better.

Of the US Navy’s 49 nuclear-powered attack submarines, 19 are sidelined because of a maintenance backlog.

The Navy has 11 aircraft carriers on paper, but only about eight are actually operational. The USS John C. Stennis, for example, is 14 months behind schedule on refueling and other work.

The number of destroyers available for immediate deployment has fallen to just a quarter of the fleet. Maintenance on key warships, including the USS Donald Cook, has been pushed back to next year, with 18 scheduled maintenance projects scrapped outright.

https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/english_editorials/1287212.html

Ms. So took this photo at a Jirisan National Park temple site three years ago.