Sunday, January 18, 2009

A smathering of this and that.....

Has been a great weekend for us. Linda's brother and wife came to visit and we had a great time catching up. Saturday morning we went to "The Tracks" for breakfast (it's not really called that but somehow was given that nickname by area folks). Its' real name is "Historic Texas Lunch" and before that it was the "New Texas Lunch". Apparently the Texas part has something to do with hot dogs since we are obviously in Pennsylvania and not in Texas. I guess after a certain number of years it ceased to be "New" and became historic.....maybe the way that cars become an antique when they reach a certain vintage. Anywho....Linda had blueberry pancakes which were scrumptious and I had a veggie omelet with home fries and wheat toast. Everything was delicious !
Had dinner Saturday evening at The Cottage Pub and Restaurant, here in Chambersburg and it was also very good. Linda and I shared Seafood Alfredo and Spinach and Garlic Ravioli entrees. It was very slow at the restaurant (only a couple of tables full of people). First quarter of the year is always a tough time for restaurants and I imagine that this year is even tougher; in light of the recession.
Linda is on a tear putting puzzles together this weekend. So far today she has completed four of them. While she's doing that I'm watching the Eagles and Cardinals game. Is in the second quarter and I'm not getting a good feeling about the Eagles ability at this point. The Cardinals are REALLY tough. Earlier today, after saying goodbye to Linda's family, we went to the mall and walked for close to an hour. Seemed to be sidewalk sales going on there as I had to put blinders on Linda every time we'd lap past Penney's or the other stores with racks out in the aisleways. Those 70% off signs were calling to her and it was a major distraction...LOL...
Lots of things going on in this area over this past year. According to a publication called "2008 Year in Review" here are some tidbits about Chambersburg and/or Franklin County.

* Franklin County was 2nd in number of births for the state of PA and is also number 2 for dairy production. (Guess we know what all those farmers are doing in their spare time)

* Letterkenny Army Depot is working on a new prototype vehicle. It's a Medium Mine Protected Vehicle. It will help protect convoys in Iraq and Afghanistan..

* Waynesboro Hospital was ranked as the #1 place to work in healthcare for the entire country....very impressive.

* Although the area has seen a 7.5% decrease in home sales, over the last year the unemployment rate is still below 5%, which is very good compared to most areas. Driving around the area there seems to be many projects underway and there does not seem to be a disproportionate number of homes on the market.

In other news, from a place far, far away (but visible from Russia)....there was some disturbing information on the radio the other day about Alaska. Seems that Alaska ranks #1 in number of sexual assaults in the nation. I was amazed and appalled at this statistic. Seems there was a big conflict of interest there the other day when a sex offender won a $500,000 lottery that goes to benefit victims of sexual assault. They weren't quite sure how to handle that dilemma. Maybe they should make him walk the "bridge to nowhere".....

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