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Before

  And after. That’s it.  The last appliance has given up the ghost.  They’ve all been replaced. They weren’t very old, but they had done their time already.  We replaced each one with something better.  Remember when stoves had those burners that stuff fell down in and it was hard to keep them clean?  Then we moved on to flat cook surfaces.  Well this one has multiple size elements, seven altogether, for different size pots, on that flat cook surface.  It also has a flat control panel; no knobs!  The whole control panel is a giant touch screen.  That will be easier to keep clean too.  Either that or we’ll activate everything at the same time and totally blow its mind every time we wipe it down. 
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I don’t understand politics

 This question could go to either party in a different situation; it just happens to be about the fix the Republicans are in, in this instance. There is a sense that the Republican controlled House, Senate, and Presidency must pass a tax cut so they can demonstrate to their constituents that they really can do what they say they are going to do, and deserve re-election at the mid-terms in 2018.  If they don’t have any accomplishments to run on in 2018 they could get rejected. But the tax cut they are trying to pass has something like a 20% public approval rating.  I’m trying to find the logic, but all I can see is a lose-lose.  If they don’t pass anything they’ll be seen as ineffective.  But how do you prove you’re effective, and win favor, by passing a law that people don’t want?   
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We went on a great parakeet hunt

 The challenge was not just to find parakeets, it was to find any parakeet that didn’t look like all the other green parakeets coming in to roost in McAllen at dusk. Our search started at 10th and Dove, and took us north to Trenton, north again to the Best Buy store, east to McColl and Trenton, then back for another trip up and down 10th Street.  We scoured the wires with our binoculars and found hundreds of green parakeets.  And *one* little yellow-chevroned parakeet!Year bird! Parakeets in the sunset.