Unless something major happens today I’m taking a break from politics for the day. I think everyone knows where I stand politically and I have no more to add at the moment. I don’t have the time to do research right now, not to mention not having the ambition to do so.

Today, I just want to ramble, so this is all about me, me and me.

With some of the music at church becoming less familiar these days, it was so wonderful to have the first hymn sung by the congregation to be “The Old Rugged Cross.” How I love that song, and even now, into my sixties I found myself able to close my eyes in worship and remember every word of every verse of that wonderful hymn yesterday.

The fellowship of being with other Christians and wishing them well is a wonderful experience. I always know there is a group of prayer warriors available for any situation that arises, and I thank God for those wonderful people.

My granddaughter was selected to take an early SAT because she scored in the 99th percentile in Language Arts on her PAC tests. They looked at Social Studies and Language Arts and she had been given tests that were both Language Arts her previous two years in school.

The cool thing about this is if she scores at least a certain score (unknown at this time) she will be invited to Duke University (the sponsoring university) for recognition. If she scores another, higher score (again, unknown at this time) she will be offered a scholarship to Duke University. It’s probably a partial scholarship, but something is better than nothing and she’s only in seventh grade, but should be in sixth.

I was going to hold off telling you all about this until the actual event, but I decided to tell you now. We are about to adopt a new puppy. She has already been born, is approximately five weeks old and will be where we ordered her on October 23, but we can’t bring her home until the next day to make sure she’s eating well and using the bathroom OK.

She’s a black and silver (not salt and pepper) miniature schnauzer and will probably weigh between two and three pounds when we get her at eight weeks of age.

Her name is already decided, but that will be the surprise when I post her picture. I’m very excited about this new addition to our family and am busy shopping for her now.

I need to find a coat or throw for her because it does get cold here and I want to be sure she’s OK, but I don’t yet know where to find one that will fit her. I don’t want a sweater, but one that goes over her body and snaps or velcroes under the body. I’ll probably have to get a couple of them to be sure when she outgrows one we have another one available for her.

I don’t look forward to her crying for the first week, or the potty training, but it’s been a year since we lost our last little dog, Silky, and I’m ready for a new pup.

I’ve gone to a breed different from a cocker because I don’t want to compare them in any way. It wouldn’t be fair to the puppy and it wouldn’t be fair to Silky’s memory.

I just hope my German shepherd mix takes fondly to her. The other night she was babying one of the guinea pigs and he’s about the size the puppy will be, so who knows? Maybe she’ll mother her.

When we got Silky our existing dog took to her and mothered her, making it easier to housebreak and comforting her enough that that puppy never cried once she got here.

Anyway, that’s what’s on my mind today and I haven’t been using the computer too much, especially on weekends.

Have a great week, everyone! I’ll be back tomorrow if not sooner.

The other night my husband put some canned tomatoes in a dish that seemed hot even to him, so he added ketchup! Yes, ketchup. Don’t ask me why. He didn’t mention it and when I had a helping of the dish my mouth burned for two hours. It had chilis in it. I don’t eat hot, spicy food.

I like spices in spaghetti sauce and other dishes, but not the hot kind. I don’t eat red peppers (the hot kind) or any other peppers if they are the least bit hot. I don’t even eat the peppers on a salad from Olive Garden or on pizzas from Papa John’s. I won’t touch the food that comes into contact with them, but eat from the other side of the container.

Now comes news that salmonella has been found on a single jalepeno in Texas.

Government inspectors finally have a big clue in the nationwide salmonella outbreak: They found the same bacteria strain on a single Mexican-grown jalapeno pepper handled in Texas — and issued a stronger warning for consumers to avoid fresh jalapenos.

But Monday’s discovery, the equivalent of a fingerprint, doesn’t solve the mystery: Authorities still don’t know where the pepper became tainted — on the farm, or in the McAllen, Texas, plant, or at some stop in between, such as a packing house.

Nor are they saying the tainted pepper exonerates tomatoes sold earlier in the spring that consumers until last week had been told were the prime suspect.

Still, “this genetic match is a very important break in the case,” said Dr. David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration’s food safety chief.

For now, the government is strengthening its earlier precaution against hot peppers to a full-blown warning that no one should eat fresh jalapenos — or products such as fresh salsa made from them — until it can better pinpoint where tainted ones may have sold.

Tomatoes currently on the market, in contrast, now are considered safe to eat.

The Texas plant, Agricola Zaragoza, has suspended sales of fresh jalapenos and recalled those shipped since June 30 — shipments it said were made to Georgia and Texas.

If you like jalepenos be sure to eat them from a jar and not fresh until the all-clear has been given.

I had to be out of town yesterday and Sue was busy until after 6pm so we didn’t know our server was down (again) until then. I put in a trouble ticket and apparently a lot of blogs are having the same problem. If this continues we will search for a more reliable server.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience it may have caused you. It also explains why we have no posts for Sunday.

Yes, we are now in Daylight Savings Time for those areas of the country that observe it.

Spring forward tonight or Sunday if you prefer, but set your clocks accordingly.

You’ll lose an hour’s sleep but will gain it in the fall. Sure you will.