Nothing about mining, just a brief report on personal doings.  I have just arrived in Cedar Rapids after a flight from Las Vegas where I spent two days .  We did the Strip in the best tradition: one thing I miss is the ability to pop a 25 cent piece into a machine.  Now the least you can feed into a machine is a dollar bill.  It seems so extravagant.  I visited my favorite store in all the world: FOA Schwartz with three floors of toys for all ages.   Truly the place for people like me who need absolutely nothing more–except more toys.  So I bought a chess set of Disney characters: on side is all the villains (and villainesses, if there is such a word) and one side is all the heros and heroines.  The fields are all ploughed here in the midwest and the seed planted, but as yet there is no sign of the new corn.  So tomorrow I will venture to the farm and return to regular grandkid doings.  Thanks for the patience as you kept visiting this blog to read items that are not directly derived from the latest news.  I will do that tomorrow as well, for it looks like the villains and heroes of mining have been as busy as ever while I fought Orange Alerts in airport.