Shenanigans: How much is a billion?

MEEKER — I hope you’re enjoying this beautiful summer weather we’re having, and that you had an opportunity to see the beautiful wild flowers bloom between Meeker and Rifle! It looked just like a flower garden — gorgeous! The big meadows up on the Flat Tops were almost a solid yellow with the trout lilies in bloom a couple of weeks ago. The columbine should be in bloom up there by now. It would be worth using the gas to go up and see them.
The new Streaker was in the July 4 parade. It’s beautiful and I’m sure Sharon must be enjoying having such a fine “chariot” to take our seniors around town in.
If you’re planning to come to lunch at Chuckwagon, our cook Schona would really appreciate a call from you in advance, as this helps her to plan for the appropriate number of meals to prepare. Just give her a call at 878-5627 before 9 a.m. of the day you plan to attend.
The 30th anniversary of Chuckwagon was celebrated along with the Senior Information Fair July 16.
I would be very interested in getting your favorite recipes to put in my column, it can be for entrees, desserts or maybe an unusual “twist” on an old standby.
We now have a small green dumpster for aluminum cans. It is located outside the employee entrance at the back of the Fairfield Center. We’d really appreciate your participation in our can drive.
We had a very good parade again this year, didn’t we? I enjoy watching the spectators almost as much as the parade itself! I’m really proud of all the hard work the folks did on the floats, especially the Faith Baptist float, since that’s my church!
Our daughter Gina is visiting us from Tulsa, Okla., for a week, it’s wonderful to have her here. Our daughter Michelle, along with her husband Ron and daughter Julie, are visiting from Brighton, Colo., as well, and daughter Stephanie and husband Jim from Rifle are “commuting” back and forth.
From the Internet: “What a billion really means:
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases: a) a billion seconds ago it was 1959; b) a billion minutes ago Jesus was alive; c) a billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age; d) a billion days ago no one walked on the earth on two feet; e) a billion dollars ago was only eight hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.
While the thought is still fresh in our brain, let’s take a look at New Orleans. It’s amazing what you can learn with some simple division: Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D) asked Congress for $250 billion to rebuild New Orleans. Interesting number, what does it mean? a) If you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman and child) you each get $516,528; b) or if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets $1,329,787; c) or if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012.
Washington, D.C. … hello … are all your calculators broken?