Today's Opinions

I want to throw out just a few last free utilities and applications that might be of interest to some of you readers.

Windows has a lot of settings that most users are unaware of. They are unaware because in many cases Microsoft has made it difficult or impossible to find how to adjust those settings.

FreshUI makes it easy. (FreshUI works on Windows 98 through XP; it does not work on Vista.)

I found that many of the Windows settings that are available in FreshUI are easy to find and manipulate in Windows while others are not.

Don't count on the dogwood and redbud flowers just yet. Even though some of them are popping out, they won't last. Another freeze is scheduled for this week.

Every few years we manage to have one more March hard freeze in North Central Florida, just enough to kill off any blossoms that have formed on fruit trees and other flowering fauna. And, that's not to mention the vegetables that will be wilting unless they're covered. You planted your garden early this year, right? I did.

I am absolutely certain without a doubt that the global warming stuff is true. Here is my scientific, can't-be-wrong evidence. For the past seven years (or seems so) my whip-poor-will has returned to the woods next to me on EXACTLY March 21, a.k.a. the first day of spring. But this year he returned on St. Patrick's Day (March 17), which is a full four days early. I can also add an extra day for leap year, which means that he actually returned five days early. No doubt now, the icebergs will be melting, and those of us who live toward Otter Creek will soon have ocean-front property.