[Congressman Billybob]

Predictions in my column of 29 August: Bush wins by 10% and takes a landslide in the Electoral College; Repubs gain 2 Senate seats; Repubs gain 13 House seats; Repubs gain 1 Governor (11 of those are up for election); Repubs gain 131 state legislators, nationally.

On your other comment, we are in the sticks, but we are not primitive. We have five bathrooms, three with Jacuzzis. A library, a movie theater, a hot tub -- it's a nice house, just at the end of a half-mile gravel road in the mountains.

Billybob

[Maria S]

Yikes! 5 bathrooms! There for a few minutes, I was worried about the female "Billybobs" in your home! LOL!!

[reformedliberal]

I like your predictions! May they come true!!!!!!

We heat 2 buildings: 2 wood stoves, a propane stove and 3 wall furnaces on propane (2-500gal tanks).There is a 2200 sq ft house and 1600 sq ft shop. Since the climate began to moderate, every 3rd winter has been an old-fashioned one and we usually get by on 2 fills of the house tank and one fill of the studio tank and about 7 large pickup truckloads of split oak, usually about one truckload more than we use. Our genny runs on gas and we rotate the gas stash, which has been stabilized. It will keep the house running for 24 hrs on 5 gallons if we unplug the hot tub and turn off most everything else before using the electric oven. We have a snowblower. Haven't been snowed in for more than a few hours or out of power for more than a few hours in years. Freezers are full, as are the cupboards, a closet and a couple of extra storage cabinets. We can survive for weeks, if we had to.

I am also a political addict and you can add the several books on the various political topics of the day sitting around the house waiting for those odd moments when we can read them.

The self-sufficiency is illusory, though. We depend on a lot of other folks to provide most of the wood, all the propane, the gasoline, the food, the power, the websites, the TV, the books. If we get hit by another terror attack, God forbid, our self-employment income will stop or slow tremendously and our savings will again be reduced. I love our life style and I love America and for both of those reasons and several more, George W Bush has got to win this election.

I love your posts, Billybob. Keep them coming.