Well, this week’s safari goes everywhere and nowhere specific. Earthcam has a whole New Years page up featuring webcams in a number of cities. It was a lot of fun to watch the New Year begin in so many different places. Webcams were broadcasting in the US from New York, Las Vegas, Miami, Key West, Memphis and Seattle.  There were 13 cameras set up for Times Square, New York alone. Cities in other countries with webcams up were Prague, London, Paris and Niagara Falls.

I hope all of you have a safe and Happy New Year!

If you want to add to your existing holiday decorations, or if you’re moving out on your own and need to buy holiday decorations, pay attention. The best time to buy any type of holiday decorations is right now, in the first few days after Christmas. Most stores will slash prices on everything that they have left in stock just to get people to buy it and get it out of the store. It’s the perfect time to buy expensive things like lawn figures, inflatables and artificial trees because they’ll be priced much less then they usually would be. It’s a great time to purchase less expensive things such stockings and ornaments, because the stores will price most of them so low they’ll almost be giving them away. And, you will find no better time to buy things like holiday cards and wrapping paper. Every couple of years I like to buy a bunch and stock up on them for use in future years. What’s the best bargain you’ve ever gotten shopping right after Christmas?

I had to ship some of my Christmas gifts. I had a hard time finding larger boxes. The mass retail stores like Walmart and Target had none. Staples only had some small ones in stock. Just when I thought I wasn’t going to be able to get my gifts shipped I realized there were other businesses that might have what I needed - self storage companies and moving companies. Sometimes it pays to think outside of the box. Where else would you look if you needed to buy a box?

Well, you might be able to guess what I was thinking about this week. That’s right, it’s the holidays. I found Alek’s Christmas Webcam, located at his family home in Colorado. This man puts up an amazing amount of lights. The lights can be controlled by internet visitors and are on from 5pm to 10pm. Donations given help fund research on Celiac Disease. You’ve got to check this one out!

The Fourth of July is Independence Day here in the US. It’s the anniversary of the day that the United States declared her independence from England. The US declared her independence with the Declaration of Independence. Continental Congress passed the final text of the document on July 4,1776.