YEAR-END MUSINGS (December 29/160)

 "Don't think harder, breathe deeper. Most of us are surviving on shallow sips of air".

Sunday, bloody Sunday. Well actually there was a Thursday involved and over the course of a couple of days but there was mayhem, consternation and blood. Christmas was full of family, food, fun and a couple of accidents. What celebration doesn't? Apparently, I must shoulder the blame. Lovingly conning big sis into making her magnificent pineapple upside down cake "or the boys will be bummed" led to an urgent care visit and three stitches.

 But as she is a Sweet, she soldiered through, not allowing a little blood to keep her from her anointed task. Bandaging the pulsing wound she refused to be transported to medical care until the luscious cake was safely out of the oven. It was perfect but we all took a second look at the maraschino cherries for obvious reasons as she came into the Christmas house brandishing her heavily bandaged hand, and cake. We've all been reminded that freshly removed can lids are sharp! Excellent timing as I was dumping trash and had to stuff a razor edged can top down twice. Fortunately, her accident was fresh on my mind, so I avoided a similar fate.

Second accident was not my fault except I like garlic bread with my lasagna. Son-in-law was slicing crispy bread and decided to oil the cutting board with bodily fluids. Easily contained, the show went on. Again, leading to close examination of any and all bread. Which is why one must always wash their hands thoroughly before cooking to keep the germies in their place during any unforeseen circumstances. But it did not stop him from putting together the elaborate dolly they got for the OH. I mentioned a simple furniture mover for us old folks, but they lovingly picked one that will move a piano...with an elephant sitting on it...through a bog (some assembly required). Took him an hour so we appreciate his diligence, in addition to cooking dinner! 

"Anxiety is not intuition."

Latest on what were they thinking? OSHA is moving to eliminate rules that hold employers accountable for maintaining a safe workplace, construction illumination standards and medical exams for folks wearing respirators. Let's see-no accountability, blind workers on a construction site using power tools, and not performing medical surveillance on folks wearing restricted breathing apparatus which might incapacitate them are not issues anymore.  Why? It's the little things that just boggle the mind but if something is of use to anyone like a worker, then off with their heads. But lots of money to build a "golden fleet" with ships 100xs (?) better than any others and 250 million to redo the "Kennedy Center" in his tacky maralajoke image. How many ways does this guy need to spread his crappy taste and lousy judgment in his search for validation?

LIFE WITH JP Took the boy the first day of vacation so Grandpa could critique and coach his last bowling league appearance. He must have taken it to heart as the next day he excitedly called me to say he just bowled 210 in a pickup game with his buddy-geez. Then letdown time. The bowling shirts I ordered with their initials on them I was so excited about were basically a yawn when they opened them. Crap.

Finishing our day with JP we went out to dinner. Italian so he can get his chicken alfredo of which he will eat about half, take home the rest in a white box and ignore it until it goes bad. Good thing we are made of money and deny him nothing. Anyway, the boy who usually orders mountain dew or root beer unexpectedly ordered a coke. I said, "never saw you get a coke before". Then quick as the proverbial bunny he retorts "I never saw you get only water before". Ouch-I am known to partake in some alcohol when we are at a restaurant. A bit impertinent, but true so we had a good laugh. The older they get...

Also, on his way out, he took one look at the baby owl plank I had named Charlie and said "no, it's Billy-that's a kid's name" So, Billy it is. My muse has spoken. 

"Nothing changes if nothing changes"

Happy New Year/ Peace out/stay strong/love your neighbor...💚  💙💛

                                                                                    

                                             

CHRISTMAS... (December 22/161)

"What I don't like about Christmas parties is looking for a new job the next day (Phyllis Diller)."

Final week after a few weeks of prep which means trying to locate items I have misplaced while trying to be discreet on what was going under the tree or stockings. Never something cheap and easily replaceable. More like, company's coming I need to stash "whatever" so it is not discovered. Shitske-where did I stash? All I know is the "place" seemed logical at the time. Which means I get surprised by cool stuff and gift cards months after the fact. I make lists so at least I know what I lost. 

JP's second solo occurred last week. Our own drummer boy sang the jazzy Bob Seger version to a crowd (not exaggerating) of about 600 folks in the auditorium as part of his school choirs' Christmas concert. The boy has courage and he nailed it. Prep: looks around audience until he sees his entourage (6 strong); stand in the wings ahead of his debut looking totally focused and confident; mic adjusted for maximum impact-hand casually in pocket; set expression and go time.  Three months of choir and he's auditioning for a solo. Again, he follows in musical footsteps as his Uncle John is quite a singer. He sang at our daughter's wedding accompanying himself with his guitar. John's given JP a ukulele and drum set so I think he's pushing a certain agenda. All good. 

As it's Christmas week I won't dwell on the negative, but Mich repugs trying to remove red flag rules after such a bloody weekend shows you where their priorities lie. Meanwhile magat politicians are quietly slipping out the door, which I hope hits them on the way out. 

"An enterprising kid could make a lot of money hawking batteries door-to-door Christmas Day"

The last poddie went well as expected. He had an impactful and frank style of storytelling, which is good for a keynote, and we had a discussion of moral safety responsibility. He wandered into shaky territory when he mentioned his stint in Viet Nam explaining they would get orders to take out a village which may mean impacting civilians. I was wondering if he was going to say something more about illegal orders and was ready to abort, but he left it at that. However, it does underline what safety skates do go through trying to keep management priorities in mind and our basic imperative of protecting workers. We have all had our My Lai moments and I hope I have always taken the high road. He is also an advisor to major business, so he deplored how a highly advertised accident shakes confidence of both employees and the public-rightly or wrongly. Many of us have had to investigate our own "fatality or serious accident" at work under unimaginable circumstances that defy logic. Sometimes there is no answer.

"Christmas is a baby shower that totally got out of control"

After a butt-clenching drive from Gun Lake to Cascade Friday through the blowing snow and icy roads, we arrived in the East (no Star) to a nothing burger in regard to snow in Lansing.  No white Christmas unless you count the left-over mulit-colored mounds from the last couple of weeks. Though the birds keep cleaning out the feeder like it's the last days. Saw one of those pileated woodpeckers trying to crash land the feeder and pulling off at the last second. He went on to attack my red maple though I'm guessing the bugs are asleep or hibernating. Doves can't access the tiny platform so they eagerly await what falls. Then I saw a squirrel running off a couple of starlings. Of course, they don't challenge the bigger birds. It's all fun and games until somebody crashes the window leaving feathers and fury in their wake. There's a reason we Spring clean to remove bird body parts and kill the new sprouts under the feeder.

Meanwhile, Charlie Says:  

 Merriest of Christmas' - Hooray for Hanukkah - Pray for the New Year & Peace Out 💚💖💙💛

A LOT LIKE.... (December 15/162)

MORE LIKE CHRISTMAS From the chaos of boxes the once a year living room take-over emerges, and it's good. Although it is true that you may place any ornament you wish on the tree, understand that the OH will move it. I tried for a couple of years but gave up having any say on the orientation of said tree and I'm ok with that. The daughter, however, still thinks she can do it - ha ha.  However, she did help us move the myriad of boxes upstairs. Wonder if she's coming back to take them down again? Must be why they scheduled a trip to Fla right after Christmas. Now that's going to extremes. 

BIRTHDAY WEEK Daughter and family celebrated birthday dinner with us last week. She knew exactly what she wanted (Mom & Dad spoil our only) so no big surprise what was in the giant box which was actually under the tree. Being born two weeks before Christmas has been the bane of her existence though it does fit her Sagittarius vibes. We clearly demarked the period between her birthday and Christmas, but others would do the "oh, this is for both events". Pooh. She asked me once if we could celebrate her birthday in June. We gave her this massive NINJA coffee maker that makes hot and cold coffee, tea, cappuccinos as well as casseroles and mai-tais (I assume), etc. while whistling dixie apparently. The epitome of millennial must-haves. As she was pushing it to the door the OH reminded her of another little person getting his dream rocking pony that whinnied and pranced and spoke cowboy pushing it to the door as we debated whether it would go home with the 2-year-old or stay at Nana-Grandpa's. He decided while we were still debating. Best gift ever.  

SURPRISE! I will post a rare comment. marmie has actually done something I approve of! By calling journalists, mostly women, stupid, nasty, ugly and piggy he has made us feel sorry for the media and illustrated who are the most intelligent ones in the room. Their overwhelming calm and respectful courage asking questions we are interested in while being roundly insulted also shows who's the adult in the room. Finally, it reveals he is very afraid of intelligent women lol. Also some cracks are showing in the "r" ranks. 

PODCASTING Doing two podcasts four days apart is a challenge as I have to jump "frames of reference" between each. There is a reason I script these somewhat. Last weeks was about workplace violence where I mispronounced the dude's name, like every time I said it. I told him I'm sure people probably didn't attempt it asking for his badge number when he was a patrol officer. It is spelled that weirdly. I practiced saying it and then when we met up in ZOOM I had him say it again which was totally different than what I thought. 

Interesting topic of course but, if OSHA doesn't get dissolved, we will be seeing requirements for each workplace to have a written violence mitigation plan and training. As he charmingly pointed out, the police won't be there until shots are already fired and mayhem has ensued, so better get your people up to speed of what they're going to do. Considering there were at least two major "surprise" attacks this weekend (Brown University and an Australian beach) he's not wrong. 

He said some of it is people not realizing and/or reporting when someone says something or does something out of character which is potentially violent. Also, he's a big proponent of background checks. Off camera I mentioned one of my own experiences when I was threatened to be blown up with the building because he didn't like the rule I was laying down (which was expecting his girlfriend to come to work). Upon reporting his behavior to his supervisor, I was told I was over-reacting. Yep, I'm such a wimp, and unfortunately, he shot his girlfriend (she survived) several months later, probably because she over-reacted to his temper. Remember when we didn't used to have this happening every other day? Sickening.

Monday's poddie is with a very experienced safety expert with 500 articles and several best-selling books to his credit on culture, leadership and strategic safety planning. Plus, he claims he started the first "safety" podcast. Our whole interaction has been through his assistant. I should be so lucky. Intimidated you think? Nope, I'm just thrilled that he's been interviewed so many times, this will be a piece of very excellent cake. I just have to wind up and let him go. We're following my loose set of questions so no sweat. Peace out/stay strong/love your neighbor 💚  💙💛

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK ..... (December 8/163)

LOST IN THE WEED(S) "Whoah, it smells like the 60's" were the words I uttered as my daughter and I entered the shop where we were taking the Yule Ball decorating class. I call it a woo woo shop as it caters to us mystic types, and incense lots of incense. When we described the various herbs in our "balls" to the OH he said no cannabis? I said it smelled like it there. Daughter corrected no, incense, it was incense. Yep, we used it in the 60's to cover up the smell of the cannabis.  What goes around, etc. 

At any rate honorable daughter treated me to lunch and the afore mentioned herb ball session. We had a great time. I was intrigued by a "made to look" ancient tome purporting to contain "spells". However, it was covered in modern-day plastic wrap no doubt to keep the potency intact and to prevent an accidental pouring out of charms and curses. You can't mess with this stuff. I am a believer to a certain extent being Irish and all and there are too many things that defy explanation...like Trump for example. Talk about your bad juju. I do believe there are benevolent and evil spirits which we attract by our thoughts and behaviors. 

MORE WEEDS Which begs the question of why we justify blowing up "alleged" drug boats and kill survivors described as protecting Americans from drugs. However, a different standard is applied when pardoning convicted, by an American jury after years of investigation, the former President of Honduras who masterminded a massive, state-sponsored drug trafficking operation funneling hundreds of tons of cocaine into the U.S.? Oh right, it's not about drugs at all. Evil begats, supports and defends evil.

So many issues, so little time. The democrats better show the same "swift of foot" our nemesis displays. In the annals of what can I do now to kill Americans, Rumple is reversing rules on the use of asbestos, rolling back the need to report forever chemicals and trashing clean water standards. I spent much of my early safety career with education about, monitoring and the mitigation of asbestos. It will cause one of the nastiest types of cancer with minimal exposure to sensitive individuals. But what the hey ho, they've also stopped funding cancer research so no one will ever make the connection 😟. I do hope there's a cave somewhere keeping all these scientific truths safe until sanity rules again. And a little typhoid here and there is not a deal-breaker apparently. I think the good old conservative "Readers Digest" will have to revise their "Life in the US" articles a bit to meet the current status quo.

A STAR IS GROWING The grandson was chosen as one of the two boys who will perform a solo at the Christmas concert even after forgetting one of his lines in audition leading to additional pa rum pum pum pums. The majority of auditions were girls who he claims were better. I hate to think there was bias in play, but getting boys involved young produces male actors for the musical theater in high school. Though I still think he's not too bad-Nana bias. So, his folks have another 10 intense days of his mandatory practicing; the house ringing with little drummer boy renditions until the proverbial cows, sheep and donkeys come home. 

We have quite a few singers in the family. My mother was quite good as well as big sister and my nephews. It was said that one nephew's singing at his high school graduation baccalaureate brought tears and another was offered a music scholarship at that maizey blue school due to his talent. Though he chose the green and white college instead-good man. 

IN OTHER MEDIA Two recordings over the next week will get me through February. The topics are "Workplace Violence Mitigation" and "Collateral Damage After Safety Incidents". The first, a retired police Lieutenant who runs a background investigation operation and trains active shooter response, claims you can't prevent the violence; at best you mitigate the damage by tapping the "warrier within"- hmmm. Me, I'm under the table looking for that warrier and sending him/her out there. The second claims he produced the first ever safety podcast-hmmm. Also has some good stories/examples.

Christmas is slowly taking over the living room in its inevitable agonizing process. Since we don't host the "horde" anymore, we don't put quite as much out there but it's rather hard to tell. Hopefully this year we can retire the bear who delivers M&Ms from an unusual place as he has been broken for two years! But when one has a saver in the house discarding items is a real struggle. Peace/stay strong 💚  💛💙

                                                                  

TURN THE PAGE (December 1/164)

Mom Joke of the day. "What sound do porcupines make when they kiss? Ouch!"

 WHO? WHO? One mystery solved. The midnight stalker who has been cleaning out the finch feeder has been unmasked so to speak (no not a racoon). As finches and all avifaunae (fun word) crash and burn at sunset, we couldn't figure what or who was draining the feeder overnight. Well at 5:30 am the answer was clear. One juvenile deer dude was keeping watch, and the other was draining the feeder with its long sticky tongue. Can't figure out why they didn't knock the darn thing down. Lookout deer was staring right at me as I peered out the window which, like most teenagers, is both defiant and dumb. You've been ID'd buddy-run! So now the finches need to fight for their spot at the all-purpose feeder in the backyard which seems to go by size. Finches are low on the totem pole. They end up ground-scooping with the squirrels. 

EVERY MAN'S DEATH DIMINISHES ME... Isn't it odd that the shooting of two armed, trained soldiers by a lone gunman is a national calamity and immediate action is taken, but 20 first graders killed by a lone gunman and any action suggested is an affront to the 2nd amendment. Both are the same. Though the first was the direct result of the illegal actions and rhetoric of our clown-in-chief. The second was our inability to understand easy access to guns and no access to mental health treatment. Again, both have the same result, and each death affects and hurts us all...as we are all a part of mankind. 

ADVENTURES WITH THE OH As the youngest members of his congregation the OH and his buddy (in their middle 70's) are tapped for nativity duty, i.e., dragging and setting up shed, bed and various plaster people on the church lawn. This requires loading and unloading and building very heavy parts and pounding stakes in the frozen ground like a circus tent. Couple this with usually freezing temps and you have a heart attack waiting to happen. Young folks don't really go to church anymore. At any rate, long johns, stiff canvas hunting pants, boots, hat, coat and gloves were all donned as he headed to his truck. Then a quiet "damn". I thought he was trying to figure out how to get all that bulk under the steering wheel and seat belt. No, like the proverbial toddler bundled in six layers for his five minutes in the snow he needed a bathroom break. LOL. Hey, we've all been there. Reminds me of the daughter needing to use the facilities while wearing her voluminous wedding gown. Dress manipulation is the major duty of bridesmaids in case you wondered about their most important role other than ceremonial.

As I see the ads for the annual Children's Ballet performance of the Nutcracker. I recall when the OH was the official photographer of the principal dancers about 40 years ago. His pictures actually graced the lobby of the Wharton Center. That was his photographer era when he tried a little side hustle "Tomorrow's Memories". After the stresses of a couple of wedding shoots and the need for bifocals he decided to just forego the professional experiences. He abhors the age of phone photos. You might get the shot, but usually not of the quality he prefers. Like me he hates to be photographed so he would rather be behind the camera. 

TURKEY TIME Did turkey and all the trimmings with the kids as we watched the LIONS blow through another defeat snatched from the jaws of victory? MSU's football coach got fired. But on the bright side, MSU basketball is rolling along for the moment, so we'll take it...in green and white please.  Sore from shoveling today so going to cut it off short. I worry about the boy moving snow on his own out there, but fortunately we had enough snow to be able to use the massive 4-stroke. He likes to go up and down the street as well. I stupidly hand shoveled walk and porch.  Peace out/stay strong 💚  💛💙

                                                   

BRASS TONGUED CHARLATANS (November 24/165)

"Why is a librarian so calm? They have a lot of shelf control." I suppose that qualified as a mom/dad joke. Since we're talking numbers here enjoy a truth that is stranger than fiction. The outcry over Mayor-elect Mamdani mandating students use Arabic numbers in school....you know those 0-9 numbers we already use? Mic drop, I'm dying. 

IN THE NEWS Well, apparently our beef prices have to do with Rambo-type cows crossing the border on illegals' backs/swimming the Rio Grande/climbing border walls to infect our domestic herds. Also apparently, we just need to dress up (coats & ties and for the ladies-hats) which will make us more polite on airplanes. Ah yes, the Golden Age of flying for rich white people. When we got real food and seats that didn't squeeze your proverbial nuts in a bind. Homeland Security says the border wall was a political stunt. The Secretary of State is supporting a total Ukraine capitulation and the defense department talking head and his boss think starting a war in Venezuela is a smart move. I totally get the DEI thing now. Color me shocked.  

Moving on to Health the CDC website claims vaccines cause autism; from the wrestling boss running education they want to mandate teachers, nurses, architects, other health professionals, etc. are no longer considered professional so they can deny them educational scholarships and grants; reclassifying public service jobs (fire, police, peace corps, etc.) to renege on forgiving their loans after the students have already committed for x amount of years of service seems fair to this administration; on the "entitlement" front senior/disabled/children must reapply for SNAP benefits; not to mention fighting with the States to keep them from allowing medical debt be left off a person's credit report. If you don't believe this administration is intent on keeping our citizens dumb, poor and sick (unto death) think again. 

Calling a reporter piggy is just being frank and honest according to our chief press apologizer so if you want to refer to the emperor as a warmed up of sack of fungus colored sh-- have at it. Just call it as you see it. Calling for execution of politicians is still not step too far with this group. Oh yeah can't wait to see how much the Epstein files are redacted....but there are, dare I say it, rumblings of dissent.

BEING POLITE Call it being polite or diplomatic or at least "I have to work with these people" one thing I don't miss in retirement is suffering fools gladly as the saying goes. You bore, irritate or are generally a buffoon, I can walk away or run if necessary. There were so many times when I had to point out an issue much to the dismay of management, worker, production, timelines. Just came with the territory. Reminded me the other day of a person who worked in the print shop-think big press, heavy print cartridges, etc. They insisted on wearing flip flops because they had oddly big feet. I'll buy you shoes but you can't run barefoot through the shop-not good enough. Or the introduction of ear buds attached to their tape players (this was the 80's)-played loud enough to affect their hearing in noisy environments and btw kept them from hearing any oncoming danger. Requiring safety glasses and they whined about how they don't feel or look good or pushing fall protection as it's so restrictive. Or pissing off a politician when you hold big contributors accountable for the work they did, possibly incorrectly or causing a hazard. Having to explain to the CEO that your employee was doing his/her job when they shut them down. Nope I don't miss that at all.  

Now with the podcasts, if someone is being a jerk or needs too much TLC I move on. Nobody's paying me to do these. I've been trying to get a program for February so I'm well-covered during my surgery downtime. I already have December and January done. Got ghosted twice by two speakers who said they were interested in doing one. Now working on number 3. It's so easy with email to just say you're not available, but I guess being polite has gone the way of thank you notes. 

ROCK ON Finally decided to address the loose brick issues on the front porch. Got a few recommendations from a friend in the construction business. One was not available until next year, one never responded, one told me (from pictures) I needed an entirely new porch. This porch was totally redone in 2011 and I believe most porches last, I don't know, 50 to 100 years? So, two porches in 14 years didn't quite track.  The repo porch guy got kind of aggressive about the whole things as he's talking to a dumb meek woman - major lol.  Fourth contact came through; however the job expanded about five times with the work needed as well as the cost once he came out and got a good look at the crumbling mortar and brick on 3 sides. He even had to cut through the step and re-cement it. He blamed whoever did the original job. What I thought was a simple tuck point on the front loose bricks became a bit more elaborate. We thought the price a little high, but these jobs never go as you think-so always have a contingency budget. He had me step out to inspect and I, unknowingly stepped down on the wet cement. I thought he was going to pass out, but he quickly ran to his truck for his trowel. So expensive, but also a perfectionist which is good. No chipmunks living under my porch anymore-hope they made it out alright. 

WARY ABOUT SILVERWARE What happened to providing full silverware in restaurants. Perhaps I am not dining in a lot of high-class establishments lately. Though we did meet friends at the English Inn last week and we were pelted with a plethora of implements that were whisked away with each course and new ones introduced. Otherwise, it seems fork and knife are all that are required. In the past, a knife or similar instrument like a dagger was all that was required as dirty hands were usually sufficient. However, today I like to be sure I get every little juicy thing that falls off whatever I am eating-there is always something. Being a member of the clean plate club I need to do my duty. I imagine the more sophisticated gourmands would eschew anything that cannot be enjoyed with a deft handling of the fork-boo hoo. But I defy anyone to scoop up their eggs over medium with a fork as oh yeah, I usually tell them to hold the toast. Licking one's plate is frowned upon in polite company. I mean the fork ran away with the spoon not the dagger according to literature, so it is the natural diddle diddle of things. And finally, "I used to live a hand to mouth existence then somebody told me about silverware." Peace out/Love your neighbor 💚  💙💛

                                                                                     

ONE LITTLE LIGHT (November 17/166)

When the economy is good, people drink. When the economy is bad people drink. The moral of the story? Invest in alcohol. 

GOOD NEWS BAD NEWS marmie had to admit he has no economic/financial genius as he grudgingly lowers tariffs on coffee, beef and fruit. Apparently, a harbinger of our economic health is based on the price of bananas-yeah, I didn't know that either. However, he is blaming it all on Biden of course as he still does not understand that Americans are paying for the tariffs which he is humorously stating he will gift a $2000 tariff windfall to the public. Love it as he is paying us back with our own money and we should be grateful. On top of trying to address grocery costs they are also controlling those who buy food by making EVERYONE reapply for SNAP benefits. We need to stop pretending this is such a rich country as obviously many millions are suffering not defrauding. 

I noticed that my cup of coffee that was $1.75 a week ago is now $2.00 resulting in no 25-cent tip for the pourer. Restaurants are charging about $3 for a plain black coffee, but at least you get refills. I usually walk out of these places wired as hell and in desperate need of a restroom. When they offer a to go cup I valiantly struggle to find more room to get my money's worth. My Mom used to complain that restaurants had the audacity to charge for her coffee with a meal. Thank god she's not around today.... for many reasons, although the airways of Grand Rapids would probably love to hear from uber liberal "Shirley from Kentwood" lol.

Meanwhile our experienced cities have been quietly training others. Charlotte NC is currently targeted and being inundated by gnomie's thugs. They have been taking advice from Portland and Chicago.  Who would have thought it would come to this? Everyone who voted for sanity. Advocacy groups surrounding, warning and recording; neighbors shopping for those afraid to leave their homes; support for businesses suffering from raids and lost business. No mistake, this is war. 

SPORTING OR NOT Our hapless MSU football team managed to stumble their way to another loss against Penn who has the exact same miserable record...at home no less. Meanwhile they self-reported Coach tuck-tuck's recruiting violations resulting in losing any credit for games lost for three years under his tutelage-big whoop. That blue/maize group on the other hand gets caught in scandal after scandal from alumni bonuses, trips and cheating violations and get a "don't do that again" wink wink? What a difference being a "contender" makes in the scheme of things. Of course, MSU is getting sued by tuck-tuck, so probably helps their case to be "transparent". Ironic as this is the guy who sexually harassed the woman he hired to teach his players how NOT to sexually harass women. Meanwhile the kid who will discover the cure for cancer is struggling to pay for classes as "student" athletes enjoy a free ride plus plus. Since we are paying for athletes these days, seems like they should be able to deliver the goods, i.e., win some games. Am I anti-woke or what?

But like all MSU alum and Lansing residents at this point in the year we comfort ourselves by saying "well, there's always basketball". Thanks Coach Izzo! Apparently, he recruited a 5-star 7-footer being sought by dozens, so that means Iz's got to stay at least another season or two.

ONE OF THEM FACES  Happened again. The grandson and I were perusing little shops in a nearby town and as I was admiring some artwork the artist said I looked familiar; insisting she knew me. Don't know if this happens to most folks, but this happens to me a lot. My theories are: I traveled a lot in my job; I was usually the sole safety female in large groups; I may have worked with them as the sole safety skate in large entities; I chat easily; I have one of those faces. But my real and hopeful thought is we don't slow down enough to really look and engage with people. We look past them, and we don't really see each other. I find it easy to do small talk after all my years investigating and interviewing. I want to believe we really want to be closer to the people we meet, even briefly, and if that makes them think they knew me from before so be it. I am happy to be that little light now and then. Hopefully, we can all slow down a little bit and pass on the glow of human contact.  Or crap, they really do know me, and I better figure out why!!! Going incognito is not an option. Peace out/stay strong  💚   💙💛

Someone, I believe it was probably Socrates, said "you can't make everyone happy. You're not a bunny."

 

NOVEMBER IS MINE (November 10/167)

 

Sorry. The almost 3/4's of a century birthday escalated into a wine soiree Sunday. And physicality was a bit compromised this am. But just made a run to Horrock's for bird food, the finch feeder is full, the deer are traipsing through the yard eating succulent leaves through the snow, so everyone's fed and content. Winter is here, though it will be 50 by the end of the week, so maybe not. Which is confusing to the roses who keep popping out whenever there is a sunny day as evidenced by the pic below.

                                                                                                        

WINE ON DOWN I find a good way to use up my semi-annual wine delivery is to hold a wine party with our reds-loving friends. So much wine, so much food, so much good company and for once, it was pointed out, we did not spend 30 minutes on who and what hurts whereas older folks tend to do. This particular gathering had a poignant moment when we shared a toast of white zinfandel in honor of our dear friend who passed this year. When I travel the vineyards and do a wine tasting I always found something I call a "Donna" wine as I hoped its sweetness would appeal to her at our next wine get-together. We miss you dear lady, but I know you were there last night.

LA LA LAND IS NOT A GOOD THING If we have any doubts the media has capitulated to marmie, ask why they are not reporting the absolute scandal of soliciting private donations for the golden conference center from companies involved with the government. This type of scandal would have sunk anyone else but mr. teflon. Not to mention demanding blackmail money from the DOJ for doing their job. Money from his own government. Is Fort Knox next? Quit reporting his "moods" on truth (LOL) social and record heinous actions that would get anyone else canned, pilloried, tarred and feathered, in that order.

In the bizzarro world we live in the president of the United States had to be SUED (which he appealed of course) to continue benefits to the poorest of American people, but apparently, we have enough tax-payer money to give Argentina 40 billion. To make sure we understood the pure cruelty of this group, the States who chose to continue benefits were ordered to claw back payments to SNAP recipients. We gave the orange one access to the biggest checkbook in the world and by golly he's having a great time with it. No food for you unless you let us take away your health care. But apparently that ship has sailed away as well.  Hopefully not in the Caribbean as, without provocation, anyone motoring at night gets blown away. How is the US not considered criminal for these acts?

NOTED Amazon has been ordered to pay billions as they were naughty about people trying to cancel their Amazon prime, whether they signed up for it or not. I do take advantage of their free for 30 days around Christmas and always cancel. But I'm here to tell you they really are sneaky little bastardos when you try to cancel. There are at least 3-4 steps to do so, but only one to sign up-genius. They go so far as to hide the last one in the midst of a bunch of promotions, so read the small print. 

EYE SPY As those who follow my notes know we have been spending a lot of time with eye-related things lately. This week the OH goes back to his doc to see if he needs reading glasses which he insists he does. I keep saying, just strain a little-who wants to wear glasses if you don't have to? Add that to the way old married couples' snark at each other without noticing. Or repeat everything fifty times if we talk into the bad ear. The second or third time usually comes with a portion of nasty voice. This little word game was exposed when the kids took us to lunch and everyone was offering to read the menu to him. Within minutes I tried to show him something on my phone and, irritated he said "why do you keep giving me things to read?" Did not realize how weird that sounded until K, M, & JP started laughing. Oh well, I'm officially old.  Peace out/Stay strong  💚  💙💛

REALITY BITES (November 3/168)

DRAMA QUEENS All Hallows. My favorite holiday possibly because my mother said I was due that day but was stubborn enough to wait an extra eight days...for an ice storm to add to the drama. Apparently, Dad had to use boiling water on the door handle to get my grandmother out of the car to take care of the other two kids and then he missed the hospital driveway and bumped across the frozen tundra to the emergency room door. Ladies know they like you to walk to speed up the birthing process, so he accomplished that in spades. I arrived shortly thereafter. At least I think that was the story. I was very young at the time.

Supposedly my big sister's arrival was also dramatic. Though experiencing labor pains all day, Mom waited as it was Dad's bowling night and she did not want him to resent the intrusion.  We make some dumb assumptions when we are young. At 11 pm or so when he got home she was waiting on the porch (I guess) totally regretting her decision. I believe my sister was born shortly before midnight. Mom was known for her dramatic births. When my youngest sister was born (in September) Mom called Dad at work to say she was in labor and when he tried to drag her out of the house, after an agonizing pause, everybody jumped out to yell "Surprise, Happy Birthday". That his birthday was in July and my sister was due in September apparently did not set off any alarm bells. No doubt due to her history, he was not taking any chances. 

I enjoy this month as it starts with Halloween, then my birthday, and ends with Thanksgiving. There used to be a week in there for deer hunting as long as my father-in-law was able, and his two sons joined him. Somebody has to haul the deer out. I was invited/insisted I go one time. They parked me against a tree and said don't move for three hours-big whoop. After a lunch break and a 1/2 pint of schnapps I dozed against that tree all afternoon. Obviously, I didn't care to repeat the annual ritual. Which may have been the plan because after that they constructed comfy hunting shacks with propane heaters. I'm surprised anyone stayed awake long enough to bag their Fall trophies. 

Thanksgiving was usually at the in-laws, but the story changed over the years. First, as dinks (dual income no kids). Then changing with the addition of the daughter which eventually and inevitably, followed with the boyfriend in tow, the will they or won't they years when the kids had to go to the "other side". Then the final years with the little grandson/great grandson in residence. Finally ending our annual northern trek when my mother-in-law passed. Fortunately, the OH is a good cook and I perform my sous chef duties, so sometimes here, sometimes at the younger generation's abode, sometimes alone. But at some point, turkey and cranberries are involved. Which means I'm over it by Christmas. Fortunately, the kids have hosted the December festivities the last couple of years and served homemade lasagna. 

HOLD THE PUMPKIN...SPICE We always pass out treats for Halloween at the lake as it's a big nothing burger in our part of Grand Ledge. No streetlights or sidewalks probably puts kids off, though our girl braved our neighborhood in her day. We did a lot of walking. Which is why I offer Butter Shot schnapps to the weary parents who are dragging the wagon, literally. I'm not quite 50-50 on number of candy bars vs. number of shots, but we're getting there. At a certain point I lose count anyway. I sprang for the big candy bars, about a buck apiece, but oddly enough the only ones left were the Milky Ways. My daughter explained "milky ways" are gross. Well now I know-more for us. 

We got our share of little dinosaurs, devils, princesses, a walking Jeopardy game board and others who wore their shirts backwards and called it a day. The big surprise towards the end were the seven "older kids" who showed up in fluorescent vests and hard hats. The stuff looked well-used, and the "boys" looked old enough for the schnapps, but I played it safe. They actually appeared as if they had worked all day and needed that sugar shot. We serve all who come until the stuff runs out. Finished off by walking across the street to the neighbors, who accompanied their goodies with massive speakers playing spooky music throughout, and toasted with the last of the Schnapps. 

One trick that almost caused catastrophe was finding a pair of girl's glasses in the street which the OH promptly placed on our spinning pumpkin head in hopes they might come back looking. As strong as those suckers were, I'm surprised she could navigate the streets. I popped a quick notice in our neighborhood "Next Door Digest" and her brother caught it. Her father was more than grateful to get them back intact. "She's pretty much blind without them" he said. So back to my first thought how did she get around the neighborhood as I don't remember any kids with a cane and seeing eye dog/cat. Never underestimate a child's determination to snag chocolate.

 CAN'T RESIST I find it hard to imagine the renovation at the expense of the east wing is for beautification when you fire the commission that oversees these things. Besides how many times do you think "the people" are going to be invited to dine there? Marmie says it to impress foreign visitors who live in palaces. Yes, because they are monarchies, so our tacky Versailles-maralogo inspired gold conference center is built to impress. He thinks it's his summer palace apparently, not a rental.

In the never-ending distractions to avoid releasing the Epstein tapes, King Chaos has us at war with Venezuela and Nigeria apparently, we are breaking a 30-year ban on testing nuclear weapons, our chief wandered off aimlessly during an official Japanese visit and told the US Navy that they should go back to steam-powered catapults, we ended up with the exact same situation with China that we had before our fearless hero started the "trade war", forty-one million people will not receive their supplemental food supplies, etc. etc. One has to admire the energy twisting with every breeze, rumor, satire or outright fake news. Peace out/stay strong/release the tapes...💚  💙💛

My understanding of Lady M's decoration of the white? house below:

                                            

                                                                  

BLESSED BE THE FROGS (October 27/169)

BOAT BOOT After a brief stint holding up the dock at the lake the shapely pontoonie made her way back to her winter quarters. Always an all-day affair with me nervously driving shotgun behind the massive boat on her massive throne. And, of course, after discovering a great route down back roads, one of our favored passages had a road closed sign naturally. So, we lumbered through Portland and skirted the construction zone at M-66. Ms Pontie is heedlessly unaware of the consternation she causes rolling down two-laners and startling hapless two-wheel riders on the road as her monster shadow dissolves their daylight.

GOLDEN ARCHES coming next...With a 2,000-person capacity, is the new ballroom going to be rented out for weddings? Partitioned off to hold multi-meetings? Just like a gold-plated hotel conference center. Considering the "people's house" is only a temporary rental turning it into your own house is pretty much taboo. And golly, another money-maker for the resident-in-chief. So, who is going to be using a garish, grotesque ballroom underwritten by tech giants and other oligarchs currying favor? Don't know how we missed exploiting all our national treasures until marmie got the keys. Hand slap to head. I'm sure that will change. And actually, and this is brilliant, paid for by our president suing his own country! If he only used his power for good....  Only the best architects. If preliminary drawings are to be believed they show a staircase leading into a wall and windows opening into each other. Low bid obviously or, friends of marmie. 

I actually don't think the White House has sustained so much damage since the war of 1812, inflicted by our enemy-duh. Makes sense that after destroying two branches of government (Congress, White House) is the Supreme Court next on the list? Oh yeah, chief Johnnie is already handling that project. BTW about the talking point that other presidents made changes. Indoor plumbing comes to mind. Changes made through proper channels, input from proper channels and commissions and approval from Congress. Oh yes, remember them? Maybe the reno is just an elaborate tomb for the Epstein files-there is a bunker there already and the workers are being forced to sign NDA's, hmmm. 

LOUVRE'D WINDOWS Talk about life imitating fantasy. The Louvre Museum heist is a case in point. People just ignore or curse at obtrusive construction projects, but they don't really look at them (explains why so many road workers get bonked) Thus a couple of dudes with a ladder land on a museum balcony, cut out the window and haul away 100 million in jewels. Then they slowly ride down the ladder to the ground, where their get-away vehicle (a giant snail according to Stephen Colbert) carries them off into the sunset only to be captured a few days later.  No doubt by the modern-day version of Inspector Clouseau. There actually was a debonair guy in a hat and umbrella with the police, so that is not so far-fetched of an idea. Having visited the museum I'm surprised that doesn't happen more often as the place is usually packed with visitors and priceless gee-gaws are everywhere. Though one imagines the place is wired, except for that window of course so who knew that? 

FIND YOUR BLISS Couple of notes from last week's protest. In case I need to explain it, Marmie himself said he should be a king-hence the No Kings battle cry. No trash left behind or violent protests unless you count the plastic creatures sprinkled among 7 million citizens marching. I especially like the Anti-Grans that showed up (old ladies). Because he can't stop himself, in what democratic, representative government of ALL the people would one see its President sending out a meme piloting a fighter jet dropping excrement on the protesters. Disgusting and very telling that he is so easily riled up. So, the protest worked. True to form, when a higher road is called for marmie wallows in the gutters. And man get some fiber in you-that stuff was loose! Strangely my symbol for many years has been the frog, long story...

                                                       

Podcast recording this week, then on to the Lake for All Hallows, my favorite holiday. Supposed to be rainy, but hopefully my little creatures will show up. I bought the big candy bars this time and, of course, Butter Shots for the Moms and Dads. Peace out/stay strong...💚  💀👾👿  💙💛

NO KING/ONLY CLOWNS (October 20/170)

OPENING LINES I don't know why I settled on Sunday to create my weekly epistle. Sunday is my housecleaning and laundry day which necessitates running up and down stairs multiple times. Now that's a lie. I haven't been able to run up and down stairs since my hip/knee/back all took their proverbial, but very descriptive, crap. I usually cling to the handrail like a stubborn grease stain on a dress shirt; or a drunk koala to a eucalyptus branch; or a slug on a blade of wind-blown grass; or spaghetti stains on plastic...well you get the point. I am very ssslllooowww on the stairs, but I get a lot of steps in.  Plus, I owe the Director of MIOSHA a draft script tomorrow for our podcast next week. Feels like I actually have a job. 

Random:  Must be hard for the pseudo-Christians in marmie's inner circle to pray as they must spend all their time stroking his ego 24/7. Yeesh

EYE SPY Well the OH got his second cataract surgery. He now possesses at least one eagle eye. He insisted on getting sunglasses (Foster Grant of course) and readers right away, but I keep telling him "challenge yourself", don't use crutches like that until you, well, see what you can see. Regular eye doctor this week will determine if he can read unaided or not though distance vision is great. However, for the first time since before we were married, he has naked eyes-no glasses. As full-blown hippies from the 60's when I left for home to get ready for the wedding, he sported a mustache and naked eyes. Shows up two days later with no hairy lip and GLASSES. What the h---? False advertising, but we went through with it anyway. 

But then there is always some drama in life. Internet-love it or hate it-bearer of interesting facts and terrorizing info you really did not want to know. After successful surgery, according to the surgeon, OH slept most of the day with the eye patch. Next morning however, he woke up and said, "I'm seeing these flashes in the corner of the eye." Ruh-ro. One of those specific things they said should not happen and call right away if it does. Crap. I call and get a stepped up recheck time. Can you be here in 20 minutes? It's a 15-minute drive even without all the road construction and I am not even dressed for public consumption. "Of Course". I managed the hair-raising ride with only one yellow/pink stop light bypassed. He told the doctor my driving was a lot "different" now that he can see-real funny. Well, they laughed (all men).

In my few minutes waiting for a call back on a new appointment time I idly look up eye flashes after cataract surgery. "Very rare occurrence is eye flashes which could indicate a possible retinal detachment." Major crap. I decided to keep that fun news to myself-no sense both of us worrying, but it explains my running the red er er pink light. I made a similar decision years ago when my doc told me they found cancer and again thought no need both of us worrying until the biopsy. Not a smart decision as it precipitated a lecture on shared disasters. Obviously, I don't listen. 

After dilation and much rooting around no retinal damage detected. Just sometimes people actually see the edge of the new lens kind of reflecting in certain light. Apparently, your brain eventually decides 
"no biggie" and you don't really notice it anymore. The ride home was a bit more sedate and grandmotherly with nobody clutching their pearls this time.

Random: Wonder why they call it meno-pause. Are they thinking we just take a break and then go back when we feel productive or is that reproductive. Just call it End of Life as We Knew It. Depending upon your point of view, of course, it can be quite liberating. 

SAILING AWAY Need to find a day this week to bring the pontoon back to its winter nest. Not much of an opportunity to use it. And summer even gave us extra innings. Always seemed like something needed doing back at the ranch. Even our week with JP at the lake was pretty much a washout-literally between the other boat almost sinking and hard rain for two days. Oh well we still have Halloween out there. The decorations are up, and my candy stash and Butter Shots are ready to greet our lakey friends. I'm hoping to see lots of costumes and the OH is just hoping we get less-more leftover candy. We just found out the big party is up the street at the Island House where everybody dumps their leftovers in the community bowl and parties hearty. May have to nip up there and check it out. 

JP's concert was entertaining, and surprisingly those middle school boys have quite a few deeper voices in the mix. They were joined for the finale by the High School Madrigals. Not sure they were old enough to appreciate those beauteous ladies in their evening gowns as one of JP's friends said I couldn't hear myself sing as they were so loud. Oh well at some point...As they all swayed in unison singing "Circle of Life", I kept waiting for a grammar school disaster, but apparently a year or two of maturity forestalls spinning off the risers. They looked very mature with their hands at rest, their black ensembles and bright blue ties though JP had to take one lad by the shoulders very deliberately and move him into position. He also got some hoots and calls from the audience (besides us) when he came on stage. That's our boy.

Random: What do you call a ghost's favorite music? Sheet music. See how I combined music and Halloween there?

Thank you, America, for standing up for each other this week. Not a Hamas lover, anarchist, or country hating body in sight as we busily practiced our first amendment rights. Peace out/stay strong....💖 💙

  

ALL THAT GLITTERS (October 13/171)

HAS to be said. The military combat standards are the same for everybody-men, women, black, white, Hispanic, clown, regardless of what hogshead says. How do you think bone spurs got rejected? Now on to more fun stuff.

"Moving day is a great reminder of how out of shape you are, ta ta boom!"

CHAPTER 1 My way of introducing we have completed the 2nd and 3rd legs on the stool of the great sofa shuffle. After almost two months of waiting decided to "drop in" on the furniture store and light some fires. Which is really a bad idea in a furniture store-all that wood you know. Hello and who are you is a not an auspicious beginning especially when they thought they hung up on you the night before, hence the in-person visit.  

After a frantic ten minutes or so, it was reported that a call to the factory indicated furniture was finished and shipped, ruh oh; and a call to the trucking company indicated furniture shipped and delivered, double ruh oh. Ok, we're tearing the warehouse apart. Surprise! Two pieces of unassuming furniture with our name all over it just sitting innocently in their little plastic panties. This is Wednesday and they only deliver to GL on Wed and Friday. I recklessly said Friday, as the OH has his eyeball enhancement surgery next week. Which means I may have to cook, er, er, order pizza while he's out of commission. Only sizeable flyswatter in the ointment is that I have to move old stuff out before Friday to the lake. But amazingly when $800 is on the table movers can work miracles after stringing them along for 8 weeks. 

The guys who showed up were just 2 inches shorter than the low ceiling kitchen at the lake house. Their hands could palm a beach ball. They handled those heavy leather couches like they were tossing a golf ball across a football field. Very humbling. Conversely, the dudes bringing the new stuff were a couple of gents who were considerably older and smaller-but same physical acumen when it comes to bouncing furniture around. Double humbling. As we always say, the best tool in our toolkit is our checkbook. 

CHAPTER 2 We got to know our delivery dudes from the store quite well as it turns out. Both hunters and one runs a gym in town. However, that wasn't it. After watching their skillful back-up into the driveway, one hops out and starts for the house, then whirls to go back to the truck. Where he proceeds to pull and pull and pull on the door handle. Chuckling I assume he locked the door as he shouted to the other dude. Surprise! He managed to lock all the doors on the truck including the back. There should have been a cartoon bubble over his head as he tried to figure out his next move. Keys, phone, etc are now inches away from being useful. Taking pity, I open the door and ask the obvious. So, we spent the next hour or so chit chatting after I lent him our phone to call the store. But as the store doesn't open until 10, all he gets is voice mail. Raise your hand if anybody comes in to work early and answers the phone before opening time. Well, I always did, but I'm crazy. 

Considering the complexity of all the moves related to the new furniture between Habitat, M&M and Mapes, I considered this a minor issue. They, of course, were horribly embarrassed and if I had been working, I would have been ticked waiting around for 2 hours to get my furniture delivered. But we're retired and we are open to excitement coming in strange forms. I offered treats from M&M's to coffee to Crown Royal vanilla, but they passed. 

BUT WILL I BE ABLE TO PLAY THE VIOLIN? As if there wasn't enough drama, we also had doctor issues last week. First, I get a text at 6:30 am Monday that my regular doc is out and so no appointment which are made six months in advance. Especially after no snacks the night before and yogurt for breakfast anticipating weigh-in. Had an ice cream sundae that day to compensate. This is the 2nd time this they cancelled this year-I must trigger bad mojo for the guy. Last time the reschedule took three months, so I was surprised it's only two weeks but who knows. We don't do much but listen to my heart and lungs and argue about my blood tests so no biggie. However, on Tuesday I had the much-anticipated ortho appointment with my knee guy. Yes, I have a knee guy and a back guy. After much poking and prodding and MORE x-rays (I should glow in the dark at this point) it came down to do it now or do it later. My reckoning with my left hip has arrived. So, my knee guy is now my knee-hip guy. Much like my cancer & colonoscopy surgeon-you don't want to know what I call him. 

 I like to make these little "bon mots" as Dad called them. Like when delivering a baby I suggested we use the Volga Boat song as background music (think about it). I was also able to use the line (not my own) when the radiologist said these were supposed to be your golden years. I said they are as we're full of gold, silver, platinum, titanium...Only thing worse is entering your golden years without any gold actually. 

First concert for JP this week and I hope one of many as he pursues his career in musical theater (my wish) or zoology as he adores all that swim, walk and fly and can recite chapter and verse on each. We don't even bother to read the signs or listen to guides at animal enclosures, as he knows more than they do. Mom and Dad had to take him clothes shopping as the choir ensemble was black shirt-pants-shoes of which he owns none as he lives in sweatpants and colorful sneaks. Peace out/stay strong..💚  💛💙

HAPPY/MESSY OCTOBER (October 6/172)

"What do you get if you divide a pumpkin's circumference by its diameter?  Pumpkin pi (da da thump). 

As we crash headlong into the "Fall of the Leaf" (thank you ancient Britain) ponder that, by average, the cost of Halloween went up $11 to $114.45 per person! What the hell are we buying? Champagne truffles for the neighborhood and renting real ghosts? Like the horror show of our country right now is not scary enough. Tariffs be damned I say and spring for that Vietnamese-made "Wicked" costume. Nothing says 'Merica than southern Asia's take on little blonde and green girls. I vote for a home-grown "Old Spice" look for men wearing nothing but a towel and a whole lotta .... nice smell. 

SPEAKING OF SPOOKY Why do we care more about a crazy murderer's political slant than why we continue to make it easier to provide guns and IEDs to mentally ill dudes? Meanwhile, the local "gun and knife" show goes on notwithstanding a horrendous attack on a church. But I'm sure all the new purchases and purchasers will be registered and documented.

Hogshead and marmie had a big party and nobody laughed or clapped much to donjulious' dismay. Even when they said they were going to fire all the non-white, female and fat soldiers (to their faces) plus they can practice war games on American towns. Who wouldn't want to be part of all that macho crap? Word to the unwise. Loyalty to the chief changes based on whim so don't think you're not vulnerable all you fawning cabinet lapdogs. Right down to the repubs who would rather shut down the government than give Americans health care. You will not be rewarded. You are just more cannon fodder reserved for a later date.   Did you forget you got all three branches of gov-this one's on you. History will not be kind.  

TWO IN THE BAG Latest poddie is playing and I actually recorded the November program last week-yay. As the program was ergonomics and back injuries, we got to tell stories. I mentioned working in a bakery in the summer paired with a dude a foot taller loading and unloading trays from an oven. Nasty hot work, but I didn't show any weakness as I'm sure he was not happy to be yoked to this short little female ox. One job I particularly worried about was digging little angel food cakes out of the pans using my bare hands-no gloves. Their rough edges dug into the cuticles, but apparently nobody died, and I did wash my hands. The long shifts and constant and overwhelming "bakery" aromas made it impossible to eat anything, so I usually crashed on my lunch break and drank two cartons of milk for the 8-10-or 12 hour shift. I was certainly at my fighting weight that summer.

December podcast is devoted to MIOSHA probably rounding out their big 50th anniversary, and hopefully, not their last. Then I'm going to tap a security specialist who is dying to be famous. Can't wait to hear what we can do to protect ourselves when schools, restaurants, stores, churches, parades, worksites are basically shooting ranges anymore. 

WEEK AHEAD Two medical appointments this week. First my 6-month check-up of which anymore consists of reviewing blood tests and arguing meds, checking lungs and heart. Kind of a whole lot of nothing. Next day is the orthopedic consult on whether I keep my hip or not. Though basically they won't be happy until my spine is held together with gorilla glue and duct tape. The back surgeon called it plates and screws, but I know they always take the cheap route. 

After a whole morning with the eye surgeon the OH finally got approved for the second cataract surgery, so he's ecstatic. Like being able to see is such a big deal.  Of course, I predict the furniture we've been waiting for the last six weeks will probably show up necessitating a coordinated move of old stuff to the lake and new stuff being delivered. Then we have to move the pontoon to storage before the ice hits. Nothing precipitates a bunch of must-do chores than a surgery date so I'm assuming a lot of juggling over the next couple of weeks. If not, hopefully the furniture switcharoo also occurs before the snow hits. 

JP is getting his "sea" legs on the bowling league. He was responsible for all four points won Saturday. However, he was the only one who showed up out of four facing another 3 down 1 up team. Until football season is over, they keep playing short. But he was over average so all good. Little listeners. He took me aside to mention his history/social studies teacher may be a trump guy as he will make remarks about good things massa t does. I said just go with the flow which is sad as the non-mags have to be the adult in the room. 

What do you call someone who imitates your Fall decor - a cornucopier.😆Peace/stay strong.💚💙💛

                                                                                                  

THE SKY IS FALLING & IT SURE IS PRETTY (September 29/173)

COLOR ME As we lurch into another season-Fall-my favorite, we are mesmerized by the crisp evenings, vibrant colors, cider donuts and apparently summer's last gasps as we endure more 80-degree days throughout September. My Consumers bill thanks ye Mother Nature. It is also the scourge of dead animal season lining our highways and byways as we merrily crush them on our leaf-peeping road trips. This season is of decaying carcasses is only surpassed by the Spring kill when bored creatures driven mad all winter by the spouse and kits finally venture out for some fresh air and SMACK. Ah well. Another one-parent family trying to make ends meet. Though sometimes they venture out in pairs and double smack. The things we do to escape our lives.

                                                                                                             

WIDE WORLD OF STUPIDITY Crazy for the week. Mothers are now totally responsible for causing autism after heckle and jeckle told us to "just tough it out" by claiming autism, without evidence, is caused by acetaminophen (I can pronounce it). 1) No new evidence to support their spurious claim; 2) high fever and pain can cause harm to the fetus; 3) Tylenol was invented in the 50's and autism has been around for a hell of a lot longer than that. They just shoved children who were "different" into mental institutions. Not to mention, many/most autistic children live normal and productive lives. 

How many pregnant ladies took Tylenol, and nothing happened? From the lack of hands up, I say bogus and dangerous for making ignorant statements for publicity. We are being led by imbeciles that are basically claiming autism is all the mother's fault. The same folks who brought you horse pills and drinking bleach to cure covid. Then, adding insult to injury claiming a "cure" is possible for the few people who may respond to B9 (folate). God help us. For parents of autistic children the double whammy is devastating to their hopes and dreams of obtaining real help for their children. As the Darwin awards proves "they walk among us".

 RETIREE ACTIVITIES Attended a 2-day "strategic plan" session for the Safety Conference last week. Fragile egos were stomped upon, and ambitious decisions were made for the future. And I thought I was the only whiny-old person. Unfortunately, we were really lacking the input of our "younger" members. Two essential contributors invited to this 12-person last supper reenactment were 1) not senior enough at their job to attend or 2) had global responsibilities which precluded their ability to provide input. We stumbled through and broke 22 objectives down to five. Now the fun begins as we convince volunteers to serve on task forces to make our dreams a reality. It feels too much like work. 

Another podcast recording Monday on ergonomics and back injuries. Guess what? Training on safe lifting does not stop back injuries when one is competing against age and heavy awkward loads. Technically humans are doing lift-carry-twist, etc., tasks that should be done mechanically. But when we are young and strong and the boss can't see the point of buying equipment... Should be a fun interview with "Dr. Bob" who was the ergo guru at GM for 40 years. However, his resume poses a challenge as I need to pronounce words like anthropology, musculoskeletal and the real tongue twister anthropometry. Yeah I spelled it out in my paperwork phonetically "an-thruh-PAA-meh-tree. I will invite him to mock me later as I massacre the word. He sounds like he has a sense of humor. 

BOY IN CHARGE JP was tasked with checking in the cars and getting the numbers at the church dinner this week. Our friend who runs it became very ill and actually went into the hospital later that night, so it's a good thing we've been training Joe for a couple of years. Of course, Mr. Personality loves working the cars and ends up in long conversations with everybody. They always ask about him if he's not there. I know he will eventually get tired of the duty, but for now he's gold. Plus, he works for potato salad and Oreos, so good and cheap.  Peace out/Stay strong  💚  💙💛

WORKING IT (September 22/174)

 WORKPLACE HUMOR With all the frenzy about eliminating DEI, anyone notice the orange's entire cabinet is a DEI mess of unqualified people? If he's trying to make a point on the danger of hiring your friends, we get it. 

Waging war at work. To the strange argument that democratic cities just want more crime where the right welcomes a deadly crackdown of domestic troops, I think the right pretends it's just about evil people and our "woke" inability to hold them accountable. Of course, some are, but it's also because when you have no chance at a better, or in some cases, a long life, job, home or education, you may get desperate enough to pursue a path that sustains you. DEI offered marginalized groups a way out or nothing changes. So yes, it's a societal issue along with access to more and more guns not more soldiers busting heads and throwing away the keys.

Media work censored. Freedom of speech apparently only works one way as people are getting stalked, threatened and fired over any criticism of that white nationalist Christian that was shot and are apparently threatened by humor and satire. But a foxy commentator who suggested the homeless need to be dealt with by lethal injection gets a yawn? If they control your words, they will also control your thoughts.

Speaking of workplace humor, I was reminded of some horseplay that I negatively impacted as a safety skate. While watching the boy bowl, I was reminded how the plant dudes liked to hide pulverizer balls in odd places to surprise and amaze. These were used to crush coal so we're talking pretty heavy steel balls. Their favorite stunt, outside of the stray locker (oh my foot), was to tuck one in the maintenance guy's bucket so when he grabbed the handle the busted handle and ensuing prat fall was epic. They literally told me I was screwing up their fun. Just stick to dropping water through the grates from the 10th floor boys. Right up there with the bb gun they wanted to use to shoot pigeons out of the rafters of the massive plant-sigh. 

Well, the good news for young families is you now have an excuse not to bankrupt yourselves taking the kiddies to Disney.  In the name of "freedom" there are no required classes for open carry and no vaccines in the sunswine state. Violent or slow death-take your pick. Funny the no vac defense justification was we should not be telling people what to do with their bodies. No, really? Then I guess women just regained their right to choice in Florida. Hypocrisy in spades. Not to mention Fla is closest to Venezuela so probably first to be hit in retaliation for blowing up their "fishing" boats.

TO STAB OR NOT TO STAB Figured we better book us some covid vac appointments before our MAHA guy outlaws all life-saving boosters. Maybe handing a drug addict with a worm in his brain the key to all things medically miraculous was another of those DEI thingees. I never proposed we hire unqualified candidates as a Personnel Director, just go further down the list of the qualified to give "others" a foot in the door. But marmie knows better, I guess. 

Back to booster shots, apparently, a lot of people had the same fear as there was a bit of a backlog for the shot (especially younger folks) but we prevailed. Not sure whose version we got, but I felt kind of rocky for a day or so after. The hurry-up is legit as the latest from the hand-picked panel of vaccine deniers is no healthy person should get the shot and consulting with your doctor before getting the shot. Do I hear echoes of Roe vs Wade trying to place hurdles and slow people down from exercising their rights? But it also gives insurance companies an excuse to refuse to cover it, which could cause big pharma zero incentive to conduct further research and make the next booster. I feel healthier already.

Met a group for "A Night at a Brewery". We decided this was a good activity once a month and there are certainly a lot of breweries to sample in near proximity. As we are all north of 70 the first 10 minutes must be dedicated to "current health issues". We just go around the room. Some of us have hearing issues so we need privacy to bellow out our ailments in excruciating detail. I just smile and nod to save time or check the OH later on what was said. 

The boy is taking choir at school which he really likes. However, he pointed out as it consists of 7th and 8th grade boys, the tendency of voice/s to crack at unknown times during a song makes it hilarious. Your time is coming kid. The director has designated him a tenor.....for now. At a restaurant he and I were playing music trivia and much arguing occurred as we debated which 90's song we were hearing. He was always shocked when I actually got one right, but I think he was cheating with a listening app on his phone, so insults were traded mutually.

 We all have to dig and find the precious moments, or the world will just overwhelm you right now.  Peace out/stay strong.....💚  💙💛

                                                                     

IS SUMMER OVER? (September 15/175)

 BIG MOVES/CHAPTER 2  Step 1 completed. Dudes showed up on time and da da da da actually used the doorbell at the lake house!  I rewarded them for being the first people to ever locate and use the doorbell on the garage with a hearty handshake. One guy said "I'ts so obvious!"  Apparently not. I have it placed directly below the mounted anchor with the big "I" on it pointing straight down to the doorbell looking doorbell. Never gets noticed. 

As instructed, we had duly shoved our loveseat to the door on two furniture movers. Being young, skinny and unstoppable they immediately flipped it on its side and hauled it out the door down the steps. We quickly snatched the furniture movers, stuck them under the larger sofa and wheeled it frantically to the door. Again, no sweat. Rather anti-climactic. Hassock, television and generator were also loaded in record time with the whole operation taking less than 15 minutes. Considering the hassle in getting it all arranged, I was mildly disappointed that it all went off so smoothly. I highly recommend the Habitat people. 

IN OTHER NEWS Driving while brown is now a supreme court sanctioned activity leading to your arrest for just...driving while brown or black. Also having an accent. Or a low-paying job. If we had any doubts that all lives matter, according to the Supreme Court, they don't.  Also, nothing says welcome to investing in the USA than gathering up folks working with us, putting them in wrist, waist, and ankle chains before carting them to a detention center in armored vehicles. Yep, Leper Land is our new moniker. Ain't nobody coming here. I'm guessing it's a trust issue with Mr. "Art of the Deal". Our intelligence-gathering on this ill-fated roundup was stellar as not one South Korean wants to return-fancy that? Also heartening, China is buying exactly 0% of our soybean crop which will probably net us a slew of bankrupt farmers-so much winning, but at least they own the libs right?  

Good news for Florida! They are currently winning the race to the bottom with their no more vaccine mandates and pulling encyclopedias and dictionaries from school libraries. So, kids will be dumb and dead. Excellent. Apparently, they don't want them looking up words like racism, fascism, compassion, slavery, etc.

IN WORSE NEWS No one deserves to die for their political beliefs and talking about them. One of the cornerstones of our democracy. Kirk was conservative, charismatic, brilliant and hateful. 250,000 young white men (looking for trad women) follow him. What is gut-wrenching is the outrage for his death that was not present for the school children also shot that day, for all the children shot, for all the attacks and deaths of democrats where one heard crickets. All tsk tsked by the right. So don't ask me to cry crocodile tears for someone who happens to believe the way magats want, but cry for all of us facing this type of hatred led by the orange one. Guess we have to be the adult in the room, if they leave us any. We defend his rights to trash MLK, civil rights, black and brown, immigrants and women and the word empathy but the crazies are hunting down anyone who dares show any negativity about his message. How insecure are these folks? One of his quotes I will gladly borrow "Always forgive your enemies. It annoys them so much."

PASTIMES Got an invite to MIOSHA's 50th anniversary/reunion. Odd to see so many folks I used to work with looking so much older. How did that happen? Oh, guess I did too - lol. Though one lady said we sure miss you with the MTI (MIOSHA Training Institute). Though I was pretty much the main facilitator, founding mother, committee chair, whatever for the project I retired ten years ago! I think she meant that I was probably easier to work with when issues cropped up and was willing to take the leap of faith into changing things up when old ways didn't work. I'll take it as a compliment.

 Last good week of summer but probably won't get over to the lake unless it's a flying one-day trip. Doctor appt, fireplace repair and out-of-town meeting this week. Been like that all summer so not a lot of lake lounging was possible. Allowed BCBS to have a home visit where I thought we would get lectured on diet and chastised about throw rugs, but he basically did the minimum that my doctor does for my physical-weight, height, BP, how much do you drink. Only reason we agreed was we get 2 Target gift cards for agreeing. The things we do for free stuff. Peace out/stay strong 💚💙💛

                                                                                                   

THIS AND THAT (September 8/176)

BIG MOVE/S Phase one is planned. After much back and forth with Habitat for Humanity we have compromised with their "we do not enter the home" rule. We have agreed to "shove" donated pieces to the door, and they will retrieve so I hope they have long arms. My role, after shoving random pieces of furniture will be to look extremely feeble to back up claims made-the OH just comes by it naturally - LOL. It's all about the white hair.  Though we would need 3 hunks and a mule to get that dang leather couch out of the lake house. I think it all came down to the used generator-they wanted that old generator c'est la vie!  

Phases two and three depend on when the new furniture is ready for delivery, then it's scramble time. For starters, I am extremely nervous about what will be found under a couch that hasn't moved in years. No doubt popcorn, miscellaneous hair or clothing and hopefully no dead bodies (of any kind). My immediate reaction will be I need to grab the vacuum, but as the movers are being paid by the hour, I just have to grit my teeth and get on the road.

RANDOM THOUGHTS On giving Guiliani a medal of freedom-I think he would much rather get paid for all the career, reputation, life-destroying work performed on behalf of marmie duck. 

Yes, that guy "wlitwh" was an FBI plant in Epstein's world for 20-30 years...OMG and ROLF. That speak-easy mikee johnson is quite the lying little christian. I'd sure like to be at his second coming as he "s'plains himself". Points for originality. 

Other awesome achievements:  blowing up 11 people in a boat without due process; threatening US cities and states with martial law; peace talks with a ruthless dictator leading to even more vicious bombings in Ukraine; supporting another ruthless dictator leading to the total annihilation of an ethnic people in Gaza. Department of War indeed.  Meanwhile during all the signings of EO's (Exec orders) the marmie was handed a folded-up cloth which he failed to identify as the American flag. Yepper. 

DOG UPDATE Well the bad news/good news is the little Corgi's owners were found and drove back from Tennessee to reunite with their lost puppy (he was one of a dog family of six). However, it does seem to be motivating the daughter's family to seriously consider obtaining a new dog. Preferably a non-shedding type. Perhaps that was St. Zoe's plan all along. 

SAME OLD PLACE The habit of dining out on our anniversary is to give the cook - the OH - a night off usually for many years at a 100+ year-old mansion turned Inn. Built by the Reuters, the CEO of that new-fangled assembly line car - Oldsmobile. It was also once the home of Lansing's bishop and a seminary. Eventually it was turned into the English Inn. Sure looks 100 years old but nicely kept if you're into stepping back in time. Big wedding venue, etc. On a Thursday night, the five couples sharing our dining room were all celebrating anniversaries-LOL. Well, when you drop two bills for dinner, it's not a regular thing. At our 35th there, we were taking a break before the weeklong festivities and activities surrounding our daughter's wedding. On our 40th, we were also celebrating the news of a grandchild in a few months.  We must really dig their prime rib and Yorkshire pudding, not to mention the creme brulee. Though I always appear shocked when I discover the dessert tray temptations are fakes. Oh, mon dieu!

DROP THAT BALL! JP's nervous initiation into a bowling league occurred and.....he didn't die! After rolling 153 first game, everyone relaxed. The next two games were much less, but at least over 100 so all good as you don't want to get too high an average too soon. 

I am a fanatic about keeping my car clean. Character flaw perhaps, but I just don't like a lot of junk cluttering up everything.  However, when you cart the boy around who is always hungry, things accumulate. I found a Tootsie Roll Pop wrapper, candy bar and a bag of over-priced Boy Scout popcorn in the back seat. I'm now calling it the food truck car. I know the scouts are trying to make money for camp or whatever, but $20 for 4.5 ounces of so-so popcorn? That was the cheapest item. OH says "where are they going to camp-Hawaii?" But he's the one who gave in to the sweet little boy scout outside the restaurant. So, enjoy your trip to the big island, I guess. Peace out/stay strong 💚  💙💛