tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-278426772024-03-09T21:47:49.740-05:00Swimming Upstream<b> </b>
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<b><center>Every so often, the urge strikes me to jump in and paddle.</center></b>
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<b><center> Sometimes I end up getting swept away.</center></b><b> </b>
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<b><center> Other times I bob to the surface and float.</center></b>Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.comBlogger554125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-72725966412413839062024-01-18T19:20:00.000-05:002024-01-18T19:20:05.114-05:00Politics. Teams<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Politics. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Teams. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">My side.
Your side. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I win. You lose. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">You win. I lose. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">All of us lose. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Over recent years, I’ve noticed an increase in inflammatory rhetoric from some elected officials in my area of Virginia. I’m on the official mailing list of most of the elected state and federal representatives in this region. </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Two Congressmen from this area, Rep. Ben Cline and Rep Morgan Griffith, routinely send out hyper-partisan constituent emails. Two state senators from our region, Sen Chris Head and Senator Creigh Deeds, have recently sent out much more professional, less-partisan communications. </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>For Senator Head, I find his latest effort refreshing. In the past, he’s used his official email to promote his radical positions by demeaning and discounting the views of over a third of his constituents. </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Reps Cline and Griffith have a rich history of hyper-partisan constituent emails. Griffith tends to wrap his in specific charged legislative issues. Cline’s emails tend to be less focused on legislation and more focused on partisan misinformation. Both Cline and Griffith (as well as Bob Good) are proud members of “The Freedom [sic] Caucus”. </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>I’ve pasted the latest constituent emails below along with my impressions after reading them. Overall, I wish that all of our representatives would consider toning down the partisan rhetoric and focus instead on legislating in a bipartisan manner. </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> ************************************* </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><i>Senator Chris Head: I’ve met Senator Head many times over the years. He’s always been willing to sit down with me. I can honestly say that we disagree on just about everything, except our love for our country and commonwealth. He was just elected to the state senate after many years as a state delegate. His letter here is reasonable, non-inflammatory, and welcoming for all of his constituents.</i></span> </b></span></p><p><span style="color: #990000; font-family: verdana;">Dear Friends, </span></p><p><span style="color: #990000; font-family: verdana;">The 2024 Session of the Virginia General Assembly kicked off at noon on Wednesday, January 10, and the pace is already beginning to ramp up. There are a lot of new faces in the Senate (including mine). Following the 2023 election, 19 of the 40 senators are Republicans, putting the GOP in the minority. However, we look forward to working in a bipartisan manner with our counterparts across the aisle on areas where we can agree.
Another change is that we are all working out of a new General Assembly building. If you have visited your legislators in previous years, be ready for a whole new experience as we all find our way around this new facility. Some remaining construction kinks are still being worked out, which always happens with a large project. Still, we hope the new building will provide a better experience for constituents to meet with legislators and their staff while improving efficiency for our ongoing work. </span></p><p><span style="color: #990000; font-family: verdana;">NEWS FROM THE FLOOR </span></p><p><span style="color: #990000; font-family: verdana;">The Senate went through the traditional organization process on the first session day. We were sworn into office, adopted the rules under which we operate, and received our committee assignments. This year, I will be serving on the Education and Health, General Laws and Technology, and Rehabilitation and Social Services committees. Although much of my work will be on the issues that come before those respective committees, I will always be focused on ALL of the problems and concerns that affect my constituents, whether related to my committee assignments or not. </span></p><p><span style="color: #990000; font-family: verdana;">STATE OF THE COMMONWEALTH </span></p><p><span style="color: #990000; font-family: verdana;">Later, on the first day, Governor Glenn Youngkin addressed a joint Session of the Senate and House and delivered his annual State of the Commonwealth Address. In it, the Governor discussed his administration’s accomplishments and laid out his vision for Virginia in the coming years.
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The Governor outlined an ambitious agenda, which includes legislation to keep Virginians safer from violent crime and destructive street drugs, a proposal to allow students to earn career credentials while completing their high school diplomas, and improvements to our mental health care system, to name a few. In the coming weeks, I will closely review the Governor’s proposals as they go through the legislative process. I look forward to working with the Governor to improve our schools, make our neighborhoods safer, and ensure every Virginian has the skills and the opportunity to obtain a good job. </span></p><p><span style="color: #990000; font-family: verdana;"> LEGISLATION </span></p><p><span style="color: #990000; font-family: verdana;"> You can follow my legislation as it makes it way through the General Assembly HERE and all 2024 bills introduced by members of the Senate of Virginia and the House of Delegates HERE. </span></p><p><span style="color: #990000; font-family: verdana;">CONSTITUENT VISITS </span></p><p><span style="color: #990000; font-family: verdana;"> Here are just a few of the many visitors who came by the office this week!
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As we look forward to the upcoming Week 2, committees will all be meeting, and legislation should begin to come to the floor for consideration by the full Senate. Please let me know where you stand on legislation impacting you. You can email my office at senatorhead@senate.virginia.gov or call us at (804) 698-7503.
And if you are in Richmond, please come by my office at the General Assembly building. I am in Room 619, and while my schedule is often hectic and subject to change, I would love to say hello to you.
I’ll be in touch next week with another update from the General Assembly. In the meantime, you can also follow me on Twitter @SenChrisHead or like my Facebook page to stay current with all the action in Richmond.
Have a wonderful week! </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #990000;">Sincerely,
Chris Head
Senator, 3rd District </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #990000;"> </span>**************************** </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"> Senator Creigh Deeds is a long-time member of Virginia’s state senate in the area from Bath COunty to Charlottesville. He’s aspired to even higher office in the past. In his last few years, since the horrific death of his son, Creigh has campaigned constantly for mental health services in Virginia. I have always appreciated Creigh’s dedication and thoroughness as a representative. His latest constituent letter is normal for him. It’s free of partisan plays and focused on governance and policy.</span></b></i> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;">The 2024 Regular Session of the Virginia General Assembly is underway. We started last week with committee assignments, a speech from the Governor, the annual convening of the Agribusiness Council, and the first committee meetings. </span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;">As you know from previous columns, Virginia budgets on a biennial, or two-year, cycle. The next biennium runs July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2026. We will adopt a new two-year budget for the cycle as well as make some adjustments to the current fiscal year. Our starting point for discussions is the Governor’s proposal introduced in December. A previous column dealt with my initial thoughts on that proposal. </span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;">This year’s session is long under Virginia's rules. This is a 60 day session, which includes the weekend, so this will fly by. We essentially have eight and a half weeks to deal with thousands of bills and finalize our two-year budget. </span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;">In the Senate, we have a 21 bill limit per member. The House of Delegates does not have any limitations. So this year, a majority of work for the Senate will happen after crossover. We will spend the first five weeks dealing with bills originating in the Senate until crossover, at which point bills originating in the House of Delegates must come to the Senate for consideration. We will spend the remainder of the session considering bills originating in the other chamber. </span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;">Since both chambers are controlled by Democrats, there will be a real temptation, in my view, to challenge the Governor as much as possible and to send bills to him that he will be tempted to veto. In fact, he will probably veto a lot of legislation. Our goal should be to find policy issues we can achieve to move Virginia forward. With a divided government, we need to work on items with bipartisan support. However, that does not mean we abandon our principles or lower our sights. It does mean we have to be realistic and focus on areas where we can work together to lift all boats. I think it will be a busy session. </span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;">A couple of things are clear. We need to work together to get a budget done on time. As written before, the Governor’s plan has a number of unrealistic proposals, among them plans to cut about $2 billion in taxes. He proposes raising the sales tax by .9 cents, to the tune of about $1 billion. And in my view, while he raises some issues that need to be discussed, it is simply not feasible to cut taxes in this environment. The federal COVID dollars run out this year, and we have major obligations that have to be met, including over $4 billion in K-12 that was identified in the JLARC report. Simply said, we are underfunding education and have been doing it for years. Localities have been filling in the gaps to a large extent, but that means that while state taxes have remained relatively low, local taxes have increased particularly in the area of real estate taxes. I do not think we can get this fixed in one session, but we need to set short and long-term goals if we are to address that funding shortfall. </span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;">The Governor has also raised the issue of the car tax. The car tax is a complicated issue, because it is a constitutionally mandated tax. Eliminating the car tax would require amending the Constitution, which is a multi-year endeavor. Then we would need to develop an alternative to replace it. The personal property tax is the second largest source of revenue for local governments in the Commonwealth of Virginia. All of this is much easier said than done. </span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;">Another issue garnering significant attention is energy policy. In 2020 we passed the Clean Economy Act. To date we are simply not generating enough renewable energy to meet our goals for carbon reduction. This is especially true given the increasing demand of data centers situated throughout Virginia that require more energy than most other industries. </span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;">A popular idea is to ban data centers or to keep them out of certain areas. However, this is not realistic. More than 70% of internet traffic in this country goes through Loudoun County, Virginia. So much internet traffic is centered in Virginia, this is where the data centers will be. From my perspective, we can’t say no to data centers, but we can impose some rules and figure out how to take advantage of the tax revenues generated from data centers, the jobs they create, and the investments that flow from that industry. We can’t do that unless we figure out a way to generate more alternative sources of energy. In my view, that is going to require us to grow our solar and wind-based energy. We have a lot of work to do. </span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;">Last session I was co-chair of the Judiciary Committee, which has now been restored to the name it held for hundreds of years, the Courts of Justice Committee. I also chaired the Capital Outlay Subcommittee of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee. This year I will chair the Committee for Commerce and Labor, and the SFAC Health and Human Resources Subcommittee. While both of those jobs are somewhat lateral moves from important work I was doing (and by the way I will remain a member of both of those committees) they will increase my workload significantly. The Commerce and Labor Committee will hold its regular meetings on Monday afternoon. The HHR Subcommittee will meet on Thursday mornings. Both will require significant preparation and homework. </span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;">Thank you again for allowing me to serve in the Senate. We are still settling into the new office, room 612, in the General Assembly Building. We also have transitioned to our new email address, senatordeeds@senate.virginia.gov, and our new phone number, 804-698-7511. While the building is beautiful and more accommodating to the public, we are still working out a lot of the kinks. If you come to Richmond for a visit, I hope you will stop by my office. </span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;"> Best, </span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;">Creigh </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">*********************************************** </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i><span style="color: #0b5394;">Rep Cline, my Congressman, has become increasingly hyper-partisan. His latest email to all constituents is typical for him. Essentially a fiscally moderate Democrat like me has no voice with Rep. Cline as you can see by his rhetorical choices. Cline rarely addresses his solutions to problems and focuses instead on stirring division and intolerance. I’ve written to him respectfully several times in the past with nothing more than form responses. </span></i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sixth District Perspectives
with Congressman Ben Cline </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>As the 118th Congress convenes Washington for the second year of the session, House Republicans are determined to pursue a responsible spending deal that cuts wasteful spending, secures our border, and returns money to the taxpayers. In more theater, Hunter Biden made a surprise appearance during his contempt hearing in the House Oversight Committee. As Congress prepares for the road ahead, I remain committed to fighting for our shared values in the Sixth District of Virginia. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">America's Broken Border </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>All across the country, Americans’ primary concern is the broken border that President Biden and Alejandro Mayorkas created. In the past three years, over 6.2 million encounters have been at our southern border. In December 2023, there were over 302,000 incidents of migrants attempting to cross the border. These failed policies have enabled fentanyl and other deadly drugs to pour into our communities, as well as criminal migrants, to be released into the country with a low likelihood of removal. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span> Last week, the House Committee on Homeland Security, led by Chairman Mark Green (R-TN), conducted their first impeachment hearing of Alejandro Mayorkas and laid out the facts for Americans. While accountability for the broken border ultimately rests with the President, we must act to remove Secretary Mayorkas for violating his oath of office and encouraging the chaos we are seeing at the border right now. Impeaching Mayorkas is the first step, but we must continue to pressure the Senate to pass legislation such as H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, the strongest border security package in United States history. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">[Image Deleted] </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Bidenomics" Is Wrecking American Families </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>Last week, the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI), a key inflation index, reminded us that "Bidenomics" is not working for hardworking families. The report was "higher than expected" as it increased at an annual rate of 3.4%, and it is the 33rd straight month with inflation above three percent. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>Despite the Biden Administration's push for "Bidenomics", the absolute truth is families have seen skyrocketing grocery and fuel bills and depletion of their savings accounts. To guarantee that hard-working taxpayers can keep more of their money, House Republicans are working daily to restore fiscal responsibility in Washington and revive our economy. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> [Image Deleted] </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hunter Biden Surprise Appearance on Capitol Hill </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>House investigators have continued to follow the facts into President Joe Biden's involvement with his family's business dealings for months. Instead of appearing for his deposition on December 13, 2023, Hunter Biden staged a media event on the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol, where he made a public statement without taking any questions. Then, this week, at the Oversight Committee's markup of his contempt resolution, Hunter Biden pulled a publicity stunt, continued defying the orders, and appeared at his contempt hearing. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>Hunter Biden believes that defying orders and executing publicity stunts will divert attention from the investigation into his family's shady business dealings. However, the House Oversight Committee and House Judiciary Committee remain committed to uncovering the truth for the American people. No one, including the Biden's, is above the law.
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District Travels </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> [Image Deleted] </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>For 90 years, the Salem Rescue Squad has displayed selfless sacrifice to the city of Salem as it stands as the second oldest all-volunteer rescue squad in the United States. It was an honor to present them with a commemorative plaque recognizing the squad winning the 2023 Volunteer EMS Service of the Year award at their banquet. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Congressman. If my office can ever be of assistance, please contact my Washington office at (202) 225-5431.
For the latest updates from Washington and across the Sixth District, please follow my Facebook and Twitter pages. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>Ben Cline <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">********************************************************* </span></p><p><i style="color: #0b5394;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">Rep. Morgan Griffith and I have a long history, although I suspect he has no clue who I am. Once back when he was serving as the Virginia House of Delegates Majority Leader (and my representative), he called the school where I worked and had me leave my classroom to speak with him in the main office. He proceeded to give me a ten minute tongue-lashing over a newsletter I wrote to the members of my local teacher union. In that article, I recounted how he had avoided meeting with my team and me earlier that month with his secretary claiming that he was in a meeting and wouldn’t be available. I hung around a bit and spotted my representative sneaking out his back door and escaping to a bathroom. This was not unusual behavior on his part. </span></b></i></p><p><i style="color: #0b5394;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">As you can see from his email, Rep Griffith is really focused on Covid-19 and Dr. Fauci instead of the pending government shutdown and aid to Israel and Ukraine. </span></b></i></p><p><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: verdana;">Congressman Griffith's Weekly E-Newsletter 1.12.24 </span></p><p><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: verdana;">Deposition with Fauci </span></p><p><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: verdana;">On January 8th and 9th, I participated in a two-day Congressional transcribed interview (what normal people would call a deposition) with Dr. Anthony Fauci to learn more about his role in the COVID-19 outbreak and response.
These are my key takeaways from my preparation for the deposition and the deposition itself: </span></p><p><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: verdana;">1. We need better protocols and oversight of biosafety laboratories. Fauci, who was the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), claims he did not know much about the grants awarded to EcoHealth Alliance and nothing about the subsequent subgrants to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. This is unacceptable. He was the head of the agency that awarded the grants, and the buck should stop with him. At the very least, before his agency got the U.S. involved with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, he should have had a working knowledge of their operations. He disavowed all knowledge of the Institute, even saying if someone said Wuhan before COVID-19, he wouldn’t know if they were referring to Wuhan University, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, or another entity in Wuhan.
And when EcoHealth Alliance did not forward required reports for more than a year, someone at NIAID should have been aware and raised Cain. </span></p><p><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: verdana;">2. We need a generally accepted definition of gain-of-function (GoF) research for U.S. grant purposes. According to Fauci, NIAID was not funding any GoF research. Under the definition he was using, that may be so. But NIAID is a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and on the NIH website at the time the research was being done, they used a different definition of GoF. Under that definition, NIAID was funding GoF research. Both definitions are acceptable in various settings, but this type of research is too serious to not have a generally accepted definition. </span></p><p><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: verdana;"> 3. At a structural level, some scientists referenced in an email to Fauci found aspects of the virus perplexing. They queried how it could happen in nature. When looking at the makeup of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, researcher Mike Farzan took issue with how the furin cleavage site was in the virus. He believed it was difficult to explain how this could happen outside of a lab. While possible, it is highly unlikely to occur in nature. Additionally, Dr. Bob Garry observed the virus had a perfect 12-nucleotide insertion as part of the furin cleavage site and didn’t know how this could happen in nature. The furin cleavage site is a large part of what made the virus so contagious. And, interestingly, prior coronaviruses did not contain a furin cleavage site. </span></p><p><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: verdana;">4. Fauci said he had an open mind when it came to how the COVID-19 outbreak could have started, whether it was spread via animal transmission at a wet market or a lab leak, but he believes it was due to animal transmission. However, he gave no indication of his open-mindedness to the American people in public statements. </span></p><p><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: verdana;">Those who believed COVID-19 started due to a lab leak were universally shunned and their opinions were taken down and/or barred from many social media sites. </span></p><p><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: verdana;"> Some conclusions: </span></p><p><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: verdana;">Based on the evidence I have seen, I believe COVID-19 started due to an accidental lab leak. This is in part because no animal source has ever been found (in the past we’ve been able to find one). Further, the Chinese government did not look at a large sample of animals in their search, nor was the virus found in animals near the time of the outbreak. If the Chinese thought the virus started in animals, they would have scoured the region looking for the animal source. Their lack of strenuous effort indicates to me the Chinese know the source was a lab leak. </span></p><p><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: verdana;"> Fauci said we needed to continue to look for the animal source, but also admitted that without Chinese cooperation, we may never be able to determine with scientific certainty which theory is correct. </span></p><p><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: verdana;">As a long-time practicing attorney, I only need proof that eliminates reasonable doubt, not proof to a scientific certainty. For example, circumstantial evidence and little else was sufficient to put the murderer of Gina Renee Hall (a student at Radford University) in prison. As you will recall, she disappeared and later in 1980, her murderer was convicted in Pulaski County and given a life sentence based substantially on circumstantial evidence. </span></p><p><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: verdana;">That being said, the evidence of an accidental lab leak, in my opinion, also eliminates reasonable doubt. </span></p><p><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: verdana;">If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at https://morgangriffith.house.gov/.
</span></p>Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-68893948388505153642023-08-17T21:03:00.000-04:002023-08-17T21:03:39.945-04:00The Great One<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Like clockwork every evening as the maroon glow of sunset fades through the gates of darkness, a silhouetted Great Horned Owl swoops down from the blank, backlit sky to perch on a naked limb atop the neighborhood’s tallest oak tree.</span></span></p><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I know of this because most evenings at this time, I’m lounging upstairs on a guest room bed at my house watching reruns of “The Rockford Files.” Out of my window, I always catch that large bird of prey‘s arrival in the tree from the corner of my eye.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">With my full attention diverted from my show, I stare out my second story window to the top of my backyard neighbor’s tree. The owl always hangs out there for a minute or so while swiveling its head, identifiable in the near-dark by its large size and pointed ears. </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">After feeling assured of its safety, the owl launches itself out of the tree, down and across another backyard neighbor’s yard, disappearing into a tangle of smaller trees at the corner of their property.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">This regular evening ritual is fascinating and exhilarating.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8V1uQx25LnsQauxJvdwv9WznEf7CCK6mkHL-1JGHA5JZSPv6-AEWPAjNl6MxwndPWqYX9upqzOXnyurJ2ySLU-OfpqjoLRngQkPJ5XnLn3KSWTwHNFMWGI9TbmI_p5vIliPBoZQRSQMX1f5f0kO-T-GxgjPcVAmGcWVp8vw-HoLcZCeE38Nekcg/s640/IMG_1149.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="504" data-original-width="640" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8V1uQx25LnsQauxJvdwv9WznEf7CCK6mkHL-1JGHA5JZSPv6-AEWPAjNl6MxwndPWqYX9upqzOXnyurJ2ySLU-OfpqjoLRngQkPJ5XnLn3KSWTwHNFMWGI9TbmI_p5vIliPBoZQRSQMX1f5f0kO-T-GxgjPcVAmGcWVp8vw-HoLcZCeE38Nekcg/s320/IMG_1149.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Wfe8n7gPGjit9cUDjH9pEetRLwYxwt_OO99ZY3YUNVZF3otpKwS0XZBCSYmRlh1d_WQpW5OIFiKVss53s9_eMBlbnz4lCXFkcq2zsW-ROsYkOJVi-hP7Qo53iL5J7piOZR7L_h227KL8QbDh3L7YKu5c6NSE66fKH_5CVui9ulngPmSHmEHpwQ/s964/IMG_1150.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="964" data-original-width="788" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Wfe8n7gPGjit9cUDjH9pEetRLwYxwt_OO99ZY3YUNVZF3otpKwS0XZBCSYmRlh1d_WQpW5OIFiKVss53s9_eMBlbnz4lCXFkcq2zsW-ROsYkOJVi-hP7Qo53iL5J7piOZR7L_h227KL8QbDh3L7YKu5c6NSE66fKH_5CVui9ulngPmSHmEHpwQ/w188-h230/IMG_1150.jpeg" width="188" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(Photos CC from the Interwebs)</span></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div>Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-89824196220112513062023-07-13T18:10:00.000-04:002023-07-13T18:10:15.735-04:00Above and Through the Flood Zone: Part 2<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3vbVTDmIABpar_cgY8KB0zLoh-iudoSQ04BVz_NHydEAH2Ogsh2KaCnpVow_N--bxKTJcwqMCFsWDcYk1z_iz5WPhJDO61EeutVXeT8SpueWQU1WQhUH61BlEPSUUdFaiEp2HlaDlVIzI2hY2hHO6UPMqRFeZpDxAeE9XfoEMvg7sfPTAwZAbsg/s960/Mt%20Washington%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3vbVTDmIABpar_cgY8KB0zLoh-iudoSQ04BVz_NHydEAH2Ogsh2KaCnpVow_N--bxKTJcwqMCFsWDcYk1z_iz5WPhJDO61EeutVXeT8SpueWQU1WQhUH61BlEPSUUdFaiEp2HlaDlVIzI2hY2hHO6UPMqRFeZpDxAeE9XfoEMvg7sfPTAwZAbsg/s320/Mt%20Washington%201.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u x1yc453h" dir="auto"><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> <br /></span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">We left foggy Portland on Tuesday morning heading roughly northwest. The Wiener mobile had left the previous day. </span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">We had toyed with lots of potential side trips for our return down the map to Roanoke. Canada, although very tempting seemed like just too much. Niagara Falls seemed too far.</span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A <span></span>few years ago, I was entertaining my grandson (Number One) and found some You-Tube videos of The Cog Railway in New Hampshire. Number One always asked to see them every time I saw him thereafter. So, we decided to go there and capture the experience first-hand. </span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A bonus for weather-geek me is that The Cog ascends Mt. Washington, the second highest peak in the eastern United States. Despite its relative modest height compared to the western mountains, it's world famous for its ever-changing extreme weather. For example, Mt. Washington held the world record for highest wind gust reliably recorded (231mph) in 1934. A gust from a cyclone near Australia topped that record about ten years ago. </span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Here's a blurb from The Hill about a most amazing weather event this past February: </span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></div></div><blockquote><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The Mount Washington Observatory recorded a new, record-low air temperature of -46.9 degrees Fahrenheit as of Saturday morning at 4:10 a.m, according to overnight summit conditions.</span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The previous record daily low of -32 degrees Fahrenheit was set in 1963.</span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The previous wind chill record was shattered overnight, when wind chills dropped to -108.4 degrees at different points on Friday night and Saturday morning. The previous record was -102.7 degrees Fahrenheit.</span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“Winds will also remain elevated Saturday morning, with wind speeds ranging from 100-115 mph with gusts up to 135 mph,” the observatory wrote in a summit forecast on Saturday. “Strong winds and harsh cold temperatures will continue to produce dangerously low wind chill values, with wind chill values remaining at 100 below to 110 below Saturday morning."</span></span></div></div></blockquote><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As a weather geek, visiting Mt. Washington is a bucket list item for me. So that's what we did. </span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">We headed northwest from Portland to Mt. Washington. Our path took us through towns like Gorham, Standish, Steep Falls, Baldwin, Fryeburg, Center Conway, Conway, North Conway, Very North Conway, Absolute North Conway before turning off Rt 302 just past the amazing Omni Mount Washington Resort (Think of The Greenbriar...but larger).</span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Cog Railway was designed and built between 1859 and 1869 as a way for wealthy resort tourists to ascend the moody mountain. The whole technology was invented back then. A small, but powerful steam engine was attached to a cog that clawed its way up or down hill one cog tooth at a time. Train wheels allowed the steam-powered machine to roll smoothly up or down the mountain. The passenger cab was simply pushed uphill (unattached from the engine) or braked downhill kept from running away by the engine. The only thing different today is that the steam engines have largely been retired and replaced by bio-diesel engines.</span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Our journey up started at 11am and proceeded at a fast snail's pace for about 45 minutes to the summit. Fog encased the train cab for the last half of the ascent to 6200 feet. The temperature at the station base was about 65 degrees with light winds. At the summit, the temperature was 48 degrees with 45mph winds with gusts to 70. I was almost blown off the visitor's center roof as the most powerful gust of the day blasted through. </span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Fog descended and lifted in rapid succession. Above the tree line, the summit was like a moonscape but with wet, slippery rocks. We had a layover of about an hour to climb about on the rocks and explore the visitor's center/food court, and we spent that time taking shelter to warm up and darting out for views. The whole experience was desensitizing. Winds howled, air was noticeably thinner, clouds were slipping past like spooked jack rabbits. </span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">After the trip back down to base station around 2:30 Tuesday, we drove away through the flood-ravaged hellscape of New Hampshire/Vermont. Interestingly, the only water we had to deal with was on the approach road to Mt. Washington. We had to splash through about 2 feet of water that was rushing across the road. On the rest of the journey, we observed serious flat land flooding, but the Interstates were built above all of it. We pulled in to Kingston, NY at about 6pm and feasted on a Hannaford grocery store dinner. </span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Our trip back to Roanoke down I87/83/81 was mostly uneventful except for one instance near Harrisburg, PA where a log truck was zooming in the left lane right in front of me and suddenly shed a HUGE chunk (about 1-2 yards long) of thick tree bark. I had to immediately jerk our Civic into the right lane and almost rolled. I actually felt the left side tires leave the pavement. Driving is a thrill for me. </span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">We arrived home yesterday at about 5:30. Today, we exist in a fog.</span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaZ79BY4HhRJdaaEhMSuCj_YhNQm-b4sZ2oywSueUK2kCq_xKaAPPyRQjgh-Ikcwh18xAp2fjahcK3T4oUE4yW_jC88M0UcxSQdwzOJGKjEFsd-3lUkkQGbZyyzrO0ZVEQIYl85JktVcnprgKTKP5lo_sWR5imd1i2Ol0RGo6UiZiO8vINlFcgmQ/s960/Cog%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaZ79BY4HhRJdaaEhMSuCj_YhNQm-b4sZ2oywSueUK2kCq_xKaAPPyRQjgh-Ikcwh18xAp2fjahcK3T4oUE4yW_jC88M0UcxSQdwzOJGKjEFsd-3lUkkQGbZyyzrO0ZVEQIYl85JktVcnprgKTKP5lo_sWR5imd1i2Ol0RGo6UiZiO8vINlFcgmQ/s320/Cog%201.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy39-tMl5UNVe41YpYRRMBqLXB_un9g-5NTSyFShhQO7waEwTYMBK_yh4xsO_zfcg0JozMfzC5Sdj8I6q-z1dowF0gUnf1ervFxV8tJQ1RCJqFvfSIIzh-A--Xx_YdXsTAWTiCqGeMUMwUSZdf-U4DBUKBGChtdSnvLH7kjYusRzC-iNNZG1m0jA/s960/Mt%20Washington%2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy39-tMl5UNVe41YpYRRMBqLXB_un9g-5NTSyFShhQO7waEwTYMBK_yh4xsO_zfcg0JozMfzC5Sdj8I6q-z1dowF0gUnf1ervFxV8tJQ1RCJqFvfSIIzh-A--Xx_YdXsTAWTiCqGeMUMwUSZdf-U4DBUKBGChtdSnvLH7kjYusRzC-iNNZG1m0jA/s320/Mt%20Washington%2011.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> </span></span></div></div></span><p></p>Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-70987035502855280092023-07-13T17:48:00.004-04:002023-07-13T17:48:28.386-04:00A Trip to Maine and Back: Part 1<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"> <br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGriAYnAiBEIBsaIDTWTjAR_hXR8YaNvMDQqgRuUe6CHg39XtKDVeW0PAMIT-yOmJbgXVBSGhEsgjMVTxXyZW8tD1prRL5dW5NltkGkKiPMeCfbtboN-GpatrdhudUXSzu1uP4l6BLv0kD8MZLNqVnk8ftkUOHyOvOFS10ZlGDx-9Wk37J70t5YQ/s960/Wienermobile%20in%20Portland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGriAYnAiBEIBsaIDTWTjAR_hXR8YaNvMDQqgRuUe6CHg39XtKDVeW0PAMIT-yOmJbgXVBSGhEsgjMVTxXyZW8tD1prRL5dW5NltkGkKiPMeCfbtboN-GpatrdhudUXSzu1uP4l6BLv0kD8MZLNqVnk8ftkUOHyOvOFS10ZlGDx-9Wk37J70t5YQ/s320/Wienermobile%20in%20Portland.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"> <br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">We’ve been away since Friday on a trip through the NE of the US. </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">Our good friend from Portland, Maine was getting married on Saturday, so we decided to make the auto trip an adventure, one where we were continually amazed.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"> </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">This first tranche of photos is from the up-visit to and in Portland.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">We <span></span>spent Friday night in lovely Dunmore, PA- between Scranton and Throop. The Sleep Inn next to I-81 looks a bit sketchy from the outside. The litter and other human debris beside the parking area suggests some type of encampment, but the hotel itself was perfectly functional with comfortable bug-free beds and a modest free hotel breakfast.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"> </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">The wedding was scheduled to take place on a Portland Harbor cruise that departed the downtown wharf at 6pm. So we had to pray for fair seas across the interstates and toll roads through Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. The Mass Turnpike and through Down East Maine had other ideas. Traffic was thick and boggy, but we had left early and we’re confident we’d make it to the Best Western Merry Manor Inn in South Portland in time to change for the wedding.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"> </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">We crawled in to our hotel escorted by a thick blanket of Marine layer fog at 3:30 pm after beating the traffic wedges and invisible toll booths. I didn't realize that people don't "pay" tolls any more. Instead, tolls are assessed through some sort of decoder ring ping from your car or from some highly technical alien contraption that gawks at your car every now and then randomly assigns you with a flexible fee that is billed to your home address magically. We expect toll bombs to arrive in our mailbox over the next few weeks and months.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"> </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">The wedding cruise in Portland Harbor was limited by the fog blanket, but we managed to cruise out to one of the lighthouses that guards the entry to the harbor and celebrated a wonderful union between two mighty fine people. </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">SWSNBNOFB and I arrived back to the Merry Manor to find an Oscar Meyer Wiener-mobile in our parking lot, shrouded in the mists. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"> </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">We spent the next couple of days (Sunday and Monday) seeking the light. For the entire time we spent in Portland, we never saw the sun. In fact, there was no hint of the sun. It's like it just disappeared. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"> </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">Sunday took us north from Portland past Falmouth, Yarmouth, and Bath. Near Wiscasset, we took a right of US Rt 1 and headed toward Georgetown, Maine-at the end of a small peninsula beside the Atlantic. The fog escorted us the whole way. The end of the road featured a dock with a lobster roll shack. We don't much care for seafood. But the misty waters were stunning. The Wiener-mobile was in the hotel parking lot to greet us on our return. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"> </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">Monday, we went south from Portland and crawled up the coast from Old Orchard Beach to Fort Williams. The fog escorted us the whole way. The sun had ceased to exist.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"> </span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">Monday morning was the dawn of a new day. One that would take us to the interior North East on the tail of their deadly flood event. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"> </span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIxuT05IU1dFY_dIhwazVbdiZ7wNsYPSuCZYIOipHhwg0KjofLqbdjdC0pFDZShznwb7n2IxKhghN1meC7lPnyG9pjUX3uiCLTMbBCa4tWj-JgViu4_qHE8Bxt4_UaekB6d7MDP1qGrtohRt1Suqkb1tCACa4Uczidi_pUEPe86OM1pY2Ezqi1hQ/s960/5%20Islands%20Maine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIxuT05IU1dFY_dIhwazVbdiZ7wNsYPSuCZYIOipHhwg0KjofLqbdjdC0pFDZShznwb7n2IxKhghN1meC7lPnyG9pjUX3uiCLTMbBCa4tWj-JgViu4_qHE8Bxt4_UaekB6d7MDP1qGrtohRt1Suqkb1tCACa4Uczidi_pUEPe86OM1pY2Ezqi1hQ/s320/5%20Islands%20Maine.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO_uiExrmW5xUO9a3G2HBvLFR9kxlr-tAWfzNUrRQW6A6_MxQyy4_7pTtJMndpGj5xXU4FFfDjStUMhpjC3hA77_fcZo-5NltfmgdFSWlJIunXdVydEo9UPcAI1VBebztvRqg0r5SBMh-1dxn5CZjebt76TMF0Gbqe-szLKAnDNNFOtT_6iLJa9w/s960/Pine%20Point.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO_uiExrmW5xUO9a3G2HBvLFR9kxlr-tAWfzNUrRQW6A6_MxQyy4_7pTtJMndpGj5xXU4FFfDjStUMhpjC3hA77_fcZo-5NltfmgdFSWlJIunXdVydEo9UPcAI1VBebztvRqg0r5SBMh-1dxn5CZjebt76TMF0Gbqe-szLKAnDNNFOtT_6iLJa9w/s320/Pine%20Point.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjK_afTQp6AkoWgDltFDRcNoQrCMqHLAG8UfgWfXpH-zIqwbeAxbS9YqOaQF116bEoLVyyH-tVAKNtYP-TAK0hKkq-G3ouged2_ER0K70G8DI3YgM-gAc7h0xx46SMO8M-638pviZSuf7aryEouvumFKbWKxMXvfXmoYZHtVnf3q1a0Xqqbev23A/s960/Reid%20State%20Park%20Maine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjK_afTQp6AkoWgDltFDRcNoQrCMqHLAG8UfgWfXpH-zIqwbeAxbS9YqOaQF116bEoLVyyH-tVAKNtYP-TAK0hKkq-G3ouged2_ER0K70G8DI3YgM-gAc7h0xx46SMO8M-638pviZSuf7aryEouvumFKbWKxMXvfXmoYZHtVnf3q1a0Xqqbev23A/s320/Reid%20State%20Park%20Maine.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi75o8gdd3FvFdpkVnMYoepZi0ryuOahFYe03E2XqadBQ0KVhEXPP9PTtHAJVt_8YvLuyD96ZKVOm00nMhCCkLKpNx61lByJAwk26FaJZdSOhIT7BGRhgzC1Xe3KCrupJ292cP4ZJicr5sAvdwbkdctxPdXEqKebYl8-wm6G1095Gc94rShniYTcg/s960/Scranton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi75o8gdd3FvFdpkVnMYoepZi0ryuOahFYe03E2XqadBQ0KVhEXPP9PTtHAJVt_8YvLuyD96ZKVOm00nMhCCkLKpNx61lByJAwk26FaJZdSOhIT7BGRhgzC1Xe3KCrupJ292cP4ZJicr5sAvdwbkdctxPdXEqKebYl8-wm6G1095Gc94rShniYTcg/s320/Scranton.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5pTqMXnBEkd9dXbCRAv9W6Wv85uZiWCAAGdsrllHXw7D-HHwAm-3ijQ1ey-8HKwXHPzshiFpfbvibhUjOA8KDyz3nSUfvNuOM_Hqa0of_yktGJAm5-7dkDgFaiiE-kVYHQpK5e-E8nUmzneWZb1PjWEDF1NQ5NP7MPoBXIO5g2WTis00nrdmt-w/s960/Tug%20boat%20on%20Portland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5pTqMXnBEkd9dXbCRAv9W6Wv85uZiWCAAGdsrllHXw7D-HHwAm-3ijQ1ey-8HKwXHPzshiFpfbvibhUjOA8KDyz3nSUfvNuOM_Hqa0of_yktGJAm5-7dkDgFaiiE-kVYHQpK5e-E8nUmzneWZb1PjWEDF1NQ5NP7MPoBXIO5g2WTis00nrdmt-w/s320/Tug%20boat%20on%20Portland.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> </span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"> </span></div>Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-85055505071926397422022-10-04T21:59:00.005-04:002022-10-04T21:59:40.445-04:00That Time I Almost Touched Loretta Lynn<p><br /></p><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">I can't remember the exact year, but I think it must have been July of 1980 or 1981. I was working as a Games supervisor at Lakeside Amusement Park in Salem, VA.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Loretta Lynn was scheduled to appear and the concert was expected to draw a HUGE crowd. Back in those days, Lakeside drew the biggest country acts. Each year, Conway Twitty would flood the park and Salem with 14,000 Twitty Birds. They would swarm and games business was amazing. Loretta Lynn's upcoming concert was altogether different and would no-doubt draw equal or greater crowds. She was a living legend. </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">I can't remember if the concert was just before or just after the release of "Coal Miner's Daughter" starring Sissy Spacek (a person with whom I also have an oblique connection). As a supervisor, I was relatively unattached to a specific game, so I was free to ramble around the park. That evening, my fellow supervisor and I found ourselves doing some subtle 145-pound security around Loretta Lynn's tour bus behind the concert pavilion stage.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Fans were trying to crush the bus just to get a glimpse or touch of Ms. Lynn and my buddy and I were flanking her tour bus door just on the other side of the chain link fence to keep people from reaching through the fence to touch her.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">When Loretta descended the bus stairs to take the stage, I was right there, inches away from her...on the other side of the fence. She nodded, smiled, and waved to the crowd and ME. I smelled her perfumed big hair and felt her swish past me to the pavilion stage. </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">While the encounter only lasted mere seconds, I remember my buddy and I being completely starstruck. I felt like I had just been in the presence of royalty. </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Here it is 40-some years later, and I still remember that moment. Rest In Peace Loretta Lynn.</div></div>Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-69968496823963747422022-03-14T18:29:00.000-04:002022-03-14T18:29:09.848-04:00 One Recurring Dream<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">I have a unique ability to rise up into the air. Whenever I want, I can gently jump up and will continue rising into the air. I'm still learning how to steer and how to descend, which causes more than a little stress. The views, however, are quite stunning. So far, I seem to really like leading a class of third graders down a school hall while floating at the head of the line. I also like exploring the beat-up automotive garage located at the site of the current City Line Food Lion at the corner of Cove and Peters Creek Roads in Roanoke. Hovering there just above the tree line affords me an excellent view of Fort Lewis, Brushy, Catawba, and Tinker Mountains. I have no idea what all this means. I don't completely like it as I feel a bit frightened when I soaring up above.</span><br /></p>Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-61515375424857702072021-10-25T18:27:00.007-04:002021-10-25T18:35:57.235-04:00Adam 12 Jumps the Shark<p> </p><div><div dir="auto"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc e5nlhep0 dati1w0a" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_1xr"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d"><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"></span></span></span></p><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicHke7fdoPTxKEaicepdoI-vBQ9o5KNxuN4KQQ-StSavpjtMkFy8PzVuHTyPxDmd0tny6vFrlf2Bj64SDC_TXtJ5HbvCurovZJ2DICW8SCrNm_9RSqPmRUSDm-Q22nZAxdTID-9A/s370/Adam-12_title_card.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="370" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicHke7fdoPTxKEaicepdoI-vBQ9o5KNxuN4KQQ-StSavpjtMkFy8PzVuHTyPxDmd0tny6vFrlf2Bj64SDC_TXtJ5HbvCurovZJ2DICW8SCrNm_9RSqPmRUSDm-Q22nZAxdTID-9A/w252-h184/Adam-12_title_card.jpg" width="252" /></a></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Today, Adam-12 almost, not quite, "Jumped the Shark"*. In this episode, "The Weasel", I mean "The Ferret", was repeatedly breaking in to a polluting factory run by a large-mouthed factory man. He's a crafty little guy.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Then, a Mississippi couple had the "Mojo" put on them by a local Los Angeles witch doctor. The doctor prescribed that the pregnant wife eat Mississippi red clay. The woman fell into a coma and the baby died. Later, the unrepentant witch doctor put a mojo eye hex on Officer Reed. An hour later, Sgt. Mac showed the guys that Reed was front page news in the LA Times for allowing The Ferret to escape.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: medium;">On second thought, Adam-12 officially "Jumped the Shark" in this episode.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja5l-gXAviI9xwcHJ9YzWsz-jRTiv5TUEBiO_JVRpEI1jPQBMOYiF6QE40ionRgKv-GjqdfQaHTQMlPpHcZ5NhvBdLqcGEK3-59LA756jFkoqK440RpbEyUItx9yqxekFkPwt3HQ/s476/Fonz+Shark+2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="357" data-original-width="476" height="114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja5l-gXAviI9xwcHJ9YzWsz-jRTiv5TUEBiO_JVRpEI1jPQBMOYiF6QE40ionRgKv-GjqdfQaHTQMlPpHcZ5NhvBdLqcGEK3-59LA756jFkoqK440RpbEyUItx9yqxekFkPwt3HQ/w151-h114/Fonz+Shark+2.jpg" width="151" /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span></span></span></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I wish the other channel hadn't replaced "McGuyver" with "Walker, Texas Ranger". Not only do I detest and disagree with Chuck Norris on a personal and political level, this &*^$%$#% show is on almost every over-the-air minor channel all day. Thus, I'm back with the mojo mud-eating weasels.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div><div dir="auto" style="margin-left: 120px; text-align: start;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBpTkomc7anuyvtxM7neoH3AnWHgYagRpOL-NmGviTM-O8xPc6dwzPhmsEVXEWjltytuNP7yp-DT_M1Rr0Gl5MvGk_KrHZXSoklhrFU4az0hBfl2g33Anwn3mY3v3OC4yEBT4AKw/s4030/IMG_4066.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4030" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBpTkomc7anuyvtxM7neoH3AnWHgYagRpOL-NmGviTM-O8xPc6dwzPhmsEVXEWjltytuNP7yp-DT_M1Rr0Gl5MvGk_KrHZXSoklhrFU4az0hBfl2g33Anwn3mY3v3OC4yEBT4AKw/w220-h165/IMG_4066.HEIC" width="220" /></a></span></span></span> </span></p></div></div><p></p></div></div></div></div></div>Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-78788994874657712842021-10-17T17:14:00.004-04:002021-10-17T19:08:14.078-04:00A Football Game Experience<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinLWOco25yiBTpMZsaf_zFO7UVZDTNp9vLxhzduxrCLC-daDzUWFXEbP4XuwnzJUv5JXuryQQ2MGCGtkXIiDkccuSp7rpAAGoI_HuphyphenhyphenjSu800nWLVaE-tzHDp27zebvdYVkF3mg/s4032/IMG_4075.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Lane Stadium Blacksburg, VA" border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinLWOco25yiBTpMZsaf_zFO7UVZDTNp9vLxhzduxrCLC-daDzUWFXEbP4XuwnzJUv5JXuryQQ2MGCGtkXIiDkccuSp7rpAAGoI_HuphyphenhyphenjSu800nWLVaE-tzHDp27zebvdYVkF3mg/w400-h300/IMG_4075.HEIC" width="400" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> </span></span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<p></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span>Pittsburgh at Virginia Tech</span></span></b></u></span></p><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span></b></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">October 16, 2021</span></span></b></p><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span></b></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Pitt wins 28-7</span></span></b></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #660000;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Kenny Pickett, 14<sup>th</sup> year senior QB, was largely
held in check as the Panthers chewed away at the clock thanks to a most anemic
VT offense that had absolutely no identity.</span></span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></i></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">My wife and I haven’t attended any games in person to this
point in the season.<span> </span>Frankly, we were
concerned about the close proximity seating and unfiltered breathing providing
too much of a health risk even though we are both vaccinated.<span> </span>After much consideration, including looking
at the virus data trends in the area and a favorable windy forecast, we decided
to give attending a shot.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We hadn’t sat in our new seats since reseating before the
2020 season.<span> </span>Up to this point, I’d
always given them away to extended family members.<span> </span>Our new seats, along the east side 30 yard
line in the nosebleeds, are only a row behind our old seats but a bump closer
to the aisle.<span> </span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We chose to get into these fabulous seats about an hour
before game.<span> </span>The sky was flashing by in
a mad dash toward some unreachable pressure equalization.<span> </span>But the weather was dry while the flags were
shredding.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaj4l-iiO5FXx_paQ4RirzNjARAgEgumSf9_n8yL-gIMrA7oESgZLCFUaH7x0QYOwHiOnbhc0Ruor3cJMZetANjQk6sWPfSjgYnDyhyB8X6dA9bFVBc_qLJUD1EUXabLfCB2ae4w/s4032/IMG_4076.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaj4l-iiO5FXx_paQ4RirzNjARAgEgumSf9_n8yL-gIMrA7oESgZLCFUaH7x0QYOwHiOnbhc0Ruor3cJMZetANjQk6sWPfSjgYnDyhyB8X6dA9bFVBc_qLJUD1EUXabLfCB2ae4w/s320/IMG_4076.HEIC" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> </span></span><p></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For us, everything went off the rails when our new neighbors
arrived.<span> </span>No one to my right.<span> </span>An angry couple to my wife’s left.<span> </span>A mature couple soon joined by their college
student son directly in front of us.<span> </span>Three
amigas of widely varying ages directly behind us.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As the longest first half in VT football history played out
like a torturous black and white dream, our neighbors began to invade our life
in disturbing ways.<span> </span>Angry man beside my
wife began a three hour F-bomb monologue pointed toward Fuente, Cornelsen,
Burmeister, Turner, Tim Sands, Whit, Hamilton, Homecoming Royalty, Hokie Pokie,
concession lines, stadium loudspeaker volume, Blackshear,<span> </span>Gallo, and Dax (just because).<span> </span>I’m sure I left a few out.<span> </span>We wondered how someone so very angry gets
any joy out of life.<span> </span>(Disclaimer: I held
my foul tongue until the ridiculous interference retraction in the third
quarter.)</span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Meanwhile, the mature couple in front of us was joined by
their son who was already teetering on the edge of verticality. <span> </span>It had taken most of the first quarter for his
Pop on the phone and signal flares sent up to steer him to the triple
nosebleeds.<span> </span>Their homecoming was
heart-warming.<span> </span>Mom and son shared a deep
embrace followed by the same between father and son.<span> </span>I was moved.<span>
</span>Then they sat, and I found that their backs were now pinning my knobby
knees back into my gut.<span> </span>Dad then got
up and began his beer runs.<span> </span>He spent
most of the rest of the game shuttling back and forth refreshing the beer
supply for Mom and son.<span> </span>Meanwhile, Mom
and son began to escalate their embraces into something a bit more
affectionate. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsrTQzhICbDHi4vGf8wEYGEcuyyT7hMbl8fFbaK5NHU4GNChET4RDkEYxq0l61bXBAj84XFwrECozsmOvG371HcvvISzei99SeFjum7_71uRB_nanBgRxkP87QDBNT5itXKuN3-g/s4032/IMG_4090.HEIC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsrTQzhICbDHi4vGf8wEYGEcuyyT7hMbl8fFbaK5NHU4GNChET4RDkEYxq0l61bXBAj84XFwrECozsmOvG371HcvvISzei99SeFjum7_71uRB_nanBgRxkP87QDBNT5itXKuN3-g/w320-h240/IMG_4090.HEIC" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Comfortably Numb</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It was more than a little
uncomfortable to watch and feel as their entangled arms massaged my naked knees.<span> </span>They vacated the stadium late in third period
just in time for us, as I’ll explain in a moment.<span> </span>I watched as they slowly descended out of the
clouds to the portal far below.<span> </span>Mom and
Dad went ahead of their son. Meanwhile, he implemented<span> </span>the tried and sometimes true “Hold-Onto-The-Center-Rail”
strategy for inebriated exit.<span> </span>After some
serious challenges with gravity and magnetic fields, he successfully disappeared
into the portal.</span></span></p><p></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Before I write about the three amigas, I want the reader to understand
a bit about my experiences with alcohol.<span>
</span>All through my teen years, college, and career, I drank- sometimes to
excess.<span> </span>When it came to attending VT games
as an adult, I found that I enjoyed them more if I was sober.<span> </span>I finally reached bottom with my drinking on
May 19, 2014.<span> </span>After spending the day enjoying
bourbon and Cokes, I drove out to see my friend play in his Celtic band at a
local winery.<span> </span>There, I sampled the local
wine and felt the need to have a craft brew or two, since there were also beer tents
set up at this event.<span> </span>Also understand
that I was about six weeks removed from reconstructive left knee surgery.<span> </span>So I was still on crutches and wore a heavy
brace.<span> </span>When the concert in the cow
pasture was over, I began staggering on crutches back to my vehicle and ended
up face-planting in a cow pie.<span> </span>I just
laid there and one of my sober friends happened by and volunteered to drive me
home.<span> </span>I stopped drinking that day.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The three amigas, probably related to each other, arrived
escorted by two older gentlemen.<span> </span>The
women came already primed and with a nice cache of stadium beers and airplane bottles.<span> </span>They were happy people.<span> </span>As the affectionate couple invaded our space
from the front, these ladies encroached from behind.<span> </span>Constant kicking in the back.<span> </span>During most of the second quarter, I had a
smelly shoe poised beside my right nostril as one of the ladies was most
comfortable sitting with crossed-legs as she leaned over to banter with her
mates.<span> </span>Not much football game
attention.<span> </span>It was more about the
homecoming festivities, the royal court, shopping for earrings at the gift
shop, and long peeing lines (They are ridiculous!).<span> </span>The first beer was spilled beside me, but I
was poised to keep it from spreading.<span> </span>I
plucked out my handy paper towels which I carry for just such emergencies, and
I Bountied the beer tide before it got to my stuff stored under my seat.<span> </span>Another minor spill happened at half, and
again the paper towels took care of any potential collateral damage.<span> </span>Late in the third quarter, the big one struck.<span> </span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Having just arrived from yet another trip to the beer
concession, the middle amiga, who was just behind my wife, opened her can.<span> </span>It immediately began spewing beer all over,
and the lady somehow managed despite her condition, to contain it -minus the
beer suds that coated the back of my wife.<span>
</span>A few minutes later, the middle amiga again lost control of her can and
knocked it over with her foot.<span> </span>This time
the beer spewed like lava from a volcano right through the crack under my wife’s
seat and down her leg and into her left shoe. I don’t think that the middle
lady even knew what she had done.<span> </span>I
deployed the rest of my Bounty on the wave, and we evacuated to the now-vacated
row in front of us.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We have never left a game early until Saturday.<span> </span>After VT gave up on yet another offensive
possession, we chose to exit the stadium figuring that we could salvage some
joy by taking a sunset stroll across campus back to our car, which was in the
former commuter lot parking garage.<span> </span>I
must confess that I inflicted shock and dismay on an innocent fan when I tried
to brush aside an empty water bottle that was laying in the aisle as we went
down the steps.<span> </span>It got away from my foot
and launched into a lady’s shoulder a few seats into the row.<span> </span>She looked at me in shock, and I’m sure she
must have thought I was hammered.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The walk was truly healing.<span>
</span>We didn’t speak of the horrific game we had just witnessed.<span> </span>We didn’t discuss the fans we
encountered.<span> </span>We just drank in the
incredible beauty of our campus.<span> </span>The
lush green drill field, the vibrant leaves, the endless orange and maroon sky.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo9PFMRkYp6qjsP4N4W-ABNX0rGavSsEeEDKAqYPh8LtSFVHKKNcx_JNdfM_yHNMT5nEwUjWU9hvWHt4mlLDWQeZCtgTDyNIxtcjsqoiERQVZsjUZcFJY2BIWCVnERAPd0NybNtQ/s4032/IMG_4097.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo9PFMRkYp6qjsP4N4W-ABNX0rGavSsEeEDKAqYPh8LtSFVHKKNcx_JNdfM_yHNMT5nEwUjWU9hvWHt4mlLDWQeZCtgTDyNIxtcjsqoiERQVZsjUZcFJY2BIWCVnERAPd0NybNtQ/s320/IMG_4097.HEIC" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> </span></span><p></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One final trial awaited us.<span>
</span>We made it back to the parking garage and waited for my sister to get
back from the shuttle bus.<span> </span>We broke out
a few simple sandwiches, veggies, and Cokes.<span>
</span>I turned on the 2016 Honda Civic’s radio, and we listened to the post-game.<span> </span>After a few minutes, we decided that there
was nothing that we wanted to hear about that game.<span> </span>So I went to turn off accessory mode. Now, I
struggle with certain technologies, apparently.<span>
</span>I was supposed to push the brake and push the ignition button or maybe I
was supposed to push the brake pedal twice and push the button or maybe it was
push the button and not pump the brake.<span>
</span>Whatever it was, I did it wrong, and now the car‘s electrical system was
freaking out and all normal car function was frozen, including the gear
shift.<span> </span>I tried everything to free the
car from its seizure, but nothing worked.<span>
</span>Fortunately, I knew that I could manually free the gear shifter by popping
a pen into a slot behind the shift mechanism in the storage compartment.<span> </span>I managed to get the car to neutral, but it the
electrical system was still frozen.<span> </span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What I didn’t mention is that this exact same thing happened
two years ago in almost the same location before a game.<span> </span>That time, I freed the stick and got a guy with
a huge pickup truck next to us with cable to try jumping the car.<span> </span>That worked immediately and the system reset
itself.<span> </span>So I was confident that all we
needed was a jump. With the garage pretty much empty, I decided to call AAA,
and that’s when I discovered that I had left my wallet at home.<span> </span>After some tense moments, I was able to get
the AAA phone number and secure some service within the next 126 minutes.<span> </span>Fortunately, AAA was beyond responsive.<span> </span>Within about 20 minutes Dacota from Campus
Automotive rolled up with his portable starter kit and helpful outlook on life.
<span> </span>The car immediately fired up.<span> </span>My sister had been recovered from the shuttle,
and we headed back to Roanoke without any further setbacks.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As you can tell, our first game in two seasons was not
especially fun.<span> </span>The positives were
walking across campus, the pregame views in the stadium, and being rescued by Dacota.
The negatives far out-weighed any positive.<span>
</span>The neighbors, the money-less concessions, the beers, the distracting
jumbotron. Oh and the mauling by Pitt.<span>
</span>It’s like the fan base no longer goes to the game for the game, but
rather to… I don’t know what.<span> </span>From here
on out, we will follow the team more from the distance.<span> </span>I’m sure some would tell us to not let the
door hit us on the way out, but we don’t have surplus discretionary income to
spend of something that really isn’t very entertaining. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I suppose that at least we didn’t have to watch the game
broadcast with endless sideline shots of Narduzzi whining about everything, and
that’s something.<span> </span>Go Hokies.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Here are some other photos from our visit</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc7VKV5JsT_1wSdI0YMYeA4yzyrkkgcmN42IbLVf8gwPXDLtzDZxc9fxQIqyjSmM2qZeG2UOKXjsg0v_cqmZ5iiorXqmErJAl2ip8LiFtCXcMLSVQ-TBGZAj15at5pK49ziKJk4w/s4032/IMG_4096.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc7VKV5JsT_1wSdI0YMYeA4yzyrkkgcmN42IbLVf8gwPXDLtzDZxc9fxQIqyjSmM2qZeG2UOKXjsg0v_cqmZ5iiorXqmErJAl2ip8LiFtCXcMLSVQ-TBGZAj15at5pK49ziKJk4w/s320/IMG_4096.HEIC" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsz8nPGQktoT-esQSh-c_Cq7WOmj_-Ah9iRUFsBQWPoBxJTnAE7HhHFLTHlBE8HOrWZH-ETSGvd_izQn8uJc5E9vqGDRqJnam6_Uf90jjOAZN-R6c07CrEB-8ikidw5Px8_r-X2Q/s4032/IMG_4095.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsz8nPGQktoT-esQSh-c_Cq7WOmj_-Ah9iRUFsBQWPoBxJTnAE7HhHFLTHlBE8HOrWZH-ETSGvd_izQn8uJc5E9vqGDRqJnam6_Uf90jjOAZN-R6c07CrEB-8ikidw5Px8_r-X2Q/s320/IMG_4095.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWBnErrkHp3r7f5dGP0eTK545EkdewTUMwEnmp61DpAHqGOzYPHbDbi4zxFT5iK1wAXAaki_FNEboD0FVy3SDZB8gz3RuCDqXsMH_9ZY0Zxip2Kvrim1jnIuBE2UepzFPmuQaUjA/s3088/IMG_4094.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWBnErrkHp3r7f5dGP0eTK545EkdewTUMwEnmp61DpAHqGOzYPHbDbi4zxFT5iK1wAXAaki_FNEboD0FVy3SDZB8gz3RuCDqXsMH_9ZY0Zxip2Kvrim1jnIuBE2UepzFPmuQaUjA/s320/IMG_4094.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWMnPwW5xbCF9pBns8-sUnMUNrrrTFnNDbEeVOBehnbH_RGZlT3Zuubcbu38camNynLuEYnVWYwTZoCRCJ7D8c5XQ2u_LGJ3fafhvTfUQRe6D1rmc1BDbV8teIOUJStR7TttViYg/s4032/IMG_4092.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWMnPwW5xbCF9pBns8-sUnMUNrrrTFnNDbEeVOBehnbH_RGZlT3Zuubcbu38camNynLuEYnVWYwTZoCRCJ7D8c5XQ2u_LGJ3fafhvTfUQRe6D1rmc1BDbV8teIOUJStR7TttViYg/s320/IMG_4092.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrkKLM-7xsZ6vYtJZeorAwJUXsvuWL7hEpUCt7sZD9_sjvx0lCLolRi7QLI_TiNNKCKjB4W0HSWVnCMxgB3g4d6JJnXAd61bhejVr45b4sl5BcypBXO827njpQ81D_Qj59iOmaxg/s4032/IMG_4091.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrkKLM-7xsZ6vYtJZeorAwJUXsvuWL7hEpUCt7sZD9_sjvx0lCLolRi7QLI_TiNNKCKjB4W0HSWVnCMxgB3g4d6JJnXAd61bhejVr45b4sl5BcypBXO827njpQ81D_Qj59iOmaxg/s320/IMG_4091.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6SIge0Dcw808GqCqDeNdhNKPJ-YI-vrTwNEF3sKfk-xnN8KWYKPJXJKZxC3ed-FkZeumDCYqbudF1eBCSygmObJ2nu6M6Zt3ghZwCme4eADCMx1f6vCFHKq_KC89OZ_lS7NrXxg/s4032/IMG_4074.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6SIge0Dcw808GqCqDeNdhNKPJ-YI-vrTwNEF3sKfk-xnN8KWYKPJXJKZxC3ed-FkZeumDCYqbudF1eBCSygmObJ2nu6M6Zt3ghZwCme4eADCMx1f6vCFHKq_KC89OZ_lS7NrXxg/s320/IMG_4074.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT-a-8KHDHmwh15DR4y3oc1frrffnbOrdyd0Lc0GI3Hk7MtqzM-Y5uBYCbkeLo7DcQR02Q6Nqix4R36WyciZoXsRpTnvuYB68xSqh4yJi7dSkIVjM7Q1dwYjewIPa46lQBqNOTng/s4032/IMG_4073.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT-a-8KHDHmwh15DR4y3oc1frrffnbOrdyd0Lc0GI3Hk7MtqzM-Y5uBYCbkeLo7DcQR02Q6Nqix4R36WyciZoXsRpTnvuYB68xSqh4yJi7dSkIVjM7Q1dwYjewIPa46lQBqNOTng/s320/IMG_4073.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmf6tDj8B82BHwAAznkqbD5hmXjdm3eDccM34wl6tymbhDNSM-7MrczuR3D2cmTiCQOzDQAFkat8ZvInUgJT1Y8nJ7nhy2lAi_-hqt8HdwzEaVx-WC2OwHQXq7o7PJcHFpdmiyCg/s4032/IMG_4071.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmf6tDj8B82BHwAAznkqbD5hmXjdm3eDccM34wl6tymbhDNSM-7MrczuR3D2cmTiCQOzDQAFkat8ZvInUgJT1Y8nJ7nhy2lAi_-hqt8HdwzEaVx-WC2OwHQXq7o7PJcHFpdmiyCg/s320/IMG_4071.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOubKXrOdoDf58XTGe-knrSPmRKrvt5-Q0Je0VPYa6sr8l9A4stxVnKC34nylXKSRojMmd4Wy_fPm_7_hraPAUdl8APc-uxlmNyUqDwn6PENQWmBgWhYJNJh9NoM1YXF3W2TGTHg/s4032/IMG_4069.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOubKXrOdoDf58XTGe-knrSPmRKrvt5-Q0Je0VPYa6sr8l9A4stxVnKC34nylXKSRojMmd4Wy_fPm_7_hraPAUdl8APc-uxlmNyUqDwn6PENQWmBgWhYJNJh9NoM1YXF3W2TGTHg/s320/IMG_4069.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSI0hrvJG9xBfYkzBwMZqes6Ay90mkWNRgXuCQAwiDWWmTmFbsQ8DX_DeRabVGv4QpKpIfSbhYUxT4iQuU6WFftMcSEOIVj2Fm9g8bcAw5P5rkKYT9AE-P_wBmI7nkpsuS8x5O9w/s4032/IMG_4070.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSI0hrvJG9xBfYkzBwMZqes6Ay90mkWNRgXuCQAwiDWWmTmFbsQ8DX_DeRabVGv4QpKpIfSbhYUxT4iQuU6WFftMcSEOIVj2Fm9g8bcAw5P5rkKYT9AE-P_wBmI7nkpsuS8x5O9w/s320/IMG_4070.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWyYPPyQ23JigajI7mgaMfsZCBMjR9w1Pf7BpDjJe-rmNk4LTWsA3Shi4DzNbFefPz71eIOh4FJuQEbzBeDiasSANA3nqQJf02Euh1ik48AQMHjibASOLgi5ox0il0Rsfofoja3g/s4030/IMG_4066.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4030" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWyYPPyQ23JigajI7mgaMfsZCBMjR9w1Pf7BpDjJe-rmNk4LTWsA3Shi4DzNbFefPz71eIOh4FJuQEbzBeDiasSANA3nqQJf02Euh1ik48AQMHjibASOLgi5ox0il0Rsfofoja3g/s320/IMG_4066.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <br /></span></span><p></p>
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Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-29345780422752214372021-04-03T14:03:00.004-04:002021-04-15T11:29:47.007-04:00Plants In Cups 2021<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga6tTv7VnQ99sBWyhZgn58mNv4cSUDMrO-qPSPbMz-PzumDOTRwsKf_4xmRG_7HLwJ0dFi0CoHx0klE6Y32kxRvsQuWtBncfEbgXZL6BQJZ2VVosFh4t58Zcvma0Bngfu0ZmkB-A/s2048/Tomato+Fight.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1345" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga6tTv7VnQ99sBWyhZgn58mNv4cSUDMrO-qPSPbMz-PzumDOTRwsKf_4xmRG_7HLwJ0dFi0CoHx0klE6Y32kxRvsQuWtBncfEbgXZL6BQJZ2VVosFh4t58Zcvma0Bngfu0ZmkB-A/s320/Tomato+Fight.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> Plants in Cups</span></span></b></p><p style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For as many years as I can remember, I've grown my own tomatoes and peppers. Also for as long as I remember, I've grown too many. In addition for as long as I remember, I end up giving away a mess of plants to school children and local community gardens. The pandemic, however, has greatly limited what I can give away to elementary school kids.<br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Given that I have more than a thousand plants, I try to recoup my cost by seeking donations from other people who scream for the plants.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: medium;">My "catalog" began more years ago than I can remember as a way for me to have some fun writing while gently having fun with traditional seed catalog descriptions. The pictures and basic information are accurate. The other stuff is just a bit of an invention. I add to it every year as I try out new varieties or think of a new silly story. </span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QyObUjeSk6_wDIs7i39LuhyP6uktnIac/view?usp=sharing">Plants in Cups Variety Listin</a>g </span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sQcus0UWn3EtZ9A7Kflke_0lxpsRV7qs/view?usp=sharing">Plants In Cups Catalog</a></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WgAl1LctJR13AkUGyti3TkvsTIGu_99p/view?usp=sharing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">Plants In Cups Order Form </span></span></span></span></a><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></span><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;">UPDATE: </span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sold Out Varieties</span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Sun Sugar </span></b></span><br /></div><div><div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You can reach me on <b>Facebook </b>or at <b>Newt999@gmail.com.</b> We can arrange for pickup when you order. I live in the Peter's Creek/Airport area.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I accept Cash, Venmo, or PayPal <br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span> <br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span><br /></p></div></div>Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-57586533588654649132020-06-28T19:32:00.002-04:002020-06-28T19:40:29.626-04:00Bounty for Heads<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="9fe9v-0-0"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifF6IWWxuQKf4PqzRIo6SWAGHgVNVJJy3OorUUPMvLoIJ_75-kJunSian7WH2PhyCU6uSmuJJQ6XFft0P7HL2xS_tMM7-eKnLrUwL2Tblh45Ov0RgpsVL_AxdcjXp7zEqG10-Hgw/s968/us-troops-american-military-soldiers-afghanistan-taliban-al-qaeda-war-on-terror.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="645" data-original-width="968" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifF6IWWxuQKf4PqzRIo6SWAGHgVNVJJy3OorUUPMvLoIJ_75-kJunSian7WH2PhyCU6uSmuJJQ6XFft0P7HL2xS_tMM7-eKnLrUwL2Tblh45Ov0RgpsVL_AxdcjXp7zEqG10-Hgw/s320/us-troops-american-military-soldiers-afghanistan-taliban-al-qaeda-war-on-terror.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span data-text="true"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9fe9v-0-0"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="9fe9v-0-0"><span data-text="true">The New York Times broke a story Thursday evening that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/28/us/politics/russian-bounties-warnings-trump.html">Russia had a bounty on the American soldiers in Afghanistan</a>. According to the report, verified by The Wall Street Journal and other news organizations, the Russian government had a deal through at least 2019 to pay the Taliban for each American soldier killed.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5c69-0-0"><span data-text="true">So, the president may or may not have heard about the Russian bounty deal with the Taliban back in March. As usual, we've gotten mixed messages from the administration on whether or not the president knew and when or when't [sic] he knew/knew't. Today, before he retweeted a video that included racist language and profanities (from both sides), he tweeted that he didn't know about the bounty. However, the administration doesn't disavow the actual core charge.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="8si5e-0-0"><span data-text="true">Which leads me to contemplate three possibilities:</span></span></span></span></div>
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<li class="_2cuy _509s _3kp_ _3kq0 _3kq1 _3kq6" data-block="true" data-editor="12v9" data-offset-key="1ssiq-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1ssiq-0-0">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="1ssiq-0-0"><span data-text="true">The intelligence services and/or his closest advisors were too afraid or oblivious to share this news with the president.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1ssiq-0-0">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="1ssiq-0-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></span></span></div>
</li>
<li class="_2cuy _509s _3kp_ _3kq1 _3kq6" data-block="true" data-editor="12v9" data-offset-key="82sh3-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="82sh3-0-0">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="82sh3-0-0"><span data-text="true">The president received the information in his Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB), but didn't read it or understand it, and no one pointed it out to him.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="82sh3-0-0">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="82sh3-0-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></span></span></div>
</li>
<li class="_2cuy _509s _3kp_ _3kq1 _3kq6" data-block="true" data-editor="12v9" data-offset-key="4se83-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4se83-0-0">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="4se83-0-0"><span data-text="true">He read it, and ignored it. He didn't care.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4se83-0-0">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="4se83-0-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></span></span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx" data-block="true" data-editor="12v9" data-offset-key="f8t7d-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="f8t7d-0-0">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="f8t7d-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx" data-block="true" data-editor="12v9" data-offset-key="4b3s8-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4b3s8-0-0">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="4b3s8-0-0"><span data-text="true">None of those three possibilities are especially comforting, nor are they a good look for the president. The fact is that since he was or should have been advised on this attack on American troops by Russia, the president responded by by doing three things:</span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx" data-block="true" data-editor="12v9" data-offset-key="2rc5j-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2rc5j-0-0">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="2rc5j-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<ol class="_1bv1" data-offset-key="f2mmn-0-0">
<li class="_2cuy _509s _3kp_ _3kq0 _3kq1 _3kq6" data-block="true" data-editor="12v9" data-offset-key="f2mmn-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="f2mmn-0-0">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="f2mmn-0-0"><span data-text="true">He announced the withdraw pulling 28% (9,500) of our troops out of Germany, something that Putin has long desired. Something that will, arguably make the EU less secure from Russian aggression. </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="f2mmn-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="68ksr-0-0"><span data-text="true"><a href="https://taskandpurpose.com/news/us-military-germany-trump">German Withdraw</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="f2mmn-0-0">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="f2mmn-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="68ksr-0-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
</li>
<li class="_2cuy _509s _3kp_ _3kq1 _3kq6" data-block="true" data-editor="12v9" data-offset-key="d22ei-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="d22ei-0-0">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="d22ei-0-0"><span data-text="true">He's petitioned for Russia to be granted readmission to the G7 (G8). If you recall, Russia was kicked out after it annexed Ukraine's Crimea in 2014. Again, this is something that Putin has long wanted.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="d22ei-0-0">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="d22ei-0-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></span></span></div>
</li>
<li class="_2cuy _509s _3kp_ _3kq1 _3kq6" data-block="true" data-editor="12v9" data-offset-key="dap69-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="dap69-0-0">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="dap69-0-0"><span data-text="true">Nothing. He has done absolutely nothing about this. In fact, the day after the story broke...when Trump said that he was staying in Washington for the weekend to keep "LAW & ORDER", he went out to play golf at his Virginia course.</span></span></span></span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx" data-block="true" data-editor="12v9" data-offset-key="68ksr-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="68ksr-0-0">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="68ksr-0-0"><span data-text="true"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-64059898753095879372020-05-12T14:04:00.002-04:002020-05-12T14:04:28.265-04:00Carnival Games at Lakeside
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Carnival Games at
Lakeside</span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">(This was adapted from
a free-flowing FaceBook response)</span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="3l3x">I worked the games from 1978-1982. The
first year, I was an all-purpose worker, which means I was banished a lot to
Color Dot, Machine Gun, and Dime Pitch (damn merry-go-round music still sears
my brain); places where workers learned the art of boredom. I graduated to The
Weight Game that year and on to The Birthday Game. Eventually, I was elevated
to stock room and finally to games supervisor before I was canned (still makes
me angry). </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="3l3x">I only recall one game being "rigged”:Dime/Quarter
pitch. At that game a fine silicone mist was sprayed onto the plates to cause
the coins to skid across and off the plate. When the giant animals (expensive)
were given away, you know that someone screwed up. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="3l3x">Some games were made almost impossibly
hard: basketball shooting (small rim), Basket Game (23 degree angle to the
wicker basket using hard plastic light softballs--I got the angle wrong when I
built it with Dave Wade), Machine Gun: had to shoot out every thread of the red
star from the target. Cat Rack, a part of the Front Games, was trickier to win
than you might think. The "cats" were fluffy and allowed to ball to
pass through without striking anything of substance. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="3l3x">Other games were relatively easy to win,
but the prizes reflected that. Birthday Game was quite straight forward. We
knew that you had only 14 places to drop your quarter, so our losses were
essentially predetermined when the "rhomba-casa-quaddecahedron" was
rolled. Later, Don (the boss boss) added two more dates to the board for a
total of 16 squares and a new hexakaidecagon. The Weight Game only gave away
"slum" and "flock", prizes worth pennies. Once you got
someone to play, we won. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="3l3x">There are a few tips I learned along the
way to consistently win at some of the games. Most of the tips center on one
over-riding principle: less is more. To win at almost any throwing game, making
a slow, under-powered toss is the key. On Cat Rack, I could knock down three
clowns almost every time I tossed by using a gentle dart throwing motion.
Simply aim the "dart" (ball) and toss like a dart. I used the same
strategy at Break-A-Plate with great success. Todd Stafford mentioned the bank
shot in Skeeball. One of my favorite strategies worked on Machine Gun. Most
people who played, took the gun and blasted away all 100 shots in rapid-fire
fashion. The way to win, however, was to take single shots. Since the sights
weren't standardized, the first couple of shots gave you an idea where the
shots would go. Then you simply cut a circle around the red star using single
shots, causing it to drop out of the target completely in one piece.</span></span></span></div>
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<![endif]-->Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-34977029802465837952020-04-21T20:15:00.000-04:002020-04-21T20:15:42.772-04:00A Ranty Rant and a Rebuttal<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP7FJ8Eb56DDr7mS4LXgeo85zNCFwatlkyxFihc9ZdpzpSCnM6LD-bqeUkZt5H4qWmJl1P6t67Rg_UeqUV7D2bLNkjPsI6VJwwLrKrWpEDJAHehl81vOhxVJgLX-os3otVo5BE-Q/s1600/rant.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="547" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP7FJ8Eb56DDr7mS4LXgeo85zNCFwatlkyxFihc9ZdpzpSCnM6LD-bqeUkZt5H4qWmJl1P6t67Rg_UeqUV7D2bLNkjPsI6VJwwLrKrWpEDJAHehl81vOhxVJgLX-os3otVo5BE-Q/s320/rant.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">A Ranty Rant and a Rebuttal</span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">I know lots of people on social
media. Some of them don't share my political beliefs. One of them posted this
rant this afternoon. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">I thought I'd post it here
in its entirety. I believe that this is something that someone on the Interwebs
wrote and is being passed around.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Read it, then look for my
retooled anti-rant that follows the bones of the original.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">*****************************************</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Copy paste but still:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br />
I'm not posting this for debate. I don’t need any comments. Unfriend me if you
must. Just please consider this...when you think the President is a jerk...</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">The bottom line has been
that Trump IS a jerk. He’s crude, he bloviates, he gets his feelings hurt and
he’s a hot head. And he should stay off Twitter.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Let me tell you what else
he is. He is a guy that demands performance. He is a guy that asks lots of
questions. The questions he asks aren’t cloaked in fancy phrases, they are “why
the hell....” questions.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">For decades the health
industry has thrown away billions of face masks after one use. Trump asks, “Why
the hell are we throwing them away? Why not sterilize them and use them
numerous times?” He’s the guy that gets hospital ships readied in one week, when
it would have taken a bureaucrat weeks or months to get it done. He’s the guy
that gets temporary hospitals built in three days. He’s the guy that gets
industries to build ventilators and face masks in a business that’s highly
regulated by agencies that move like sloths.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br />
He’s the guy that asks why we aren’t using drugs that might work on people that
are dying; what the hell do we have to lose? In spite of all the naysayers.
He’s the guy that shut down travel from China, when the liberals and the media
were screaming xenophobia and racist. Now they are asking why didn't he react
sooner? He’s the guy that ran on securing the border in the face of a screaming
press and media. When he shut down borders in the midst of the coronavirus
virus they were up in arms over such a draconian move. Then the rest of the
world followed suit all over, including the European Union between member
countries.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Has he made mistakes, yep.
Everyone I know would have. All of these experts wouldn’t have done any better.
Trump is working harder than I’ve ever seen a President work. He isn’t hiding
in his office, he’s out front every day.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br />
Take for instance, all the shortages of PPE’s and ventilators. I’m unaware of
anything that prevented all of these governors from ordering all the PPE and
ventilators for emergency purposes over the last two years. And yet, it is
Trump’s fault that they didn’t.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">He’s balanced his approach
and listened to the experts, when his distractors said he wouldn’t and
couldn’t. When he offers hope, he’s lying and when he’s straight forward, he
should be hopeful. It’s a no win, but he is not deterred by all of that BS
coming from the press and the liberals.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br />
I’ll take this kind of leadership over a nice guy that can make eloquent
speeches.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">He is my President!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">**********************************************************</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My Anti-Pro-Trump Rant</span></b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I'm not posting this for debate. I don’t
need any comments (well, actually I do). Unfriend me if you must. Just please
consider this...when you think the President is a jerk...</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The bottom line is that Trump IS a jerk.
He’s crude; he bloviates. He gets his feelings hurt, and he’s a hot-head. And
he should stay off Twitter.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
Let me tell you what else he is. He is a guy that makes ridiculous, nonsensical
demands and expects unrealistic performance. He is a guy that asks lots of
whacked-out questions. The questions he asks aren’t cloaked in fancy phrases;
they are “why the hell...” questions that devolve into complete unrelated,
incomprehensible babble.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For decades the health industry has thrown
away billions of face masks after one use. Trump asks, “Why the hell are we
throwing them away? Why not sterilize them and use them numerous times?” It’s a
great question, and he received a scientific answer that either confused him or
simply didn’t satisfy him. He’s the guy that ordered hospital ships readied in
one week, despite the ships lacking full crews, having Covid-19 members, and
undergoing scheduled, vital maintenance when it would have taken a bureaucrat a
similar amount of time to get them launched properly if they had received the order
a month earlier. He’s the guy that gets temporary hospitals built in three
days, but a month late. He’s the guy that gets industries to build ventilators
and face masks two months late using private business that need more time to
retool before beginning to pump out these vital supplies.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He’s the guy that asks why we aren’t using
drugs that might work on people that are dying; what the hell do we have to
lose? - In spite of all the nay-sayers. Nay-Sayers who appropriately noted that
there is NO scientific basis for his claims.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He’s the guy that “shut down travel from
China”, when people who follow actual factual reporting from the non-state
media were pointing out that while Chinese people were barred from returning to
the US, over 40,000 US citizens and those with special “passes” were allowed
back without receiving any directives to self-quarantine.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now these same educated information
consumers are asking why didn't the president react sooner? He dismissed the
impending crisis all though February, despite warnings from WHO and many
countries. In fact, he continued his mass political rallies all the way through
early March, HUGE rallies with “the biggest crowds ever.” As late as mid-March
he was dismissing the impact of the pandemic telling us that it was completely
under control.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He’s the guy that ran on securing the
border (Mexico will pay for it one day) in the face of a screaming press and media
upset at the inhuman treatment of legal asylum seekers. When he shut down
borders in the midst of the corona-virus pandemic, they were up in arms that he
was directing his ICE agents to stalk the border seeking out more asylum
seekers to deport. Their protestations forced him to have his private police
back off. He sealed the borders with Canada and Mexico after most other
countries had taken similar action.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Has he made mistakes? Yep. Has he lied?
Absolutely, with almost every breath. Most of the people in government who are
critical of his lack of leadership would have handled the crisis better;
providing factual, science-based information confidently in an unambiguous
fashion without lying and distorting the truth. Trump is working hard to
politicize the pandemic. Instead of unifying us, he seeks to tear us apart.
I’ve never seen a President so completely unfit and humanely dysfunctional. He
isn’t hiding in his office, he’s out front every day spewing his lies and
attacking his “enemies”, fellow U.S. citizens who dare point out his
incompetence, lies, or malfeasance.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Take for instance, all the shortages of
PPE’s and ventilators. He’s done NOTHING to help build some sort of emergency
storehouse. In fact he suggested that he wouldn’t directly aid states until
they bowed or “showed their appreciation to [him].” He forced states to compete
in the open market for PPE, cotton swabs, and respirators, driving the prices
up to astronomical levels. Despite being President since 2017, he’s sought to
defund the CDC and reassigned the members of the pandemic response team. Our
lack of preparation as a nation is 100% Trump’s fault.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">His approach is unbalanced and
incomprehensible. Many of his “experts” are completely unqualified; like the
“My Pillow Guy”, Jared, and the sycophantic vice president. When he offers
hope, he’s lying and when he’s straight-forward, he’s lying. His only
motivation appears to be how the pandemic will affect him and his business
interests. He is not deterred by all of the just criticism coming from the
press and the people who are actually paying attention to what he says and DOES.
He continues his unhinged “leadership” while proudly proclaiming, “Only I can
fix it.” While also saying, “I am NOT responsible.”</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This kind of leadership from the impeached
president is destroying and will completely destroy our country if allowed to
continue. We need a leader who can unite us behind a shared purpose, a common
enemy. We need a generational leader, not a charlatan and crook.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He is <u>NOT</u> my President. He needs to
be relieved of duty.</span></span></span></div>
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Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-83080718489092682432020-04-21T20:04:00.001-04:002020-04-21T20:05:54.488-04:00Grocery Shopping in Early Covid-19 Days<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Grocery Shopping in Early Covid-19
Days</span></b></div>
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">SWSNBNOSM and I ventured
out to buy groceries and gasoline. Since the price of gas about $0.20 cheaper
in nearby Daleville, we decided to shop at the Kroger there. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">I have rarely felt so
uncomfortable. The store was quite crowded. With our faces covered and our
fresh latex gloves on, we were in a distinct minority Few shoppers were even
slightly concerned with their proximity to us. Every time one of them headed
toward us, we scurried away like ghost crabs on a bea<span class="textexposedshow">ch at night.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">We happened upon one of
those shopper's shoppers. This guy had a cart with 8 open paper grocery bags
labeled with a bar code sticker. He used a handheld device to fill each bag,
scanning each item and beeping the bag as he placed them into the proper bag. Amazing
technology. Such a fabulous service. However, this man wore no mask and no
gloves and was moving at will across the store oblivious to scurrying ghost
crabs he encountered. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">That shopper's shopper
wasn't alone, however. That Kroger was loaded with busy employees. Almost none
of them was wearing any kind of protective gear as they handled produce,
restocked shelves, bagged groceries, and checked out items. Of the 20-30 store
employees I saw, only two were wearing masks. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">When we were checking out,
SWSNBNOFB chose the self-checkout, which was uncrowded, She purposely picked
one unit on the end of the bank of automated, robotic checkers. Almost
immediately, a couple entered the checking area and decided to use the machine
two feet away from us, despite there being 8 other machines not next to us that
were open. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">After paying, we fled to
our car.</span>Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-86557551695778524362020-04-07T14:38:00.001-04:002020-04-07T14:38:38.683-04:00Glasses Have Feelings, Too<div data-contents="true">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="8tlog-0-0"><span data-text="true">Here's an interesting little saga that is impacting me. Over the past 15 years or so, I've been existing in the wild world of eye care with little or no insurance. Back when I had 100% coverage for eye care, I went to an ophthalmologist. She was awesome, but her fees made my continued use financially problematic. So I wandered from place-to-place seeking budget eye care from Walmart, national chains, and even modern conglomerate optical practices. These places were built for the mass-produced customers, and I never felt like I was getting real service. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="c9lan-0-0"><span data-text="true">I decided to bite the bullet and set up an appointment with my old (I'm older than her) ophthalmologist. I figured that I would treat myself to great care and pay the price. After the visit, I felt deep satisfaction. My prescription changed a bit, and I would need new glasses. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5lcor-0-0"><span data-text="true">Frankly, I'm tired of crappy glasses. I've had glasses since I was in 7th grade when my near-sightedness erased the stars at night. I went to progressive lenses (no-line bifocals) when I hit 45 or so. Since I was buying from chain stores, my glasses were always less than sturdy. So I decided to go a real, local optical shop. SWSNBNOFB had gotten glasses last summer and found a great place. I had learned that the owner was fantastic, but expensive. But I didn't care. I wanted a great pair of sturdy glasses.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="7h9mv-0-0"><span data-text="true">Due to the virus, I put off going there until last Saturday. It turns out that he was still open with limited hours. I quickly settled on my modest Flexon frames and chose the best lenses. The optician said that my order should be ready by the end of this week. I left feeling uplifted and full of anticipation.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="13l6j-0-0"><span data-text="true">Sunday evening, I went to clean my old glasses, and I felt something give way in the frame. I babied them through an episode of Star Trek Next Generation and decided to try to glue them back in the morning. My father was the epoxy and glue guru. During his time in the materials lab at the Salem GE, he was always experimenting on some new adhesive concoction. He could glue anything. I did not inherit his adhesive gift. I tried and failed to make the repair.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5du2i-0-0"><span data-text="true">So I figured that I'd just use one of my old pairs of progressive lens glasses, but then I remembered that I gave them all away to the local Lion's Club. However, deep in a junk drawer, I stumbled across a pair of the ugliest glasses ever, Charles Nelson Reilly specials. SWSNBNOFB recalls that I got these back in the early 2000's as a cheap throw-away pair to use while playing basketball. As it turns out, these glasses still sort of work for distance vision, but I can't see a lick up close while wearing them or not wearing them. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="3ec96-0-0"><span data-text="true">So, I'm mostly blind for the rest of the week, which is somewhat frustrating and headache-inducing. I'm typing using keyboard memory and general letter recognition. This is not a real problem. It's just another inconvenience. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="2keap-0-0"><span data-text="true">I find it strange that my real glasses decided to break a day after they learned that they were going to be replaced. I guess glasses have feelings, too.</span></span></span></div>
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Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-21635290818257583572020-03-30T19:04:00.000-04:002020-03-30T19:04:25.305-04:00When You're Dead, You're a Dead PeckerheadJohn Prine is fighting for his life against Covid-19. <br />
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<span data-offset-key="8kcm3-0-0"><span data-text="true">I came to John Prine rather late in my life. For years, my older brother, </span></span><span class="_247o" data-offset-key="8kcm3-1-0" spellcheck="false"><span data-offset-key="8kcm3-1-0"><span data-text="true">Mojoe Ryder</span></span></span><span data-offset-key="8kcm3-2-0"><span data-text="true">, would rave about Prine, but I didn't quite understand the attraction. I was more in to The Moody Blues or Pink Floyd. But Prine grew on me...almost like toenail fungus. "Sam Stone", "Space Monkey", "Lake Marie", and, of course, "Angel From Montgomery". Songs that stick to you, in you, and on you. Prine-isms. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="dr4nm-0-0"><span data-text="true">I saw Prine a few years back on his comeback tour after beating cancer for a second time (neck and lung). His dedicated followers flocked to Roanoke's Chernobyl Performance Center. I came in a curious attender and left a lifetime fan.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="cv9qm-0-0"><span data-text="true">Some of my favorite times over the past twenty years or so are our family gatherings. No matter where my brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews gather, music is sure to sprout. Led by </span></span><span class="_247o" data-offset-key="cv9qm-1-0" spellcheck="false"><span data-offset-key="cv9qm-1-0"><span data-text="true">Mojoe Ryder</span></span></span><span data-offset-key="cv9qm-2-0"><span data-text="true"> and accompanied by </span></span><span class="_247o" data-offset-key="cv9qm-3-0" spellcheck="false"><span data-offset-key="cv9qm-3-0"><span data-text="true">Jesse Dukes</span></span></span><span data-offset-key="cv9qm-4-0"><span data-text="true">, Prine songs abound. Sing-alongs. Tender ballads. Bawdy romps.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="c0l64-0-0"><span data-text="true">Last year, after 13 years, Prine released one of his best records ever, "The Tree of Forgiveness". The last song on the CD sort of frames his unique outlook on life and the after-life. As he struggles against Covid-19 with only one lung, Prine is still fighting to stay alive in this world. I think that's just to annoy his "syphylitic critics".</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="4o85d-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0EiV423j0M">When I Get To Heaven</a></b></span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="aeqt2-0-0"><span data-text="true">by John Prine</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="sbk1-0-0"><span data-text="true">[Verse 1]</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="a259d-0-0"><span data-text="true">When I get to heaven, I'm gonna shake God's hand</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="3lao4-0-0"><span data-text="true">Thank him for more blessings than one man can stand</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="3gfpe-0-0"><span data-text="true">Then I'm gonna get a guitar and start a rock-n-roll band</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="er7ir-0-0"><span data-text="true">Check into a swell hotel; ain't the afterlife grand?</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="58fm6-0-0"><span data-text="true">[Chorus]</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="sjsq-0-0"><span data-text="true">And then I'm gonna get a cocktail: vodka and ginger ale</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="9otlj-0-0"><span data-text="true">Yeah, I'm gonna smoke a cigarette that's nine miles long</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="4eq6-0-0"><span data-text="true">I'm gonna kiss that pretty girl on the tilt-a-whirl</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="1n6gt-0-0"><span data-text="true">'Cause this old man is goin' to town</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="7bvmq-0-0"><span data-text="true">[Verse 2]</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="1uhk6-0-0"><span data-text="true">Then as God as my witness, I'm gettin' back into show business</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="7urdn-0-0"><span data-text="true">I'm gonna open up a nightclub called "The Tree of Forgiveness"</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="4u5hu-0-0"><span data-text="true">And forgive everybody ever done me any harm</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="abhm7-0-0"><span data-text="true">Why, I might even invite a few choice critics, those syphilitic parasitics</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="fjict-0-0"><span data-text="true">Buy 'em a pint of Smithwick's and smother 'em with my charm</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="c2qc9-0-0"><span data-text="true">[Chorus]</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="6eaqt-0-0"><span data-text="true">'Cause then I'm gonna get a cocktail: vodka and ginger ale</span></span></div>
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<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="9u5ft-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9u5ft-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="9u5ft-0-0"><span data-text="true">Yeah I'm gonna smoke a cigarette that's nine miles long</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="4qkkg-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4qkkg-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="4qkkg-0-0"><span data-text="true">I'm gonna kiss that pretty girl on the tilt-a-whirl</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="40f2v-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="40f2v-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="40f2v-0-0"><span data-text="true">Yeah this old man is goin' to town</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="dcjm0-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="dcjm0-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="dcjm0-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="182ku-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="182ku-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="182ku-0-0"><span data-text="true">[Verse 3]</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="blbs6-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="blbs6-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="blbs6-0-0"><span data-text="true">Yeah when I get to heaven, I'm gonna take that wristwatch off my arm</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="3ef1r-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3ef1r-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="3ef1r-0-0"><span data-text="true">What are you gonna do with time after you've bought the farm?</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="3rscm-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3rscm-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="3rscm-0-0"><span data-text="true">And them I'm gonna go find my mom and dad, and good old brother Doug</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="bgbaj-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bgbaj-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="bgbaj-0-0"><span data-text="true">Well I'll bet him and cousin Jackie are still cuttin' up a rug</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="9d5d3-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9d5d3-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="9d5d3-0-0"><span data-text="true">I wanna see all my mama's sisters, 'cause that's where all the love starts</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="6fui7-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6fui7-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="6fui7-0-0"><span data-text="true">I miss 'em all like crazy, bless their little hearts</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="66j23-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="66j23-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="66j23-0-0"><span data-text="true">And I always will remember these words my daddy said</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="82e9e-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="82e9e-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="82e9e-0-0"><span data-text="true">He said, "Buddy, when you're dead, you're a dead pecker-head"</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="8tskl-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8tskl-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="8tskl-0-0"><span data-text="true">I hope to prove him wrong... that is, when I get to heaven</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="2fvos-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2fvos-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="2fvos-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="rfag-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="rfag-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="rfag-0-0"><span data-text="true">[Chorus]</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="97drs-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="97drs-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="97drs-0-0"><span data-text="true">'Cause I'm gonna have a cocktail: vodka and ginger ale</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="fm0d2-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fm0d2-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="fm0d2-0-0"><span data-text="true">Yeah I'm gonna smoke a cigarette that's nine miles long</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="2em9h-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2em9h-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="2em9h-0-0"><span data-text="true">I'm gonna kiss that pretty girl on the tilt-a-whirl</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="b9rlo-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="b9rlo-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="b9rlo-0-0"><span data-text="true">Yeah this old man is goin' to town</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="51j2p-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="51j2p-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="51j2p-0-0"><span data-text="true">Yeah this old man is goin' to town</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="7cg6s" data-offset-key="eldvt-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="eldvt-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="eldvt-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-8287843363951329722020-03-26T15:01:00.003-04:002020-03-26T15:01:55.527-04:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw8vlGjHq0WHQO2k69Rs340b59QgQVt8Q8UIm6xWNq6qF0b-h2lKYGvSxjz6jIUltkHsaqBADSUmoMHkwmuLYtBsgBFoD_q8dS-9xqSrukYqK7lFB_b4thgl8VxJnd4IyRaPxg1Q/s1600/20200326_120843.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw8vlGjHq0WHQO2k69Rs340b59QgQVt8Q8UIm6xWNq6qF0b-h2lKYGvSxjz6jIUltkHsaqBADSUmoMHkwmuLYtBsgBFoD_q8dS-9xqSrukYqK7lFB_b4thgl8VxJnd4IyRaPxg1Q/s320/20200326_120843.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Virus continues to spread. It's gradually gaining a stronger foothold in my community. Eventually, most of us will get it. Hopefully, we can stagger the infections over time so as not to overwhelm the medical system.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="eapdp" data-offset-key="e6c0r-0-0">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="e6c0r-0-0"><span data-text="true">SWSNBNOSM and I just had an amazing experience. As many know, I spent many days earlier in the school year finishing out my retiree substitute days at her school, Fort Lewis Elementary.</span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="eapdp" data-offset-key="9uun4-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9uun4-0-0">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="9uun4-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="onpo-0-0">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="onpo-0-0"><span data-text="true">Today, the teachers of the small school gathered at the school (6 feet apart or more) to form up an auto parade through the school district. Cars were decorated with friendly </span></span><span data-offset-key="onpo-1-0"><span data-text="true">best wishes</span></span><span data-offset-key="onpo-2-0"><span data-text="true">. Balloons and streamers. Megaphones. Sirens. We even had a group from the Sheriff's office and their muscle-bound eagle mascot.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="eapdp" data-offset-key="7n0eo-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7n0eo-0-0">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="7n0eo-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></span></div>
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<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="eapdp" data-offset-key="11bs6-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="11bs6-0-0">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="11bs6-0-0"><span data-text="true">We spent two hours driving and beeping through neighborhood after neighborhood. We saw many, many happy kids who were so very excited to see us. Some even recognized me, which as a substitute teacher, really warms the heart.</span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="eapdp" data-offset-key="440b2-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="440b2-0-0">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="440b2-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="eapdp" data-offset-key="7cvbf-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7cvbf-0-0">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="7cvbf-0-0"><span data-text="true">More than with the children, however, the joyful smiles on the faces of adults really brightened my spirit. It occurred to me that if a random group of people paraded through a neighborhood beeping their horns, people would open their doors and wave. So many are feeling so isolated.</span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="eapdp" data-offset-key="ej32i-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="ej32i-0-0">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="ej32i-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="eapdp" data-offset-key="68t06-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="68t06-0-0">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="68t06-0-0"><span data-text="true">Isolation breeds fear and loneliness, especially with the oldest among us. We turned down one street that was populated with cloned patio homes stacked side-by-side. There weren't any kids on this street; however, so many elderly people emerged to wave. to thank, or to film us. It was like we were rock stars. One very old lady, her isolation shattered for the moment, stood in her drive crying and thanking us over and over as we slowly rolled by. "Don't go," she seemed to be saying.</span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="eapdp" data-offset-key="3t2kb-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3t2kb-0-0">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="3t2kb-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="eapdp" data-offset-key="20htm-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="20htm-0-0">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="20htm-0-0"><span data-text="true">In my life. few things so simple have brought me so much joy.</span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="eapdp" data-offset-key="9jcm5-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9jcm5-0-0">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="9jcm5-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="eapdp" data-offset-key="dfqhe-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="dfqhe-0-0">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="dfqhe-0-0"><span data-text="true">Be well. You aren't alone.</span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-14634843260911851692020-03-14T12:44:00.001-04:002020-03-14T12:44:07.568-04:00The Humanity Around COVID-19 <div class="" dir="auto">
<div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc ihqw7lf3 dati1w0a" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_3kp">
<div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg">
<div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="oi732d6d ik7dh3pa d2edcug0 qv66sw1b c1et5uql a8c37x1j s89635nw ew0dbk1b jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
My friend, Tim Rondeau, called me this morning. Normally, we talk about tomatoes and gardening while occasionally jabbing each other, good-naturedly, over politics. </div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
Today, he asked me a serious open-ended question: <b>How do I think COVID-19 will affect our society?</b></div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
It's a question I've been thinking about a lot recently. This morning, SWSNBNOFB and I ran out to Walmart for some essentials (we already have a full pantry of loo paper under lock and key). People were flitting around in some sort of stupored-panic, hovering around the eggs, milk, bread, meat, cleaning products and toilet paper (empty) aisles. We wedged our way in and snatched a fifty pound log of ground chuck (80-20%) before elbowing our way out.</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
After check-out, I saw my good friend, Bill Taylor, busy at work in the Woodforest Bank inside the store. I ran over, interrupted, and gave him a quick fist-bump greeting. As I walked out, I felt better just knowing that, like The Dude, Bill abides.</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
Yesterday, another friend of mine (I won't use his name here for fear that people will stampede his house) put out on FB that his wife and he are willing to take care of some kids at their home free of charge (help with snacks, etc) for parents who are stuck working with no childcare now that schools are closed. This is such a fabulous and generous gesture.</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
I was having another conversation with a friend yesterday when news began leaking out that schools were going to be closing for an extended period. She was immediately concerned with how all of those kids who get breakfast and lunch at school are going to get their meals. She wants to get our group together to help out in any way we can.</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
These simple illustrations highlight what I believe are the real human beings that exist within ourselves. During natural tragedies like hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes in the past, we've pulled together. 9-11 united us in grief. WWII brought our country together with people pitching in to help save the world.</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
This, our latest crisis, has the potential to snap us out of our toxic divisiveness and place in proper perspective our relative individual fragility and dependence on each other.</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
My answer to Tim was that I view this crisis as a real opportunity to reconnect as a society, to realize that our disputes in the political realm are so very trivial. We have a unique opportunity to be more human.</div>
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
Check in on your friends. Help your neighbors. Be present and thoughtful. Hoard toilet paper.</div>
</div>
</span></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-91478011203524849222019-11-15T18:41:00.000-05:002019-11-15T18:41:25.773-05:00Regarding the Passing of Charlie Moir<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvmr3pLcLcx8S3eiHyL4qPqUU2PEcFmBs6bo8sCWsVhe9ivCwarzIF6urqKxiYhAwB-aWGjXfy80bh4EJCZI2He0dS5i9vpTuTc01jQ-VGQDQyLJOpx0LUhzgDQyeQ7jneuj8gQA/s1600/moir_charlie_2012_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="443" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvmr3pLcLcx8S3eiHyL4qPqUU2PEcFmBs6bo8sCWsVhe9ivCwarzIF6urqKxiYhAwB-aWGjXfy80bh4EJCZI2He0dS5i9vpTuTc01jQ-VGQDQyLJOpx0LUhzgDQyeQ7jneuj8gQA/s320/moir_charlie_2012_03.jpg" width="284" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I was blessed to have Charlie Moir step in to my life at
various times over the last 50 years.
Our brief interactions impacted my life and helped me become the person
I am today.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I first met Coach Moir around 1970. I was just an eft (look it up) playing
basketball in the Catholic Saturday league.
I was the primary ball-handling guard on a team stacked with incredible
talent. My job was to bring the ball up
court and toss an entry pass to our 11 year-old 5’8” center, Herb Jones
(recently ran for state senate). Herb(ert)
was dominating in the 4’5” world of 10 year-olds. He went on to play football at Appalachian
State, but he easily could have gotten a basketball scholarship as well as he
grew to 6’7”/275. </span></span></div>
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</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Coach Moir came to one of our Saturday sessions for a
workshop before the league games started.
I remember him teaching me specific ball-handling drills. I loved the attention and have never
forgotten his generosity that day. I
learned that my “handle was too loose” or something to that effect. But he was encouraging.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I followed Coach Moir’s career carefully after that
day. I listened on the radio as his
Roanoke College team, featuring future Hokie coach Frankie Allen, won the DII
(College Division) championship over Akron in 1972.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Moir started his VT assignment in 1976, just as I was
beginning to follow Hokie basketball closely.
When I started college in 1978, I went to every home game…at least all
of the games that I could get tickets to.
You see, back then, student tickets were a hot commodity; one had to
camp out for admittance if it was a big Metro game. No doubt that “The Hurryin’
Hokies” were dynamic and incredibly fun to watch. As students,
we cheered for various point thresholds, each new one brought new, tasty
freebies at the McDonald’s. 100 points
meant a free cheeseburger, fries, and drink meal, and our team made that happen
often enough to realize that such a prize was attainable.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">One night during the frigid freeze of winter 1980 (or ’79),
VT destroyed its opponent, and my buddies and I headed over to McDonald’s after
the game to receive our reward. After I
got there and waded into the long line,
I realized that I had lost my ticket stub. I was so very disappointed. No bonus meal for me-a tragic turn of the
screw. To my rescue came none other than
Charlie Moir. His wife and he had come
in to McDonald’s just ahead of us and
were standing in line just as I was discovering my loss. Immediately, he got my attention and handed
over his ticket telling me that he really didn’t need it. At the time and to this day, I was blown away
by his simple act of generosity. Back
then, I was thankful that I’d get my meal.
Now as an older adult, I understand how such generosity can positively
impact another soul.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My path would cross Charlie Moir’s path again almost 20 years
later. As it turned out, I ended up
teaching elementary school in Roanoke County and had both of his grandchildren in
my class over the next couple of years.
Charlie and his wife would come often to have lunch with the kids, and I
would sometimes intrude to reminisce with him.
Each time, he’d accommodate me, sharing his thoughts and memories.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Charlie Moir was a gentleman and a very generous soul. I’m
so very thankful that his life intersected mine at various times over the
years. My purpose for sharing these
recollections isn’t because I’m trying to toot my own horn; rather, it’s to provide
testament to the incredible power of true kindness and generosity, traits to
which I think we should all aspire.</span></span></div>
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Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-6832432203598530412019-11-12T20:30:00.001-05:002019-11-12T20:31:07.558-05:00Buried Treasure<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgygWx2eytGI0lSj4Awv9n8IpiScNFQeDeE0DTRAIyyTogVTXXoodtNxae1DsHPUekmR6fjIqGPm9lxsUD6_ojNbG93kN1JnuoV0oHYqyCmlYxO4YO0_IYwonNc1qjLwkmR7rXIoQ/s1600/Playboy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgygWx2eytGI0lSj4Awv9n8IpiScNFQeDeE0DTRAIyyTogVTXXoodtNxae1DsHPUekmR6fjIqGPm9lxsUD6_ojNbG93kN1JnuoV0oHYqyCmlYxO4YO0_IYwonNc1qjLwkmR7rXIoQ/s320/Playboy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This really happened yesterday. I pulled up to the recycling center
by the Salem trash transfer station and began off-loading my stuff, all
alone in generous parking area. Suddenly, a large SUV pulled in and
backed up, nearly hitting my truck's tailgate. A lady dressed in a
baggy, old sweatsuit popped her hatch and began off-loading small box
after box to the mixed paper bin. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Curious, I peaked into the trunk area when she was at the bins and saw that each box was lab<span class="text_exposed_show">eled like this:"Playboy 1975-1980". All boxes, All Playboy. There must have been twenty to thirty boxes.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
I must say, that I was tempted to hang around until she left so I
could do a little dumpster diving, but my moral code kicked in, and I
resisted the urge. I'm guessing that those magazines, if in excellent
condition, could have fetched a tidy sum on the market.</span></span></div>
Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-54427508877915695382019-08-14T19:05:00.002-04:002019-08-14T19:05:22.081-04:00A Substitute Story<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Today was my first day substituting for the new school year. I had a second grade class with only 15 students, an uncommon luxury in the business. Last year, the same teacher had 25 kids, more than a handful were...challenging. Honestly, I don't know how she survived the year. This year's class is refreshing.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><br />One of the kids is new to the school this year. I don't know her background, but she seemed angry and sad. Her initial interactions with me were off-putting, deflective, and angered. For most of the early morning, she battled me over everything, especially when it came to doing any work.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><br />Recess time came at 10:00 am. She stopped by the restroom on her way outside so when she got outside, the kids were almost done with their walk/run lap around the miniature "track" (school custom). When she got outside and started her walk, she quickly caught up with a boy who was having a very sad, sad, slow day. She walked up beside him and began talking with him. Then she offered her hand to him in friendship, and they walked together halfway around the path. It was refreshing. The boy perked up and seemed to regain his spirit before he went off in search of butterflies and bugs.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><br />After that, the girl came over beside me to find some shade. We chatted a bit, and she told me that she really didn't have any friends. "No one likes me," she said. I mentioned that I was proud of her for helping the boy who was having the bad day, and she smiled. <br /><br />A few minutes later, she spotted a white caterpillar in the grass beside us. So she spent the next ten minutes studying the creature. Whenever a kid came by, she guarded it so that it wasn't stepped on. I told her that she must really like insects. She told me that she likes most insects but loves all animals. Then she began telling me about cheetahs, sloths, bobcats, coyotes, and others. She was an encyclopedia of everything living.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><br />As we were coming in from recess, I observed one of the other girls in the class saying mean things to this new girl. So I stepped between them and told them that we'd speak more about this in the classroom.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><br />When we got back to the cool room, I called the kids up to the carpet. In elementary schools, "the carpet" is a small open space in the classroom where kids sit a listen to the teacher read aloud, tell stories (me) or pontificate. Today, I shared some observations. First I mentioned that the boys need to stop walking UP the slide and going down the slide three at a time. I talked about a few other playground safety issues as well like don't jump off the platform and land on your face.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><br />Then I mentioned something special that I observed on the playground. I told the kids that I saw a student walking with a student who was sad and was cheering him up. Then I said that the same student really loves, knows a lot about, and respects all animals. In fact, I told the kids that she guarded this white caterpillar as kids ran around. She didn't want to see it squashed.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <br /><br />At this moment in my talk, the new little girl shouted out with a huge ear-to-ear smile, "THAT'S ME!!" At that moment, everyone turned and looked at her. It was obvious that that were looking at her truly for the first time. This new girl wasn't just someone to discount; rather, she was someone with whom they could consider being friends.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><br />The rest of the day wasn't perfect. There were some up and down moments, but I noticed that the girl who had picked on her earlier had a change of heart and was trying hard to get to know the new student. The new girl ended up heading to the bus with that girl who picked on her and as she passed me, she said, "We're friends now!"</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><br />You don't win them all. Some days are tougher than others. Who knows what the future holds for this new girl. But for today, a little girl began to feel like she belongs in her new school.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><br /> I just thought I'd share.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span>Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-60578393639324459902019-07-25T19:27:00.000-04:002019-07-25T19:27:17.585-04:00Blue Light Special<div data-contents="true">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="3o4qg-0-0"><span data-text="true">I had the unfortunate experience of trying to get home this afternoon at 5pm on Rt 419 near what used to be Annie Moore's Irish Pub in Roanoke.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="4jijo-0-0"><span data-text="true">I was getting ready to pull out on Rt 419 from the Elderberry parking area and was patiently waiting for a break in the near-continuous wall of oncoming traffic. Finally, I saw the traffic break coming and steeled myself for insertion into the asphalt monster. Unfortunately for me, a gentleman in a convertible BMW sedan well downstream from me saw the break as well and made a right turn from beside North Cross at the Colonial Ave light, thus halving the break space. I contemplated pulling out in front of him, but he suddenly accelerated quickly...so I decided to wait for him to pass by me. As soon as he did, I began to pull out into the smaller break that was left as the oncoming peloton whooshed in with great speed. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="4gme-0-0"><span data-text="true">Suddenly, right in front of me across two lanes of traffic, I glimpsed a huge Toyota Tundra crossing the other two lanes of traffic to the median right across from me. It looked as if she was going to continue across into the lane I was about to take, but she slammed on her brakes. Meanwhile, another driver of a small black sedan was hot on her heels. He swerved to miss her and stopped beside her in the median. He was very unhappy.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="b7iqa-0-0"><span data-text="true">Realizing they had both stopped, I gunned it and grabbed the lane closest to me ahead of the oncoming wave. The Tundra lady hesitated again. This further infuriated the black sedan guy, and he gunned his car the rest of the way around her and zoomed out in the left lane and went along his merry, angry way.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="2h2de-0-0"><span data-text="true">Unfortunately for him, there was a third car trying to cross those lanes of traffic and who just had time to make the crossing before the whoosh. As he completed his maneuver, I watched the drama in my rear-view mirror as he turned on his blue lights and pulled-over the angry black sedan. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="dv8gf-0-0"><span data-text="true">I was quite confident that I hadn't done anything wrong, and I didn't really feel to sorry for the black sedan driver. I continued my trek home by turning off Rt 419 at my first opportunity to get to I-581 via the three wacky under-construction UCLA (University On Colonial Avenue) traffic circles. That insanity was refreshing compared to the Electric Road nightmare. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="5ph20-0-0"><span data-text="true">I'm glad I don't live on that side of town.</span></span></span></div>
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Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-55549266965977733192019-06-27T14:36:00.001-04:002019-06-27T14:36:55.285-04:00Errands<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="80v45" data-offset-key="3bra2-0-0">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-offset-key="3bra2-0-0"><span data-text="true">Interesting errand run today. I went over to Walmart at Valley View to get some fishing gear for my upcoming beach excursion. Standing in front of the hooks was a familial unit consisting of more kids than I could identify. One 7-year-old was honking some squeeze toy. Another 3-year-old was sitting on the floor shrieking. For 5 minutes. Right in front of exactly where I needed to be. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-offset-key="2knbj-0-0"><span data-text="true">Then I went to look in the auto section for some WD-40, but the way was blocked by two employees who appeared to be talking about their holiday plans. I made a looping detour.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-offset-key="bf76t-0-0"><span data-text="true">Then I went over the trash bag section, dodging oblivious shoppers. I finally got my stuff and headed out of the store. In the parking lot, I watched two teens almost get run over by an SUV. Then my cellphone in my pocket started randomly playing some news video from the internet. I got in my car and told my phone in a loud voice to stop playing random shit. It turns out that a lady had come up to the car beside me, and she just stopped and stared at me as if I was completely unhinged, which I might have been.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-offset-key="aulj8-0-0"><span data-text="true">I left the parking area and drove over to Target to drop off some spent printer cartridges. On my way out to the car, some guy was standing in the mulched area across from the entrance playing The Godfather theme on an accordion. He was pretty good.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-offset-key="dqqpm-0-0"><span data-text="true">I got in the car and drove down I-581 heading to Peter's Creek Road. A giant SUV entered the interstate at Hershberger RD and merged right in front of me. I politely moved over to make room for him, I needed to get back in the right lane so that I could exit, but he proceeded to match my speed exactly. Finally, I had to brake hard in order to make the exit. The deacceleration lane for exit was populated by work vehicles, so it took some maneuvering to weave around them on my dry-rotted, nearly bald tires. They didn't notice as they were busy towing a massive mower out of a marshy quagmire.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-offset-key="125nn-0-0"><span data-text="true">I cruised down Peter's Creek road and waited to turn right onto Cove Rd so that I could cut over to Rt 419. When our light turned green, I began my turn but was blocked by a car that was stopped as it pulled out of the CVS parking area. A tiny tattooed lady was getting out of the beaten car screaming at the driver. She strutted across the road in front of traffic as she screamed at and displayed her middle finger to the sun-shielded driver.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-offset-key="db7vv-0-0"><span data-text="true">While at Walmart, I had noted that gas prices had jumped over 20 cents overnight either due to the refinery fire in Philadelphia or the impending 7 cent gas tax increase slated to go into effect on July 1. So I got some gas at the Lakeside Kroger before the price rocketed up even more.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-offset-key="auqme-0-0"><span data-text="true">I made it to my bank across from the Speedway, but a teller's computer was down, a small army of employees was very concerned about problem-solving the issue...instead of getting me my money.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-offset-key="bg33g-0-0"><span data-text="true">As I pulled in to the Speedway for my Big-Assed Soda (BAS), some lady was standing in the middle of the parking lot smoking a cigarette and making some odd seemingly random vocalizations. Meanwhile, a guy with a miniaturized dog on a leash was propped up against the side of the building beside a trash can.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-offset-key="fvtqo-0-0"><span data-text="true">I got my BAS and drove home. As I pulled in to my neighborhood, the odometer on my 1998 Honda Accord tipped 190,000 miles.</span></span></span></span></div>
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Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-24747196542721173922018-06-20T13:00:00.003-04:002018-06-20T13:01:22.011-04:00An Immigrant's Story<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq336WaZgupyYgETGoG4DghHd4BSqE2LOKpAqcwnu_UnETBiw9YJb1gBV4z2ptPktNHFsjKjSSHfHnmJw9RypPNiAl6BWglbgOB1WjEGQ93c-_nlUna0hG64fOV7n-B930y48OxQ/s1600/1962_7_Jody_Becky_Not+Sure_Beth_Greg_Stan+John_Grandma+Ryder_Tommy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="865" data-original-width="882" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq336WaZgupyYgETGoG4DghHd4BSqE2LOKpAqcwnu_UnETBiw9YJb1gBV4z2ptPktNHFsjKjSSHfHnmJw9RypPNiAl6BWglbgOB1WjEGQ93c-_nlUna0hG64fOV7n-B930y48OxQ/s320/1962_7_Jody_Becky_Not+Sure_Beth_Greg_Stan+John_Grandma+Ryder_Tommy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<h4 style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; margin-bottom: 6px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;"><i>That's me sitting on my Grandmother Kamila's lap</i></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My grandparents, Alfons and Kamila, met in America in Sag Harbor, New York after they had both made their way to America from Poland independently of each other back in the early 1900's.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Alfons, my grandfather, had been conscripted into the Russian cavalry after his older brothers fled to America to avoid service. He rode with his regiment across Siberia to fight in the Russo-Japanese War which had ended by the time he arrived there, and he later became a member of Czar Nicholas' Imperial Guard at his palace. When he finished his service, he went home to find that all of his family had either died or gone to America. So he went to America to work at the Fahys Watch Case Factory in Sag Harbor with his older brother.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My grandmother, Kamila, had a more difficult path to America. Her father, Jan Kuczynski, and mother, Jozefa, farmed a tiny piece of land in rural Poland. They couldn't even afford a horse. Jan came to America to work on the railroads. After an accident that took several of his fingers, he took his $200 disability settlement and returned to Poland, where the family continued to rack up debt. So he came back to America to work in the coal mines. A few years later, he returned to Poland a sick man with a lung disease and died shortly after that. The family scattered with her older brothers heading to Massillon, Ohio to work in the steel mills and Kamila getting $27 ship fare advanced to her from an aunt in Sag Harbor to come work in the Fahys Watch Case Factory.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">After my grandparents met and established themselves here in the country, it was decided that they would head back to Poland to visit some relatives when the factory closed for resetting in the summer of 1908. My grandfather returned to America after the summer, but my grandmother stayed behind to settle my grandfather's family property and to prepare her mother and little sister to voyage to America.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As fate would have it, Kamila gave birth to Helen while in Poland. So when Helen was two years old, the four ladies trundled off to Hamburg to board ship bound for New York and a new, hopeful life. Jozefa, however, was diagnosed with an eye infection and was detained in port for six weeks with her youngest daughter. Kamila and Helen went ahead...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Here's what my Aunt Stephanie wrote about the voyage:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"During the ocean trip a measles epidemic broke out among the children and the ship was rerouted to Philadelphia. Helen along with other children were placed in the hospital in isolation. Two weeks later, Kamila was told she could have her child, but when the baby was brought in, it turned out to be a boy, whose mother had left for Chicago the week before, having been told that her baby had already died. Kamila had a hard time convincing the authorities that hers was a little girl, almost two years old. Finally she was told of the error and that her little girl had died and had been buried. She was offered the baby boy, but she refused and went back to Sag Harbor, broken hearted."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Finally reconciled with her husband, the two restarted their life in America by working hard to build a better life than that which they escaped.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">*************************************</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I share this as a way to let people know that immigration stories are unique human stories. When people come to this country, some can afford to follow established protocols, but others, may not have such opportunity. They may be fleeing intense poverty and seeking a better life, like my grandparents. They may be fleeing for safety and away from an endless cycle of violence. Regardless, each has their own reasons and their own story, the immigrant's story. Knowing my family history leads me to feel nothing but compassion and love for those, especially the children, who are being detained in mass at our border. Children wondering if they will ever see their parents again. Parents wondering if they will ever see their children again. My grandparents realized such trauma, and its impact resonates with me over a hundred years later.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">God Bless America.</span></div>
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Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-33753503770750652672018-03-07T13:43:00.000-05:002018-03-07T13:43:10.390-05:00Myrna is Lost<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Myrna is Lost<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I met Myrna this morning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She's a 78 year-old young lady who is struggling with the
basics of living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I had our Honda Civic at our local auto spa to have a fluid
change and was happily shooting the breeze with my old mechanic friend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pete used to run his own repair garage in
Roanoke (Famous for the VW on the roof back before the 1985 flood).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pete sold the business to a big new car conglomerate
a few years ago now, and he took a job working the front of an established
repair towing business on the other side of town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I followed him there to continue our auto
relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My father-in-law always
told me that when you find a great mechanic, stay with him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was so very right (That's another story
for another day).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was sitting in the waiting area of the garage waiting for
them to finish the oil change and was passing the time catching up with Pete
and shooting the breeze about ACC basketball.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pete's a big Hoo fan, but he's still a good guy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He shares a passion for basketball like I do.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As we were chatting, sad story after sad story walked
in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One lady came in, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>asking for an inspection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her car had been rejected at another garage
and she said that she keeps getting pulled over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So far, they've only given her warnings, but
the rejection sticker had certainly been on the windshield for a long while. So
now, she has new tires and fixed the broken tail light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pete helped her make an appointment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No sooner had the rejected lady left than Myrna came through
the door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had driven up in an old,
pump-squealing, butt-ugly beige Toyota Corolla. Dressed in rumpled sweats but
sporting an "<i>Elvis Presley</i>" tote bag resplendent
with a smiling portrait of The King on the side, she wobbled up to the counter
and asked Pete if she could get an inspection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pete, who doesn't miss much, greeted her and asked her if she had come
in a few weeks ago for an inspection...Myrna didn't hear him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So Pete got up, looked out the window at the
sticker and discovered that it wasn't expired at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Myrna couldn't understand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said that her friend had told her she
needed to get a sticker or she would get pulled over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At this point, I did what I do sometimes; I got
involved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I glanced out the window and
notice that her license plate tags are due to expire at the end of March.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I shared this bit of information with
Myrna and Pete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Myrna was having trouble
understanding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She still wanted Pete to
get her the sticker, but Pete gently told her that she needed to deal with the
DMV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>DMV</b> That was like the crack of a rifle
for her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Immediately, she began worrying
about going there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said that she
gets lost so easily around here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her
son used to live at home with her, and he would take care of stuff like this, but
he walked out on her and now never visits and she doesn't know why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She has so many things to do but doesn't know
how and she gets lost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suggested that
she go online, but she doesn't have a computer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then I suggested that perhaps she could call the DMV and ask for them to
mail the stickers to her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pete was
skeptical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said that the DMV won't
ever answer the phone these days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he
looked up the number anyway...and couldn't find one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Myrna, meanwhile, was getting more and more upset.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Frustrated and resigned to hopelessness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suddenly, she asked Pete if he had followed
all the Billy Graham news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“He was a
great man.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all agreed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said she watched every moment of all the
coverage of his death and funeral.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Finally, Pete told her that she was going to have to get out
there to the DMV in person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Myrna
replied that the place was too busy for her; plus, she didn't know where it was
. One time her son took her there - about 30 minutes away (15 actually), but
she had no idea where it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked
her if it was the one by the airport, and she said yes, but she didn't know
where that was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Resigned to failure, she began to leave. Pete got back to work
calling parts guys and making appointments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As she began walking to the door, she said that maybe she could go to
the Walmart on Rt. 460 (Bonsack) and ask someone where the DMV is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again I piped up by saying, "That's sort
of in the wrong direction."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Myrna then plopped down in the comfortable chair beside me
and began talking to me about everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Her daughter left her with her grandson shortly after he was born and
ran away, so she raised him up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he
just left her, and she didn't know why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But he won't even visit any more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Since she liked Billy Graham,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked her if she goes to church. Perhaps
someone from there could take her to the DMV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But she replied that she used to go until the pastor came in one Sunday
and told everyone that he and his wife were leaving and never coming back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then everyone just scattered.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One time, she went to see Elvis in concert, and he asked
what she wanted to hear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She told him,
"Blue Suede Shoes".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He told
her that he didn't care what they wanted; he'd play what he wanted (as he
winked at her).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he launched into
"Blue Suede Shoes".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said
he was the best, but he had a worthless wife and daughter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“And that horrible daughter is running the
mansion and charging an arm and a leg to visit.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I nodded and told her that was
unfortunate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the meantime, I found the phone number for the DMV and
wrote it down for her on a scrap of paper with instructions to ask for them to
send her new stickers for her license plate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She took the paper and began fiddling with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Myrna, looked defeated and rumpled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her teeth were mostly gone and her
gray-streaked shoulder-length hair was unkept.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She looked like she was lost in this life. "I'm 78.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just lost a son 7 months ago, and I just
can't seem to get over it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just can’t
get over it."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I was a little
confused by this...was this the same person as her grandson/son who left
her?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I got the impression that he
was someone different.) He was out in a boat oystering when he got scratched on
the wrist by a shell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He should have
come in, but his daughter kept the boat out too long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He died of a staff infection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used to oyster too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could do it all day (she smiled).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just can't get over it...."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"I'm sure he'd probably tell you to get on with your
life, Myrna."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She agreed and began fidgeting with her key ring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"Look at this (pointing to her key ring)
See that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"It says ‘Jesus Saves’.
It's so pretty." I agreed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"I
guess I'd just better go home."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"That's a good idea," I said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"Maybe you can get someone to help you
get there."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Maybe my granddaughter will take me."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She wobbled out the door, got in to her defeated Corolla,
and slowly retreated with the car squealing every inch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She drove away searching for answers.</span></div>
<br />Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27842677.post-50751036040006262652017-12-19T00:08:00.001-05:002017-12-19T00:08:16.250-05:00Water Heater Healer<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #1d2129; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
I really do not do plumbing very well at all. For the last few weeks we have noticed that our water heater has not been heating water very effectively. So I decided that I would do some repairs on it. I went to the store and bought all the parts I thought I would need. I got two elements and a short drain hose, plus an element wrench, and then I proceeded to watch a whole bunch of how-to-do videos on YouTube. After about ten videos, I figured I was an expert. </div>
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According to m<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">y videos, the first thing I was supposed to do was turn off the power. I did this without any problems. The second thing I had to do was to cut off the water to the water heater. Again no problems. Next it was time to attach the hose to the drain plug. It turns out, this, the simplest part of the task, was the first of my several failures.</span></div>
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When I went to attach the hose to the plastic drain plug, I discovered that the plug was out of shape. Instead of being round, it was an oval shape. No matter what I did I simply could not screw the hose onto the drain plug. After about a half hour of wrestling with the hose, I decided that I would simply let the water out of the water heater slowly and allow it to matriculate across the unfinished basement floor to the drain in the center of the room. </div>
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My plan worked perfectly at first. The water slowly drained to the hole with no problems whatsoever. So I went upstairs and took a nap while the water heater drained all the way out. When I woke up an hour later, I went and checked the draining and discovered that it was...still draining. So I waited some more. </div>
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Surely after two hours of a steady, controlled flow, I figured that it must be almost done. So I went to work on the upper element. My test indicated that the element was operational, but I decided to change it anyway. I put the special wrench on it and applied increasing force, but the element would not budge. Fused in the socket. It would take some sort of jack-hammer to get it out.</div>
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After about 20 minutes, I gave up on that element and went to work on the bottom element. I reasoned that I’d just replace the bottom as it was most likely to be compromised. the wrench quickly broke the crud seal and the element began to back out. That’s when the big disaster struck.</div>
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The tank that I thought was empty...wasn’t. Hot water began GUSHING out the hole recently uncorked by the element. Thankfully, it streamed right for the drain, but it kept coming! Obviously not even close to being empty. On and on. I got completely soaked dealing with the mess. After it slowed I finished the job by screwing in the new element and sopping up the water with a wet vac. I simply can’t understand how the heater was not drained.</div>
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After turning on the water and burping the system, I turned on the power. It’s been 8 hours, and we have very hot water. So far, there have been no further water disasters.</div>
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Editor’s Note: some people rage against others when they call water heaters “hot water heaters”. I suppose they make a fair point that water heaters are made to heat up cold water. However, doesn’t the hot water in the tank also get heated? Therefore, it actually is, at least partially, a hot water heater.</div>
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Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462582676426709639noreply@blogger.com1