This entry was posted on Saturday, November 23rd, 2019 at 7:44 am and is filed under Family & Friends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Good morning to all. Here the night sky is still clearly visible; this bodes well. Coffee is ready and whatever brain cells were still in dream land have now snapped to by the smell of said coffee. Day has sprung!
With all of the ‘bounce’ the weather offers this time of year, there are downsides. Most rampant is – the common cold. And we all know that’s like (although our little household hasn’t experienced anything).
“A good homespun remedy will cure the common cold in a week.
But left untreated, your cold may linger for up to seven days.” ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson
Neighborhood Fire –
It’s really a 24/7 game with Marcia – she’s a scanner junkie. The city’s Fire Department ‘alert’ call, a nasty “whee, whee” on the scanner, barely registers anymore; whereas early on it used to startle me.
Various dispatchers she knows by assigned nicknames. Barely an address mentioned where she can’t pin-point the exact location. Often it’ll be something like; “that’s the second run today to that nursing home” (here Fire and EMT are co-joined into a single department). And so it goes.
Three days ago, between 12:30 & 1:00 AM a fire broke out at a home a block and a half from us. It quickly turned into a multiple alarm. And as time wore on 50-firefolk were working it into the morning hours. WE SLEPT THROUGH IT ALL! WE HEARD NOTHING!
This fire also brought to light that these old neighborhoods with gas streetlights and ambiance up the wazoo are horribly behind today’s standards. The water lines feeding the neighborhood (and by default the hydrants) are 5” and should be 12”. So, they were running hoses from several streets away – more noise and more flashing lights. NONE OF WHICH WE HEARD OR SAW!
Can you even imagine the utter look of letdown and disappointment registered on Marcia’s face when she finally discovered what had occurred; especially the fact that it was almost in our backyard.
The Babylon Bee – Is most excellent with its constant stream of satire. With the sad spectacle of the go nowhere sham ‘impeachment’ event by our do-nothing Congress a little levity is a requirement. Hence, my searching out a few lighthearted paragraphs from the ‘Bee’.
More wags have climbed on the satire bandwagon; Dave Rubin had an insight; “I feel like Schiff is in an old Hitchcock movie where at the end he realizes he was investigating himself the whole time…” And so it goes.
Time flies – For school Derek has to do a Story Corps—like project. Story Corps is an organization which assembles histories from the aging, either oral or written. These are being kept and assembled in a massive repository. He needed search out his oldest living relative to interview – and that didn’t long. In fact, I was the first one sought out (although I do think I have some competition, but won’t go there).
What it reminded me is that the speed of change is constantly accelerating. From great grandparents who hardly left an area more that 25-miles from where they were born to today’s Jet Setters. Primarily, folk worked in a manner identical to that of their parents, and probably never changed occupations. I’ve read that in today’s world the average school graduate during their working life will hold seven differing occupations.
Likewise, think how things have changed in everything imaginable. From owning a car built on a wooden frame to one self-driving. From sitting in a dental chairs with the drill operated by foot pedal to the laser beam used today.
Personally, seeing my grandmother become almost blind, to me having implanted multifocal intraocular lenses. During my lifetime, having to schedule an appointment to make an international telephone call. My first trans-oceanic flight required three fueling stops in a four-engine plane seating only 50 people.
Do you remember the advertising ‘hoopla’ many of us experienced when, this past week back in 1963, the first push-button telephone was introduced (complete with an upcharge for that service)?
Fini – For the past several weeks Vai and Vili have spent their Saturday mornings at DAAP (University of Cincinnati school of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning). Here art students work with them. Later this morning Marcia and I will head there for an Art Show being put on using their works. Should be fun.
Thanksgiving for us has a twist this year. The Ongoleas will be in California to visit with family. They’ll be back next Saturday and we’ll celebrate (the whole “Nati gang) tomorrow a week. On top of that, the planned dinner will be at our place.
A week and a half ago Marcia spotted a Costco flyer offering a complete Thanksgiving dinner for 8 at a magnificent price – Turkey breasts and the works complete with pumpkin pie and ice cream. I ordered it. Two days later (two weeks early) a thirty-plus pound box of food arrived. Luckily Adrianne had space in her freezer.
The dry ice filling the bottom of the shipping box that the Turkey dinner came in went with them to school for various ‘science’ projects. We are so into fully cycling stuff.
Donn made his annual late fall trip to the lake this past week. All is well, cold but not much snow. It’s always fun to get these updates. I see the place fully shuttered and can still hear kids’ laughter and see me sitting in the sun with feet on a stump reading a book. Winter will be over soon and spring will follow quickly! Thanks Donn.
Till next week, make it a great one.
Dirk
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