Happy Saturday morning, only two days before Green Monday. With that in mind, no green coffee – green tea is about as close to that color in something I’m supposed to swallow as I get.

“Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit people once a year.” —Victor Borge; “Stop by their house, eat some cookies and milk, give out presents, and leave on a magical sleigh. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

And on this, the year of the ‘Rona’ mess and all the accompanying nonsensical edicts, even these once a year trips are cancelled.

I say “nonsensical” because it is. We are under a 10:00PM – 5:00AM curfew; “except for those leaving a sporting event” is the latest proclamation. Huh?

It proves just how supple “The Science” is.

2020 The Year – Friends Ron and Barb started their annual epistle this way: “Be careful what you wish for, especially at Christmastime. Last year we were craving a slower, more slothful season and next thing we know, we’re spending 295 consecutive days at home. It’s like George Bailey [of the Movie; It’s a Wonderful Life] wishing he’d never been born and then Bam! Pottersville.”
(Hey Ron and Barb, run out of colored ink? I took note that this year your letter is printed on simple Office Depot stock embellished with a tiny little sticker. You’re right; it proves that it’s been a tough year; I say with a smile)

The other oddity is not year specific. It references those items that only emerge this time of the year. Our local sage, Earl Pitts ‘Uhmerican’, describes it most succinctly:

Driving home from WVa last weekend – Passing through Adams County on our approach to Cincinnati, we passed the shuttered Killen Generating Station. The smoke stack had been visible for a while. Rolling past the complex I noted that the front façade of the 14-story main building was already gone.

I mentioned to Marcia that maybe I should turn around and take a photo. We agreed that it’d be best to just continue on home.

Wednesday news broke that that same massive structure at Killen had collapsed. A company was on site placing dynamite for the implosion when it collapsed. Five workers got caught. Three ended up in nearby hospitals and the search for the two remaining guys is still ongoing. Keep them and their families in your thoughts and prayers.

Walking – I am back in my groove. After missing for most of the previous week (weather and small one-lane roads carrying two-way traffic) it’s back to normal. And it also meant that I took a fresh look at things. For example, our town sits on a bend in the Ohio River. This means that the city streets don’t form a grid, but often are laid out like spokes on a wheel. This makes for some wonderful architecture.

At one point, looking up I spotted this street named as an honorific to Bootsy Collins, probably Funk music’s most notable Bassist and a local icon. It reminded me he was scheduled to do a live-stream event yesterday. This morning I remembered that I forgot all about it. My bad, as another generation would say.

Without realizing it, I plowed on by this place. As I looked through the fence I thought of the Jim Croce song; “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” and the lines:
“And it’s bad, bad Leroy Brown
The baddest man in the whole damned town
Badder than old King Kong
And meaner than a junkyard dog”
As luck would have it these two ‘beasts’ were about a calm as could be.

Politics – The election is finally behind us. I’ve told Marcia and other family members that I am through jabbering about politics. Whatever comes will come. However, as I exit that path, I cannot help but comment on the over-the-top Time magazine Person of the Year issue; it’s completely disgusting.

Suggestions:
A) How about showing the Abraham Accords? The normalization between Bahrain, Morocco, United Arab Emirates and Israeli. These Accords were truly a “historic diplomatic breakthrough.” Isn’t it stunning that finally and without battlefronts we are seeing in the Middle East an exchange of embassies and ambassadors, and a plan to “sign bilateral agreements regarding investment, tourism, direct flights, security, telecommunications, technology, energy, healthcare, culture, the environment…and other areas of mutual benefit.”
B) How about showing Dr. Li Wenliang (1986 – 2020) who sounded the Covid-19 alarm in Wuhan China. He was routed from his home for middle-of-the-night interrogations by the Chinese Communist Party. He died last February 7.

C) If not Dr. Wenliang, how about a cover showing the thousands of Front Line workers, the Nurses, Doctors, Nursing Home Workers, Cashiers, Ambulance Drivers, Truck Drivers, Food Plant workers.

Time Magazine, you folks are a joke!

Fini – This week it’s a very Happy, Happy Birthday to sis-in-law Jeanne Z.

This past week (Monday December 7) we lost “America’s greatest aviator’, Chuck Yeager at age 97. He was the first pilot to break the sound barrier. It also shows just how quickly life is changing. Here within a single lifespan we’ve seen Yeager’s feat, man landing on the moon, and now rocketry which lands itself on a ship upon return to earth.

Wondering what’s going on at the ‘Corner of Chaos & Mayhem’? Returning from West Virginia this greeted us. It seems that a driver careened through our drive, through the neighbor’s fence, across the side street, and through another fence. We missed it all.

Today, in the year 2000, the US Supreme Court announces its decision in Bush v. Gore, effectively ending legal changes to the results of that year’s Presidential election.

Finally, Marcia got censored for her response to a messenger item by her one-word response,  the word; “Wow”. She was not happy to say the least. What are we about these days?

Make it great week, keep the peace, be happy, stay safe, and be healthy!

Dirk