They’ll be no more mentions of Thanksgiving and related food topics. I’ve eaten enough turkey, turkey pies, turkey soup, and turkey sandwiches for this year. It’s onward and upward to the next step on the stairway to 2013. My better-half and I have begun planning another of our annual holiday visits to faraway family members. Since my mom passed this year a trip to western Pennsylvania won’t be happening. Instead we’ll be on our way to the state of Maryland for a birthday bash/holiday visit for my better-half’s mom who is turning eighty. Her many siblings and their spouses, partners, and significant others will also be in attendance for the festivities. I’m not at all thrilled about traveling during the Christmas season because it seems every time we do something bad happens. In years past I’ve had two near-death experiences in unexpected blizzards where we played bumper cars in the snow. I’m beginning to appreciate all of those years I lived in Pennsylvania and was within driving distance of most of my relatives.
My better-half has been in great spirits for the last few days and I suspect she’s suffering from Pre-Vacation Silliness Syndrome. She has a vacation scheduled to start in fours days but mentally she’s already checked out. Combining that with her never ending Christmas cheer might be enough to drive me “over the edge”. How would you like to drive for eight and a half hours through possible snowy conditions with a tone deal Christmas elf singing carols in your ear. I hope her sister and brother-in-law have a good supply of alcoholic refreshments chilled and waiting my arrival. I’m going to try my best to hide those stupid red antlers she soooo loves to wear because I just know the first police officer that sees her in that outfit will most likely what me to stop and chat so he can smell my breath. I hope and pray the weather cooperates and we get there and back without incident.
Now for some new business. I received a message from Matthew Ryan at A Toast to Dragons nominating me for the coveted and spectacular, Very Inspiring Blog Award. As part of my acceptance I ‘m told I need to list 15 of my favorite blogs. Since I ‘m a very discerning reader fifteen is out of the question. Here are five in addition to Matt that I read religiously. For sweetness and poetry – Don’t Quote Lily, for sexy – Snarky Snatch, for our military – Brain Rants, and for an Australian perspective – Polly Woffle. I have one last blog that I’ve read for years even though the blogger passed away in 2006. His family maintains the blog and it’s archives and I still visit it every chance I get. Go to Gut Rumbles as written by the late great Rob “Acidman” Smith. He’s the only reason I’m blogging today. Any one of these blogs is well worth your time.
I’d like to continue this but I’ve been assigned repair duties today. Fix the kitchen light, put out the Christmas flag, take down the screens, and blah blah blah. Just another day in this paradise that is my life. Tomorrow is another day.
The day after any holiday can sometimes be better than the holiday itself. I feel bad for my better-half who was up and on her way at 3:30 am to her retail nightmare. Black Friday in my opinion has always been the worst day of the year. I spent way too many years working on Black Friday and dealing with complete and total idiots in extremely large numbers. She actually asked if I would make a coffee run in late morning and visit her at the store. I love ya honey but no effing way. Twenty-five years of retail adventures on this day convinced me to be a selfish ass and refuse her request.
My better-half is a shopping freak and she can’t wait to get off work to go shopping. She is the ultimate glutton for punishment. Then I’ll be forced to listen for an hour after she gets home tonight to “OMG I’m so tired”, OMG My feet hurt”, OMG People are idiots”, and on and on and on. She spent a portion of Thanksgiving Day sitting on the living room floor with her daughter going through newspaper coupons and discussing their shopping strategy. General Eisenhower spent less time preparing for D-Day.
Unfortunately the daughter’s husband of one year is about to lose his “shopping cherry”. Being officially married for one year yesterday made him the prime candidate to hit the shopping trail with the wife and new baby. Isn’t true love a bitch sometimes. I didn’t harass him much about it yesterday because we should all attempt to be nice on Thanksgiving but I could see from the look on his face he just wasn’t looking forward to any of it. Who wouldn’t prefer a football game to having to rub elbows with the “great unwashed”.
Enough of my pessimism. I’m relaxing in my man cave, watching a Steven Seagal movie, and blogging my life away. I have a good cup of coffee and a huge turkey sandwich to carry me through until dinner. The cat’s sleeping in his chair next to me and he’s happy as hell too. I can relax until sometime this evening when the shopping storm troopers arrive. I might even sneak in a power nap to prepare for their arrival.
Life can be good if you let it.
Thanksgiving has come and gone for another year but for a change I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Since I’m not a religious person the holidays of Christmas and Easter don’t get me all that excited. I participate in the activities but only because I care for the family members who go dog-shit crazy over them. New Years was a great holiday when I was younger when drinking and carousing were the rule of the day but that ended a while back.
The Fall of the year is my favorite season. It’s that old harvest time mindset in Maine that really attracts me. Every weekend from Labor Day until Thanksgiving will find people at Town Fairs, Farm Shows, and festivals of all kinds. Home made foods, home made gifts, and farm animals are the order of the day. It’s still a place where many Maine families carry on the tradition of visiting one of our local tree farms for picking out the family Christmas tree. It’s even cooler when you’ve had a fresh snow fall and you get to walk out in the woods with a saw in one hand and your kid hanging onto the other. It just makes the seasons feel more meaningful and it gives those kids a life-long memory to enjoy.
I’ve been fortunate over the years to have attended many family Thanksgiving gatherings with my family and the families of others. That’s really what makes Thanksgiving mean more to me than any of the other holidays. It’s the tradition of the day more than the food that makes it extra special. The fact that the Pilgrims created the first Thanksgiving is nice but so what. What’s important to me is the family members making the effort to be together and be thankful for the things and people in their lives. Our celebration this year was a small intimate family group with the new grandson enjoying his first Thanksgiving. He was the lucky one who didn’t overeat and got to sleep through the meal. The food was great and the company was too. I was in charge of the bird this year and (patting myself on the back) it was delicious. That bird made the ultimate sacrifice and we all appreciated it. I’ll appreciate it again over the next month or two when we can snack on those homemade pot pies he’s going to be a part of. Yummmm!
I hope all of you enjoyed the day and your time with your families. We’ve lost a few family members this year and have welcomed a new arrival as well. Keep them all in your thoughts.
Here’s a few poems and stray thoughts on this Thanksgiving Eve:
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Our rural ancestors, with little blest,
Patient of labour when the end was rest,
Indulged the day that housed their annual grain,
With feasts, and off’rings, and a thankful strain.
~Alexander Pope
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
“An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day.” ~Irv Kupcinet
Ah! on Thanksgiving day….
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before.
What moistens the lips and what brightens the eye?
What calls back the past, like the rich pumpkin pie?
~John Greenleaf Whittier
“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” ~Thornton Wilder
“On Thanksgiving Day, all over America, families sit down to dinner at the same moment – halftime.” ~Author Unknown
“Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.” ~Seneca
May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!
~Author Unknown
I’m a loyal and patriotic American as most of us are. The discussions I’ve been listening to recently and that many people are dwelling on are serious matters as they’ve always been. Are we in decline? Is the younger generations capable of taking over and keeping America strong? Why does everyone in the world hate us? I’m not here to answer those questions or to solve those problems. I’m here mainly to convey my thoughts and the thoughts of other Americans and non-Americans who’ve had something to say about these same matters in the past.
The results of this last election were an eye opener for me as I’ve mentioned before. Many millions of voters feel betrayed when so many of their fellow citizens were bamboozled by the Obama propaganda machine and just don’t seem to care about the welfare of the country. Well people, I’m here to tell you that it’ll take more than Obama and a handful of well placed Democrats to destroy this nation. I admit they’ve been working extremely hard to do as much damage as possible but since it’s been done within the laws of the land (for the most part) that’s their right to do so. They can’t do much more than we permit them to do. The bottom line is that long after all of them and all of us are gone this country will be rolling along like nothing happened.
Sit down, relax, and listen in.
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"The American dream is not over, America is an adventure." Theodore White
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"What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom "to" and freedom "from." Marilyn Vos Savant
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"America is a place where Jewish merchants sell Zen love beads to agnostics for Christmas." John Burton Brimer
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"What’s right with America is a willingness to discuss what’s wrong with America." Harry C Bauer
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"America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it is the other way around. Human rights invented America." Jimmy Carter
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"The saving grace of America lies in the fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans are possessed of two great qualities-a sense of humor and a sense of proportion." Franklin Delano Roosevelt
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"Every generation of Americans needs to know that freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought." Pope John Paul II
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"My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular." Adlai E Stevenson
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"Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation are men who want rain without thunder and lightning." Frederick Douglass
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"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both." Dwight D Eisenhower
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"Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe." Thomas Jefferson
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"Patriotism is not so much protecting the land of our fathers as preserving the land of our children." José Ortega y Gasset
I couldn’t have said it any better. Four years to a new regime and hopefully a better outcome.
I’ve always been an avid TV watcher from a very early age. I come by it honestly since I was one of that first generation to be introduced to it at birth. I’ve always watched a lot of programming but there’s a recent trend that disturbs and annoys me. I’ve read Bram Stoker’s Dracula many times and giving credit where credit is due, it was a scary and harmless story for any young kid to read. When Bela Lugosi made the movie, it scared the shit out of an entire generation. As always it faded into history and we moved on. To me this obsession with vampires, werewolves, and zombies is odd. I’ve read the classics like The Wolfman and seen Romero’s Dawn of the Living Dead when it actually premiered. It was a big deal at the time only because it was filmed in the Monroeville Mall in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, a twenty minute ride from my home. We all went to see the movie but as most other movies it scared the crap out of us and then faded into history and we moved on.
The people who are salivating over Twilight are an enigma to me. I understand erotic fantasies and how real they can become but c’mon. Turning what once was a horrific movie and book anti-hero into everyone’s new love interest makes no sense to me. We now have blood drinking vampire cults, bars where full costume is required, and the movement continues to grow. Zombie this and zombie that is giving me an effing headache. Are things in this society so badly screwed up that escaping into the world of vampirism and zombies is the only way to go? Thanks but no thanks.
Turning vampirism and blood sucking into an erotic sexual fantasy is beyond ridiculous. The TV networks being true “blood suckers” in their own right have discovered “there’s gold in them thar vampires”, and are making millions by filling the air waves and movie theatre’s with more blood drinking heroes and heroines. Even reality shows like “Sons of Gun’s” just had to have an episode where they created a weapon for zombie killing. That episode took me from being a casual viewer of the show to a future no-show.
One of my all time favorite horror movies has always been Young Frankenstein. I’d much rather have a huge belly laugh at the theatre and then go home to a warm bed and the woman I love instead of fantasizing sexually over ridiculous story lines and even more ridiculous characters. To those of you who read this and get angry, save your breath, and then move on.
I’m a cat person as are millions of others in this country and I’ve been told there are currently more cats than dogs being kept as pets. You’d think that cat’s would now be considered “mans best friend”, but they’re not. I’ve written before about how I believe cats think we humans are their pets and we’re actually “a cats best friend”. That being said, it appears that I am owned by an exceptionally inscrutable and sly cat. In general cats are pretty laid back and appear to the uninitiated that they are aloof and uncaring. I agree to a point on aloof but cats really do have personalities that are as different from each other as human beings.
I’ve been acquainted with five cats in my life and each one has had it’s own peculiarities and personality quirks. After years of observing them closely I’ve determined that one characteristic is common to them all. It’s called the Twenty Second Delay Response Syndrome (TSDRS). With dogs you shout a command and they spring to their feet wagging their tails and just begging to do your bidding. I think that cats get the same rush from your attention but choose not to show it quite so openly. They sit and wait for approximately twenty seconds then nonchalantly stroll over to see what’s going on. Try it out yourself if your owned by a cat, it’s amazing.
You’ll also note that I continually say “owned by a cat” and I’m not kidding in the least. Let me explain further. My better-half was for years a dog person. When we finally decided to live together I was more than a little concerned about her relationship with “Stormy”, my feline friend. He and I have been together for almost twelve years and we lived the swinging bachelor lifestyle for almost eight years. It was a “Mexican Standoff” with my better-half and her son Chris for the first month or so after we moved in. Slowly but surely Stormy began to reel them in until my better-half was finally converted. Chris was more fortunate when he moved to California and broke free of the cats hypnotic effects.
We buy Stormy the best food, we give him fresh water every day, and we shovel and clean his disgusting litter box. He also has access to an outside deck where he can lounge all day in the sun and chase a bird or two. My better-half and I once had a double bed to share our nights together. It has now become a triple bed with Stormy deciding who sleeps where and how much room is allowed for each of us. In the morning God forbid we don’t immediately run to the kitchen to get his breakfast ready or he will bother, harass, and annoy us until we do. He’s a twelve pound, hairy alarm clock with a huge chip on his shoulder.
He loves to play but he can be more than a little rough. I have years of scars on my hands, arms, and feet to prove it. Recently during a play session I really pissed him off and he latched onto my foot. I screamed an obscenity which quickly ended the play time with him scurrying away and me limping to the bathroom for hydrogen peroxide and a band-aid. We didn’t speak for a week and every time we were in the same room he would sit with his back to me and begin the “Big Ignore”. After a week of his shunning I began to feel bad so I made sure his water was fresh, I changed his litter box early, and fed him a treat or two which he refused to eat until I left the room. Finally last night as I was just dozing off he jumped up on the bed and allowed me to move the hell over and make room for him. What a guy. He nudged me a few times expecting to be petted and loved-on a little and of course I complied.
Now I hope you understand if you’re an actual cat person just exactly who owns who. I’d like to continue this little story but the sun’s out and Stormy has been bugging me for the last twenty minutes to open the door to the deck. He’s getting as much deck time as possible while the Fall sunshine lasts and before the snow begins to fly. He gets a bit grumpy if he doesn’t get his deck time because he’s concerned about losing his summer tan.
A lot of people use the term “a dogs life” to define the perfect way to live. I’d much rather have “a cat’s life”.
Well we’ve survived the big day. Our first evening of baby sitting for our newly arrived five week old grand baby. My better-half has slowly devolved from the position of my highly intelligent life partner to an excited and silly young mother in her twenties. I always knew she felt that her years of raising her three children were the best years she’d ever had but I really underestimated that. Her excitement started about a week prior to his visit and built, day-by-day, until she was practically bouncing off the walls.
She was scurrying around the house cleaning just about anything that didn’t move and some things that did, like the cat. She had to destroy all of those nasty germs and bugs before the babies arrival. It was fun to watch because she really hasn’t been this excited about much of anything in recent years, including yours truly. Am I feeling unloved? Not really, but I did feel myself slip one notch on her “people who really matter list”.
I’ve honestly never thought it was possible for anyone to get this excited by changing a smelly diaper or to giggle like a high schooler after being thrown up on. I watched it happen and was astounded by the change in her personality. She was in heaven.
She’s had fantasies for many years about things she wanted to do with her grand children and these two things were apparently high on that list. Another involved my repairing and refinishing an old rocking chair I found in the garage a few years ago. It just happened to be the very same rocker she used to rock her own children. Even though it was in terrible condition she adamantly refused to part with it. One of my Christmas gifts last year involved my rescue of that old chair. I repaired some pieces, I rebuild the springs and horse hair seat, I refinished the entire frame, and reupholstered the seat. It did my heart good to see her living out her fantasy when she sat down and rocked our new arrival in that old chair.
I don’t intent to get mushy about the whole deal but it was something I won’t ever forget. Our lives have again been altered with the addition of this young man to the family and I suspect we’ll all be the better for it. I hope his parents enjoyed their night out on the town and “Happy First Anniversary” to them both.
Patience is a virtue. I can’t tell you how many times in my life I’ve been told that by family members and friends alike. I guess the reason I’ve heard it so often was that I lacked any patience whatsoever in years past. I was an overachieving, goal oriented, pain in the ass workaholic. For most of my career I worked six days a week and three or four of those days were spent in airplanes flying around the country. So not only was I impatient but I also had a white-knuckle fear of flying which made me more than a little irritable. Not many people knew of my flying phobia and I never made anyone aware of it until much later in my life. For years I was on the go constantly and when I made a request I was a major-league pain-in-the-ass about making sure it was honored. That included associates that worked for me, the people that worked with me, and any service personnel paid to do a specific job.
After twenty years I left the “rat race” and spent the next seven years working for the State of Maine in a job that was hectic but not crazy. During that seven years I was able to dial it back a little and tried to be a little more patient with friends and family. I still had my moments but I felt like I was getting it under control. Out of the blue I began to suffer from severe headaches and fits of rage. Being the paranoid person that I am I found a doctor who ran a normal battery of tests to determine what my issues were. Come to find out I had been suffering from seriously high blood pressure for a number of years and was verging on real problems. The doctor directed me to find a hobby or two to help calm me down. The medication I was immediately given calmed me down in a big way. After so many years of high blood pressure I had a tough time adapting to being so calm. I felt like I was high all the time but I was assured by the doctor that would pass as I became accustomed to the medication. He was right and after a time I leveled out.
Now to find a hobby. I’d been a winemaker for years but not recently. Winemaking forces you to become patient, like it or not. Mix the ingredients together, put in the yeast, and you’re then required to wait up to three or four months to see the final product. During that time you have to baby that wine if you want a satisfactory batch. It actually helped me a great deal. I had been a half-assed photographer for years and returned to it gladly. Nothing is more calming than communing with Mother Nature and hoping against hope to be in the right place at the right time to get that Kodak moment wildlife shot.
Yesterday was a sunny and reasonably warm Fall day here in Maine. I spent two hours sitting with my back against a tree out in the middle of nowhere attempting to get a photograph of either a bear cub or a barn owl. Three years ago I stumbled into a isolated area and sitting in a tree about 5 feet away from me was that owl. He’d been sleeping and when I walked up he became frightened and flew away. He only flew a few feet before landing in a nearby tree. I took approximately 20 photographs of him in that tree from all angles. They were some of the best pictures I’d taken up until that time. I’ve been returning to that area for years now and have seen him flying above me but never again had him sitting in a tree. I’m now patient enough to eventually be successful.
The bear is pretty much the same story. I happened to be walking through a wooded area and I heard a rustling about 30 feet up a nearby tree. I looked up and sitting in that tree with just the top of his head sticking up from behind the leaves was a baby bear. I snapped one photograph and he ducked back into the leaf cover. Being the careful person that I am I knew where there was a bear cub there was also a mother some where nearby. I backed off immediately because I had no way to defend myself if she showed up. I’ve returned dozens of times trying to find that young bear and possibly get a decent photograph or two. Now that I’m patient person I may eventually find them but even if I don’t I’ve still succeeded.
What’s the moral of this story? You decide.
I mentioned about a week ago that I was reasonably sure that the History Channel would begin the “Dooms Day” drumbeat once the election was over. I hate to say “I told you so” but “I told you so”. They’ve been playing the same old programs about the Mayan predictions and for the millionth time we also are getting hammered with tales of Nostradamus. Apparently the “Doomsday” flu has also begun to infect someone in my household as well when my back was turned and I wasn’t paying the proper attention.
Certain mornings are a special time for me when sleeping-in is permitted, no telephone calls are taken, and snuggling with my honey is looked forward to. Until this morning that is. I was warm and toasty and in that place between sleep and awake where weird dreams and odd thoughts make their appearances. It’s a place I look forward to visiting often and many good ideas and projects have been started there. My better-half was tossing and turning and she then slowly rolled over, looked me in the eye, and stated clearly “Do you think we’re survivalists?”. I was dumb-founded but immediately answered “No”. She then asked if I thought we had enough guns and ammunition to get us through the trouble that was coming. Again I said “No”. Too weird! It seems that some of my better-half’s family have been whispering “Doomsday” craziness to her and she’s been somewhat infected. I assured her that Doomsday prophesies aren’t uncommon and that I could easily remember at least five from recent years alone.
Pat Robertson, 1982 – In May 1980, televangelist and Christian Coalition founder startled and alarmed many when he informed his “700 Club” TV show audience around the world that he knew when the world would end.
Heaven’s Gate, 1997 – When comet Hale-Bopp appeared in 1997, rumors surfaced that an alien spacecraft was following the comet — covered up, of course, by NASA and the astronomical community. Though the claim was refuted by astronomers (and could be refuted by anyone with a good telescope), the rumors were publicized on Art Bell’s paranormal radio talk show “Coast to Coast AM.” These claims inspired a San Diego UFO cult named Heaven’s Gate to conclude that the world would end soon. The world did indeed end for 39 of the cult members, who committed suicide on March 26, 1997.
Nostradamus, August 1999 – The heavily obfuscated and metaphorical writings of Michel de Nostrdame have intrigued people for over 400 years: “The year 1999, seventh month / From the sky will come great king of terror.”
God’s Church Ministry, Fall 2008 – According to God’s Church minister Ronald Weinland, the end times are upon us– again. His 2006 book “2008: God’s Final Witness” states that hundreds of millions of people will die, and by the end of 2006, “there will be a maximum time of two years remaining before the world will be plunged into the worst time of all human history.
The Mayans, 12/21/2012 – A few thousand, human sacrificing, savages decided long ago that the earth would end this December. It’s amazing how many reasonably intelligent people eat this nonsense up. I’m certainly not getting all excited by the ravings of a bunch of primitive Indians who weren’t smart enough to keep their own civilization from disappearing.
I hope I’ve succeeded in convincing her and anyone reading this that Dooms Day nonsense has been around for centuries and panicked millions of people for no good reason. Why do certain arrogant humans believe that for whatever reason they’ve been given all the answers by God and he apparently just “needed to tell someone”. Crap piled on crap, and covered with more crap.
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